Month: July 2023

Yes, I think he’s on the cusp if Shai takes his game up another level this season while Josh Giddy improves his defensive footwork and does the team thing and becomes the best Sixth Man in the league.

Obviously, Kevin Durant was a generational player in his prime… right now he’s just a notch and a half below LeBron and on my list pretty much even with Steph and Kawhi.

I always had Nick as my fifth guy on Sam Presti’s OKC original Fab Five because of Nick’s elite passing, his elite understanding of team defense, and his elite vision in the two man game with James Harden. You know…somewhat like Boris Diaw on those elite San Antonio teams.

So on this new Fab Five I go in this order for the time being depending on how fast Chet Holgren assimilates his game to an arduous 82 game regular season slate. I’ve never questioned Chet’s skill set in that he is a five skill player while Josh is a three skill set player. What I still wonder about with Chet is how many games can he go in a reagular season when you start going back to back and three games in four nights.

My current Thunder Fab Five goes in this order ‘right now’,…. 1 SGA, 2 J-Dub, 3 Chet, 4 Josh, and 5 J-Will.

J-Will….has El Prez lost his mind while wrestling with cancer? No… not at all. I’ve been following J-Will since his days at Arkansas and if ever there was a replica of Nick Collison it’s J-Will. If anything… J-Will should be better than Nick because he can step back and hit the three when it’s required in a clutch situation. Nick never really had this in his arsenal, hence Nick was a four skill player on my TSSN metric sheet…but a wonderful four skill quitessential team player.

So what does this mean for me on my blog? It means I’m still going to feature Golden State 1, Denver 2, and OKC 3 as I attempt to weave a three team coverage depending on my health. OKC with Chet is clearly a story, one in fact which I’m sure all passionate NBA fans will be interested in following if they’re real NBA fans.

It’s physical therapy day for me at 1:00pm. Audra is my PT mate today. I’m jacked…. I actually love physical therapy…I’m weird in that way. I’ll tell you this, cancer non-withstanding… if I can get to the point where I can get the right knee replaced El Prez could be on the cusp his ownself of becoming his own Bad Little Dude….just saying.

Until you’ve had a brush with your own mortality….you never really realize what a God given privlege it is to be alive and enjoying the company of family and friends.

More rain scheduled for Deer Creek tonight. The ranch has never been lusher or greener.

Have a wonderful Summer League week..

I’m very much enjoying the Summer League as I’ve watched all four of the Thunder games so far. I’ve watched some other teams as well, but clearly from my view when the Thunder allow J-Dub to play with Chet, J-Will, Tre Mann and rookie Cason Wallace these Thunder by far are the most talented group I’ve seen so far in the Summer League.

I mean…wow. I don’t won’t to hyperbolate…but Fab Five, maybe.

There is some real talent with these five guys and their skill sets interchange where a basketball person looking ahead to various combinations in game situations in the real league games could see all five of these guys paired with SGA, Lu Dort, and Josh Giddy in various situations depending on opponent, score, and time.

With the improvement of Tre Mann what Sam Presti now has are top eight players who can all play defense in a versatile manner and switch as the other team’s lineups change. Plus, all eight can score the ball from anywhere on the court. Not an Andre Roberson to be seen.

Add these eight guys to my original list including both Aaron Wiggins and KenrichWilliams and that’s nine out of the Thunder’s top ten on my list so far into this evaluation who can defend and are not a defensive pylon in any way.

Josh Giddy’s defense and his footwork concern me, but that’s what coaches are for…to ostensibly challenge their players to make their weakness a strength.

My No. 11 right now is the kid…Ousane Dieng. He could conceivably be the third ‘modern day’ big to go along with Chet and J-Dub. I would think eventually the Thunder will need a banger and we’ll see if Keontae Johnson can evolve in that role.

That puts me at thirteen and I know Presti added the injured Victor Oladipo and the vet point guard Patty Mills if I read that right. I don’t see Victor playing anywhere for awhile given his serious injury and I’m not sure I know enough about Patty Mills’ contract situation to comment on his presence as of now.

*Oops…just traded to the Atlanta Hawks.

I mean…there’s going to be some tough decisions for the Thunder to make coming out of camp in October.

Isiah Joe, JRE, Lindy W, Poku, and Jared Butler just to name five. Plus, a couple of these other guys on the Summer League roster I’d never seen before. Plus, the two Euros Presti picked up. It’s going to be interesting for certain. But if they don’t use Keontae as their banger, they need to add a banger with some physical moxie to the group.

So….with me hyperbolating like this on July 8th, which btw is my mom’s birthday, could this Thunder group possibly challenge for a top six spot in the uber, uber tough West?

Yeah, the Thunder could be the Sac Kings or the Minny T Wolves, but when you start really looking at rosters in the West it’s going to be so very tough to crack the top six.

Just looked at the weather radar it appears more rain just about to hit Deer Creek, Kaui.

Aloha and peace.

This was a very introspective Fourth of July for me. On the first week of March my hemotoligist/oncologist finally figured out why my hemoglobin was sticking at a dangerously low rate after having me take a bone marrow test.

He sat me down, closed the door and said, “Tell me what you think I’m getting ready to tell you.”

I said, “Based on what your practicioner told me on the phone…I think you’re getting ready to tell me I have cancer.”

He calmly said, “You have prostatic bone cancer Stage 4. I would suggest you get your affairs in order if they aren’t already. But we’ve got you on four different medications as of today….so we’ll see. Every individual reacts differently to a Stage 4 diagnosis.”

So here I am four months later after being on Dr. S’s holistic approach and my latest lab results as of last week were very encouraging. My PSA count was close to zero, my hemoglogin has doubled, and my body weight has gone from 160 lbs. to 185 lbs. and stablized. My BMI (body mass index) is a stellar 24.6 which puts me in elite company compared to other Americans. My stamina, strength, and flexibilty are better than anytime in the last twenty years minus the fact I still need my right knee replaced if I get beyond this hurdle of not dying.

Dr. S’s holistic approach is multifaceted beyond just the immune and oral chemo drugs….it involves a diet in which I have tripled my vegetable and fruit ratios to meat by a 14 to 2 count. I do physical therapy twice a week with two female ex-college softball players named Audra and Charity who have lit a fire in my competitive soul.

Occasionally, I get Tyler as my PT. I asked him the other day, ” Why is it your workout is so much more fun than what Charity does to me?”

He answered, ” Because I figured you need to have fun in here from time to time and not die here at the facility.”

And, of course, I now do three other PT sessions on my own because of the fact Charity and Audra lit a fire under my ass.

Plus, prayer, reading and meditation make up the final components of Dr. S’s holistic approach to dealing with cancer.

It’s a day by day, week by week, month to month process for me, but the truth is when you get a Stage 4 diagnosis it’s clearly the ephipany of all ephipanies. You never take a day for granted. You make sure you say the right things and do the right things.

It’s been a complete awakening for me when I go to the medical facilty for either treatment or physical therapy and talk to the other people with their own cancer human stories.

This may sound crazy, but in a way getting the diagnosis has been a reboot for me in a good way for however long my journey takes me.

It was a great Fourth for me. I caught a bass. Ate a hamburger. Drank one Pacifico. Watched a video of my grandson using pedals on his bike for the first time….. and then cried a lovely little bit to myself as I heard Brad Paisley sing ‘So Many Summers’.

I thought Chet looked good even though he struggled in the first period against an inferior level of bigs from the Utah Jazz. His body looks better. It looks to me like he’s added around 20-22 pounds of muscle mass in his arms and legs.

I don’t want or think Chet needs to be Hulk Hogan to be an effective NBA big man in this contemporary style of ball which is now played, but I think as he moves along here with the Thunder’s nutritional staff he should hopefully put on another 10-15 pounds of muscle mass in the next 18 months. I would think 227 lbs. or so would be a good weight for Chet so as not to diminish his mobility.

He clearly has the skill set to be a unique offensive player in ‘this’ NBA. On the defensive side of the ball….I think as his body continues to morph he’ll become a better and better rim protector.

If he stays healthy he clearly along with SGA and J-Dub gives the Thunder a legit top three core from which to build an interesting ten man rotation.

I don’t have Josh Giddy in my top three for two simple reasons. He defends and shoots the ball at substandard levels for me to make him a top two or three core guy. I think he would be a fabulous Sixth Man. His court vision and passing skills are top tier though. We’ll see.

Staying healthy will be the thing for Chet. Making those bones stronger, more durable. I would guess he’s under some sort of calcium regime program as well. Avoid the Bill Walton, Sam Bowie, and Greg Oden scenarios at all costs. It’s uncanny how Portland drafted all three of those guys, lucky for Sam Presti the Blazers took Oden and Kevin Durant fell to the Thunder for a decade of excellent basketball. Any blind fool would have taken Durant at that point.

It’s time for Presti to show me all this Savant Status bullshit he’s given by the weak Oklahoma sports media is earned. Sure….J-Dub has turned out to be a great pick, but what about some of the other first round flameouts like Micth McGary, Josh Huestis, Terrance Ferguson, Darius Bazely, Alex Abrines (2nd round), and of late Poku.

What I want to see from Sam Presti is the ability to take the Thunder franchise firstly to a single first round playoff series advance without Kevin Durant carrying his lunchpail. Westbrook, Paul George, Chris Paul, and SGA haven’t been able to lift that lunchpail past the first round. Just sayin’.

I’m not not talking about a ‘championship in Oklahoma City or even a Northwest Divisonal title. I just want to see with all this ‘basketball’ genius Sam Presti is given credit for by the very weak Oklahoma City sports media if Sam Presti can lead this frachise to ONE single playoff series triumph without Kevin Durant and Wanda Pratt.

It would seem to me with all the parity in the NBA….that shouldn’t be too much to ask given the fact the Denver Nuggets just this week lost two core players off their championship bench in Bruce Brown and Jeff Green. I hate to see Jeff Green leaving Denver, but that’s the nature of the beast in the NBA. Hopefully, Coach Malone has sobered up from the parade and huddled with GM Calvin Booth to remake the Nugget bench with Christian Braun becoming the new Sixth Man.

Have a great Fourth of July.

Peace.

A very cool kick-off for the Fourth of July as one of golf’s favorite players won the Rocket Mortgage Classic on the first hole of a three man playoff. Hard to belive it’s been almost four years since Ricky Fowler has won a golf tournament, but such has been the case.

He’s been so close in recent weeks you knew this was coming…. and it did after the rough ending in LA at the U.S. Open.

We were driving back from Crested Butte to Denver listening to the final holes and it was painful as Rickie Fowler crumbled down the stretch. But he’s hung in there and he got it done in the last two holes on Sunday with back to back birdies.

I think anyone who loves golf feels good about Rickie’s win on Sunday. The way CBS decided to cover the final round sucked, but it is what it is. I stayed off the internet and watched the delay broadcast as it were live.

I loved Rickie Fowler’s words after the win…”It’s great to win, but there’s more to life than just winning.”

Those are words all of us need to remember from time to time.

There’s still one major left before the Fedex Championships with the British Open three weeks away.

Good luck, Rickie Fowler.