Saturday, November 22, 2008

Uncle Rusty is Gone

Color me surprised. I thought PJ would get at least half a season. I guess inherent in that statement is that he was more or less a dead man walking. By that reckoning why not make a move now? You could argue that by drawing this process out you reinforce bad habits and make things that much worse.

Still though, it's quite a development. I must admit that during the Hornets game two things stood out to me as it relates to the firing. First, the Thunder stayed in the locker room at halftime much longer than the Hornets. The entire Hornets team had been warming up several minutes before the first Thunder players appeared. I doubt this has any bearing whatsoever but something seemed amiss. Second, I looked through my sportglasses at the the Thunder huddle during one timeout to check out the body language. PJ was being very demonstrative, lots of body language etc. Meanwhile not even half the players, in particular players that were going to be on the floor post timeout, were paying any attention.

The bottom line is the players just were not playing for PJ. It's a shame that the coach takes the fall but that's the nature of the business. In a book called Loose Balls (highly recommended and a review is forthcoming once I finish it), players describe playing for two coaches, Slick Leonard of the Indiana Pacers and Bill Sharman of the Utah Stars. Players describe the love they had playing for these guys and how they would go to war for them.

The Thunder should be so lucky to find someone who can bring the best out of these guys and get them on the path towards improvement and respectability.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Chapter 1, Hornets- Chapter 2, Thunder

It's the big question of the day. Do you openly root for the Hornets? Do you cheer for both teams? Do you cheer for the Thunder?

The answer is really simple. You turn the page and cheer for the Oklahoma City Thunder. They are playing the New Orleans Hornets. They aren't the Oklahoma City Hornets. They aren't the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. Mark it down, though. Some dimwit (probably many dimwits) will be wearing their now retro OKC Hornets gear.

It's fine to cheer and pay respect to the Hornets in the pregame introductions. After all, we essentially owe our NBA membership to them. They were OKC's "First Love" and they are all very likable players and coaches. I'll probably "ooh and ahh" after a pretty Chris Paul pass or the 93rd Paul-Tyson Chandler alley-oop. I'll probably wish the players could trade uniforms. I can't imagine anyone booing them or heckling them or anything. They are the only visiting team who should ever get a cordial reception.

But I won't cheer for them and neither should you. Imagine you have an ex come into town for an evening. You and your new best guy/gal meet up with that person. Would you ever say to your new person, "Hey, so and so was my first love so, if it's cool with you, I'm going to relive the good times with him/her tonight and tomorrow it'll be you and only you again. Cool?". You can't do that in sports either.

If the game should happen to be close I will honestly be surprised and/or dismayed if the overwhelming majority of fans are not lustily cheering on the Thunder. To not do so seems inconceivable to me.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are our team now.

Friday's Off Topic: Sooners v. Red Raiders

Holy smokes am I excited for this game. There hasn't been a game this big in Norman since Nebraska came to town in 1999. The atmosphere will be special and Bobby Stoops really didn't need to call out the fans for it to be (Even though I think he's right and it was funny).

For OU to win they have to eliminate unforced errors, namely those god-forsaken kickoff returns. I swear if that happens I might throw myself out of the back of the stadium. My seats are high enough I can do it.

The Sooners also need to get some turnovers. This is entirely possible. I've seen Graham Harrel make some real bonehead throws and OU has the athletes in the secondary to come down with tips. They also have guys who can jump routes. I think it's entirely possible the Sooners could come away with 2 turnovers.

Finally, they need to play vintage Brent Venables "Bend but Don't Break" defense. The Red Raider dink-and-dunk is fine but the d has to tackle well. I hate the bend but don't break defense but it's made for offenses like this.

One more note on the Sooners defense. The Red Raiders have not faced anything like the Sooners d this year, even Texas. No one matches up better. The Sooners have former safeties playing Linebacker and former Cornerbacks playing safety. This means that there will be no mismatches anywhere on the field that the Red Raiders can exploit. It simply comes down to execution on the part of the Sooners.

Offensively for the Sooners they need to keep on trucking. I would choose the Sooners offense over the Red Raiders offense any day of the week simply because of it's balance. The Sooners can find mismatches I don't care how improved the TT d is.

Final Score: Sooners 56, Red Raider 35.

PS. I wrote this with my Crimson Colored Glasses on obviously.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Forget the Ceiling, Where’s the Floor? Or, Can a Turd be Polished?

These are the questions I pondered as I walked out of the Thunderdome following a 108-88 loss by the Thunder to the, apparently not as hapless, Clippers. This was not very fun.

For the first 20 minutes the Thunder clearly were better than the Clippers. They played confidently and raced out to a 15 point lead. They passed well, they defended, they ran the fastbreak well off of turnovers, they played unselfishly and the scoring was coming from everywhere. Then, as if every Thunder player had downed a Silver Bullet and a couple Xanax bars before tip-off, lethargy kicked in at about the 4 minute mark of the 2nd Quarter. That 15 point lead had dwindled to 3 at halftime and had turned into a 15 point deficit with about 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.

It was truly painful to watch. At one point the Thunder were booed. I don’t believe in booing the home team but I don’t blame the people who did. There’s a difference between getting beat and being embarrassed. The Thunder players should feel embarrassed for their play during that stretch. To call it uninspired is being polite. Also, for the record, the boos happened one time right before a timeout and for the remainder of the game everyone was trying to help the team get back into it.

That said, this did not feel like a baby step towards progress. In keeping with the idea of being able to polish a turd, however, perhaps this is part of rebuilding (I will keep telling myself this over and over and over). Just throw questions such as, “Can this team win 20? 25? 26? or, Will we have an All-Star? or Will they make the playoffs in a couple of years?” out the window. Screw it. The question now is how far must they (nee can they) fall before pride, heart or something else wills these guys to pick themselves up, dust themselves off and do something about actually getting better.

So, here are some basic questions that have to be answered; Is there a leader? Is there chemistry? Do the players respect and buy into the coach and his system?

Is there a leader? LeBron, Kobe, D-Wade, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Chris Paul, Steve Nash and so on and so forth. More than just being exceptional talents these guys don’t let their teams lose. They get in the middle of the huddle and they demand and extract excellence from their teammates.

Today, Desmond Mason looks like he probably is and wants to be the rah rah guy. Regrettably he’s in street clothes during games (I say street clothes but his idea of street clothes and mine are different. His make him look like he could go up to a group of women and point out the ones he wants and say you’re coming with me. Mine do not. And yet I digress).

More important than a rah-rah guy they also lack a floor leader. Someone who makes the players around them better or makes the game easier for his teammates. Against the Clippers the Thunder had more turnovers than assists.

The team drafted Russell Westbrook with him in mind for this role. But the more you watch of him the more it looks like he would just be a huge beneficiary of someone else with these credentials. Even if it is Westbrook it’s not going to happen anytime soon. He’s a rookie, it’s KD’s team and he doesn’t even start yet. He’s not in a position socially to take over this team. Chris Paul did it with the Hornets his first year but as we will find out Friday there is but one of him.

Do they like each other? Well, they stand up and cheer for each other an awful lot. When someone comes off the bench they go down the line and high five everyone. KD, Jeff Green and Westbrook were at the OU-Davidson basketball game together on Tuesday night. They help each other off the floor. As the game winds down and the crowd gets louder they get more and more into it. So, yeah it appears that they like each other. It seems like this is the easiest part, and it is for this team, but it’s much harder to achieve than people realize. All this losing is going to test it also just watch.

Do the players respect and buy into the coach’s system? It’s just too hard to tell at the moment. First, what is the system? At times, the offense looks absolutely stagnant because the passing is either non-existent or lethargic. It makes a Kelvin Sampson offense look revolutionary. It’s obviously predicated on defense which, at times, looks pretty good. That’s why Uncle Rusty needs more time. However, those quarter or half-long stretches marred by a blatant lack of energy, lack of aggressiveness, scoring droughts, mental lapses and leads given up make you wonder how much is youth and how much is Uncle Rusty. We just don’t know yet. Until such time that it becomes obvious I will err on the side of youth but these lapses sure do call it into question.

The bottom line is this team hasn’t found it’s floor yet and that’s mildly depressing. I might need to call Dr. Rodriguez and get my meds upped if I’m going to sit through 30+ more nights like Thunder v. Clips. In the meantime I will keep polishing this turd and hope for the sake of my enjoyment of this ride that Thunder v. Clips was the bottom and now the rebound begins.

Other Notes

I ordered my Go Big Red shirt (shameless plug) yesterday and if Bobby Swift’s performance against Chris Kaman was any indication, it might have been premature. My friend Nate labels someone on the Oklahoma Sooners secondary as “Gas Rag McGee” every year. It’s for the person who gets lit up the most in pass coverage on a consistent basis and generally proves to be a defensive liability. Well, Robert Swift was Gas Rag McGee last night. He made Chris Kaman look like he should have been on the Olympic team. Kaman is not bad but geez the fire department needed to be there with those fire retardant blankets for ol’ Swifty.

Some woman named Kathy Kuck won the award for filling out the most All-Star Ballots by filling out 3400. There’s no way she could have seen any of the game and that might be a good thing. The thing about ol Kathy is she won on Monday also. She also got the same prize; a Thunder jacket and NBA2K9 for the Xbox 360. I will start to worry about Kathy if she wins again on Friday. She looks like she’s about 35 by the way. Maybe she’s trying to collect Christmas presents.

The halftime show was a locally based yet internationally renowned magician. Didn’t catch his name. Probably the lamest magic show ever. I love the cornball halftime shows at NBA games. There’s nothing quite like them.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Fans a Farce? Damn That's Harsh

Perhaps my blood sugar was a little low yesterday when I said the idea of Thunder fans being the best in the NBA was a farce. I don't completely take it back because I do believe it's just a little premature to wear the crown and it is BS to leave, of all sporting events, a basketball game early when the outcome is far from determined.

Nonetheless I would love to one day be able to say that Oklahoma City has, without a doubt, the best fans in the NBA. And, perhaps it takes less time to get there than I thought. I offer the following quote from this ESPN Fantasy Blog as proof.

"With only three games to track Monday night, I had the luxury of being able to watch a large portion of every contest. And while the marquee match up in NBA terms was easily Jazz-Suns (more on that in a bit), I was particularly interested in one squad: the Oklahoma City Thunder.
I enjoy watching their home games because of their enthusiastic fans, who seem to have an absurdly enormous tolerance for pain. Thunder fans can absorb an enormous amount of punishment, yet vociferously applaud even the most marginally positive development. I don't have these numbers, but I bet the divorce rate in that area is fantastically low."

While it may qualify for "Backhanded Compliment of the Month" I will take it as a compliment. Doing so probably proves the point about tolerance for pain since this is one of the nicest things I've read about the Thunder from the national media so far this season (this is one typical and recent example). Regrettably, he couldn't be more wrong about the divorce rate.

Just think of what we're capable of if we win?

Speaking of, tonight one team will walk out of the Thunderdome with, drum roll please, win number 2 on the season (cue one of those party-favor-sized-confetti-poppers going off). This is like a couple of pups fighting over the hind-teat. It's sure to be fun and hotly contested. But in the grand scheme of the NBA it will probably be more comical and sad than anything.

No matter, I'll be there vociferously applauding the most marginal of developments.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Sheik Yerbouti Over to nba.com and Vote!

http://www.nba.com/FanNight/

The Thunder v. Phoenix next Tuesday is up for a vote on nba.com. The winning matchup gets shown that night. Vote early, vote often.

Losing + Used to Winning = Panty Twist

Well, regrettably it is starting to happen. The foundation, at least in some parts, seems to be eroding just a bit due to the Thunder's losing ways. Fire the coach, make a trade, Sam Presti's in over his head, the Thunder will never be more than a mid-level team. OKC deserves better. Some version of these comments can be found at the end of any Thunder article in the Oklahoman. Usually it's just Internet trolls making noise but the OKC base seems to be getting louder.

Oklahoma sports fans are spoiled rotten. How can you tell me Oklahoma City deserves anything in the world of the NBA? Deserves to win? Please. We've played 11 games as a franchise. The only thing you could argue that we deserve is a team, which we have. Frankly, the idea that we've paid our dues and are the best fans in the NBA is a farce. People leave close games with 10 minutes left like someone was flinging poo in their section. Two games have sold out.

And what's so bad about being a mid-level team? First off, that declaration was supposedly given by someone on the Sports Animal which frankly carries about as much weight as a premature twin. When I hear mid-level team I think competing for the playoffs. That's a fine goal. That's like having a goal to get to a bowl game or make the NCAA tournament. What's wrong with that? If you get in you have a chance to do something more. That's all you can hope for is a chance. Anybody who thinks you are going to compete for a championship year in and year out is just fooling themselves and probably a spoiled rotten Sooners football fan. Sure, the Sooners "compete" for a championship every season in football but they haven't played for a championship since 2004 and haven't won since 2001. And they are essentially the Celtics or Lakers of the NCAA.

So, to recap, we have 11 games under our belt and you feel like the Thunder should be on par with the Lakers and Celtics? Look, not finishing last in the league should be a worthy goal. Not finishing last in the division is a worthy goal for this team. Rally around that. The next step would be to become a mid-level team, then a perennial playoff participant, then maybe win one.

The fact of the matter is not only is Sam Presti not in over his head, he has this team poised to be more than a mid-level team for years to come. Believe it or not. We have trade bait out the ying yang in the form of players like Joe Smith, Chris Wilcox, Desmond Mason and Johan Petro. One of those guys might be in a Thunder uniform next year. The Thunder have cap space and are wiping their butts with 1st round draft picks. Tell me why biding your time until the February trade deadline or the draft is a worse idea than having a fire sale today and getting some mid-level player today that can maybe, maybe help the Thunder win two or three more games.

Getting rid of Uncle Rusty could happen this season but I don't think it should or will until at least the All-Star break, if not the end of the season. A team takes on the personality of its coach if it likes him/her and puts in lackluster effort when they don't. At times this team fades into bolivian as Mike Tyson would say. The offense, or lack thereof, is an eyesore by any standard and no defense can improve enough to make up for it. That much is true.

However, crazy as it sounds I can see the offense coming around a bit. It's like hitting in baseball. It really does take care of itself if you have some decent players. Kevin Durant is starting to hit his stride, Jeff Green is turning into the 3-point threat this team desperately needs and Robert Swift (Stay healthy brah) is a quality player. I purposefully omit Russell Westbrook. He is going to be really good but I can't overlook a blown alley-oop from the game last night. Just ridiculously awful. He's in the doghouse for today.

There is something more sinister at play than lack of effort or youth to explain the losing. The vibe I get is that for other teams, the thought of losing to a bottom dweller like the Thunder is a huge motivation. The Thunder have every bit the target on its back that an upper level team does because everyone knows you have to win games against the Thunder. To not do so would be to give one away. Maybe if the Thunder just took on the role of spoiler, starting today, things could be better. Every game is a chance to dump on the dreams of some other hopeful.

Wednesday night the Thunder have a shot at taking a baby step out of the basement. The Clippers suck. This game could actually be pretty fun to watch because you have two teams that suck and they both know this is a rare opportunity. Someone has to win. I'm glad it's at home.