Month: May 2021

Some great games yesterday…especially the Atlanta thiller over the NY Knicks and the Memphis Grizz win over the Jazz without Donovan Mitchell.

Before I get started on what will be Sam Presti Week on my blog… I have to give a shout out to Atlanta coach Nate McMillan. One could very well make the statement he should be in the conversation for Coach of the Year. Since he took over in early March the Hawks have been one of the better teams in the league and former Sooner Trae Young has been percolating.

As I watched this game it made me remember how last season I literally begged Sam Presti on my blog to trade Chris Paul for either Tyler Herro or RJ Barrett. Of course…Tyler helped get the Heat to the Finals last season and RJ is blossoming into a star in New York.

RJ would have been a great fit for the Thunder being he’s Canadian like Shai and Lu Dort. Maybe these three Canadians kids would have bonded was my thought and been the trifecta moving forward in Oklahoma City was as well part of what I was thinking. But no…we have a starving emaciated Kid Poku instead from Serbia. Also…with the three Canadian kids their skill sets don’t overlap per se. They would have given us three uniquely talented young guys. We should have actually tanked last year truth be known. We could have thrown Gallanari into the trade as well.

The Milwaukee Bucks got Giannnis back in the day as the 15th pick in his draft class. Kawhi Leonard was the 15th pick in his class. Jrue Holiday was the 17th pick in his class….just like Kid Poku was last summer.

My point? There is and has been excellent value beneath the top ten picks in the NBA’s draft if you have the right basketball people with you in the room.

Quite frankly—you and your people had it completely wrong back in the days of Kevin Durant. Your people built a team to beat Andrew Bynum and the Lakers instead of a team which could beat Steph and Klay. Clay Bennett and that tea sipper ownership group you work for might not notice such things… but a grinder from John Marshall knows exactly how much you missed the mark.

Kyle Singler, Josh Huestis, and Alex Abrines…really?

Since it’s become obvious to me Berry Tramel, Royce Young, or even Jenni Carlson are never going to ask you a tough question… I feel the need for having a Sam Presti Week on my blog….kind of like Shark Week.

Nothing personal….you just need to be better evaluating talent beyond what a player’s length is.

Can a player shoot? Can he think and read and react? Does he have vision? Is he coachable? Will his game evolve because of his work ethic? Should we have really ever put shooting guards around Kevin Durant who couldn’t shoot?

LeBron is almost done and AD without LeBron won’t be that much of a deal…so what we need to be doing in OKC with all this draft capital currency is making sure we’re the next ‘it ‘ team in the NBA. Sometimes you have to be ruthless. It’s a ruthless league. If we have to steal a player like Jerry West stole from you…then so be it.

‘We’ have thirty-four combined first and second round picks in the next six years. Let’s make sure we get the maximum juice from the pulp.

I hope you take this the right way because I’m pretty sure we both want Oklahoma City to win a championship.

Saw this tweet and I want to put it on my blog. Klay is my favorite player in the NBA. He wasn’t a top six pick in his draft class.He was the eleventh player taken in his draft class from sleepy Washington State of all places.

When Jerry West was the guru for the process in Golden State which built three championship teams… he once said, “If you trade Klay Thompson..I’m quitting tomorrow.”

Steph may be the star, but Klay is the soul of the team.

A pristine three point shooter who got better off the dribble as his career progressed and a bulldog of a defender.

Klay hasn’t played since the NBA Finals vs. the Toronto Raptors in 2019. A knee injury followed by an Achilles injury. I’m hoping for the best for Klay. The league needs players like Klay to promote the sport.

Klay’s tweet after the loss to Memphis:

‘ I’ve got to watch a lot of hoops the last 2 years, and figured out quick it’s not my specialty. While our season comes to an end, mines just getting started and I’ve never been hungrier. I TRULY BELIEVE my best ball lies ahead of me, We ain’t done I promise you that.’

Klay Thompson…11th pick in his class, Kawhi Leonard 15th pick in his draft class, Devin Booker 13th player taken in his class, Donovan Mitchell the 13th player taken in his class, SGA the 11th pick of his class…and so on.

Sam Presti… you don’t need to tank next year. You merely need to use ‘some’ of your draft capital this summer and come away with another star combo guard to go along with SGA.

There are three guys at least who could fill this void…Cade, Jalen Suggs, or Davion Mitchell. For gods sake as GM of the Thunder you reside in a state which borders the best basketball high school talent in the country in Texas.

If we get the the Houston pick…even better. That’s gravy.

Enough of the bullshit talk about tanking again next season.

You proved following the 2012 NBA Finals appearance you couldn’t deal with three stars on a team by the Harden trade. So stop with the talk about tanking next season. You and your scouting staff do your job.

Tank to do what? Trade another star player to another team in the West.

Let’s go. Get with it.

This isn’t the Daily Thunder where you send them suggestions on the daily content. An honest word is written here occasionally.

Maybe someone else should be involved with the Thunder drafting process. Any blind fool would have taken Kevin Durant after Portland foolishly took Greg Oden back in the day. Here’s what I’m saying… Sam Presti without Kevin Durant has done very little except shuffle players around the league.

Not one single Thunder team since Durant has won one single first round playoff series. He could grow a mullet at this point and challenge Mike Gundy for Mullet King irrelevance at this point.

With thirty-four combined first and second round picks bewteen now and 2027—I find it odd we as Thunder fans couldn’t get something like Klay’s tweet instead of the ominous warning another season of tanking is ahead for the Thunder.

This was a great basketball game. I put hockey on the backburner to watch this game even with the Boston Bruins and Colorado Avs both playing on Friday night.

It pretty much confirms everything I’ve written to date on my blog in regards to Steph, Ja Morant, and Klay Thompson.

1 Steph is a great player who had an MVP season, but on this night without Klay his team couldn’t get past the Memphis Grizzlies at home in a must win situation. Think about the last shot in regulation which Draymond Green took instead of either Steph or Klay. That badly missed shot says it all. Steph without Klay is still a fabulous player, but not championship relevant.

Draymond and Andrew Wiggins are decent third and fourth best players, but Steph needs Klay. Tom Brady needs Gronk. Gretzky neede Messier.

Steph to me is somewhat the basketball equivalent of Wayne Gretzky in hockey. Gretzky was the greatest scorer the sport of hockey has ever seen, but without the bulldog of Mark Messier next to him he never won anything in either LA or NY. He got to the finals with LA once, but never won anything without Messier. Whereas… Messier won it all with the NY Rangers. You gotta have that bulldog DNA to be a champion. You gotta have that guy.

Klay isn’t just a three point wizard, pre injuries he was a defensive bulldog who always took the other team’s best wing player. Just my opinion.

2 Ja Morant is a superstar on the cusp of being the jersey which every kid in America who plays the guard position will be wearing in two years.

It’s a shame Sam Presti won’t allow Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to do the same because I think Shai has the chance to be one of the four best guards in the league if he’s plays legit games and evolves versus sitting while his GM tanks to draft players which will eventually be playing in other cities throughout the NBA.

You don’t evolve as a player by sitting and watching for two straight seasons. OKC needs to play legit basketball games next season. Period.

3 Klay. I love Klay. He’s my favorite player in the league. I have no idea how his recent injuries will impact his game, but even if he can’t defend like a bulldog anymore he will still be a shooter who makes sure Draymond Green isn’t taking the last shot in regulation in a must win situation.

In closing…I’ll be very interested to see how Ja Morant handles himself in the first round versus Mike Conley and the Utah Jazz.

It’s good to see Memphis relevant again. The same would be nice to see in Oklahoma City in a year or two depending on how this summer’s NBA draft transpires with the Houston pick and the possibility of the Thunder landing two top seven picks.

I think tomorrow I’ll write about Sam Presti’s recent State of the Thunder address and give my takes.

A nice win for Russell, Bradley Beal, and Scott Brooks as they easily disposed of the Indiana Pacers in the final play-in game in the East.

None of the three play-in games in the East were close or competitive, but the Wizards now are the 8th seed and will play the Philadelphia 76’ers in the first round.

I’m happy for Russell and Scott Brooks as they salvaged their season with an excellent last month of the season. I’m glad they won’t be playing the Brooklyn Nets and that we won’t have to go thru all the replayed drama in regards to Russell, Durant, and Harden.

Who knows…maybe the Wizards can catch a little lightening in a bottle, win a game or two and make this an interesting series.

One last play-in game between Golden State and Memphis and we can get the NBA Playoffs going.

This is pretty much how it is every evening when I pull up from work as Pauli knows it’s my truck pulling into the ranch.

She loves bounding here and there in the thick forest which borders Deer Creek itself. She knows where we’ve twice spotted the black mountain lion at the edge of the forest at dusk. She wants to find the 200 pound cat. She really does.

She is a a wonderful dog. I hate to sound like Jerry McGuire, but she completes me….like what Trump does for Lindsey Graham and Kevin McCarthy.

Back when John Kelly was Trump’s Chief of Staff…I wrote General Kelly a personal letter and told him Pauli and I as a service to our country would spend a month with the grifter human junk bond and see if we could help him become more human, more kind, more empathetic.

Trump could have spent time walking Pauli and then I would have sat with Trump and read to him the stories his parents obviously never shared with him growing up. Kind of like National Teacher of the Year Juanita Elijah did with me back at John Marshall in my tenth grade American Lit class.

It would have been like public service on behalf of the country. An act of patriotism. It’s the John McCain influence in me.

I always wonder if John Kelly had taken me up on this if January 6th would have come to fruition.

There is nothing quite like the unconditional love of a lab.

It was a very interesting night of sports for me. Although I love Ja Morant…I did not watch a minute of the Grizz’s win over the San Antonio Spurs. I did though end up watching Steph score 37 points as the Warriors played the Lakers very tough in a 103-100 road loss. Dennis Schroder was brutal….-20 on a 3 for 14 night. Draymond Green literally never shuts up during a game. C’mon, man. Just play.

So now I guess that means Team Steph plays the Ja Morant led Grizzlies for the right to play the Utah Jazz in the first round. I’ll watch that for certain.

I hope all Thunder fans take notice of where the San Antonio Spurs are right now. They are irrelevant and have been irrelant since Tim Duncan retired. Player makes the coach. That will never change. Player makes the coach.

If Sam Presti does his job in this upcoming draft…Coach D will become markedly more brilliant by next October. This is why the Thunder had to tank this season. Player makes the coach. I love the way Pop coaches, but he hasn’t proved me wrong.

The hockey was fantastic. Nate MacKinnon had a had trick as the Avs won Game 2 despite some shaky play in their own net which is concerning for Colorado.

The game of the night was in Boston as Craig Smith notched the game winner. Ovechkin cursed his own goalie in Russian as the teams left the ice. This game had everything. Great game!

Tampa hosts the Florida Panthers tonight with the opporunity to put a stranglehold on their first round series in defense of ‘their’ Stanley Cup.

And I guess we have the elimination game between the Wizards and Pacers in the NBA. Yawn. Wild Thing…show me something, buddy.

Some great crowds in the NHL last night in Boston and Denver.

Passed on the Mexican food and instead went with lettuce wraps and chicken soup from Wong Fu’s with a couple of Coors Lights. Pauli loves their soup. What a great night of sports.

Went into the Oklahoma Pike Pass office this morning before going to work. A young black guy helped and there was no problem whatsoever with changing bank accounts on my account with them.

I feel better now. I love the Pike Pass. There’s lot of places to go in Oklahoma on one day trips. Trout fishing literally in every corner of the state and even in Oklahoma City at Dolese Park.

A guy combining bass, walleye , and trout seasons can fish in some pretty cool places in Okahoma.

After the Pike Pass office …I went and got a battery for my wife’s van at Wal Mart. There was a white guy in front of me in line probably fifty something who just out of the blue started talking about the various COVID vaccinations being a plot by Antifa to kill a hundred million Americans in the next six months.

I smiled polilitely and said, ” No habla English, amigo,” and shrugged. Got the battery and never said a word to the man. I know better at this point.

So the other day…out of the blue, the Amy Adams friend from Daily Thunder sent me an email asking me if I was dying or something and told me of the this great train trip she’s taking from Chicago to Seattle. Looks like an interesting trip.

I said, ‘No..as far as I know currently the Big Skipper in the Sky isn’t ready to handle me just yet.”

For some reason all of this made me think of the epic Tommy Lee Jones ending scene from No Country For Old Men.

Let’s Go Avs!!!

I think I will pass on the first NBA Play-In game tonight and listen to the best of Eddie Van Halen (both eras) till the hockey game starts in Denver.

Maybe some Mexian food and a couple of Coors Lights.

I love this Van Halen song and video.

Why can’t we all just be human and stop putting people into all these different castes and categories?

Does anyone out there really think God views people who are brown, black, gay, or whatever as less human? A life less worthy of pursuing the American Dream? I can’t imagine how any person who’s read any part of the Bible could come to that conclusion.

Game 2 tonight of Colorado vs. the St. Louis Blues in Denver. Steph you have five minutes to show me if there’s a reason for me not to be completely glued to this hockey game.

I think Nathan is the best player in the world right now. But he has to take that next step as a guy who can put a team on his back and win a Cup.

Nathan had two goals and an assist in Colorado’s Game 1… 4-1 victory.

I would think…this is just me thinking aloud…that Blues’ coach Craig Berube and staff will have had a lot to say to their hockey team on how Nathan had space and time all over the ice in Game 1.

This should be a very interesting hockey game.

Can’t wait.

I love this video. Hockey is a tough brutal game at times, and yet there is a beautiful symmetry to the game. A skill set which takes years to master.

When I watch Nathan skate and move the puck it is like ballet for me.

Hope you enjoy the video.

Basically two brutal basketball games which were unwatchable.

I’m a fan of the play-in concept though. Tom Brady just won his 7th Super Bowl basically as a wild card entry.

The UCLA Bruins just a month ago came within a play of advancing to Monday Night as a play-in team.

The 2019 Washington Nationals won the World Series as a play-in team.

But these two games literally sucked. No defense, no emotion from either the Wizards or the Hornets. Nothing…except it made it very easy for me to switch over to the two excellent NHL games which were a complete polar opposite of the bullshit on TNT.

Hopefully…we’ll see something from these four teams in the West which would validate Adam Silver’s decision to go this route.

I mean….NBA fans go through an entire season of tanking to then think they’re going to finally see real competition at this point….. and the Wizards and Hornets gave the basketball world…nothing. As in nothing except for Jayson Tatum scoring 50 points against a Wizards’ team which plays defense like five pylons.

Bad Little Dude…I don’t what else to write.

The next superstar of the NHL…Nathan MacKinnon plays tonight for the Colorado Avanlanche versus the St. Louis Blues.

Show me something Steph…show me something to keep me watching an NBA play-in game.

Look at these hockey fans in Denver. Denver was one of the most heavily locked down cities during COVID…yet look at their passion. I’m so glad this is where my son, Elaine, Aubrey, and the ‘Wild One’ live. Not only the Avalanche, but the perennial DI power Denver Pioneers play within five minutes from where Chris and soon to be two way defenseman Little Robert Jackson reside.

The mens league Chris plays in is just incredible. Too many players and teams if anything. It’s a hockey town and a Denver Broncos town. The Broncos need a QB, the Avalanche have the next superstar in the NHL as their QB…just saying.

Nathan MacKinnon…the next Sid and Ovechkin. Nate needs his goalie to step up his game though if he wants to hoist a Cup this season.

The Play-In Tournament starts tonight so I need to get my NBA regular season awards in order.

MVP: This was very tough. I went back and forth between Steph and Jokic… and to a lesser degree Chris Paul. In the end I’m giving the nod to Steph Curry because he was great all season as a singular Splash Brother and that six week period of the season was historically special.

Rookie of the Year: I already did this earlier and for me it’s Anthony Edwards from the Minnesota Timberwolves. A nice year for the rookie from Georgia who seemed to adjust to the NBA game as the season got to its back half.

Coach of the Year: I’m going Quin Snyder from the Utah Jazz. The Jazz finished with the best record in the West and nobody that I know of picked the Jazz before the season started. I like Quin Synder’s story as well as he’s worked his tail off to become a successful NBA coach after his fall from grace at Missouri in the college ranks. His story kind of reminds me of Kelvin Samspon to a degree except Kelvin went back to the college game at Houston.

Comeback or Turn Around Player of the Year: I’m going to go with point guard Mike Conley of the Utah Jazz. I thought Mike Conley returning back to a dependable point guard was a big part of why the Jazz did what they did this regular season.

Biggest Positive Team Surprise: I would say the NY Knicks in the East and the Phoenix Suns in the West.

Biggest Negative Team Surprise: The Boston Celtics hands down in the East—not even close. A massive season of underacheivement in Boston. In the West…I would probably go with the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pels never went above a lower tier playoff team for me, but them not making the Play-In games I thought was pretty weak.

Thing I’m Most Excited About This NBA Post Season: This is easy. Fans in the arenas. It will be nice seeing fans back in the various NBA venues…and of course seeing Rachael Nichols interview Tyler Herro .

Players I Would Have Paid To See Play in Oklahoma City This Season If Fans Had Been Allowed Inside The Arena: I’d go Steph, Damian Lillard, Anthony Edwards, Ja Morant, Giannis, Tyler Herro, Brandon Ingram, and Bradley Beal. That would have been my eight game/team ticket buy. I go to Thunder games to see certain opposing teams and players.

First Round Series I’m Most Jacked To See: Miami vs. Milwaukee

Teams I Would Like To See Win The Championship: I have three I’d like to see win it all instead of seeing the Lakers repeat. In this order I would go Miami, Portland, or Golden State.

Hope you enjoy the NBA Playoffs.