Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

Okay, here’s the thing…Oklahoma City easily beat the injury decimated Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night at the Pay.Com Arena by a score of 108-94. The Thunder in fact actually led by 23 points at one juncture which represents their biggest singular lead this season in any game.

Jamal Murray, Michael Porter, and Dozier were DNPs in this game. This Denver team isn’t a contender of any sort without Jamal Murray. As in none.

Denver is a team virtually absent of any defensive rim protection.

Shai was magnificent with a 27, 11, 12 triple double and a +19 rating. Best player on the floor which is saying something since the reigning NBA-MVP Nicola Jokic was on the floor for awhile in this game.

It was the Thunder’s third straight win and elevated their record to 11-19 after thirty games. To keep that in perspective the Thunder were 16-19 last season after thirty-five games before Sam Hinkie-Presti closed down the season and started his Death March tank going 2-23 in the last twenty-five games of the season.

The Western Conference minus Golden State and Phoenix isn’t what we thought it was going to be. Utah is a fake tough guy and every other of the remaining twelve teams in the West are fatally flawed one way or another.

This is what I’ve been writing on here all season…why tank if even if you hit the lottery …why tank if you weren’t going to ante up in 2013 and keep your top three players in tow. What would be different now?

The Thunder have an All-Star in Shai. They could have a unique player in Josh Giddy. They have an alpha sled dog in Lu Dort that Jack London would be proud of. They have plenty of potential depth on this team despite the fact Sam Hinkie-Presti tried to construct this team to be so bad that someone like me wouldn’t be writing this thirty games into this season.

The three vets…Kenrich, Muscala, and Favors are all functional.

So here’s what I’d honestly like to see happen.

I’d like to see Little Nick Gallo and Low Energy Royce Young announce Sam Hinkie-Presti is going to have a special press conference on January 2nd. The theme of the press conference will be for Sam Hinkie-Presti to tell Thunder Nation what he’s learned from the standpoint of team construction in Oklahoma City during his tenure here.

Little Nick Gallo will point to me and say…”Mike Jackson—okcthunderground.com first question.”

My question will be, ” Why tank if you and ownership aren’t committed to putting a championship team together and keeping it together for at least a four year window? What did you learn from trading James Harden and losing Kevin Durant which tells you in your heart Oklahoma City could win an NBA championship even if the Thunder won the lottery three years in a row?”

Get to work Little Nick Gallo. Let’s have a Jan. 2nd presser before the Death March II gets into full swing in the quest to win the NBA ownership rights to Paulo Banchero.

Sam Hinkie-Presti what have you learned which might indicate you need a shooting guard who can shoot to win an NBA ring and a stretch five who can do the same. If we haven’t figured that out…then why tank?

Green Bay fans own their team. I’m assuming they can ask questions like this. Let’s have some people minus Little Nick Gallo and Jenni Carlson asking the questions at your pressers.

Next up…the Thunder at Phoenix and I’m taking a four day blogging break.

I’ve been giving this a serious rethink since I hastily dropped TB to No. 3 on my QB rankings after the abysmal 9-0 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Here’s what I’ve rethought…since the fabulous Tom Brady didn’t lose to either Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers why would I drop the most iconic player in NFL history two spots below them for just one bad game.

Plus…I needed some time to recalibrate my No. 7 and No. 8 on my list.

I love the fact Tom both destroyed several tablets and also collectively told the Saints bench to go fuck themselves.

This my friends is NFL quarterback leadership.

My revised list…

1 Tom Brady

2 Patrick Mahomes

3 Aaron Rodgers (those four combined games vs. the Bears and Lions still bother me) I honestly view Aaron and the Packers like a typical soft Big 12 team once they reach the NFC Championship Game. We’ll see.

4 Matthew Stafford

5 Josh Allen

6 Lamar Jackson

7 Justin Herbert

8 Mac Jones

If I were going to go deeper on my list…

I’d have Jalen Hurts at No. 17 and Baker Mayfield somewhere around No. 19. Baker hurt himself playing injured. Stefanski should not have allowed him to play with his shoulder injured. Plus, Baker needs to keep his wife off of Twitter. Sigh.

These are my Top 8. It’s a QB driven league for certain. So I want to see how many of my Top 8 make the overall quarterfinals in the NFL Playoffs.

I’m almost ready for Christmas break here on the award winning blog. Even Wolf Blitzer and Dan Patrick takes a few days off for Christmas. Just saying. I need an intern sub like Traber has now and again.

Merry Christmas.

Gonna be eighty degrees in Deer Creek on Christmas. I better reset the Christmas theme music on here. Hopefully… the Trump climate change deniers won’t be offended or pissed off and insurrect any buildings or assault any police officers over the Christmas break.

We would also hope urinating and defecating inside the buildings unless you’re in a restroom isn’t another holiday reset from last January as well from these courageous freedom fighters.

We clearly live in different times.

Literally saw two truckloads of Edmond youth yesterday in Edmond, Oklahoma with ‘Fuck Joe Biden’ flags streaming out of the beds of their pickups.

Even the Needham Twins from Fort Worth wouldn’t have done this in a Dan Jenkins’ novel.

But this is where we find ourselves historically and culturally.

Sigh.

Are you kidding me? Good lord.

We have to rise above this and try and keep the conversation civil if nothing else.

Have a great Christmas!

It was like watching A Star Is Born on TNT last night. Literally. Tyler was Lady Gaga and in the second game Russell Westbrook was a washed up Bradley Cooper.

I must admit I’m conflicted and sad for Russell and LeBron. It’s a Greek tragedy for Russell to be exposed like this in front of the basketball world and its an equal tragedy for LeBron to be pissing away one of his last seasons in this manner.

I’m sad for Russell. What else can I really say. Even Allen Iverson wasn’t exposed to this degree. I don’t know if this changes things with the Thunder fans who still boo Kevin, but at least one would think these Kevin haters would have to admit the Thunder weren’t winning anything even if Kevin had stayed after the 2016 Western Conference Finals.

And for Berry Tramel, whether he wants to admit it or not, it’s a validation of sorts for him. For him pushing the two Sam Presti employees… the two make believe journalists in Little Nick Gallo and Low Energy Royce Young to the side in those post game pressers…and being that one professional adult journalist in the room willing to ask the tough questions. Trying to find out why it was Russell wasn’t evolving as he should have been as a veteran point guard on a max contract.

And that is why Berry Tramel year in and year out is awarded the Oklahoma Sports Writer of the Year Award.

You can’t win championships playing stupid. And if you’re a stupid team…then it should be pointed out why your team plays dumber than a poorly coached YMCA U-10 youth team.

On the other hand…it was a glorious night for Tyler showing all of us hoops lovers the form he displayed in his rookie season when he was a big part of the Heat advancing to the NBA Finals.

The Heat after losing in the Finals to the Lakers did this…they didn’t trade away one of their best three players ala James Harden. Instead they fortified their best three players by bringing Kyle Lowery, PJ Tucker, and a slew of hungry blue collar role players on board to make them a very serious threat to get back to the NBA Finals after last season’s disappointment in the first round versus the Bucks.

You see…this is what serious GMs and serious owners do when they’re serious about pursuing an NBA championship.

Tyler Herro…you are on the cusp of becoming a star. Young man… don’t let it go to your head. Bear down and help Jimmy Butler win a ring if you can.

I feel for Russell though. He brings out that Holly Hunter side of me of which I wish I could control, but sometimes can’t.

Berry Tramel…you just got a helmet sticker. And btw…who’s to say it wasn’t Clay Bennett who called Berry Tramel to ask Russell those very tough questions because ownership was getting tired of watching that shit night in and night out. You have to ask yourself why did Sam Presti and Clay Bennett allow Berry Tramel to do that repeatedly with Westbrook? And the answer is their own paid for reporters weren’t tough enough to get it done. That’s why.

Merry Christmas!

I actually like this version a little better. Lady Gaga can be a bit much. This is a little more understated…which I like.

Even though we all know the Thunder need to lose enough to be in the Banchero Sweepstakes…it’s nice for just a day to be on the right side of a score with the Thunder.

Per Jim Traber today on the Sports Animal…with last night’s win over the No. 4 seed in the West the Memphis Grizzlies…OKC is now on a trajectory to win 29 games.

Per Mike Jackson on this blog…the chances of this Thunder team winning 29 games are two-fold… as in slim and none.

Once the Thunder get to 15 wins or so…Sam Presti-Hinkie and Coach D will turn it into tanking overdrive like they did last year when the Thunder were 16-19 in their first 35 games.

I’m fairly certain Sam Hinkie-Presti is reading my blog. Since he bought my previous blog the Daily Thunder and turned it into an unreadable homeresque piece of junk I’m fairly certain he’s following me over here.

I don’t do Twitter…so this where he has to follow me to get some provocative adult thoughts on his ball club.

I’m not on the record saying he privated messaged me that tanking info on the blog…just a feel on my part that 24 wins is still a safe over/under Thunder wins threshold. Shai goes out…the team becomes virtually unwatchable.

Coach Venables signed three more defensive recruits. Imagine USC paid Joe C to take Lincoln off his hands and we’re going to have a defense in the forseable future.

A little music before the TNT Showcase would be nice. Have a great Tuesday evening.

Actually…Blake mentored Danielle on The Voice and she won it all as a teenager. So whevever I think of Blake …I then think of Danielle…or vice versa.

This is my Thunder inspirational song moving thru the death tank. This is a good one to sing in the whirlpool or with Alexa. Alexa…play Potential by Danielle Bradbery. My little MAGA Trump neighbor loves when I sing this one with Pauli out on the backyard.

I watched every minute of this game and other than the road win at Toronto… I thought it was perhaps the Thunder’s best wire to wire performance this season.

The game had pace and ebb and flow between what I think are two pretty even teams talent wise. Memphis is in my view is a year ahead of what the Thunder should be next season with Banchero or some other talented player acquired in the draft joining the Thunder next season.

To me…it was evident from the get go they wanted to win this game. Minutes weren’t doled out like it was a rec game at the North Edmond Little Girls’ U-10 Youth Soccer League over on Danforth Blvd.

When you get your ass beat by seventy-three points by a team… I would hope even with Hinkie-Presti and Coach Tank pimping for as many losses as possible that the competitive embers are burning and intact so to speak.

Those two can always lose another game they need to lose somewhere down the stretch in March or April.

Kudos to the eleven Thunder players who played in this game absorbing the 240 minutes of playing time.

I would have preferred to have seen more than five minutes from Aaron Wiggins, but otherwise I saw no pimping for a loss from Coach Pimp on this one. That’s pretty much the way I would have played it as well.

I thought Poku played some very solid minutes amongst the twenty-one minutes and change he played in this game. I hope people are noticing….he’s getting better.

I also liked the manner in which Bazely was utilized off the bench as a stretch forward like I’ve been suggesting he should be used. As in …the Thunder’s own baffy version of Lamar Odom back in the day. I would quit hating on Poku and Bazely and perhaps instead challenge Presti-Hinkie and his tanking coach to utilize their skill sets in a more appropriate manner.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the swarmy Little Nick Gallo actually read that on my blog previously and suggested it to his higher ups within the Thunder organization.

As I’ve written on here multiple times…Sam Hinkie-Presti…I’m here for you, dude. Trust me…you need someone from John Marshall like me in your inner basketball circle. Someone with a basketball soul beyond the feckless white boys within your comfort sphere.

And in closing… this game retiterated to me what I’ve been saying all season long, that being, if Presti-Hinkie wasn’t tanking for a top three player in the draft then I think this Thunder team with perhaps two nuanced roster moves to add more veteran saavy could easily be on the same track as Memphis this season and contending for a playoff spot.

Merry Christmas!

There are so many conflicting thoughts here with the Hinkie-Presti tank. My first thought is I wouldn’t be losing games by design for the emaciated white kid from Gonzaga. Holgrem I think is his name. He’ll be another project just to get enough weight on him to play NBA ball for at least three years I would think. Pretty much like Poku…who btw I would not give up on at this point. Poku’s weight and shot are both coming along…slowly, but coming along somewhat.

I like Banchero at Duke. He’s what the Thunder need. An inside-outside power-finesse big man who will grow into his frame in the next two years.

I love his name…Paolo Banchero. Once he becomes a star you just go with the last name like Nene…except he’d be Banchero. El Prez loves him some Banchero. If only the feckless little white minions who work for Presti had my brand imagination.

I could see myself paying again to actually attend Thunder games with Banchero alongside Shai, Dort, Giddy, Tre Mann, and Aaron Wiggins. Bazely, Jre, Ty, and Poku are who I have tentatively scheduled for my second until right now for next season.

I’d obviously love to have Kenrich and Muscala back, but they may be tanked out and wanting to join a contender at the trade deadline. Either way…I love both of those guys and commend them for their professionalism.

With one of the Clipper picks I’d pick another hybrid guard swingman who can play both ends..

I don’t look at the draft boards this time of the year because the Power 5 schools haven’t really gotten into conference play just yet.

BTW… unbeaten Iowa State who didn’t win a conference game last season in the rugged Big 12 just became the No. 9 team in the nation today AP-wise.

So when I curse on here at the tanking Thunder don’t for a second think I’m not already projecting what the Thunder could possibly become if Presti-Hinkie could bundle some draft picks to somehow add Banchero to the Thunder next season.

We’d have two Canadians, an Aussie, and an Italian in our starting five. Little ole sleepy redneck Oklahoma City would become the internatioal ‘It Team’. Who knows…at that Sam Anderson fron he NY Times Magazine might have to start writing a second book.

Also…prolly wouldn’t have to move the team to Las Vegas if Clay Bennett can pull the levers to get Paolo Banchero in a Thunder uni next season.

So I’m thinking Banchero moving forward everytime the Thunder lose the remainder of this season.

Viva, Banchero!

The Green Bay at Baltimore game was by my view the best game of the day on Sunday. Both teams needed a win, but the Ravens were without Lamar Jackson in this game due to an injured ankle. The Packers prevailed 31-30 in a game which went down to a failed two point conversion at the end.

Great game by Aaron Rodgers and I’ll need to rearrange my QB rankings this week. Tom Brady and the Bucs were shut out by the Saints—so for this week at least I’m shuffling my list up as we head ino the last three weeks of the season.

Kyler Murray will exit my list after the disgraceful loss the Arizona Cardinals absorbed at the hands of the Detroit Lions.

Ryan Tannehill was weak as well…he’ll stay off my list. Mac Jones and the Pats were handled by the Colts, who btw might be my darkhorse in the AFC after what I saw yesterday in the AFC.

I’m not sure I can rank eight quarterbacks this week. I’m only going to go six deep this week on my Top 6 NFL Quarterback Rankings. I’ve for the time being sent Kyler Murray and Mac Jones back to the middle tier of quarterbacks in the league. A bad week for Kyler Murray.

1 Aaron Rodgers

2 Patrick Mahomes

3 Tom Brady

4 Matthew Stafford

5 Josh Allen

6 Lamar Jackson

7 need to see something from someone

8 need to see something from someone

OU easily handled Texas Arlington in hoops as they should have to improve to 9-2. I guess we have a Thunder exhibition game tonight versus the same Memphis Grizziles who without mercy bludgeoned the tanking Thunder by 73 points the last time the two teams met. Surely…the Thunder and their little tanking coach can keep it more interesting this time versus the Grizzlies.

I’ll watch this game and recap if it appears the Thunder put forth an effort which would warrant more than a single paragraph.

If the Thunder look to be headed to their 20th loss of the season…then I’ll probably be more focused on the Raiders-Browns game. That’s a big game for the 7-6 Cleveland Browns. Baker needs this one if he wants Progressive to keep airing his ads much longer would be my take on this game.

Fun game to watch. No Kawhi, no Paul George and I would say with that dynamic in place it should have been a pick ’em and it was.

The Clippers deserved to lose. Justise Winslow choked on the two free throws which would have sealed the game. Then for some mysterious reason I think it was Nick Batum who just basically turned his back to Shai on the game winner and gave him a wide open look. Are you kidding?

I’m happy for these Thunder kids though. The top eight guys on this team aren’t horrible. If they had a general manager who could deal with reality and would add two mainstream NBA vets …I don’t think it would be outrageous to assert the Thunder could be pretty much like the surging 19-11 Memphis Grizzlies are right now. And btw the Grizz are winning with Ja Morant down to injury.

These kids need to win games like this now and again so they don’t lose sight of the fact they’re still elite players who had no control of their basketball season in Oke City.

This is so stupid. I guess we have to do this so Sam Pretst-Hinkie can make it look like it had to be done this way … when in fact it didn’t have to be done with a draconian tank of any sort. Just a baby tank…like our grandson Little Robert singing Baby Shark.

Just get a center who can shoot and another wing who can shoot. This doesn’t require FDR and the basketball version of the New Deal because it looks like Mann and Wiggins are both going to be players along with Giddy.

I actually think Presti creates the drama narrative so as he can be perceived as the smartest guy in the room even when he isn’t.

A nice moment for the Thunder kids….regardless.

Only 54 games left guys…then maybe next season you guys get to play basketball again with five players on the floor for each team.

Next up…the Memphis Grizzlies.

So think about this …on December 27th I plan strolling thru the Bob Dole Museum in Russell, Kansas while my wife is fuming in the car in the parking lot. Then…on December 29th inside of the Howling at the Wind Piano Bar in Sam Antonio.. I hope to be in front of a sea of crimson singing Rocket Man. This is why I wake up evety morning not really knowing what’s going to happen on that particular day.

It’s complicated….yet simplisticly beautiful.

This is that piano bar in San Antonio overlooking the Riverwalk. This is where I hope to be on December 29th as the Sooners get the ball rolling for the next generation of OU football.

It’s incredible in there. It really is. It’s everything you’d hope for in a bawdy raccous bowl piano bar setting.

Because half of the place will be crimson and the other half will be Oregon puke green. Hopefully…this will be Caleb’s opening statement as per the Heisman race next season.

I can’t wait.

You can’t do things like this when your team is tanking shamlessly. You just can’t because winning is fun.

Bennie and the Jets might be tough for me rangewise…but Rocket Man is a doable wheelhouse for me. Leaning towards Rocket Man at this point.