Smart Thoughts of the Week: Oct. 23 – 30

Throughout the week some of you drop some brilliant or at least somewhat thoughtful comments and so this is a try at highlighting some of them. Disclaimer: It’s not that I necessarily agree with all of them, but they were interesting and for the most part, well put. Consider everything [sic’d].

The kool-aid tastes bad anyway. Ooooohhhh yeeeeeaaaahhh. (okiefunk): I feel kinda bad for these kids (millionaires that they are!), when they can’t speak their minds and be themselves because of media-types looking for the next hot story/controversy to “expose”. (No offense Royce–luv ya!)

I am personally a HUGE Thunder fan, and happy Oklahoman, but I do not share the illusion that our PAID. PROFFESIONAL. NBA. ATHELETES (or their brothers) have to drink the cowboy kool-aid in order to give me my season-tickets worth on the court! This is their JOB people, and I might have to move to New Jersey for my job(heathen, hell-hole of bad manners….) but I bet if I like my job and the people I am working with, I will find something to like about it!

Tony-D is here supporting his bro’ and that is his job, but being a basketball fan is our job, not cultural ambassador to the city or the state! Different strokes for different folks dudes! And just for the record, I love DC too! I think it would be cool beans to go live there for a while. I would hope KD and his brother enjoy their time here, however long it is (hopefully VERY long!) but any predictions Durant has made about retiring in an OKC Thunder jersey are only as good as the paper his contracts are written on. It is our job as fans and OKC-residents to make it happen! So put your $$$ where your mouth is and buy tickets for tomorrow night if you haven’t already!

Bring ’em over Mr. Bennett. (Bryan): Sure is great to see all the international fans in here… I’m going to repeat what I said earlier about bringing over fans from outside the US. For one, it’s relatively cheap, compared to some of the other public relations things the team does. For two, it’s just cool to bring over fans from other countries to show the world, and even Oklahomans, that what happens here is seen and read about all over.

Were I KD, I’d pay for a trip myself just to give someone a great experience and begin creating a fan base in that person’s community. It just makes sense from both a business and community perspective.

And if you swap Byron Mullens for D.J. Mbenga, well, can you say undefeated? (Dai): I really think the trade machine has gone nuts. How can everyone benefit? I posted this trade on Welcome to Loud City a few days ago. By trading Collison and White for Azuibuke and Turiaf the Thunder are to improve by 41 wins.

An email about a Thunder fan taking in another fan experience. (Nate): I’m a daily reader of the DT, OKC resident, and a Thunder season tickets holder.  I was shipped out to Memphis for work this week and was forced to miss our opener.  I figured the next best thing would be to throw a Thunder shirt on and go catch the Grizzlies opener. I thought you might be interested in a non-Thunder NBA opener experience.  I’ll first say that the FedEx Forum is unbelievable.  I haven’t been to another NBA arena in a long-time but I’d be surprised if there are too many much nicer.  And that’s about the last positive thing about anything Memphis.

As the opening night, pregame ceremonies were going on, calling the arena half-full would have been optimistic.  Even as the late arrivers filed in, the arena was not close to ¾ full. It’s Opening Night!?  Anyone can fill up opening night right?  There was no point in the night that more than ½ the crowd stood.  In fact, I don’t think anyone stood at any point after tip-off (even though the game was close for a quarter and a half).  Opening Night!? How can you not be excited? There also wasn’t one point were the place was remotely noisy.  Of course, the Grizzlies didn’t do much to ignite the crowd.  They were never competitive after halftime.  After leaving at the end of the third, we listened to their radio on the way back to the hotel.  The most interesting comment made by their depressed radio announcers was “I really hope the fans will come back.” I can’t imagine what that arena will look like in February when the Grizzlies are 18-40 and it’s the T Wolves on a Wednesday.

As I spent the night watching this depressing NBA atmosphere and texting my friends that were going nuts in the Ford Center, I really realized how great OKC basketball is these day. Just think how great it will be when our team’s expected to be over 500!

Patients, patients, patients. (Jax Raging Bile Duct): Harden will figure it all out. He’s sharp enough. He isn’t the most gifted athletically, but he’s athletic enough to get the job done, defensively and offensively. If his IQ is where they claim it is, then he’ll know from film what his man has a habit of doing. People said similar things about Paul Peirce out of college (high bball IQ, low athleticism). Of course, the zone only defense puts Harden on a longer learning curve. Brandon Roy got a similar wrap.

I’m not saying that he’ll be as good as Paul Peirce or BRoy, but who knows, right? All rookies are tentative and shy on the court at first. If they’re not, they’re reckless. James is far from reckless. When he gains some confidence, and the game slows down for him, he’ll be able to do his thing. We were patient with Russell. We can be patient with James.