Moving forward for the Oklahoma Thunder…I’m not sure I’ve ever seen something of this nature in sports in Oklahoma before.
Maybe back in 2011 in the Bedlam football game when OU quarterback Landry Jones seemingly had an emotional meltdown in the first half and committed three turnovers in succession which led to 21 giveaway points which decided the game. Maybe. But even then I don’t recall something as detached from reality as what I felt last night watching Chet Holmgren play in Game 7.
It was painful to watch from a human standpoint.
We unfortunately live in a society of social media which very much crosses the line of what I would describe as inappropriate human empathy and behavior at times. Especially in the Age of Trump. That will not occur on this blog.
My heart goes out to Chet right now because he in a sense looks broken right now beyond just having had a two week stretch of very bad basketball.
This is why you cannot just have the Thunder ‘media team’ only handling team information in the manner of which they do.
This is why.
There has to be an adult voice in the room. A firm knowledgeable adult voice in the room who has the life experience to handle certain situations in the appropriate manner.
By the same token…when you’re getting paid millions of dollars to play basketball at this level of play in the public domain of pro sports in America that scrutiny comes with the territory.
So there’s both sides to this.
To understate significantly it will be interesting to see how the Thunder deal with this moving forward.
But in closing… Chet Holmgren–hang in there, buddy. Do not allow this to define you.
Mike J