Westbrook George 20 Make Okc Great Again

Watching Russell Westbrook play basketball never is deadening. Never has been. Never volition be.

But it can be a little distressing.

It was a little sad Monday nighttime.

In the commencement Westbrook game I've watched cover-to-encompass since 2009 that didn't mean a matter, his Washington Wizards trounce the Thunder 119-107.

Oh, it meant something. The loss helped the Thunder stay fifth from the bottom in the NBA standings, helping its lottery odds. The win helped the Wizards in their quest to achieve 10th place in the Eastern Conference and make the NBA's play-in tournament, with a possible playoff coming together confronting the Nets or Sixers or somebody who will pulverize Washington.

But the game didn't hateful much. And Westbrook seemed out of identify in such a game. He never was a perfect player during all those glorious Thunder years or even the strange flavor in Houston. Just Westbrook ever was a roaring lion, roaming to and fro.

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In the District of Columbia on Monday night, I didn't come across that much roaring or that much roaming.

The Tuesday ScissorTales expect at Atlantic Coast Conference transfers Woody Newton and Jordan Goldwire to OSU and OU, respectively, plus an Oklahoma discovery near fabled Louisiana politician Huey Long. Only we brainstorm with the ultimate lightning rod.

Westbrook was his usual productive self Mon dark. A routine triple-double: 13 points, 11 rebounds, 17 assists.

The points were woefully inefficient – he made just 5 of eighteen shots. The rebounds were nondescript – Westbrook still chases rebounds at the expense of defense, though information technology'due south hard to blame him confronting the Thunder, which ranks 27th out of 30 NBA teams in field-goal percentage. The assists were excellent – Westbrook was a pass-showtime indicate guard near of the game and had several nifty feeds.

But Westbrook seems a little lost. He's playing out the string on a bad team – the Wizards are 24-33 – and has a contract that'south prohibitive to drawing interest from a contender. He'south making $41 one thousand thousand this season, volition brand $44 million next season and has a player option for $47 one thousand thousand in 2022-23, which he well-nigh surely will practise.

Westbrook's explosiveness has lessened but still remains. His shooting remains a mess (31.1 percent from deep this season; 61.5 pct from the foul line). His commitment to defence wasn't great when the Thunder was riding high; no reason for it to be whatever better when the Wizards are coasting low.

Just opponents nevertheless must account for Westbrook. The Thunder even deployed the tactic of guarding Westbrook with 6-foot-viii forward Darius Bazley.

"I was excited for the opportunity," Bazley said. "I was a bit surprised when Passenger vehicle like, we were going over personnel in the morning, said I was matched to him," Bazley said. "I thought I did OK. I know I'one thousand not going to concord anybody to zero points. It'south difficult to do in this league.

"In that location were a couple of times where he got deep under the basket and scored on me. Other than that, simply try to get him to accept contested jumpshots, whether it was from the midrange or the 3. Kind of limit him in transition. That really gets him going. He thrives in transition."

Well, not so much anymore. Westbrook had zero transition shots Monday night. The whirling dervish doesn't whirl quite like he once did.

Thunder charabanc Marker Daigneault was an banana terminal flavour, when Westbrook was a Rocket, and was the Thunder's Thousand League Blue autobus the concluding v seasons of Westbrook'south Oklahoma City career.

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Before answering any Westbrook question, Daigneault, remembering that this was the get-go Thunder-Wizards game of the season, saluted Westbrook.

"Nosotros haven't talked about this this year," Daigneault said. "When our guys are shooting in our gym, the fact that he'south been in that gym and shot at our baskets, he laid a lot of groundwork in this arrangement that nosotros capeesh and respect the hell out of that. I remember it goes without maxim. Just want to brand certain that's on the record."

And so Daigneault was quite complimentary of Westbrook's game and how the Thunder preps for him.

"The game plan last year, it'due south a little, dissimilar, mainly because of who he's playing with," Daigneault said, referring to James Harden a year ago and Bradley Beal this season. "So I think the gameplan on him is the same. Y'all gotta limit his transitions, y'all can't put him on the line. Yous've got to gap him and try to take away his first step.

"This night we put Bazley on him to get a niggling more length on him so information technology was a footling harder to cease, a fiddling harder to shoot over. Any differences are probably the differences between Harden and Beal, moreso than the differences in his game. But I hateful, he had 17 assists this night on a night when I thought we did a good job on him. He's a great player."

Not bad player? I doubt that'due south the case anymore. Or maybe I've just fallen into the Westbrook trap. Love him when he'due south on your team, hate him when he's on the other team.

All those nights of Thunder triple-doubles? Did other NBA ports look at those the way I looked at Westbrook's 13-11-17 game Monday nighttime? Sort of hollow.

I don't know. I but know this. I'yard glad Westbrook was a Thunder all those years. I'm glad he's not now.

Newton should help OSU; Goldwire should help OU

Here is an example of how college basketball's contour has fallen.

OSU gets a transfer from Syracuse, and OU gets a transfer from Duke, and we have no idea who these guys are.

Oh, I suppose difficult-core higher hoops fans know about Goldwire. He didn't ever commencement for Duke but almost always played a ton, especially the final two seasons. Newton was a freshman at Syracuse who played early in the season only non late.

You never know, simply Newton and Goldwire figure to be solid additions for the Bedlam rivals. Both have been in large-time programs. Both accept been coached hard. Both have loftier-level talent, else they wouldn't take ended up at the Carrier Dome and Cameron Indoor Stadium, respectively.

Newton fits the profile of what OSU needed. Mike Boynton has virtually of his roster back. Cade Cunningham is gone, of course. Bryce Williams might be. Merely I figure Avery Anderson will return after a dalliance with the NBA Draft.

The Cowboys were/are a little short on size and outside shooting. Newton is 6-human foot-8 and billed every bit a shooter. He made seven of 18 3-point shots equally a freshman in 2020-21. His playing fourth dimension dwindled after Syracuse's Covid-related interruption.

But in a 10-twenty-four hour period, four-game span in early December that included games confronting Boston Higher and Rutgers, Newton played lx minutes and scored 33 points, on 12 of 22 shots.

Then there's potential in that location. A programme similar Syracuse isn't designed for young players to work through their struggles. The Orange under Jim Boeheim in contempo years always seems to be on the edge of falling out of NCAA Tournament contention, then it's all hands on decks.

I sympathize. Aforementioned as I empathise why Newton would want to transfer, and frankly, Boeheim seemed to empathise, too, saying it was only natural for players non playing to seek a transfer.

This is the best time ever to transfer. Because of the NCAA'due south new transfer rule, Newton, from greater Baltimore, is eligible immediately and arrives at OSU as a freshman, since this by season didn't count against anyone's clock.

If Newton tin guard some on the perimeter and make shots, he's a perfect complement to OSU centers Kalib Boone and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe. Boynton played Boone and Moncrieffe together some, and that can piece of work, but you'd too like the pick of having more than shooting on the courtroom, and Newton could offer that, while yet giving OSU some size.

Cunningham, at vi-foot-viii, gave the Cowboys lots of wiggle room, considering while playing point guard, he besides took some duty defending the mail and bigger players. That'south a luxury that will be gone adjacent season and needs to be replicated in another ways.

Meanwhile, in Norman, Goldwire could make an even bigger impact. His commitment to the Sooners was overshadowed, since information technology came about twenty hours after Eastern Washington'due south Groves brothers, Tanner and Jacob, settled on OU.

Simply Goldwire brings uncommon feel to the Big 12.

Goldwire seems to fill a need at point guard. With Austin Reaves off to the pros and De'Vion Harmon apparently off to parts unknown, new coach Porter Moser was without an obvious betoken guard.

Incoming freshman Bijan Cortes was a possibility and all the same could be. But returnees Umoja Gibson and Elijah Harkless are better off the ball.

Goldwire seems a perfect fit.

Goldwire, from Norcross, Georgia, played sparingly every bit a freshman and sophomore at Duke. Only he croaky the starting lineup in the latter part of his junior year and the outset one-half of his senior year. And though he went back to the demote during the stretch run, it wasn't similar Goldwire was in Mike Krzyzewski'due south doghouse.

Goldwire played at least twenty minutes in every game this season except one.  In the games against North Carolina, which are somewhat important on Tobacco Road, Goldwire played 23 and 25 minutes.

So Goldwire tin play. If you play meaningful minutes for Duke, you can play. His defense apparently is strong; his shooting is not. Merely Goldwire's 3-betoken percentages the last 2 seasons, .354 and .333, are not awful. And Goldwire's assistance to turnover ratio was outstanding – 3.0/1.1.

Fourth dimension was, we knew all about a four-year actor from Duke. Just times have changed, and information technology's not all just us. Some of it is Knuckles and the times.

The Blue Devils didn't brand the NCAA Tournament in 2021, the NCAA Tournament was canceled in 2020 and Goldwire's minutes from 2019 and 2018 March Madness full 57 in half dozen games, with 21 of those coming against North Dakota State in '19, which nobody remembers considering Duke won 85-62.

Goldwire did play xv minutes in that memorable 77-76 survival of Central Florida in 2019. I was at the game in Columbia, South Carolina, merely don't think Goldwire. He had three points (making one of his three iii-bespeak attempts), with one rebound, one aid and ii steals.

Merely he played xv minutes in a harrowing game, with the spotlight glaring considering of teammates Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett, Cam Redish and Tre Jones.

Goldwire has played on the biggest stages of college basketball, with and against some of the biggest names. He shouldn't exist intimidated by Allen Fieldhouse.

And that'southward how the transfer portal is supposed to work. Gives a young actor similar Newton a fresh start. Gives a veteran player similar Goldwire a final hurrah.

Mailbag: Huey Long'south Oklahoma ties

My item on "All the King'southward Men" in the Monday ScissorTales included a reference to the book by the aforementioned name, written by Robert Penn Warren and based loosely on Huey Long, the Louisiana politician who became a symbol of corruption.

William: "Once saw Robert Penn Warren interviewed on Long, and he had mentioned that Long attended the Academy of Oklahoma for a short menses of time.  The post-obit is from Wikipedia.  You may want better documentation."

Wikipedia: "In September 1911, Long began attending seminary classes at Oklahoma Baptist University at the urging of his mother, a devout Baptist. Living with his blood brother George, Long attended for merely one semester, rarely actualization at lectures. After deciding he was unsuited to preaching, Long focused on police force. Borrowing ane hundred dollars from his brother (which he after lost playing roulette in Oklahoma City), he attended the Academy of Oklahoma College of Law for a semester in 1912. To earn coin while studying constabulary function-time, he continued to work as a salesman. Of the four classes Long took, he received 1 incomplete and three C's. He afterward confessed he learned footling because in that location was 'also much excitement, all those gambling houses and everything.'"

Tramel: Fascinating. I never Huey Long spent time at OBU or OU. I also didn't know that Norman or OKC was rife with gambling houses, but information technology makes a certain corporeality of sense, considering nosotros're talking most the literal borderland.

Long was the legendary populist politician who became Louisiana'due south governor, U.S. Senator and, according to the official Long website, "favorite son." He was planning a run for the White Firm when he was assassinated in 1935 at age 42.

And danged if it's non true. Huey Long indeed was a student at both OBU and OU. He was dwelling-schooled past his mother as a young child in Winnfield, Louisiana, then went to a rural school, where he was far ahead of his grade. The official website, hueylong.com, picks information technology upwardly from at that place.

"Huey was an excellent debater in loftier school and won a scholarship to Louisiana State University as tertiary prize in a statewide debating contest in Baton Rouge. However, he could not afford the textbooks or room and board to attend. Instead he became a traveling salesman. At historic period 17, he began touring the South for various companies, selling everything from cooking oil to patent medicines.

"When sales jobs dried up due to the unpleasing economy, Huey's mother saw an opportunity for her talented son to become a preacher as she had always hoped. She sent him to his older blood brother, George, in Shawnee, Oklahoma, to attend seminary classes at Oklahoma Baptist University. After one semester, Huey ended that he did non take the souvenir for preaching and decided to give the University of Oklahoma Law School a endeavour. Once there, he found campus politics more interesting than his classes and left school for a good sales job at the end of the term.

"Huey'south oldest brother, Julius, an chaser, counseled him to continue his police force studies at Tulane University Law Schoolhouse in New Orleans."

So there you have it. OBU and OU can claim Huey Long.

Trio wins my 32 NCAA Tournament game

Kent Phinney of Rock Hill, Due south Carolina; Blaine Dark-brown of Omaha, Nebraska; and Gary Grotts of Norman won my NCAA Tournament game of 32. Think, you had to choice a team from each regional, and the seeds aligned with those four teams had to equal 32. The role player with the most tournament wins combined the game.

Phinney, Chocolate-brown and Grotts each picked Gonzaga and Baylor, and that meant eleven combined victories. Coincidentally, all three too picked 15-seeds Iona and Cleveland State, who went out in the get-go round.

I owe all 3 lunch, though some volition be delayed, since we'll have to look until Brown and/or Phinney get dorsum to Oklahoma, or I make it to Nebraska or South Carolina.

Merely it was fun. We'll do it over again next year.

Proficient Eats: Ed Walker'southward Bulldoze-In

I've crossed into Arkansas on Interstate 40 dozens of times. Only I don't call back ever exiting at Fort Smith, the border town that sits just across the Arkansas River from Roland, Oklahoma.

That changed Sunday, returning from a funeral in Tennessee. Trish the Dish and I hit Fort Smith about lunchtime, and I texted my pal Jim Stafford, a Fort Smith native, on where to swallow. He suggested Ed Walker's Drive-In.

Fort Smith is a hardscrabble town but still growing – up to an estimated population of 87,000 in 2019. Much of the downtown area is decomposable, but Fort Smith is attempting a revival. Peradventure it will stick.

And Ed Walker'southward is my kind of place. A diner established in 1943 with lots of history and little pretension.

Ed Walker's calls itself the oldest restaurant in Fort Smith, which I'd hope to shout is the truth. Ed Walker's is in the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame – hey, Food Dude, practice we accept one of those? -- and once was a gas station. The owners noticed all the hungry drivers and decided to turn the business organisation into a hamburger stand. Made me call up of the joint in the original "The Postman E'er Rings Twice."

Patrons gushed about the burgers, the menu was expanded and the diner was built-in. The place oozes with history; the shotgun hamburger stand remains function of the diner, with a couple of larger (just not large) dining areas added on.

The drive-in organisation remains, too, without an audio organization. Drivers can pull upward under the awning, wink their lights and someone will come to the car to have their order. Ed Walker's even touts that it'southward the only joint in Arkansas that will bring yous a beer to your car.

The Dish and I popped inside, into a little berth, and had a delight dejeuner. She had a French dip, which long has been the firm specialty – I e'er figured a French Dip was a new thing, terminal fifty years or and so, but possibly information technology's been effectually forever. I had an one-time-fashioned hot beef sandwich – roast on toast, covered with brown gravy and mashed potatoes. I had hot beefs a bunch as a kid; probably oasis't had 5 since then, and none every bit good as Ed Walker's.

We shared a slice of Dutch apple pie for dessert.

I really enjoyed Ed Walker's. I'll be back.

Berry Tramel: Drupe can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He tin can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:forty-five:20 p.m. on The Sports Animate being radio network, including FM-98.one. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

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Source: https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/2021/04/20/watching-russell-westbrook-post-thunder-can-be-sad/7298758002/