Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

First off…congrats to the Thunder for starting the season as defending champs at 8-0 with a workmanlike road victory over a Clipper squad which in reality is nothing more than a play-in type of team without Kawhi Leonard.

Like the real MJ, Michael Jordan….this MJ, Mike Jackson, is already weary this NBA season of watching more load management than stars stepping up and leading their resepctive teams. Not at all the case with Shai though as he’s been everything you’d want from your MVP and franchise player.

1/8th of the way through this young NBA regular season and Shai is already my in the clubhouse leader to defend his MVP as well as the NBA championship. He’s got that look in his eye MJ loves. That hungry look.

My notion is Shai has taken all Sam Presti’s pre-season words to heart and is completely in a zone to make this Thunder group the first NBA team to repeat since the Warriors did the trick in 2016-17. Repeats are all around us currently in the four major sports if you’re paying close attention.

The Florida Panthers of the NHL repeated this past June and will be looking to three-peat this hockey season. The LA Dodgers just repeated in front of us with a seven game thriller in one of the best World Series of all-time. If I had to pick the Super Bowl champion right now on November 5th…MJ would pick Jalen Hurts and the Eagles to repeat as well.

Which leads into my take on the Thunder a mere eight games in..the Thunder in my book are somewhere between a solid favorite to a prohibitive favorite to repeat depending on the health of their Big 6.

My Thunder Big 6 goes in this order currently…1 Shai, 2 JDub, 3 Chet, 4 Caruso, 5 Dort, and 6 I-Hart. If these six guys stay healthy and it will be tough for anybody to derail the Thunder…even the Denver Nuggets as they continue to search for team chemistry with this new team they’ve put together.

Something else to consider though…the emergence of Aaron Wiggins and Ajay Mitchell trning this into a Big 8. Last night… Ajay +31, Aaron + 26. That’s where the Nuggets and evevry other team in the league have a problem, that being, two guys at N. 7 and No. 8 like Ajay and Aaron.

I had a great time at the OU doubleheader on Monday evening. Both the men and women should have very competitive teams. The women especially… if they reach their potential should be at the least an Elite 8 type of team if the young newcomers figure things out by January.

My OU seat this year is right next to the OU student section and the band. I love it. It’s like being young again as I was in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Both schedules get challenging in a hurry as the OU men travel to play at Gonzaga this week-end, while the Sooner women host UCLA on Monday night. MJ will be in his seat on Monday night for certain. We’ll find out quite a bit about point guard Lia Chavez on Monday night I would suspect. She looks like a big-time baller to MJ though. She just needs to gradually acclimate herself into the role of starting point guard. Notice how little of Coach B’s presser dwelled on her freshman guard. Jennie knows this is a process in which the seniors are comfortable with.

Love, kindness, and peace as always.

MJ

What a massive week-end of sports!

Toronto gives away the World Series with some of the worst base running I’ve ever witnessed. Literally…the Blue Jays had basic base running gaffes dealing with their third base coach in games 3, 6, and 7. The Jays would have been better served with a dead corpse coaching third base in this historically good World Series.

But give Dave Roberts and the Dodgers credit for gutting it up in the final two games in Toronto and pulling off their repeat. Yamamoto did end up winning the official MVP, while my pick Will Smith was second. Both were deserving.

Toronto fans must feel sick this Monday. They had the Series in their grasp, but pissed it away with sloppy base running and some unfortunate luck, the ball sticking in the bottom of the wall play… and Kiki Hernandez’s incredibly smart ‘on the ball play’ to pull off the double play to end Game 6. Toronto needs to get a new third base coach and evidently spend more time on basic baserunning fundamentals beyond just trotting around the bases on homers and gestures with their hands.

My Packers sucked offensively yesterday at home and lost to the suddenly very respectable Carolina Panthers. My Broncos won their fifth straight by winning at Houston over CJ Stroud and the Texans. Leading MVP candidate Baker Mayfield was idle…hopefully next week he’ll have both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin back in his receiving arsenal.

Everyone loves Baker accept Jim Traber and surly O State fans who’ve never come to terms with their overall record in Bedlam. Other than Patrick Mahomes…is there another NFL player doing more ads than Baker?

Right now I have Baker with a slight MVP lead over Josh Allen.

My Sooners?

Great win at Knoxville.. A great win to put the Sooners in a position to travel to Alabama in two weeks and see what they can do defensively against Tide QB… Ty Simpson, who is my leading Heisman candidate. MJ never wants players to get injured, but if Ty Simpson were to get concussed this coming Saturday in their game versus the universally hated LSU Tigers…grief would not overcome MJ.

Owen Heineke…as I wrote yesterday was impactful in the first half Saturday in Knoxville. His play, plus that of Taylor Wein and Kip Lewis were almost as impactful. SEC Play of the Week had to be Owen’s massive hit on the the Vol QB who fumbled the ball right into the massive hands of R Mason Thomas.

That play was a FOURTEEN POINT SWING…ON THE ROAD when the Sooners were about to be knocked out with a second round TKO.

Massive play for my Sooners. Just massive. With massive being being the key adjective of the Sooners’ inspirational comeback win.

Off week for the Sooners this week-end… and much needed for Kobie, R Mason, and offensive tackle Derek Simmons, who in my mind is the Sooners’ best offensive tackle.

MJ had a rousing workout this morning and is now headed to Norman to watch both Jenni B and Porter’s basketball teams kick off their basketball campaigns. I think both teams will be good. Porter did some significant work with the roster this off season.

The Thunder improved to 7-0 with an easy win over the horrifically bad New Orleans Pleicans on Sunday night. MJ doesn’t cover games on his uniquely high quality content blog. I only cover games were both teams put reasonable teams on the floor or field of play.

Off to Norman for a great evening college basketball.

MJ

It’s never over till it’s over and these Sooners aren’t ready to pack in their CFP hopes just yet. It was shaky in that first period of tumult, but Brent Venables young men steadied themselves like a pummeled boxer in the corner from a knockout via the R Mason Thomas Scoop & Score and in reality pretty much dictated the terms the rest of the way in Knoxville as the Sooners prevailed in a mild upset by a score of 33-27.

OU improves to 7-2 overall versus the toughest schedule in CFS and 3-2 in the overall toughest conference of the four Power 4 conferences. True, Ohio State and Indiana are ranked higher, but the overall depth of the Big 10 isn’t nearly as deep and treacherous as the SEC.

This was the first game since John Mateer’s hand injury that in reality he really turned it loose with his running game. When Mateer can run as he did versus Michigan and Auburn, and as he did last night against the Volunteers—these Sooners are a different animal. Add to the running game mix is the fact 240 lb. running back Xavier Robinson is finally healthy again and doing what he did the back third of last season.

With Mateer now playing fearless again, plus the fact Xavier now has a two game streak of 100 yard plus games– these final three games of the regular season still offer a glimmer of hope for the Sooners to crack the Top 12 simply because I feel certain the Committee will reward a hot team on a late run with two losses who has the played the most challenging schedule of the combined 153 CFS teams.

OU thankfully has an off week now as that will allow both R Mason Thomas and linebacker Kobe McKenzie to get healthy for the Alabama game.

Lest we forget…last year’s national championship game featured two …two loss teams–Ohio State and Notre Dame.

Alabama hosts LSU next week-end. Maybe OU will get lucky and the dysfunctional Tigers will play inspired and physical ball versus the Tide and bang them up a little for the Sooners. To me…the key for OU versus Bama will be can they get their pass rush to Ty Simpson, and will the Sooners be able to RUN THE FOOTBALL ENOUGH to be two dimensional?

So many helmut stickers from last night….so here I so in this order….

1 John Mateer As JM goes the Sooners will go.

2 Kicker Tate Sandal Tate accounted for 15 points last night. Best kicker in the country so far this season.

3 R Mason Thomas Even though he got knocked out of the game his Scoop & Score was in essence a 14 point play.

4 Owen Heineke Toughest motherf–ker on the field last night.*

5 Taylor Wein Maybe the second toughest motherf–ker on the field last night.*

6 Kip Lewis Prolly MJ’s favorite player on the team these past two seasons.*

That’s it for MJ today. Maybe tomorrow or tonight I’ll talk about those two amazing LA Dodger game ending double-plays in Game 6 and Game 7 which gave them a repeat World Series championship. Will Smith was my MVP, Yamamota…a very close second.

Peace, love, and mercy.

MJ

• Footnote…below is what Owen, Taylor, and Kip gave us last night in Knoxville. More of this will be needed in two weeks if the Sooners are to derail the Tide on the road. Job well done last night, guys.

I had the San Antonio Spurs as one of my four teams I ‘thought’ might emerge this season as a Western Conference contender and so far they haven’t let me down even with the injury delay to D’Aaron Fox’s season.

Two weeks into what so far has been an injury marred season and it seems every team in the Association has injury issues. Yet we see OKC at 6-0 with the Spurs at 5-0 headi into Emirates NBA Cup play.. Don’t worry though, MJ isn’t embracing the Spurs as ‘his’ team like he has with the 3-1 Denver Nuggets, but I think at this point it would be prudent to start including these Spurs on the blog.

BTW…Robert, our six year-old just began his first youth basketball season in a league at the Denver University facilities and is already showing his grandfather an outside shot very similar in style to that of his favorite NBA player…Alex Caruso.

But back to the Spurs… this could be the season, and as fervent NBA fans we hope it is that the Spurs once again emerge as a force in the West to signal the beginning of the Mitch Johnson Era in Hill Country.

I loved Pop, but it was time for the transition and it appears they have the right person in place. The NBA schedulers appear to be prescient in having tabbed OKC vs San Antonio as their No. 1 premier time slot matchup on Christmas afternoon. I have already have that slatedfor my Christmas Day schedule and since Robert loves Caruso there won’t be any argument as to the television being tuned into the game. RJII will be donning his Caruso jersey while MJ has on his powder blue Jamal jersey.

To me…the Spurs looked poised to do what OKC did two years ago…that is, break out of the tanking syndrome, start playing real basketball, and probably crack the fifty win barrier if they can avoid Wemby getting injured.

And BTW, Chet Holmgren didn’t die in Game 4 this season. Coach Mark has assured the Thunder fanbase Chet’s regular season isn’t over after the back bruise he suffered in Dallas.

When Chet returns of course will remain a mystery though since Oklahoma City in reality doesn’t have a legit beat writer covering the team like other cities do. As it is in Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia…when the time comes–the team will announce Chet’s full recovery from the back bruise he suffered in Game 4 in their own manner.

But enough of that. As you will see and hear from the video…Mitch Johnson is a high energy, positive coach who will probably emerge as one of the league’s best coaches as we see this season unwind. Plus, of course…he has Wemby. Don’t ever forget the First Axiom of Coaching: layer Makes the Coach. Always.

Chet…get well soon, buddy. You and JDub are both max guys now and even though Shai won’t say it–me and the real Michael Jordan will—you dudes are being paid ig boy dollars to help him through the 82-game marathon season so he can walk once the NBA Playoffs begin. Know what I mean?

Let the Emirates NBA Cup play begin as soon as this World Series concludes and Toronto has a parade.

Eternal love, the fake MJ.

I actually like the LA Dodgers. I’ve seen some of these guys play in Oklahoma City for the AAA Dodgers. There was that one night when my son took me to watch Clayton Kershaw pitch on a rehab assignment versus the Iowa Oaks which turned out to be one of the great sports nights of my life. My son then took me to a watch party with his friends to watch Floyd Merriweather fight the white trash cage fighter…what’s his name.

It was iconic. Merriweather won the fight, then I ended up at the Waffle House in north Oklahoma City at two in the morning. The place was packed with other people who watched the fight. I was the only white in the place, but fully embraced at the counter by the crowd when I announced my love for Merriweather.

It was a turning point moment for me as an older brown man. It was like an out of body experience or at the least being the feature on an Anthony Bourdain episode some place far away from Oklahoma. It was on that night, at that Waffle House, at that counter—that I realized MJ enjoyed being around black and brown people more than the phony white Christians who would eventually turn into the very same fake Trump Christians we witness today…but not as much in Oklahoma City and Norman as we do in Oklahoma’s other seventy-four 1920ish counties.

So as I’ve sat watching these incredibly tough Blue Jays oversome the loss of George Springer in Game 3…and the loss of Game 3 in the 18th inning—I must admit… I’ve fallen love with these guys for what they have done in these last two World Series games.

I wonder if Shai and Lu are as amped up as I am about the Jays winning their first World Series since 1993?

Who was president in 1993? It was Bill Clinton. Year one, first term. Who would have known the depths of hatred one blow job would have on the Republic. Who would have known Clinton, beyond the blow job, would leave the legacy of five succesive budget surpluses in his presidential, two-term wake.

Who would have known…Bill Clinton did what every Republican president since Reagan has never done even though they all are fake fiscal conservatives as well as being fake Christians as well.

Who would have known the revenue tax policies of Reagan, not Bush 41 so much, but certainly Bush 43, and Trump– would have the U.S. national debt at a staggering 37 trillion as I posit on the modest, award-winning okcthunderground.com blog.

So in closing…I have to admit even though I love the older Dodgers on the team like Clayton, Will Smith, and even Max Muncey—my competitive baseball heart is with the resilient Toronto Blue Jays to win this World Series and have one helluva parade which I’m sure would be something all Canadians and probably somewhere around 270 million Americans could use right now given the darkness of the Trump era as far as real Christian values, real compassion for other humans, and real fiscal responsibility go.

So good luck to the Toronto Blue Jays., and in the name of Joe Carter, Jr—finish the job!

Peace and eternity forever.

Go Jays!

Del Mar bound in January!!!

MJ

Putting aside the pathetic NBA gambling scandal story being broken last week…otherwise it was a stellar week for the NBA on Opening Week.

OKC’s Thunder as defending champs has proudly presented itself as the clear cut favorite going 3-0 last week without JDub, Caruso, and Kenrich. Add to the fact–Shai has been even better than last season’s MVP version with a 55 point effort on the road versus the injury depleted Indiana Pacers.

This is where I give Chet an encouraging pat on the back for his solid 31 point performance in Game 3 on the road against the Atlanta Hawks. This is exactly what Shai needs from Chet every third game or so, especially with JDub out. Shai got some much needed rest in the 4th period against the Hawks. Keep this in mind…Shai played a combined 92 minutes in the Thunder’s first two wins over Houston and Indiana.

Here’s what I would also say three games in…none of OKC’s three wins have come against a team I currently have in my Top 12. Houston doesn’t have a point guard and is 0-2, Indiana is not even remotely the same team they were last season on their run to the Finals, and Atlanta appears to have a very serious identity issue as a basketball team.

The Thunder are in Dallas tonight playing the confused Dallas Mavs who I do not currntly have in my Top 16 poll. Cooper Flagg’s NBA debut was in three words…horrific and borderline unwatchable. Hopefully, for his parents’ sake it will be better for him tonight versus the Thunder.

The Denver Nugget are 1-1 two games in with a tough road loss against the better than I thought they would be Golden State Warriors. Aaron Gordon in my mind has passed Jamal Murray as the Nuggets’ second most valuable player behind Nikola.

Another tough road game tonight for the Nuggets at Minny. Then the Nuggets have very four winnable games against the same type of competition the Thunder have faced their first four games. Cam Johnson struggled in his first game as a Nugget, then was much better agianst the Suns with a 15 point performance in Game 2.

Coach David Adelman doesn’t need Cam Johnson to be a star. He already has three of those in Nikola, Aaron, and Jamal. What Coach Adelman needs from Cam is 14-16 points a game and some game to game consistenty Michael Porter Jr. could never delievered when it mattered.

Otherwise…I think Denver game by game will look more comfortable as a team as they define their roles. Denver has not extended Peyton Watson…and I agree with that move. Peyton, buddy, this is Dr. El Prez in Deer Creek, Oklahoma home of the semi-iconic okcthunderground.com…let me give you some unsolicted advice—PICK IT UP IN HURRY IN A SIGNIFICANT MANNER.

In closing…don’t sleep on the youthful 3-0 San Antonio Spurs or the aged Golden State Warriors if Steph and Jimmy B stay healthy.

Peace, love, harmony, and mercy.

MJ

Pau like Alperin…was a dude. He was Kobe’s dude as well. Trust me on that one. And though Phil Jackson l;ost his composure there at the end with Pau….the Zenmaster loved him as well.

I miss Kobe so much. His takes on Trump and our country would be immensely interesting to me right now. Kobe is proof you don’t need a college degree or degrees to be a very smart intuned human being. I loved his book, movie, and political takes. We had/have similar tastes in those regards.

I love Nick Collison as well. Unfortunate for Nick he’s on the court on this video what out turns out be the No. 1 Pau Gasol career highlight.

I will be sure and correct that soon and put up my favorite Nick Collison career video as well.

Like Kobe… and even though Nick wasn’t a star, he’s one who’s voice I’ve always admired and listened to about what goes on the court and off of the basketball court.

I hope Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier didn’t do something too bad to get on the wrong side of Donald Trump’s puppet FBI Director. I hope that’s not a tragic story for those guys and the NBA. But my head and heart thinks they’re probably in a very bad spot. It’ll be another depressing story to follow.

Thunder at Indiana tonight. I have no idea who’s healthy for the Thunder tonight. Caruso in concussion protocol…which I expected after seeing the play.

So this means from MJ’s take Chet, Lu Dort, Isaiah Hartenstein, Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins, Ajay, Isaiah Joe, maybe either of the rooks down there at the end of the bench…Alabama and Northwestern. Do your job, guys. No JDub or Caruso on the road. Let’s see what you guys have got. Superman can’t do this alone.

So we’ll see how it goes tonight in Indy.

Peace.

MJ

An exciting season opener pairing two teams from the West who most NBA followers have in their top four teams in the entire league. Houston will need to acquire a point guard to replace Fred van Fleet though if they truly aspire to beat OKC, Denver, Minnesota, and perhaps even Golden State in the West.

Reed Sheppard is a player I would put somewhat in the equivalency of maybe an Isaiah Joe type. I don’t want to be overly harsh on him, but for Houston to hold the O’Brien Trophy at the end of the day… the Rockets will need more from a real two-way point guard in the goal acheiving portion of April, May, and June.

Coach Ime Udoka says, ” We’ll handle the point guard sitiation by committee. MJ says, ” I don’t think so.”

Amen Thompson is a virtual star, but his job is shutting the best offensive players in the league down… as he did last night versus Shai until he got in foul trouble.

Kevin Durant is too old and last night in his senility called a timeout which his team didn’t have left and it should have cost his team the game right there and then. But I never boo Kevin… ever. If anything, KD should get a retroactive Nobel Peace Prize for playing alongside Russell Westbrook for eight seasons and not strangling Russell to death for his irresponsible-reckless point guard play. Kevin was prescient in his determination that Russell would never win a championship. You Thunder fans still booing… “Stop it—you look foolish a decade later.”

Jabari Smith… could maybe play some point guard here and there as a change of pace when the matchups might be in their favor. But in reality…Houston will need to pick up a solid veteran two-way point guard sometime this season.

Otherwise…the Rockets are legit and basically loaded. Alperin Segun is a DUDE and a burgeoning star who should be getting more talk from the national basketball people.

Who does he remind me of?

Maybe a more physical version of Pau Gasol. BTW…I think Pau would have played in this version of culturally purple Oklahoma City alongside of Shai and JDub.

I need to think some more on that one. He has size, toughness, smarts, the offensive instincts, and a three point shot improving as we witness the transformation of his game. Isaiah can’t handle this guy on the blocks, and neither can Chet. Maybe in a series it would need to be JDub.

Houston Rockets…four words–GET A POINT GUARD. It doesn’t need to be a star. Just someone solid.

I wrote before the game last night, ” Shai is Superman. That’s what MJ wrote. And lo and behold as Amen Thompson got to his fourth and fifth fouls…we witnessed Shai take control of the game and gently lead his teammates to victory on one of those nights when none of them really pulled their collective links on the chain minus perhaps Ajay Mitchell and at sporadic intervals.

Chet who is now on a max contract.Shai needs more from Chet. Sam Presti needs more from Chet. Chet’s max contract is the one part of the Thunder’s ‘open window’ current payroll construction which makes MJ a little nervous.

The Thunder are at Indiana on Thursday evening. I want see how the rest of the team minus Shai shoots the ball on the road without JDub in the lineup. I’m looking for guys like Lu, Caruso, Wiggins, Isaiah Hartenstein, Ajay, and maybe JWill and Isaiah Joe to knock down some threes and take the offensive pressure off of Shai.

Chet be a star, buddy. Be a maxlevel star. Play like a max guy both halves. Professional consistency is where your game nees to travel to take it to the next level. You don’t need to be Superman. Shai has that covered. But don’t play like a Rudy Gobert-like slug out there either.

I never watch much of the news anymore. It depresses me too much.

So excuse the SNL updates, but I need to try and keep smiling–one way or the other.

Peace.

MJ

I would say probably…yes–given how much better the Denver Nuggets should be if they avoid serious injuries during the season.

But I will add this hastily–there need to be nights when we witness both JDub and Chet play at Superman levels themselves.

Shai is the star. JDub is Robin who on certain nights will play at an MVP level himself. Chet is the extra piece. If he can stay healthy and go thru an entire season without serious injury—he’s the piece which potentially makes the Thunder a possible repeat team, but perhaps even a little more, maybe a mini-dynasty which could do what we’ve just witnessed the Kansas City Chiefs do these last six years or so.

Sam Presti has done his work.

As the Thunder are currently structured this franchise at the least has an open window to an NBA championship for at least six seasons.

Injuries and fate will play a part in this. Those two unpredictables always come into play. A general manager cannot control those two variables.

I have not watched either the the Thunder or Nuggets play a combined ten minutes of pre-season basketball.

MJ detests NBA pre-season games. Pre season games are for evaluation and in some cases conditioning.

This is by far the most amped I’ve been for an NBA season since I started my modest award winning underground NBA blog.

So…in closing—does Shai have to be Superman for the Thunder to repeat?

Yeah…there are and will still be times he needs to be Superman like George Springer was last night, but what I think most NBA bloggers like myself are looking for…is how far JDub and Chet move their games upward this season.

I’m ready for this to get going.

MJ

MJ is back from an idyllic week in Greenwood Village, Coloardo. It was perfect as we caught the immense and stunning autumn foilage at peak color. Just stunning the colors were of the maples, ash, gingko, spruce, pistache, oak, and aspen trees. And the burning bushes with their deep red are absolutely stunning. Don’t sleep on the burning bushes.

Plus, we spent a half day at the Denver Botanical Center on Thursday…and then ate at a vegan restaurant by the name of the Next Level Burger. It was right there on the strip at the University of Denver…and it was awesome. Not as good as the Red Cup in OKC, but awesome.

Robert was solid in his hockey game on Saturday and Aubrey did well at her gymnastics event as well. We are blessed as grandparents.

Throw into the mix the Sooners’ complete physical domination of South Carolina on the road and the Denver Broncos remarkable fourth quarter rally from a late 19-0 deficit to beat the NY Giants on the game’s final play by a score of 33-32. And of course… another win for my Packers and it was a great football week-end as well.

What more could an old ‘iconic’ NBA blogger ask for?

Plus…it was nice to see the O State students took my advice and diversed their in-game antics to include not only dancing partially nude, but to include some include jumping human bananas as well.

I like it. I admire their creativity. This is what life is all about..that being, responding to adversity. How were any of these young people to know O State would would self-administer the death penalty to their own football program by allowing Mike Gundy to return this season?

These youngsters in Stillwater did nothing wrong. They and their parents thought or assumed they would be attending a school which played Division I football.

So MJ’s advice to these younsters is the same…partial nudity, the bananas were a nice touch, now maybe some sort of dangerous live animal like a lion, a tiger, or a bear would add to the diversion to what is actually transpiring on the field.

What a nice moment last night for George Springer and the entire country of Canada as GS’s 7th inning dinger propelled the Jays to their first World Series since 1993 when Joe Carter Jr. went yard off of Mitch ‘Wild Thing’ Williams with the most famous walk-off homer of all-time.

I must admit..it was emotional last night for me…thinking back to my father’s close relationship to Joe Sr. who became my fishing mentor as a youngster. I will admit–I teared up a little. I was 36 years of age when Joe Jr. went yard off of Wild Thing. Mitch Williams was never the same as a major league pitcher after allowing that homer.

The Thunder open their defense of the NBA championship tonight with a home opener versus the Houston Rockets minus Fred van Fleet.

I’m more than excited about this NBA season.

MJ is pumped.

Eternal peace.

MJ