Happy Father's Day from Kasen Williams

He sonned Nolan Washington.  Bow Down!

Oklahoma City has great fans (maybe)

Just finished reading Bill Simmons' column praising OKC fans. I totally agree that OKC fans appear to be among the best in the NBA.  

But before we go overboard talking these fans up, let's think about what they've had to root for:

2005-2007: Transient Hornets. OKC never had a top level professional sports team before Hurricane Katrina.  They are Katrina profiteers.  The circus was in town, complete with young Chris Paul, and OKC's citizens were drawn to the novelty of big time basketball.

2008-2009: Expansion Thunder.  Although the team went 23-59, Kevin Durant was clearly in line to become the best player in basketball, averaging 25 ppg as a 20 year old.  Rookie Russell Westbrook provided hope that the losing would be short-lived.  OKC fans embraced a team they could finally call their own.

2009-2010: Playoff Thunder.  The Thunder added James Harden to KD and Westbrook to create a lethal triumvirate. If that wasn't enough, they also added Serge Ibaka.  4/5ths of the present crunch-time lineup was in place.  The Lakers eventually won the championship, but not before the Thunder took them to 6 games in the first round. OKC fans had to wait all of one season before their team was in the playoffs with a championship-quality nucleus.

2010-2011: Contender Thunder. The Thunder added Kendrick Perkins to solidify their present lineup.  They lost to the Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals.  OKC fans had to wait two seasons before their team won two playoff series and almost made the Finals.  

2011-2012: Championship Thunder.  OKC came back from 0-2 down to steamroll the San Antonio Spurs and send the Thunder to the NBA Finals.  In the Finals the Thunder were matched up with the equally talented, but somehow inept, Miami Heat.  OKC fans had to wait three seasons before their team were NBA Champions.

The point is: 

WHAT CITY WOULDN'T SUPPORT THE BEST YOUNG TEAM WITH THE BEST YOUNG PLAYER, THAT CONTENDED FOR AND WON A CHAMPIONSHIP IN THEIR FOURTH SEASON?  

We know nothing about what sort of fans OKC has, aside from that they support an exciting expansion team, and they support an exciting winner. 

Newsflash: This isn't the normal course of business for most NBA teams.  Being a fan of an NBA team means supporting a 35-45 win squad that attempts to improve with the 12-17th pick in the draft. That's purgatory, and every team gets there eventually.  

The Lakers were 34-48 as recently as 2004-2005. Boston was 24-58 as recently as 2006-2007.  Those teams only improved because they play in markets that top tier players are willing to be traded to.  

So do the OKC Thunder have great fans? Sure.  A qualified yes.  Limited to these tremendously favorable circumstances, yes.  

Eventually the bloom will be off the rose and we'll see how this city supports a normal NBA team.  To make it more difficult, they will have to support a normal NBA team with the terrible knowledge of what it is like to have won.  

James Harden will sign a max deal elsewhere.  The Kevin Durant era will end.  The team will start to lose.  Seasons will start where there is no hope of a championship.  Seasons will start where there is no hope of a .500 team.  

Then, and only then, will we be able to know whether OKC truly has great fans.

Winning Time?

I really enjoy the ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries.  An interesting one is the Reggie Miller joint entitled "Winning Time," documenting Miller's penchant for taking out the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference playoffs. 

Reggie Miller was a clutch shooter for sure - and the Pacers had some great series against Patrick Ewing's Knick squad, but is it really fair to call a documentary about Miller "Winning Time."  The Pacers never won an NBA Title, and only advanced out of the Eastern Conference 1 time during Miller's career. 

Alternative Title Proposal:  "Things that happened in Basketball during the early 90s that weren't related to Michael Jordan." 

In which the Oklahoma City Thunder (along with Clay Bennett, Howard Schultz, David Stern, and the Seattle Supersonics) teach us an important lesson.

It's stupid to care about sports.