Month: July 2016

The simple truth is this for those who are defending what Durant just did—if the NBA had a legitimate collective bargaining agreement and like the NFL had a franchise player tag—Kevin Durant would still be in Oklahoma City as Aaron Rodgers is still in Green Bay. In theory, that’s why you have collective bargaining agreements so as all the teams have a chance to be competitive. So players cannot conspire within their own circles to construct their own teams.

Kevin Durant didn’t just leave a team which was three minutes away from the NBA Finals in the Oklahoma City Thunder, he left to go to the only team in the league which he felt would give him a better chance to beat LeBron James. Pure and simple.  I’m not going to call him a competitive coward or anything like that. But what he did was basically calibrate the odds to best serve his chances of beating LeBron at some point in his career because of his body and skill set it’s debatable whether he can do this himself being the best player on a team. Some of these ESPN and national guys can talk all this shit all they want, but I watched the guy for a year at the University of Texas and for his entire professional career. I doubt his own father has watched him play as much as I have.

The end.

War Eagle!

Unless Sam Presti gets a strong commitment from Russell Westbrook and his agent there’s no reason to prolong this. OKC in no way can allow Russell Westbrook to just walk without getting something in return.

Russell’s family lives in LA. He went to UCLA. Grew up a Kobe-Lakers fan. Married his UCLA sweetheart. OKC with its young bigs and promising guards in Oladipo, Payne, and Roberson have a nice core to build upon. OKC desperately now needs a long small forward to replace Kevin Durant and I’m not talking Kyle Singler.

Presti should explore the possibility of trading Russell to the Lakers for Ingram and another draft pick or two. Unless Westbrook’s heart is into being the franchise player in Oklahoma City there’s no reason in prolonging this. Get with it. Face the reality of the situation and begin the rebuild now instead of a year from now. As a fan I would be totally good with this—Ingram and some picks.

This entire debaucle since the Game 6 meltdown versus the Warriors needs a change of direction. Obviously, you hate to lose another top five player, but if Westbrook doesn’t have his heart into staying in OKC get the best deal you can and rebuild with what I see could be a very interesting team with a core of Oladipo, Payne, Ingram, Adams, and Kanter. Maybe you sign Waiters and keep him as the sixth man under this scenario. Maybe not. Plus, the picks would be significant as well considering how well Presti drafts.

It would actually be fun to see all these young players evolve as we did with the previous group. Except this time around we’ll have one of the league’s best centers playing in Oklahoma City instead of going with Nenad and Perk.

The mistake Presti and Bennett have made in OKC is thinking they could copy the San Antonio template. Perhaps, they have to create their own template now and realize this is a different market where players might not stay beyond their second contract. I assume that’s one of the reasons Presti brought in a college coach in Billy Donovan.

One thing Presti and Bennett always need to remember is that at the heart–Oklahoma City is still somewhat a college market.

Hard to believe but here the Oklahoma City Thunder are but with only one member left standing from their original Fab Five which Sam Presti drafted piece by piece to make the team a championship contender in a few short years. It makes you fully understand the challenge of sustaining a high level franchise in a small market especially during a time when there’s such an influx of television money escalating the salary cap with little sanity attached.

Sam Presti has a formidable challenge in front of him with Kevin Durant leaving for the Warriors. Only Russell Westbrook and Nick Collison remain from the 2012 core of OKC’s Finals team. Collison is set to step down from playing after next season and I think most would agree it will be tough to keep Russell Westbrook long term.

Jeff Green is a journeyman vet with the Clippers and has had a nice career, but not a stellar one. He was the first to go being sent to the Celtics in the trade which brought Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City.

James Harden was next to go in the infamous trade which sent The Beard to the Rockets in exchange for basically what turned out to be Jeremy Lamb and Steven Adams with some other pieces attached.

Serge Ibaka just recently was dealt to Orlando in exchange for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova, and Domantus Sabonis.

The face of the franchise in Kevin Durant has now moved on to the newest super team in the NBA in Oakland.

And like those Fab Five teams at Michigan at the collegiate level OKC’s Fab Five never won a championship as well. More to the point, unlike that Michigan team which did return to the NCAA Championship Game, the Thunder’s Fab Five never again returned to the NBA Finals.

With Durant’s departure the dream of Oklahoma City ever returning to the NBA Finals is pretty much over. More to the point, Sam Presti will have to roll up his sleeves and pull every rabbit out of his hat to sustain the Thunder as a playoff contender albeit a championship contender.

As I see the Thunder down the immediate road I see a nice young core of Adams, Oladipo, Kanter, Payne, and Sabonis. Maybe Dion Waiters will be retained, maybe not. A team more like the Utah Jazz and the Portland Trailblazers in terms of Western Conference pecking order. If Westbrook would stay, perhaps a notch or two higher.

From Day 1, Sam Presti’s mantra in Oklahoma City has been to maintain sustainability and to date he’s done an incredible job as the Thunder have been the fourth winningest franchise in all of professional sports.

I hope people don’t blame Presti for what has transpired because he’s done a marvelous job in Oklahoma City. I’m of the firm belief even if he kept James Harden this story evolves pretty much the same way except possibly with more ego and trashing like we’ve seen this week in the Howard Beck piece directed at Russell Westbrook.

Again, it’s more of an indictment of the times and our culture than what Sam Presti did or didn’t do.

I hope Presti stays in Oklahoma City long term. He better or else Clay Bennett and his other owners could be in a much tighter spot than they are now.

Oklahoma City as an NBA city will have to come to terms with what just happened from 2009 to the present isn’t likely to happen again. Generational players like Kevin Durant don’t just fall into your lap everyday. Just think what would have happened in Oklahoma City if the Portland Trailblazers  hadn’t selected Greg Oden as the No. 1 pick over Kevin Durant. Think about feeling cheated then.

Oklahoma City was not in anyway cheated. It was a glorious ride for a small market city which made four Western Conference Finals in the past six years.

Who would have ever thought in their wildest dream Hurricane Katrina could have started a chain of events which would put Oklahoma City in the center of the NBA universe for almost an entire decade.

Books will be written. I would suspect an ESPN 30/30 movie will be made.

In no way do I feel cheated. Quite the opposite, I feel like the basketball gods woke me up and whispered into my ear one night, “Enjoy the ride, Michael from Deer Creek, Oklahoma. Enjoy the ride.”

And I made sure I did every step of the way because things like this were never meant to be permanent or a given. But more of a blessing.

I’m good and can’t wait to see what kind of players Steven, Victor, and Cam turn out to be in the next several years.

Life is nothing more than an evolution of rotating cycles. The Thunder’s new cycle pretty much begins now. It won’t be as glorious. The bandwagon jumpers will bitch and moan, but for those of us who love hoops we’ll be okay.

Mike Jackson

 

What we hoped would happen in Oklahoma City.

Literally seems like a lifetime ago watching them in 2012. There was still innocence. Still a hope the Oklahoma City Thunder was the next NBA dynasty on the horizon. Watching this makes you realize it doesn’t take very long for things to change from within a team in a big way and go wrong. People in Oklahoma City never seemed to appreciate how truly difficult it is to get an NBA Finals and then win it all. If this doesn’t put a lump in your throat you’re not really a Thunder fan.

Very good piece by Berry Tramel over at newsoksports on this very thought. Please take the time to read it. Did KD mislead, fool, or lie to us to make us think he’d never leave Oklahoma City like Dirk and Tim Duncan have never left their original teams?

And the answer is no.

Kevin Durant never openly lied during this season as best as I can remember. For the most part I thought he handled the free agency relatively well.

But here’s where I have to take Kevin Durant to task. He claimed he wasn’t at all like LeBron James and seemed to say it as if he operated at a higher plane than the greatest athletic brand living. This is where I take Durant to task.

He’s exactly like LeBron James. There’s no difference whatsoever except LeBron has more girth, could play tight end in the NFL, has three rings, and is clearly recognized as the best overall player in the game today.

That’s the only difference. Both are as much corporate brands as much as they are ball players.

I thought Durant might be different because of the MVP speech and several other signs during the years where it appeared he could be another Tim Duncan or Dirk. But that’s on me and anyone else who read something between the lines which was obviously never there to begin with.

Kevin Durant is the very same age as my son. I’m familiar with this generation. Not all of them are knuckleheads. My son has changed a little over the past eight years as he’s finished college, embarked on a professional career, and married a young woman any father in law would be thrilled to call his daughter.

People change. Especially young guys going through the maturation process.

Like my son, Kevin Durant has grown into another stage of adulthood.

To Durant’s credit he evidently did call Sam Presti before that ridiculous statement was released on the Players’ Tribune. That wins some consolation points with me and unless Sam Presti is lying it did with him as well.

My suggestion to Durant would have been to have made a brief personal statement in person instead of the Players’ Tribune release. Durant now has the look of a human who’s now run more by agents, handlers, and leeches other than his own inner feelings. It would have been nice to see some human emotion like we saw at the MVP speech instead of the spinning from his handlers to stabilize his brand.

We should never be shocked at what happens in sports in today’s culture. Our sports heroes our just a mere reflection of how shallow and superficial we’ve become as a culture. How screwed up we are. Kids don’t read books. They watch reality television and follow idiots on twitter. Teddy Roosevelt isn’t the Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump is.

Words of advice–don’t put athletes on a pedestal they don’t belong to be standing on in the first place because almost every time you’ll get your heart broken.

So like Tramel wrote in his piece none of us should really be mad at what just transpired. It’s almost exclusively on us for holding out the innocent hope Kevin Durant would be our Dirk or our Tim Duncan and be a little deeper than his generational peers. I know for a fact I’d look at Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay and think to myself, ‘if Rodgers can stay a Packer, why can’t KD remain a Thunderer.’ Never once did Durant make a comparison to Aaron Rodgers and small markets to this extent.

Kevin Durant never promised us any of this.

We just hoped it would be so and that’s squarely on us.

Thanks for the great piece, Tramel.

Mike Jackson

Day after July Fourth in Oklahoma City and a very depressed feel in the city today. I’m fine. I’ve moved forward just like Presti suggested in his Farewell to KD–OKC Chamber of Commerce presser. Does Sam Pesti ever say fuck? Just once I’d like him to drop an F bomb in front of his Prestettes. Just once.

I don’t hang with jersey burning knuckleheads or jock sniffing tweaking twitterheads so none of that came my way today. My advice would be if you avoid these types in general you significantly add more meaning to your life whether the local sports hero stays or goes.

Only one thing pissed me off today. The piece by Howard Beck which uses an unnamed source from the Durant entourage which in detail says the reason he left is Russell Westbrook.

Here’s what I say to that—if Kevin Durant left because of Westbrook then he should have manned up on Derek Jeter’s Players’ Tribune and written it there and then himself. The only thing I hate worse than some politician’s bullshit is a jock who has groupies who give bullshit quotes without giving their name.

And btw, why does a guy who plays basketball for a living need an entourage?

I find this somewhat disturbing. Why does Kevin Durant need an entourage? It’s not like the guy is Ali or Ghandi. He went to college one year at the University of Texas and shoots a basketball really well. Get rid of the lifeless groupies, KD.

But other than this, it was a fine transitional day in Oklahoma City. I’ve moved forward. I even spent time trying to figure how Presti can keep Russell and add Blake Griffin on down the road. I’m working the cap numbers trying to make the math work.

At some point, if you want to beat a super team–you gotta load up yourself or you’ll be left behind–so let’s be proactive, positive, and figure out a way to beat the Oakland All-Star team.

LET’S GO THUNDER!

Let me just do this for my own catharsis of sorts. Kevin Durant is now officially a member of the Oakland All-Stars who play out of Oracle. Admit it—even though it sucks what they just did, in one fell swoop on the Fourth of July they rendered the entire Western Conference pretty much irrelevant. You have to admire the audacity of it all.

But these years in OKC were a gas, no doubt.

Good luck, Kevin.

Done. Poof.

I’m good.