Parker McCollum is in town on Thursday night at the Pay.Com Arena. I don’t have tickets as of yet, but I’m still trying. This should be a great event in Oklahoma City since the primary tenant of Pay.Com is only allowed by Sam Presti to win .300 of their games for the second season in a row.
Other than maybe the Laker games in OKC where the Lakers have more fans in the building or those rare occasions when a rising star like Tyler Herro frequents the ‘House That Kevin Durant Built’ this is a rare opportunity for me to visit Pay.Com this winter.
You see…Parker McCollum doesn’t tank. He won’t be dogging it on 70% of his songs because he has some anal manager tell him he has to lose on 70% of his songs at his concerts to be relevant again.
I wonder how Shai feels about only be able to win .300 of his games two seasons in a row. Shai is an All-Star talent being shackled by Hinkie-Presti. I sure hope all this losing translates into Banchero or something close. A frontliner. Another star. I think Giddy is a nice piece, but I’m not sure about the star part just yet. Giddy is actually better than I thought he would be…so that’s a positive.
I hope Shai’s chances of making the All-Star Game aren’t diminished by him playing for a very bad team for the second season in a row.
NBA basketball is a night of a disposable entertainment dollar being spent by a consumer. Most consumers minus those still at the Thunder games still cheering for wins despite the obvious tank demand value for their hard earned dollars.
Support and loyalty are good things. But I want to see after this second season of tanking the restoration of genuine NBA games being played in Oklahoma City. Given the fact LeBron is almost done and there is in a sense relative parity in the NBA…it shouldn’t take more than two seasons of tanking to put a group around Shai who can play a real NBA season. Plus–it’s time for Presti to start monetizing some of those draft picks he has stored up.
I’m totally good with rebuilding. Sometimes you have to lose to learn how to win. But not for three straight seasons.
To me…this would be like shareholders demanding value for their stock at some point. It’s what made Boone Pickens and Carl Icahn famous.
Clay Bennett knows he can get away with this to a certain degree because his ticket buyers are for the most part novice level NBA followers.
Parker McCollum doesn’t need Paolo Banchero in the NBA draft this summer because he’s a bonafide star on the rise. He doesn’t need Little Nick Gallo lobbing softballs at him in a post concert presser.
You know why…because Parker is a star who takes pride in giving his fans a genuine night of entertainment. By the same token…I think Shai has given his best when allowed to have the better players on the Thunder team out there on the court with him.
How do you think Parker would sound with a guitar player next to him who missed every other chord?
I hope I’ve made my point.
Hope you have your Parker McCollum tickets for Thursday night. Clay Bennett, …it’s a hot ticket. Value is a precious commodity. I hope there is some value attached to a Thunder season starting next October.