Don’t look now but the tanking Oklahoma City Thunder have dropped to 10-14 and down to the 14th position in the Western Conference standings. If they had started this earlier they would possibly be in the No. 15 slot ahead of the sublime Minnesota Timberwolves.
Another good loss on Wednesday night as the Thunder with only eight players hung with the Lakers who had both LeBron and AD on the floor for this game.
Give these eight guys credit though—they played their asses off. I have complete respect for that. I genuinely do. This is what life is about…getting knocked down and pulling yourself back up.
It’s hard to watch some of this because it comes off as depressing in that this process wouldn’t even be taking place if the Thunder had just made the decision to stay with Sabonis, Jerami Grant, and Oladipo as their core.
But I guess to Presti’s somewhat credit he showed loyalty to Russell Westbrook kind of like the Trump crazies in Oklahoma display their daily self-abusing fealty to Donald Trump no matter how many white policemen he either kills or maims in the name of law and order. There’s an analogy there somewhere.
Suckers and losers…they’re all over Oklahoma if you keep your eyes open and take mental notes. These people not only doubled down on the likes of Donald Trump, but these people will continue to triple and quadruple down on the likes of Jim Inhofe, and the James Lankford types.
James Lankford…I’ve called the Christian youth minister’s office eight times to date to talk to him about his political soul—eight times I’ve failed to get past his aide who answered the phone. But I do get the generic emails.
I do hope the Thunder basketball team is able to stay here though because the state needs more to cling to beyond OU football. OU football is going to be lit next season. Saben…bring your Big Boy Britches. This will be the most talented OU roster since the 2000-01 national championship squad.
Back to the tanking Thunder.
To me the best transaction Presti ever made was the Serge Ibaka to Orlando deal for that bundle of players, but for whatever reason Sam Presti didn’t want to stay committed to that train of thought.
Operation Bongo is what the Thunder might become if they’re not careful. It makes me sad as someone who has lived in Oklahoma this long. It’s almost like the basketball team is a micrososm of the Oklahoma state government which is still working on becoming the last state in the union to update its driver license photo with a passport process.
To me…the Thunder coming to Oklahoma was supposed to be a sign of the state as a whole saying goodbye to being one of the dumbest in the nation and growing up. Instead…it appears the state has doubled and even tripled down on challenging Alabama and Mississippi for that honor. Smart humans ostensibly should learn from their past….and grow just a little. George Wallace and Richard Nixon…even those two grew after their transgressions….to limited extents albeit.
The Thunder are losing now, but they’re losing the right way if that makes sense. From the get go of this season I’ve proclaimed my hoops love for Lu Dort and Kenrich Williams…which I feel good about as we head into deep dive tank mode now in mid February.
Lu Dort and Kenrich…I love you guys. Please don’t ever let them change you. I’ve been a grinder my whole life. I love you. I do.
These guys play hard. Even more to the point…what’s left standing of the Thunder overall currently plays hard. I have to respect that as someone who has been around sports my entire life. I don’t like losing though when you didn’t have to take this course when you had Oladipo, Sabonis, and Jerami all on rookie scale deals.
This is clearly a season hoopswise where I’m much more intuned to OU basketball and Cade Cunningham and his draft class.
Sam Presti, you may not know it, but you’re on the clock just like Kevin Costner was in Draft Day when he played the fictional general manager of the Cleveland Browns.
That was another analogy…. that no one in Oklahoma will get or ever get in my lifetime.