Bauman: Will learning experience fuel Thunder to redemption in 2013?

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MIAMI – The Oklahoma City Thunder had just been blown out by the Miami Heat by the score of 121-106, dropped their fourth straight game for the first time in 276 games, and the silence of their locker room said it all.

Russell Westbrook walked out of the shower and into the locker room. He sat down and looked around at all the media in the Thunder locker room, his eyes puffy, red and a little watery.

After a few moments of silence, he cracked a joke with a Thunder staff member who was seated next to him.

Meanwhile, Kevin Durant had his head down and was plugged into his phones, a Blackberry and an iPhone, texting away while waiting for an NBA minion to tell him it was time to walk to the postgame press conference.

In tough moments like these, sometimes the best thing to do is to laugh. To breathe. To concentrate on anything other than the devastating defeat for a few minutes. It’s only healthy for these kids. After all, the Thunder’s nucleus of Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka are all 23 years old or less.

It was easy for analysts to expect the Thunder to outduel this veteran, battle tested and visibly hungry Miami Heat team. It was easy to say that their talent would shine through, that their age and inexperience on this stage wouldn’t matter, and that they would be able to knock off the Miami Heat.

But at the end of the day, age and experience did matter. The pounding the Heat took against the Mavericks last year drove them to winning the championship this year: Losing to Dallas became the driving force, the catalyst for this season’s ultimate dismantling of whichever team was opposite them.

“The best thing that happened to me last year was us losing The Finals, you know, and me playing the way I played, it was the best thing to ever happen to me in my career because basically I got back to the basics,” said Finals MVP LeBron James. “It humbled me.  I knew what it was going to have to take, and I was going to have to change as a basketball player, and I was going to have to change as a person to get what I wanted. You know, it happened just one year later.”

Wade echoed the sentiment and revealed he pulled out an old game tape for added motivation.

Yes, the tape of last year’s Game 6.

“You know, two years ago, putting this team together, obviously we all expected it to be a little easier than it was,” he said.  ”But we had to go through what we had to go through last year.  We needed to.  And as much as it hurt, we had to go through that pain and that suffering.  To get to this point of this season and the rest of our careers together, we’ll take nothing for granted.  Like I said, that series versus Dallas hurt, but it was their time.  I went back last night and I watched Game 6 of The Finals, and it was their time.  The shots they was hitting was unbelievable.  I just seen and I looked at it and I said, it wasn’t our time.  And tonight it was our time.”

The sting of this defeat will burn for the coming hours, days, weeks and months for the Thunder. It will keep them up late at night, thinking about what might have been, if they had made this shot here, that pass there, not fouled here, made a free throw there.

In the long run, this kind of loss, this type of experience – which included three close games that could have gone either way – could turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“Just, we’ve got to get better,” said Russell Westbrook when asked what he, Durant and Harden were discussing on the bench as the Finals were wrapping up. “We hugged each other and told each other to embrace this feeling and remember this feeling.  We kind of looked around and just ‑ we’ve got to get better.  We’ve got to be the guys that come back and push everybody next season and just got to get better, man, before we can find a way to get back here.

“Just thanking everybody, man, for the support, just going down the line and making sure everybody stayed positive, just making sure everybody knew that we worked hard, and we know what this feeling feels like,” he continued. “We’ll remember this feeling, and that will push everybody in the summer, just try to keep everybody going and keep everybody’s heads up.”

As can be imagined, the contrast between Oklahoma City and Miami’s locker rooms was blatant.

While the Thunder were gathering themselves up off the floor, the Heat were beginning the celebration of a lifetime. Just down the hallway, champagne was popped, beer was flying and cigars waved in the air while music blared throughout the room. Miami was thoroughly enjoying the moment that their unity and hard work had brought to them.

In the end there can only be one team left standing. The Thunder were the last team to put up a fight, but their will was dominated by a squad full of starving veterans and an impressive young coach who weren’t going to take a play in this series for granted.

“There’s things that we have to work on,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks.  ”I’ve never used age as an excuse.  But we’ve got some incredible experience these last three years of being in the playoffs, and it kind of ‑ it has helped us get to this point and to compete at this level.  But give Miami credit.  They have really talented players.  It’s obvious they have great experience.

“They were here last year, and they had a bad taste in their mouth.  There’s no question, when you experience that, there’s something more to that next time you get back.  Like I said, it’s not easy to get here.  Give Coach Spoelstra a big hand that they were able to do it two years in a row.”

If there is any indication as to how the Thunder will come back next year, it’s that even though they came up short the past three seasons (lost to the eventual champs all three times – Los Angeles, Dallas and now Miami), they have consistently learned from their mistakes to improve individually and collectively while advancing further and further in the playoffs every time they begin a new season – a promising sign for a young group of players.

The most important thing that they will have to take from this series is how to play with even more of a burning passion against losing. As competitors, the sting of a loss is oftentimes greater than the sensation of winning.

Losing builds (and reveals) character.

The Thunder handled themselves gracefully during their downward spiral from Finals favorite to distant runners-up.

The only question left to be answered is whether this feeling of disappointment fuels them back to this point and beyond in 2013, whether they apply their past experience to their future endeavors and, ultimately, are capable of seizing the moment when it’s right before their eyes.

Jeremy Bauman is a 2011 graduate of Indiana University and the newest writer for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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Bauman: OKC adjusting its defense to Miami’s style of play

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MIAMI — How in the world does a team win when it makes just 20 percent of its outside shots?

The Miami Heat were 8-of-40 on jumpers during Game 3 of the NBA Finals … and they won.

The prime reason the Heat were able to sneak away with the victory was because they attacked the paint, attacked the paint and attacked the paint some more.

With one of the best driving forces of all time on their side in LeBron James, along with the ever-motivated Dwyane Wade, steady forward Chris Bosh and emerging sharpshooter Shane Battier (11-of-14 from distance in the Finals) capable of spreading the floor, they were able to get into the paint at will during the first half, and finished 20-of-34 on layups and dunks.

In Game 1, Miami was 14-of-21 from point blank range. In Game 2, it was 15-of-28 on layups and dunks. As the series has progressed, the Heat have made getting inside the Thunder’s defense an increasing priority.

If you’re Scott Brooks and the Thunder coaching staff, this trend has to concern you, especially when your starting lineup boasts the two best interior defenders in the Finals.

The Thunder have to find a way to keep the Heat out of the paint and make them shoot jump shots. They have to play the odds, force the Heat into being uncomfortable, and take them out of rhythm.

It is nearly impossible to play man-to-man defense for an entire seven-game series against the Heat, who are too good at getting into the paint and making unselfish plays. They are excellent at getting the best shot that they can on a given possession because of the high-octane speed and power that both James and Wade offer.

If James and Wade aren’t scoring or assisting, they’re probably getting fouled. Miami got to the line 35 times in Game 3, making 31.

And when you are drawing that many fouls, there are residual factors. In Games 2 and 3, Kevin Durant has been saddled with foul trouble, primarily because his defensive assignment has been James or Wade.

“Kevin plays aggressive basketball and he’s a defensive player,” Brooks said. “And a lot of times you look at him, how gifted he is offensively. But we’re a good team because he defends and and he has to continue to defend. We might have to change a few things up, but he’s an aggressive player on both ends of the floor.”

Time and again, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has said his team has to “stay true to our identity. Play aggressive. Play with resolve. Figure out a way to get it done.”

After witnessing Game 3 – and the rest of these playoffs – it is obvious that despite their lack of a true post presence, the Heat want to live in the paint and take the other team’s heart out of the game by scoring easily and often.

With these things in mind, will the Thunder change their defensive strategy? Will they adjust and perhaps turn to some kind of zone defense to slow down and possibly confuse the Heat?

“It’s not like we’re gonna play zone and call it a zone, but there’s ways that we can defend where we can keep it tight in the paint,” Thunder forward Nick Collison said. “We can start in and get out to shooters. You can see in our tape that when we’re spread out, bad things happen. When we’re in tight, we’re starting in, and we’re tagging them and guys are cutting off us, so that it doesn’t look open to those guys, that’s when we’re at our best.

“It’s not going to be called a zone. We’re not going to change to something totally entirely different than we’ve done ever, but the principles are similar. It’s just our man-to-man defense, but its the way that we do it. If we’re engaged and in tune, that’s how we play. If we’re not, we find ourselves creeping out and guarding guys too far away from the basket away from the ball. Our mindset always has to be ‘What’s going on in the play? Where is the problem? When we’re good, we’re tied to the problem and when we’re not so good, we’re spread out.”

If that response is any indication, it seems as though the Thunder will go back to the drawing board. Although they won’t overhaul their defense at this point in the season, they have to read and react quicker to plays. They have to remember that stopping the ball is the primary goal and that an open jump shot for the Heat is a better result than a bunny in the paint.

“This is a very athletic team that can cover a lot of ground, OKC,” Spoelstra said. “So they’re forcing us to move bodies, try to move the ball. Even at times where it doesn’t look like it, the emphasis is there. The guys are trying to understand; if we don’t move our bodies, we don’t get the ball moving.

“Still, we want to get guys where they’re comfortable, where they can be aggressive. Dwyane really likes to be aggressive up top, but we have to move them, otherwise they can cover the court with this. And then their speed, they can really bottle you up.”

If the Thunder are going to make this a series, they are going to have to zone in on their defensive rotations. Whatever Brooks and his staff come up with, his young team is going to have to soak it up in the moment and turn a disadvantage into an advantage.

Spoelstra and the Heat are aware that the Thunder are fully capable of a quick transformation. Against the Spurs, the first two games and the last four games were like night and day.

In the end, defensive execution will likely be the key to the Finals for the Thunder. Learning on the fly is never easy, but if they are to surprise the world with a comeback against the Heat, they will have to excel under the limelight.

 

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Bauman: Thunder say zone defense is not a viable option

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MIAMI — With Shane Battier draining nine 3-pointers through two games, it seems like an odd time to bring it up. But it is worth discussing:

Zone defense.

As the NBA Finals shift to Miami, I can’t help but remember last season: The Dallas Mavericks utilized all their parts and all of their schemes in an attempt to slow down the fast and powerful offense of the Miami Heat. If even for a string of possessions at a time, the Mavs made use of the league’s best zone defense in order to take the Heat out of rhythm during crucial stretches on their way to becoming 2011 NBA Champions.

Most notably, the Mavs decided to deploy their defensive weaponry early on in Game 6 – just after LeBron James started 4-of-4 from the field. The move took James out of his rhythm and helped to contribute to a 21-4 run over the course of 5-plus minutes that helped give Dallas a 40-28 lead toward the middle of the first half.

Yet for all of Dallas’ success just a year ago, the thought of playing a zone defense during this series doesn’t seem to have crossed the Oklahoma City Thunder players’ or coaches’ minds.

“Personally, as players, we don’t think about that,” said Thabo Sefolosha, one of the Thunder’s best on-the-ball defenders. “Right now the concept is to play them straight up man-to-man and get help. If we make a change, we make a change, but right now we don’t really think about that.”

“We have the toughness, length and athleticism to match up with them,” emphasized Harden, implying that man-to-man was the way to be. We have long and athletic guys on our team. That’s our advantage. We’re long, athletic, tall and strong, and we’re trying to use that to our advantage.”

When discussing the subject Saturday at American Airlines Arena with players and coaches from both teams, it seems that the reasons for the Thunder not playing any zone during this series are more complicated than the one might assume.

First and foremost, identity plays a huge role in the initiation of zone defense. A team like Oklahoma City doesn’t use zone regularly and isn’t likely to pull it out of their back pocket during the most crucial stretch of the season.

“Each team has to play to their identity,” said Ron Rothstein, a longtime Miami Heat assistant coach. “If you try to do something that you’re not familiar with and isn’t something that got you there, it’s usually not going to work.”

“That’s not something we do,” said Mark Bryant, a former NBA veteran forward and current Thunder assistant. “We’re a defensive oriented team. We like to cover the elbows and blocks. We like to have our hands up – pick-up defense, like right above the 3-point line.”

Oklahoma City’s identity, much like Miami’s, is playing high pressure man-to-man defense so that they can dictate where their help defense comes from and, ultimately, force bad shots and turnovers so that they can create fast-break opportunities.

“If they turn you over, forget about it,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “It’s two or three going down the other end.”

The problem with this, however, is that when you are playing against one of the game’s biggest, strongest, and potentially greatest driving/creating/playmaking forwards of all time, that task can wear on defenders (no matter how good they are) over the course of a series.

It’s true that the Thunder have the ever-improving Kevin Durant and the excellent defensive specialist Sefolosha to guard Miami’s James and Wade, but thus far in the first two games they have been spread out during the first two quarters by Battier (13 points and 9 points during first halves) early and diced up by James (14 points and 14 points, respectively) often. In Game 1 Nick Collison came off the bench and gave the Thunder a nice lift with 8 points and 10 rebounds (plus-13 in 21 minutes), but perhaps most importantly, he ensured that Serge Ibaka could be roaming the perimeter on players like James and Battier, whom he started the first two games on. In Game 2, Collison was +8 in 15 minutes on the floor without scoring a point – a true sign of his value.

It’s clear that the Thunder will have to make a decision about how they are going to divide minutes between Ibaka, Collison and Perkins. In order to keep up with Miami’s small starting lineup of Chalmers, Wade, Battier, James and a healthy Bosh, it might be best to start the versatile Collison so that he can roam the perimeter on Battier and Ibaka can bang in the middle with Bosh.

Whatever the case may be, it’s clear that unlike Dallas, the Thunder will not be trying to confuse the Heat with a zone defense — unless they are playing possum.

“With Dallas, they were different like that,” explained assistant coach Bryant. “We’ve talked about it, but it’s just not something we’d do. We have long and athletic guys on our team. That’s our advantage. We’re long, athletic, tall and strong, and we’re trying to use that to our advantage.”

“We have the toughness, length and athleticism to match up with them,” Harden said. “We haven’t thought about playing zone. Maybe the coaches did, but as players right now we don’t think about that. Our plan is to play straight up man-to-man. That’s what it’s going to be for now and if we make a change, we make a change.”

Jeremy Bauman is a 2011 graduate of Indiana University and the newest writer for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.

 

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Exclusive: Westbrook discusses Urban Geek Chic With SheridanHoops

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If you’ve been paying attention to the 2012 NBA Playoffs, you’ve seen the perpetually questioned, never-ending wardrobe of fashionista Russell Westbrook.

And if you’ve been following them via Twitter, you know that each and every postgame presser for the Oklahoma City Thunder has turned into a ‘WHAT IN THE WORLD IS RUSSELL WESTBROOK WEARING,’ convention.

The ‘Urban Geek-Chic’ style has been an extraordinarily hot topic during these playoffs and was accentuated once again last night during both teams postgame press conferences, as teammates Westbrook, Durant, and James and Wade all wore glasses to the podium.

Today during media availability, in between questions about how his team has improved defensively and how Durant and he coexist, Westbrook answered a few questions about his wardrobe and about the glasses everyone wore last night.

Did Russell Westbrook start this whole trend?!

“I’ve been wearing glasses since I’ve been in the league. I think everybody else just started wearing them now… I ain’t saying nothing, but I’m just saying [laughs].”

Fittingly enough, his Miami Heat competition LeBron James has a different outlook on things.

“No, that’s not right,” stated James. “There’s no stories behind it. You know, it’s a look, it’s a fashion thing. But he absolutely didn’t start it.”

James didn’t stop there, though.

“I don’t know who started it, honestly,” he elaborated. “I think I’ve been wearing mine for about two years now, but I don’t know who started it. None of us started it. It could have started back in the 70’s or 80’s. I’m serious. I mean, fashion comes and goes.”

Regardless of who is right, all of these guys are having fun showing off their Urban Geek-Chic wardrobes. According to Westbrook, confidence is the key to success each and every time he puts on one of those Twitter-debate sparking shirts (here’s the unbelievably long Google search for you) or standout pants.

“Some stuff a lot of people can’t pull off, you know, because they’re worried about what other people say or it’s not their style,” stated a calm, cool and collected Russell Westbrook on Wednesday afternoon.

“I can wear anything in any color and feel confident.”

And just in case you were wondering, Westbrook has plenty more glasses up his sleeve for the rest of the series, and then some.

“Every color,” he said. “I just haven’t worn them yet. I got enough to end the year out.”

So for all of you wondering when Westbrook’s going to grow up and rock a normal shirt to the podium without those somewhat Urkel-reminiscent glasses, you might as well just sit back, laugh and enjoy the show.

At just 23 years old, it doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon.

Jeremy Bauman is a 2011 graduate of Indiana University and the newest writer for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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Silva: 10 Things You (Probably) Don’t Know About the Thunder

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So much has been written about the Oklahoma City Thunder throughout these NBA playoffs that it’s difficult to find any new nuggets of information about the team and its city that aren’t already in cyberspace.

But I’m going to give it a shot.

I had the good fortune of working for the Thunder as its Web site writer from 2008 up until last season’s All-Star break, so I have my share of memories and experiences, both first-hand and from the reporting I did for both thunder.nba.com, its quarterly magazine, Thunder Magazine, and the game night programs found in the arena.

Most of this might not be news to Okies, who know their Thunder inside-out, but since the nation’s 44th largest media market is about to go global for these NBA Finals – they’ll be broadcast in hundreds of countries – I figured I’d take a stab at listing 10 things you might not have known about the Thunder and Oklahoma City. Or rather, these are just 10 of my favorite things about the Thunder – facts, memories, stories, stuff you might find interesting.

Here you go:

1. Kevin Durant is who he appears to be. The young man does not put on an act in front of cameras or fans. I’ve never seen a more gifted athlete with such a cool demeanor and selflessness about him than I have with Durant. He’s as genuine as they come. Anyone who’s spent time around him can surely attest to that, so this really isn’t news. (Now, the bond Durant has forged with the home fans, especially those he visits with before games, and how accessible he is, is a whole other story.) But it still impresses me that someone of his stature, who has been on a meteoric rise, can remain so humble and down to earth. I’ve seen it behind closed doors, whether it’s during a break at one of his summer camps in Oklahoma City or in a van after a Foot Locker event in Harlem, or even on the loading dock of US Airways Center in Phoenix during All-Star Weekend in 2009, after Durant set a Rookie-Sophomore Game record with 46 points. He wasn’t on Cloud Nine nor was he trying to downplay the feat. He was just….collected. One of my favorite Durant stories came from his college coach, Texas’ Rick Barnes, who told me a few years ago about the summer of 2010, when Durant came back to campus for summer classes and to work out with fellow Longhorns. Barnes recalled how Durant spent that summer sleeping on two air mattresses on the floor of his old college roommate’s apartment because he thought that staying in a hotel would be a waste of money. As renowned trainer Idan Ravin, also known as the Hoops Whisperer, once told me about Durant, “He is the most unassuming superstar I’ve ever met – and I’ve had a chance to work with many of them.”

2. Russell Westrook might have the best offseason workout partner in the league. Maybe you’ve read it before, maybe you haven’t, but ever since he entered the league Westbrook has spent each offseason working out with Chicago Bulls point guard and former MVP Derrick Rose back home in California. Westbrook, from Lawndale, and Rose work out together in Santa Monica. While in-season practices, games and a stable of coaches who have been there, done that (See: former point guards Scott Brooks and Maurice Cheeks) have certainly helped Westbrook’s maturity and development as a player, working out against and alongside another insane talent in Rose on a daily basis has only helped the Thunder point guard.

3. Speaking of offseason workouts….I remember the early mornings of the first few days of training camp back in 2009 and 2010, how the entire Thunder basketball operations staff – video coordinators, coaching staff, players, media relations people, even GM Sam Presti – would carpool over to strength coach Dwight Daub’s home, just a short drive from the Thunder’s former practice facility in Edmond. Daub lived in a nice community and had one helluva hill in his backyard that plateaued into some neighbor’s yards. Every member of the team would line up and run sprints, up and down that hill, non-stop, until they were gassed. To see the looks on the faces of anyone who was hanging at the nearby neighborhood park and pool was priceless: six foot-plus tall men coming out of SUVs and working out in someone’s backyard doesn’t happen anywhere else in America. But what impressed me the most wasn’t the size of the hill or the number of repetitions but how everyone from the front office partook in the exercise. When they left, their work day had only begun. Now, I would have asked to join the run but I wasn’t the most coordinated guy back then.

4. Serge Ibaka is one fast learner. The third-year forward from the Congo has been on a rapid ascent to becoming the league’s premier shot blocker. The Thunder probably saw this kind of potential in Ibaka from Day One. Not only will the organization praise him for his work ethic, but his ability to adapt might be more impressive. Consider this: by the age of 19, Ibaka had lived on three different continents, learned three different languages and adapted to the NBA game to where he led the league in blocks this season. After leaving the Congo for Spain, Ibaka’s coach at the time, Jaume Ponsarnau, said he became fluent in Spanish within three months without any formal language lessons. “I remember his eyes, they were of an intelligent person,” Ponsarnau told me a few years ago. “He was trustworthy, and I really wanted to work with him. He had the intelligence and the virtue to understand things.” When Ibaka got to the Thunder, he barely spoke a lick of English. The team had an English teacher, who was from his native country, come to the practice facility for English lessons in the media workroom after reporters had left for the day. To the media, Ibaka spoke broken English during his rookie year, and while he wasn’t comfortable in front of cameras, I can’t recall him turning down an interview. If he was insecure, he never showed it. A year later, his confidence, both on the court and with a new language, shot up tenfold. Ibaka’s got an amazing story.

5. Cliche alert: Nick Collison is a true student of the game. I hate cliches more than the next guy, but there’s no other way to describe Collison, who is the son of one of Iowa’s most respected high school basketball coaches. Collison grew up in the gym. As a first grader he studied high school game film alongside his dad. Collison’s college coach, Roy Williams, told me for a story that Collison is the most fundamentally sound player he’s ever coached. And before he got to the NBA, all Collison ever did was win. His high school basketball team went 74-1 throughout his career, and Collison experienced so much success at such a young age that his father, Dave, wanted to teach him some humility. So he had Nick run on the junior varsity track team, which put him in the third heat of the 4 x 100 meter relay. Out of 37 other runners, Nick said he was probably the 36th fastest. Needless to say, he hated it. His father, Dave, told me this for a story, “I think it was really good for him because it was something he wasn’t good at. He was pretty good at everything else he did….There were times he complained about it and I said, ‘Well, now you know what it’s like for those other kids who play basketball and struggle a little bit. You keep that in mind when they miss a shot or throw the ball away and you realize that they’re doing their best.’”

6. Thabo Sefolosha found his niche early in his career. Julien Guerineau, the editor and chief of Basketball Magazine, the official publication of the French Federation, saw Sefolosha at the onset of his pro career in 2002. Guerineau told me for a magazine story I wrote on Sefolosha that the Thunder guard played maybe three minutes total during his first season with the elite Chalon-Sur-Saone club in France. Sefolosha’s coach at the time told him that if he wanted to earn playing time he’d have to carve himself a niche. Sefolosha said he put all of his effort into becoming a lockdown defender, and by the following season he earned a rotation spot for his ability to defend four positions, leading to the nickname Swiss Knife.

7. Presti is a consummate leader. I’ve never been around someone with Presti’s work ethic. And I’ve never worked for anyone who’s been so confident in a plan of action that he stays the course no matter how rocky the road might get (remember that 3-29 start?). That’s obviously a huge reason why the Thunder has developed at this pace; Presti never deviated from his plan. Of course, it’s been just as important to have an ownership group that allows the basketball minds to make basketball decisions. I’ve never seen Presti address the team but every once in a while he would gather the business office for a meeting, whether it was to explain why the team made a certain transaction or to make sure everyone was on the same page. Making sure everyone was on the same page seemed important to him. I’ll always remember this one time he brought in a guest speaker for the entire organization at a meeting in the downtown library. The speaker was Jon Gordon, author of The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work and Team With Positive Energy. Enough said.

8. Rob Hennigan. Remember that name. If I was a betting man – and I’m not – I would place money on Hennigan one day running an NBA front office. When you have a successful organization like the Thunder it’s only a matter of time before your front office gets poached. Rich Cho, a former Thunder assistant GM, is already on his second GM post, this time with the Charlotte Bobcats. I’m sure that Troy Weaver (who as an assistant coach at Syracuse was responsible for recruiting Carmelo Anthony) and Hennigan will get their chances soon enough. I bring this up in large part because of Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, who reported last week that the Orlando Magic had interest in the two. While I’m not sure how strong there interest is in Hennigan, I can see why he would land on someone’s radar. He’s quietly worked his way up the ladder. When I first met him he was the team’s Director of College and International Player Personnel. And to think, he could have been an ink-stained wretch like myself and my media brethren. Hennigan got his degree in broadcast journalism from Emerson College – the same alma mater as Presti – where he also became the basketball program’s all-time leading scorer.

9. Oklahoma City has a crazy local fan base. You’ve seen the way the entire Chesapeake Energy Arena crowd wears those white or blue playoffs t-shirts in unison. You’ve seen the way they stand until the Thunder scores its first basket of every game. And you might recall how they gave the Thunder a rousing standing ovation a split second after its season ended at home in Game 6 of a first-round playoff loss to the Lakers back in 2010. But those aren’t the first thoughts that come to mind when I think of how prideful Okies are. What comes to mind is something that only occurred during the Thunder’s inaugural season, back in 2008-09. Before every home game, a local (presumably a season ticket holder) would stand atop a platform off the corner of the court, waving this giant Oklahoma state flag as the state song blared from the arena’s sound system while players were about to take the court. Everyone in the building would be standing and clapping to the beat of the song. At first, I didn’t understand it, but over time it became my favorite part of the in-game entertainment. It’s more than just team pride for Oklahomans; it’s a civic pride. How many people have that for their state?

10. Cheever’s Cafe. If you’re ever in Oklahoma City, you must eat here. It’s billed as contemporary comfort food and in my opinion it’s the best place in town. Whenever friends, family or out of town writers came to Oklahoma City this is where I’d take them. It’s a pretty nice walk from downtown Oklahoma City, right on the other side of the historic Heritage Hills neighborhood. Sunday brunch is a must. The fried chicken and waffles and croissant french toast do not disappoint, as does the queso chihuahua appetizer. If you’re headed there for dinner, the chicken fried steak will fill you up. It’s a rather small joint, a former flower shop, with a homey atmosphere and local artwork adorning the walls. You’ll likely need reservations. The place is owned by A Good Egg Dining Group, which has a handful of other stellar restaurants and even a gastro pub, and this is the same company that caters all of the Thunder’s meals at its practice facility.

Chris Silva, former Pistons beat writer for the Detroit Free Press and Kevin Durant’s de facto biographer for thunder.nba.com, covers the Chicago Bulls and the NBA for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter at @silvawriter or email him at christopherbsilva@gmail.com.

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