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Kevin Durant just won his third Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. Without Durant carrying the load this team otherwise would not have medaled.

Pop owes Kevin a year of dinners for saving his coaching ass for certain. Player makes the coach. How many times do I have to write this on my blog?

Time is a healer. To me…it seems like a basketball life has passed since Kevin left the Thunder in 2016 to join the Warriors. I feel no angst whatsoever for Kevin traveling the road he did. He did nothing wrong.

At first I was sad. But I feel as if we’ve both grown since then in our own ways.

He has and still is finding himself as a young man of thirty-three years of age. BTW…the exact same age of my son.

My son started his career with Devon and was with them the same amount of time Kevin was with the Thunder. Then an opportunity with a company in Denver materialized which was the kind of dream job he’d been striving for since getting his finance degree and MBA at OU.

He asked me what I thought? I said…”Go for it. This is what you worked so hard to achieve. Besides–Denver has the Broncos, the Avalanche, the Rockies, the Nuggets, and an iconic DI ice hockey program…your mother and I can visit. This will actually be better for me.”

Same thing with Kevin. He’d gone as far as he could with the Thunder because Sam Presti could never get it done as GM and find the right shooting guard to fill the Harden void unless you’re on of those who think Kevin Martin or Jeremy Lamb were an answer.

From a purely professional standpoint Kevin’s decision was a no-brainer. He never would have won anything in Oklahoma City for three reasons:

1 Russell Westbrook can’t even dream about being the pure shooter Steph is. I love Russell, but c’mon.

2 Sam Presti never filled the void at the shooting guard position after trading James Harden.

3 Klay Thompson. If Klay Thompson had been the Thunder’s shooting guard from say 2011-2016 how many rings would Kevin have won in Oklahoma City? I say two. I think the Thunder would hav won two rings in that span of time. Klay before the knee was a defensive hoss as well.

So here’s this video in 2019 with Kevin making an appearance with Serge on the Chef Mafuzzy Cooking Podcast. Kevin has two rings and Serge has one. If you’re a Thunder fan shame on you if you’re not thrilled for both of them.

The booing of Kevin makes you look stupid. Like a group of dumbasses not smart enough to come out of the rain or get vaccinated. Answer me this…is it an infringementof your personal freedom to not put your young children in car seats? Same thing. I thought you Trump evangelicals were pro-lifers who were sanctity of life people.

Grow up. Get your shots, wear a mask in certain social settings, and stop booing Kevin Durant. Because if not for Kevin this city would not have had the glorious decade of NBA ball which drove Sam Anderson to write a NY Times bestseller which took him five years to research.

Nick Collison..I would think you who played with Kevin in Seattle better than anyone would know it’s time for Kevin Durant to have his banner hanging from the rafters of PayCom Arena and put an end to this nonsense in Oklahoma City.

This might be a good project for you to undertake as Presti’s special assistant…. and we both know he’s in dire need of a special assistant given how we didn’t grab high school, NCAA, and now Summer League champ Davion Mitchell with out No. 6 pick.

Given the current news in regards to the U.S. botched exit from Afghanistan this is a book which should be a must read for anyone who wants a historical perspective on the past twenty years from a failed U.S policy take.

This is a great book and was given to me by my friend who is a retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General.

He said, ” Read the book, Mike. Do us a both favor and expand that limited mind of yours.” It’s a long book with a tough subject matter, but once I got into it…I couldn’t put it down.

Jake Tapper is one helluva writer and his research on this book plus his skilled narrative gives the reader a walk through on why the U.S. should have long ago left Afghanistan.

What we’re witnessing today goes well beyond Joe Biden’s decision or even beyond a Democrat vs Trumplican debate.

This book takes the reader on a story of how after Vietnam the U.S. learned absolutely nothing and made even more staggering errors in the effort to capture and kill Bin Laden. Then compounded this by attempting to nation build in a country which doesn’t have a real will to be a democratic nation.

The Smerconish Question of the Week this past Saturday was…Should the U.S. reconsider its exit from Afghanistan?

With 19,000 votes cast the vote went 77% voting hell no and with 23% voting yes.

I would say the U.S. does have a real obligation to get Americans and the Afghans out who helped the U.S cause, but beyond that it would be folly for the U.S. to continue its path in this country. There seems to be no real hunger for democrcy in the country. South Korea is a different story in my view.

If you get a chance read this book. Turn off MSNBC and Fox and read this book about an American historical tragedy.

I think Jake is finishing up on his first novel currently besides doing his thing at CNN….where he is the polar opposite of fuckstick Tucker Carlson.

Davion Mitchell and his Summer League teammates are in tonight’s finals versus the Boston Celtics in what should be a good game.

I’ve greatly enjoyed this Summer League. There was so much to take in on multiple fronts for various teams from both the West and the East.

Not much from the Thunder who didn’t play either of their two first round draft picks very much. But for me in regards to the Thunder there was good news in that they resigned Mikey Muscala as their stretch five shooting ace and this for me lessens the blow of not landing Corey Kispert from Gonzaga.

I was very clear before this draft in that I would have taken Davion Mitchell with the Thunder’s No. 6 pick. I thought he along with Shai and Lu would have given the Thunder a very interesting trio of guards who could play both ends of the floor. Add to the fact the Thunder would still have Theo Maledon and Ty Jerome to round out a very deep, young stable of guards. Much like the Raptors had several years ago.

But not to be as Sam Presti went Josh Giddy in what to me is an overlap or hedge of taking Poku the year before. Do the Thunder really need two guys who do the same thing with the same reach and the same shooting struggles?

I would say no, but I don’t own any equity ownership of the Thunder so that’s that.

Many players have stood out to me this Summer League, but the three who impressed me the most were…. Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green , and Jon Kuminga.

All three are what we thought they should be.

Cade Cunningham being the complete player with a well rounded game and an adult head on his shoulders. A leader who at the age of nineteen was out there directing his teammates on defense. That’s the Cade C… I came to love this past college season.

Jalen Green … pure mercurial offensive firepower which will be something to watch for all lovers of the NBA game.

Jon Kuminga… the diamond in the rough. A virtual steal for Golden State along with Moses Moody. Golden State for me won the draft along with Houston, and Detroit. Take your time coming back, Klay. Bob Myers did his job.

So for the first time in my basketball life…I’m kinda jacked to watch the Summer League Finals tonight on ESPN.

Some Sting, some wine…and the Summer League Finals. What more could I ask for? We all have to learn to not get too emotionally emeshed with the Thunder currently. Nick Collison…we need a rim protector, buddy.

Tramel wrote a relatively soft piece today on how O State is 90-38 in football the past decade which ranks O State at tenth in the nation in the past decade in overall wins.

Here’s what Berry Tramel didn’t write;

• Not one time in the past decade has O State advanced to the Big 12 Championship Game. This ranks O State with Kansas, Texas Tech, and West Virginia as the only Big 12 teams to never advance to the title game.
• Of the 90 wins one must consider Mike Gundy from the point of the loss to Florida State in the 2012 Kick-Off Classic never again allowed Holder and Boone to schedule another non-conference game against a national Big Boy school. Not one. O State’s upcoming road game at Boise will be their toughest non-conference assignment since the Florida State game.
• Texas. Texas has sucked the past decade and much of what O State has done to improve their football image comes from the fact O State has handled Texas, but then again so has TCU which is 7-3 vs. the Horns the past ten yeaars. Should there be outrage in Fort Worth that their Frogs aren’t SEC bound?
• Head to Head versus OU. Against some of the historically worst OU defenses the past decade O State is 2-8 and would have been 1-9 if Bob Stoops hadn’t repunted to the most explosive football player in the NFL or world for that matter. Beat OU in Bedlam.
• So..in closing here’s what I would say to O State and their Trump socialist fandom … You have a fourth year quarterback who was National Player of the Year in high school. Some called him the next Vince Young. When November 27th rolls around do something special to make yourself more marketable….win at home in Stillwater in front of the Bolsheviks and make your argument to ESPN and the PAC 12.
• Quit living off OU and create your own football identity and cash flow.
• The end. These were all the things Tramel should have included in his piece.

My wife is on a ten day beach trip at Emerald Beach in North Carolina. So this worked out perfectly as the diva lab Pauli and I have taken in at least two Summer League games every night.

These NBA kids and these games have been superb. The NBA may suck currently in Oklahoma, but elsewhere in the league where other teams haven’t foolishly pissed away their first round picks on physically weak and feeble whites from overseas—the league is on fire.

Can you imagine being a fan in Atlanta where you now have Trey Young nnd Sharife Cooper (War Eagle) on the same club?

Can you imagine being a Houston Rocket fan with Jalen Green and the Big Turk on the same team?

Not much from either of Sam Presti’s two first round picks as Giddy can’t play through a mild ankle sprain and Tre Mann has gone home for an undisclosed reason. Didn’t we just do this with both Terrance Ferguson and Alex Abrines?

This is not what Oklahoma City needed after the disgrace which the Thunder were in 2021. Those two wins against Boston and LA grate at me every time I blog anything about this NBA venture in Oklahoma City.

Apparently…Nick Collison’s role with the Thunder is being expanded this season and he will become the special assistant of Sam Presti moving forward. My suggestion to Clay Bennett is this move should occur immediately and that Nick’s role expands before the Thunder make anymore stupid personnel decisions.

I haven’t gone off yet on Presti passing on the Turkish center with our No. 16 pick. I’m trying to compose myself without even thinking of that piece of fiduciary malpractice. I’ll feature the Big Turk before the Summer League winds up. Once again the Houston Rockets take advantage of Sam Presti.

I’m just loving the games. I stayed up late last night to watch Austin Reaves and Jericho Sims. Then of course the night before I watched the game with Cade and Jaylen Green. Plus…I caught some of Jalen Suggs’ debut with Orlando.

But of course we in Oklahoma City don’t have Davion Mitchell, Cory Kispert, or the Big, Agile, Skilled Turk even though OKC could have had two of the three with the 6-16-18 pick configuration the Thunder had on draft night.

I wonder if Clay Bennett is concerned. His team seems to lack a plan. Their flagship blog the Daily Thunder is worse than listening to Michael. Cage. Homer pissant Little Nick Gallo’s hot takes aren’t much if they ever were.

There wouldn’t be much for Sam Anderson to write about this time around given the state of the Thunder halfway through this Summer League.

But for the rest of NBA fans in other cities this is some very lit stuff basketball wise.

Nick Collison…please save Sam Presti from himself and start putting a team together soon.

So then after you win the late season games against Boston and LA and drop out of the top five you pass on national champion Davion Mitchell who runs like the wind and made Jalen Suggs his bitch on Championship Monday.

Tonight…in Davion’s NBA debut he went for 10 points, 11 assists, and a floor best +16 in a Sacramento win. Best player on the floor.

Another brilliant decision by Sam Presti.

So as I sit here thinking to myself…what is it precisely something Sam Presti has done in Oklahoma City other than being the guy who had the pick after Portland took Greg Oden?

Sam Presti has never won a playoff series in Oklahoma City without Kevin Durant carrying his lunch sack. In the time since Durant left Oklahoma to be on a team with a shooting guard who can shoot—the Thunder are a winless post season team who aren’t even relevant currently in the Oklahoma sports landscape.

You would even have to rank O State football and easily O State basketball as more fan relevant than the Thunder currently.

If I were doing my sports relevancy poll right now in Oklahoma I would have the Thunder sitting in the sixth slot. I would go 1 OU football, 2 O State football, 3 O State basketball, 4 OU womens’ softball, 5 OU mens’ basketball, 6 the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Unbelievable.

Maybe these guys already have another ownership group in another city waiting for this franchise.

Let me edit myself immediately. I owe Sam Presti an apology. When he traded Serge Ibaka to Orlando he got Victor Oladipo, the draft pick which conveyed into Domas Sabonis, and Ersan Illyasova who who was traded to acquire Jerami Grant.

But then of course he traded away all those young pieces to have the Thunder where they are today as a G League team with a ringer on a max contract who in reality will have only three years left on his window in Oklahoma if the Thunder become relevant two years from now down the road.

7th…I’m moving the Thunder down to 7th behind Tulsa Golden Hurricane football. I try to be fair on here. Tulsa went to bowl game last season and had a player drafted in the first round.

I need a music video and a Coors Light to go to sleep. The fact we didn’t take Davion Mitchell will bother me for at least two months.

I love this song. This will put me to sleep immediately. One of my favorite songs by Sting. Have a nice Tuesday night watching Cade vs. Jalen Green.

Here we are in the dog days of August. The NBA’s G-League is underway. I won’t watch all that much of the Thunder’s games since they won those two late season games versus Boston and the LA Clippers and foolishly won two games and missed out on a top five pick.

Josh Giddey’s first game as Thunder lasted five minutes before he fell down and sprained his ankle and was a DNP the rest of the game in what is a developmental league.

OKC behind a very crisp performance by guard Theo Maledon beat Cade Cunningham’s Pistons’ by a 76-72 count.

Cade struggled and was not stellar in this game.

The Pistons play Jalen Green’s Houston Rocket club tomorrow night in what will give us a game featuring the top two picks in the draft. This will be a game I make sure and watch.

I see no reason to watch all that much of the Thunder in the summer G-League because in fact they’re primarily going to be a G-League level team this season for 82 games. The questions in Oklahoma City will be how many games Sam Presti allows Shai to participate in this season and will Lu Dort become a small forward like PJ Tucker?

Shai on this Thunder team will make OKC a G-League team on steroids with a ringer.

The next question in Oklahoma City is if Presti has his overall roster bad enough at this point to stay in the 22-25 win range this season in a non-tanking NBA season.

If I recall..Vegas had OKC at 22.5 wins over/under last season on a roster which started with Big Al Horford and George Hill alongside Shai.

I feel for Shai, but he just reupped on his contract so I’m to assume being relevant in the legue isn’t a thing for him right now. Trey Young reupped, but he’s on a team which just made the Eastern Conference Finals.

Hopefully…in the next Thunder G Laegue game this summer Josh Giddey can keep from falling down and give Thunder ticket buyers a reason to buy some tickets if in fact the Thunder allow fans inside of PayCom Arena this season.

OKC along with Portland and Chicago never allowed fans last season inside of their arenas with their team Covid protocol.

Cade vs. Jalen…I can’t wait.

Moral of the story…when you’re tanking don’t beat the Celtics and Clippers in late season games you needed to lose.

I bet Sam Anderson of NY Times fame like me…thought to himself Operation Bongo never ends in Oklahoma City….does it.

Amidst everything which has transpired the past two weeks…the Big 12 teams are in their camps and training for what could be the last season of play for the conference.

It’s been since 2005 in which a Big 12 team won the national championship. In that period of time… OU with Sam Bradford in 2008 made it to the finals against Urban Myers’ Florida Gators. In 2009– the Texas Longhorns with Colt McCoy made it to national championship night before losing to the Alabama Crimson Tide.

OU has made it to the national semi-final game four times since then and gone a collective 0-4 against Clemson, Georgia, Alabama, and LSU. Only in the Georgia game could it be said the Sooners had a chance to win in the second half. OU actually should have won that game. Lincoln Riley needs to ring that bell.

In that same period of time no other Big 12 team has dinged the semi-finals with an appearance. It has been a one team league with one team in essence carrying the only real hope for any team in the conference of appearing in the College Football National Championship Playoff.

Quite the opposite has been the case in basketball as the Big 12 has emerged as the best basketball league in college hoops with Baylor recently winning the national championship over Gonzaga. The season before Kansas and Baylor were the respective one and two seeds in the entire bracket before Covid wiped out the tournament. The season before that Chris Beard’s Texas Tech team came within seconds of winning the national champuonship versus Virginia.

It’s ironic how hoops has thrived in the Big 12 while football other than for one team hasn’t been much.

The Big 12 is a finesse league in which QB play is paramount to a team’s success. I will say this though…OU, Iowa State, and O State have all improved on the defensive side of the ball in the past two seasons.

I would also add that in my view Spencer Rattler, Brock Purdy, and Spencer Sanders enter this season as the three best QBs returning in the league.

Texas under first year coach Steve Sarkisian is an unknown at this point so I can’t have them any higher than fourth. Texas has been the biggest problem in the league the past ten years as in they don’t pull their link on the chain. We’ll see if the former USC offensive savant can turn Texas back into a football program versus just being the Federal Reserve of the league.

I would go 1 OU, 2 Iowa State, and 3 O State. Texas..4. I would think among these top four teams.

If you went went purely on objective data based on the last three years …Iowa State with Matt Campbell is the Big 12 Team which should be heading to the SEC with OU. But as we know the world is for sale every day and Texas is the Federal Reserve of college athletics…like it or not. But I am proud a former John Marshall Bear is running that Federal Reserve… that’s pretty cool. It shows the American Dream is still a thing.

Spencer Sanders is the player I have circled. The former high school national player of the year is now a fourth year junior redshirt. His resume hasn’t matched up to the expectations yet. But this could be the time if he would simply run the football more and create space for his receivers by putting pressure on the other team’s corners. Watch the above video…Spencer. Running the football is your best skill.

Vince Young was horrible until in 2004 in the Rose Bowl versus Michigan … then the light switch went on and Mack Brown became a good coach. Player makes the coach—don’t ever forget that. Just ask Greg Poppovich… Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant…simple game.

If I’m O State prez Kayse Schrum I have November 27th circled. If my Mullet King five million plus dollar coach can’t get it done I’d be looking to be making a change heading into the future regardless of where O State lands.

I mean if you as a coach can’t have your team team jacked to win this game on this stage then it’s time to become a television analyst.

Win the game and make the Big 12 Championship Game. It’s that simple.

Amidst the signings by various free agents and the NBA draft itself this caught my attention as PJ Tucker signed a two year contract with the Miami Heat for two years for $15 million dollars with a player option in the second year.

A very nice move by the Heat as they straighten up their team after being swept by the Bucks 4-0 in the Eastern Conference Playoffs in the first round.

PJ Tucker isn’t a star by any means, but he’s certainly one of those players who does all the little things which make a team better.

A tough minded versatile defensive player who can hit the three from the corner as well.

It’s the kind of move which doesn’t draw star attention from the media, but still a nice move by the Miami Heat.

His best game of the Finals on the road in Game 5 versus the Phoenix Suns was a key to the Bucks winning in six games.

If I were Lu Dort this is the player I would immulate my game around moving forward with my career.

Surely…the Thunder don’t plan on trading Lu Dort anytime soon.

This move by the Heat is one I’m circling in my Beat Vegas notebook for the upcoming NBA season

PJ Tucker, good luck in Miami. They need you.

I guess unless I missed it Tyler Herro is still on the Heat. Tyler…PJ Tucker needs to rub off on your game. I love the smirk, but you need some PJ Tucker in your game even if the Heat trade you.

UT Ptesident Jay Hartzell grew up in Oklahoma and is a John Marshall High School alum just like me. Small world.

He took some grilling on Monday from the Texas state legislature on the Longhorns’ decision to leave the Big 12.

Texas was compared to Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation and scorned for the Horns being 3-7 versus the TCU Horned Frogs these past ten seasons. See former TCU grad Dan Jenkins up in Frog heaven smiling.

But are the Longhorns responsible for the ever rapidly changing face of the college football landscape?

I would say no.

UT is like a bank or the federal reserve. They have so much money it is ridiculous. Their presence in a conference gives that conference immediate financial cache so to speak.

Texas in football the past decade in my mind along with UCLA, USC, and Michigan has been a major underacheiver on the field. I’d love to put these four in a Final Four and see who would emerge as the champion right now.

Throw out Colorado leaving the Big 12 to join the PAC 12. Re-insert Texas A&M, Nebraska, and Missouri back into the Big 12 and slide Texas over to the SEC these past ten years in your mind.

What would be different about the current face of the college football landscape except the best league in the country would have even more financial clout?

Texas A&M and Missouri were not strong enough when in the Big 12 to take out OU. Nebraska was allowed to play in the league’s weaker North division and didn’t do all that much and was in decline. Tell me how many combined Big 12 championships A&M, Missouri and Nebraska won in football in that Big 12. What would be different?

Not much except OU wouldn’t be as strong because they would have lost the Red River Rivalry as a critical recruiting tool. BY going to the SEC there will be no more 11:00am kickoffs for the Red River War. It will be a 2:30pm kickoff. Every high school football player in Texas will be watching. So while the world is for sale every day and money rules there were other cosiderations for Joe C.

The SEC is run like a very effective business with a methodical plan to in essence rule college football in totality at some point if not already.

Simply observe how the SEC manages Covid issues and getting thru a season versus the Big 12. There would not have been a college football season if not for the SEC last season and I would say with surging Covid numbers once again this season might be a repeat in that regard.

Did Texas wreck the Big 12?

I don’t think so. What happened in my mind is that the SEC and the Big Ten adapted to the doctrine that Money and Marketing Rule and have emerged as the power brokers.

OU would have loved to have been accepted to the Big Ten. What OU did in effect by joining the SEC was hookup it’s remarkable football brand with a bank and join the best run, best marketed football conference in the country.

And that is exactly what Joe C and the OU new president should have done as fiduciaries of the university and the state.

Jay Hartzell a John Marshall Bear running the Texas National Bank…that’s cool. It just goes to show how having some diversity in your unbringing isn’t a bad thing. It socializes you and makes you an adaptable human who sees the world from multiple prisms.