Month: December 2016

Russell Westbrook’s 46 points were exciting to watch on Monday night inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena, but in the end, Atlanta’s ball movement and overall team play were just enough to get the Hawks an exciting 110-108 road win over a now struggling Thunder.

From a fan’s standpoint, it was an exciting game to watch as the game went back and forth all night long up until the very end when a Steven Adams put back dunk at the buzzer was just half a second late at the buzzer. But the trend is clear now for the Thunder, since the Oladipo wrist injury the Thunder are a collective 1-3 with only a win over the lowly Phoenix Suns to show for their efforts.

I thought OKC got outcoached on Monday night. Atlanta was without it’s best rim protector in Dwight Howard, yet the Thunder in no way ever made this an issue for the Hawks. Steven Adams and Enes Kanter weren’t even factors in the game as together they attempted nine shots on the night, granted they made six of the nine, but they never were significant factors in the game.

Atlanta went small with Paul Millsap as their only big and dictated the terms of the game all night long as they clogged the lane and took away the rim. On the other side of the ball, Atlanta spaced the floor, moved the ball, and continually created great looks for Millsap and Dennis Schroeder. So while Westbrook scored 46 points on 33 shots, Shroder and Millsap scored a combined 61 points on 34 shots. OKC defensively never really had an answer for either one of them.

OKC without Oladipo is an ugly basketball team. It’s not just his 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists–it’s more than that. He’s a player Russell Westbrook trusts and at times on Monday night it didn’t appear Westbrook had much faith in his teammates as the ball did not move all that much. Don’t get me wrong, from a viewing standpoint, it was exciting to see if Westbrook could beat the Hawks by himself, but against decent teams which are well coached that’s not going to work on most nights as this season moves along.

Oklahoma City had 13 assists on the night, Atlanta had 24 assists. Plus, there was little transition from OKC on the night as they only scored four fast break points.

Anthony Morrow started, yet was ineffective. Sabonis in no way fit as the game stayed small while Adams and Kanter never touched the ball much when they were on the floor.. Andre Roberson did score 14 points and hit some threes, but he was erratic and never created any consistent spacing for the Thunder. He never will because the book is out on him…let him shoot the ball and see if he can beat you. As an opposing coach would you rather have Westbrook and Adams getting to the rim or Roberson shooting threes? Duh.

Abrines scored nine points. Jerami Grant had a nice game scoring 15 points and was OKC’s second leading scorer. When Jerami Grant is your second leading scorer my guess is OKC won’t win on most nights and didn’t on Monday night. Both Lauvergne and Collison didn’t play much, while Kyle Singler played some significant minutes, yet he never once attempted a perimeter shot of any kind. I have no idea what Billy Donovan is doing in that if you’re going to go small that’s fine, but the guys you’re going small with have to be able to score some.

Bazemore, Thabo, and Kyle Korver all finished in double figures for Atlanta and supported the scoring of Schroder and Millsap very nicely.

In the four games Oladipo has missed, the Thunder are 1-3 as a team while Russell Westbrook is 1-3 versus the ghost of Oscar Robertson. In each of the three losses he came up short in the assist department. To make a long story short, the Thunder, Billy Donovan, and Russell Westbrook all need Victor Oladipo back on the floor.

Still no word from the Thunder on either Oladipo or Cam Payne’s return to the floor.

OKC drops to 16-12 and has fallen to the No. 7 seed in the West.

The Thunder in New Orleans on Wednesday to play a Pelican team which is getting healthier.

This isn’t just a sports story for this very simple reason, it’s more an indictment of some of the most powerful people in Oklahoma and of their extremely poor judgement. Joe Mixon was and still is a volatile, immature kid who came from Oakland to play football in Norman for the iconic Sooner brand. In the end, this isn’t just about Mixon, or even Molitor, but more about the people who back in 2014 sat together and watched this Mixon video and then made the following sequence of pathetic, dispicable decisions we’ve witnessed to date.

Why were these decisions made? Simple. To win football games, feed OU’s football cash flow monster, and to ensure the overall viability of the OU brand. That’s pretty much the way I see it as do others who aren’t employed by either the University of Oklahoma or over the top OU football fan crazy. To be fair though, I’m going to give the Daily Oklahoman one more week to give their closing statement on this sordid matter.

But what is supremely appalling is that three of the most respected and powerful men in Oklahoma have an imprint on why Joe Mixon was ever allowed to play one football game for the University of Oklahoma. The three would be David Boren, Bob Stoops, and Joe Castiglione.

This is a modest Thunder blog, and while I’ve probably written too much on here relating to this ‘OU story’–at some point somebody in Oklahoma has to write something. Because in reality it’s an Oklahoma story intertwining a powerful football coach, an iconic athletic director, and a university president who previously served on the United States Senate Intelligence Committee. We’ll see if Berry Tramel and Nolan Clay of the Daily Nothing ever man up and write anything of substance. Maybe they’ll man up and surprise me.

If I were the judge, and knowing what I know now through my own research, this would be my decision. Joe Mixon will not play in the Sugar Bowl and is heading to the NFL. OU will pay all of his normal living expenses up until the last day of the 2017 spring semester. Ameilia Molitor will have all her medical expenses taken care of by Pickles Restaurant and perhaps given a modest settlement from some obscure no fault liability insurance policy that most such retail businesses carry within the umbrella of their liability policies. OU additionally will pay an undisclosed cash settlement to Ms. Molitor which will remain a private settlement not to be disclosed to the press. David Boren, Bob Stoops, Joe Castgilone, and Berry Tramel will concurrently serve in the same jail cell in the Cleveland County jail the duration of OU’s Sugar Bowl week and be demanded to give a written apology to all parties concerned on the front page of the Daily Oklahoman. If Joe Mixon misses the Sugar Bowl, then so should these guys. Berry Tramel will write the piece and then announce his subsequent decision to leave the sports department and finish his career writing movie reviews in the Entertainment Section. Additionally, the Oklahoma City law firm of Crowe-Dunleavy will be required to provide a thousand hours of pro bono legal service to a charity to be determined by this Court at a later time.

That’s my ruling. This Court is adjourned. Back to the Thunder’s triple double season.

There have been incidents of this nature recently in college football. Tyreek Hill at Oklahoma State was immediately dismissed two years ago for a domestic violence incident the week after his punt return in essence beat OU in Bedlam in Norman. Not one other DI school would give him a chance despite his pro caliber talent. Hill is now a member of the Kansas City and just last week he became the first player in NFL history since Gale Sayers to score a touchdown on a kick-off return, on a punt return, a running play from scrimmage, and on a pass reception in his rookie season. It’s not like Mike Gundy couldn’t have used a an offensive weapon like Hill, but you just can’t allow this in your football program. You can’t have your grownup coach, your grownup AD, your grownup university president, and your most visible grownup regent to allow this to be the face of the football program. No way. No how.

Same deal with Florida State freshman quarterback Andre Johnson several years ago. Jimbo Fisher needed a quarterback but Andre Johnson was dismissed. Gone. Goodbye and good luck down the road.

At first I thought it might just be me. But upon reading and hearing young people react to this video it’s not just me.

Even OU students admit this is all poser bullshit from the grown men who run OU’s football money making gold mine.

All lawyered up with the best legal firm in downtown Oklahoma City (Crowe-Dunleavy) representing him, Joe Mixon avoids serving jail time and with the Alford plea can still maintain his innocence long-term without ever going before a judge or jury. Put that in your ‘if I ever decide to punch a woman half my size and break her face in public memory file’. Maybe Barry Tramel doesn’t understand any of this. Whereas, I was raised by a father who graduated No. 1 in his law class and was one the best criminal defense lawyers in Oklahoma County for fifty years. At this point, I just feel Barry Tramel and the Daily Oklahoman need ‘ a little help’ covering this story since Tramel and the paper together can’t locate one collective set of balls between them. This is the problem when you only have one newspaper in a city.

So how could Bob Stoops, Joe Castiglione, David Boren, and even Clay Bennett see the Joe Mixon video and make the decision they did?

Here’s why and please excuse me if I puke if I hear another defender of any of this say it was done to make Joe Mixon a better young man and build his character.

It that was the case, then just kick him off the football team, but still honor the academic agreement in his scholarship. But then again, what alternate universe could that possibly happen in circa 2016?

Forbes does an annual report estimating the economic value of the Top 20 college football programs in the country. The rating is based on four categories, 1 economic impact to the athletic department, 2 economic impact to the university, 3 economic impact to the conference they play in, and 4 economic impact on their local economy.

Obviously, unless you’re Boone Pickens at Oklahoma State or Phil Knight at Oregon—college football programs aren’t bought and sold on the open market like NFL or NBA franchises. But still, the amount of money is staggering and if you think money, power, and ego didn’t have anything to do with what happened at Penn State then you’re living with your head in the sand or worse.

In 2014, Texas topped the Forbes poll with its football program being valued at $131 million with a revenue base of $113 million. Notre Dame came in second at $122 million and $81 million respectively. Michigan, LSU, and Alabama rounded out the top five. OU came in 8th with its economic value listed at $91 million with $71 million in actual generated football revenue.

Keep in mind, until OU’s stunning upset of Alabama in the 2014 Sugar Bowl, OU had suffered through a sequence of several disappointing seasons and even David Boren has admitted publicly that the success of the football team still to this day is what drives donors to support the university with donations across the board.

While Bob Stoops is taking most of the heat with the release of this video, I find it almost unbelievable to assume David Boren, Clay Bennett, Joe Castiglione, and the rest of the board of regents weren’t on board with some of this. I find it unbelievable Bob Stoops just did this on his own unilaterally.

Crowe-Dunleavy isn’t the kind of firm a young black man from Oakland would just contact on his own in downtown Oklahoma City. I’m guessing the Cleveland County DA doesn’t see too many Alford pleas on felony assaults either. Also, keep in mind just last week, it was revealed Heisman finalist DeDe Westbrook was arrested several years ago on domestic violence charges. Not to mention OU openly recruited and signed Dorial Beckham-Green during this same time frame after he was kicked off the Missouri team following a domestic violence incident where he dragged his girl friend down a flight of stairs by her hair.

Wouldn’t a double date with those two be worth filming?

When in doubt, follow the money, powerful white men, and the truth is usually not far behind.

When you’re coming off a bad two game road swing on which the wheels fell off, the best remedy is a home game against a struggling team with lots of youth. Enter the Phoenix Suns on early Saturday evening for a feel good game inside Chesapeake Energy Arena for an easy coast to coast 114-101 win.

For the third straight game, Victor Oladipo sat with a sprained right wrist. But unlike the two bad losses which came on the road against Portland and Utah, Billy Donovan made a significant change. That being, he started Anthony Morrow and returned Jerami Grant to his bench role and it worked beautifully as Morrow hit 4 of 6 shots, scored 11 points, and created never ending space in the basketball highway referred to as the paint. OKC literally owned the paint on Saturday evening. Jerami Grant did his part as well he displayed his usual array of athletic plays coming off the bench. But to me at least, the key to this game was the space in which Westbrook and Adams operated their two man game all night long.

Westbrook and Adams were superb. Westbrook first. After going three straight games without a triple double, Westbrook decided to create shots for teammates instead of shooting the ball and it worked to perfection as he garnered a career high 22 assists on the night. Westbrook’s night read 26 points, 11 rebounds, and the 22 assists which are a Thunder record. It was Westbrook’s 50th career triple and puts him in sixth place on the career triple double list.

Now Steven Adams. Steven Adams has a nice little run of games going himself if you haven’t noticed. Against the Suns he scored 19 points and grabbed 7 boards. In his last six games he’s 50% from the field and averaging just a hair under 16 points a game. This is more in line with the Steven Adams we witnessed trending in last year’s post season and what the Thunder need of him on a consistent basis post Durant. When the Thunder combine Oladipo and Payne to this level of play from Westbrook and Adams it should be a much more fluid offensive team to watch.

Enes Kanter and Andre Roberson scored in double figures as well.

Semaj Christon was serviceable with 7 points in 15 minutes. Kyle Singler and Alex Abrines both played, ran around quite a bit and did a lot of nothing but it appears Billy Donovan is doing all he can to bolster their confidence with some playing time which in all candor neither have earned to date.

For the second straight game–Nick Collison played a role and Jofferey Lauvergne didn’t as Collison had a Collisonesque night with 7 points, 2 rebounds and seemed to have a settling effect on OKC’s very young bench. I love Nick Collison so you’ll never hear me bitch about Collison playing and one of the pups observing from the bench. But from my perspective the two pups sitting sgould be Singler and Abrines and not Lauvergne. We’ll keep an eye on this or maybe Donovan is just doing what all good hockey coaches by motivating his third line players to show some reason they should be getting ice time so to speak.

OKC improves to 16-11 and remains one full game behind the Utah Jazz for first place in the Northwest Division.

All in all it was a fun night inside the Peake as the Thunder won easly, Craig Sager was honored, Nick Collison made us remember why we love him so much, and OKC television play by play man Brian Davis donned a Thunder jacket I’d die to have in my Thunder wardrobe.

Atlanta in town on Monday night. Hope I can find that jacket to buy myself for Christmas. It’s trending No. 1 on my x-mas list as I close this recap.

Dr. George Cross was the president at OU from 1943 thru 1968. His term is the longest term for any OU president. He was president thru Bud Wilkinson’s historical run of three national championships and the 47 game winning streak. Perhaps, his most famous quote was, “We someday hope to have a university the football team can be proud of.” I wonder what Dr. Cross would say upon watching this video?

To date, I’ve only been able to discover one newspaper in the United States which agrees with how OU handled the Joe Mixon situation, and of course, that’s the Daily Oklahoman which the Gaylord family previously owned. You can have all the national merit scholars in the world, but if you don’t have any character in your leadership it makes no difference in the end.

This is very interesting if you really think about this because it indirectly ties to the Oklahoma City Thunder for this simple reason. Clay Bennett, the face of Oklahoma City Thunder ownership is on the Board of Regents at the University of Oklahoma and I would think a fairly influential voice considering the family he married into bears their name on the OU football stadium. Who knows, maybe it was Bennett himself who got Mixon lawyered up with the prestigious OKC firm of Crowe-Dunleavy or maybe it was David Boren. Or maybe a combination of both.

Several years ago, a Thunder player by the name of Deandre Liggins played for the Thunder. He was a nice role player along the lines of say maybe Jerami Grant or perhaps even Andre Roberson, but I may be giving Liggins a little more credit than he deserves. Anyway, Liggins became emeshed in a domestic violence incident and was quickly removed from the team for the simple reason he wasn’t a difference maker.

On the other hand, in 2014, Joe Mixon was the most talented football recruit Bob Stoops had signed in this decade and that OU win over Alabama was a part of Mixon coming to OU. The notion that OU football was once again on the cusp of becoming nationally relevant was part of Mixon’s decision to move from Oakland to Norman. And OU did become nationally relevant as they made college football’s Final Four last football season before being exposed by Clemson in the national semi-final game.

So here we are in late 2016 and this is what we have, on one hand, Clay Bennett’s Thunder getting rid of Deandre Liggins, but his Sooners defending Joe Mixon to the bitter end.

Gosh, I hope this isn’t just because Joe Mixon is the most talented player on the OU roster.

Interesting, maybe either off the record puppets Royce Young or Barry Tramel could untether themselves long enough to write a piece on it. If they don’t, I think I will.

C’mon guys, the First Amendment is an enormous, glorious ocean of possibilities. You can do it if you really try.

The video of OU running back Joe Mixon assaulting a young woman half his size three years ago was released to the public today per a recent 8-1 ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Mixon’s attorneys entered an Alford plea on behalf on Mixon back then in the hopes all this would go away.. Mixon never served any jail time and to date has yet to pay damages to the assaulted party who is now suing Mixon in civil court. Mixon, who is arguably the best player on OU’s team, weighs 220 pounds. The plantiff weighs approximately 110 pounds.

This isn’t that video just yet. This other incident I’m showing first comes from the 2013 Sugar Bowl game between OU and Alabama where a drunken young woman about the size of the plantiff in the Mixon case. Mixon knocked Ms. Molitor unconscious with a closed fist punch and fractured her orbital. As you’ll see in this video no assault and battery from any of the men in this incident. I’m fairly certain Crow-Dunleavy, Mixon’s hired lawyers, won’t be in any hurry to admit this video into evidence. The female’s behavior in this incident was much more egregious than that of Ms. Molitor in the Mixon assault. Not even close.