For sure, this was in no way a big deal win for the Thunder in that Steve Kerr’s Super Team was missing Steph and Draymond. But still there’s so much here to be gleaned from this game when you’re an OKC blogger who unlike Sam Anderson has lived and died Thunder hoops from the day they arrived from Seattle. There really is. This game is a microcosm of the whole Durant-Westbrook saga. I could probably write a hundred pages this morning, but it’s Thanksgiving and I have a busy day with family scheduled. But this is why I’m going to write my book and fill in Sam Anderson on what’s it’s really like to follow this team on an underground blog. I don’t need Royce Young to give me information, I’ve lived it. I’ve feel it. I’ve survived it. Like the bombing. It’s part of me.
Let me start with Cupcake. This was so Cupcake. And you know what, I think secretly Steve Kerr somewhat enjoyed it to an extent because Steve Kerr knows the soul of his team is Steph and Klay. They’re the engine of his team, not Kevin Durant. Durant is just an exotic luxury. Jerry West knew it as well. Durant was just the last obscene part of the equation which not only propelled the Warriors to unbeatable status, but in a sense crippled the Thunder for two years as Sam Presti has had to reload in OKC around Russell Westbrook.
Let me write this about Durant. I don’t think he has the emotional fabric to carry a team which isn’t loaded. I don’t. I’m a student of Durant and Westbrook. I watched Durant play most of his college games at Texas and one thing always stuck out about Durant to me even back before he ever played for the Thunder. That being, he couldn’t get Texas beyond the second round of the NCAA Tournament past Stanford. He couldn’t carry his team even like Melo did at Syracuse. But you know what Steph did at Davidson, he carried Cinderella past Kansas and led his team to an improbable Final Four appearance. Kevin Durant to me is a tortured soul to a certain extent. Shit like this does not escape his fragile self image. And with Durant and Westbrook it’s about inner self and confidence. I think millennials call it something like self visualization.
And then there’s Wild Thing. Did I call it in my rant following the Kings loss? This is just so like Russell Westbrook to play like Maurice Cheeks in this easy win over the Warriors without Steph. This is how he should play every game. This is how you should play as a point guard if you want to win a championship. Westbrook, unlike Durant, is no tortured soul. His inner self exudes self esteem and confidence. If anything, he needs his inner self clipped. He needs to grasp he doesn’t need to be the star every night. He needs to learn how to delegate on the court and defer. And on this night against a Warriors’ team which showed the world what they would be without Steph and with Cupcake–he played like Maurice Cheeks just to fuck with me. I know this is why he did this. Just to fuck with me.
Don’t worry, Wild Thing…I can handle it. I used to coach hockey players at one time. You’re not winning a championship unless you’re sincere in becoming Maurice Cheeks circa 2018. Beating Cupcake without Steph and Draymond is no big deal.
But still—there were some real positives and negatives to be gleaned from this meaningless game in Oakland. The first of which is Sam Presti has a nice core team in Westbrook, Paul George, Steven Adams, Dennis Schroder, Jerami Grant and hopefully Andre Roberson. Roberson is slated to return in December and it’s a good thing because I fear Hamidou Diallo’s rookie season ended in Oakland last night with a horrific lower leg injury. It was awful and turned my stomach. It reminded me of Andre going down in Detroit last winter. It just makes you sick to your stomach. It does. But Andre is slated to return soon and TLC is a nice role player so even without Hamidou the Thunder should be able to absorb this loss. My prayers are with Diallo today. I like him and hope for him to regain his health and to be with the team in the future.
Terrance Ferguson and Alex Abrines? Traber says what I think about these two, but I don’t want to dwell on this right now. It’s Thanksgiving and I’m still hoping Presti can get Kyle Korver out of Cleveland to Oklahoma City somehow this season. I’m not wasting anymore energy on these two. If they play, they play. Billy Donovan can deal with this. Good lord, these two wouldn’t make it past a day on a sheet of ice playing hockey. They wouldn’t. First time they were checked in open ice it would be over…as in done.
In closing, the one thing which really clung to me while watching this game is what a fluid general manager Sam Presti is and how he methodically has put the Thunder back together since Cupcake’s departure to Oakland.
But here’s the thing and Sam Presti knows it in his heart of hearts. He’s not winning anything unless Russell Westbrook can evolve from Wild Thing into Maurice Cheeks. And that isn’t happening without this Westbrook metamorphosis even if the Thunder easily ass whipped Cupcake in Oakland on the night before Thanksgiving.
The Thunder are 11-6 and pretty much what I thought they would be. A nice team, but still in wait for their point guard to grow up as a player.
Alex Abrines and Terrance Ferguson…meet Scott Stevens of the New Jersey Devils back in the day. Take my advice and stay in the NBA.