2018-2019 OKC Thunder Regular Season Pt 1: A Renewed Hope

[Dn4sty]

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What in the world...

[getrichordie]

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What in the world...

I have a weird feeling about this. What if he’s been diagnosed with cancer or some other life-altering diagnosis and he just needs time to process it?


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[ThunderBolt]

At this point we have to start wondering if he's coming back this season.

[spearsy23]

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RUSS GAVE HIS SHOES TO A BLACK KID, FIND A NEW SLANT

[Thabo Sefolosha]

he meant it for the white girl

[slick_watts]

a legitimate sports journalism ecosystem in oklahoma would have unearthed what this was about by now. the thunder media is terrible at this sort of thing. but i guess credit the thunder for holding their thumb over reporters.

[Dn4sty]

a legitimate sports journalism ecosystem in oklahoma would have unearthed what this was about by now. the thunder media is terrible at this sort of thing. but i guess credit the thunder for holding their thumb over reporters.

So do you really believe this? Why do you expect media to pry into the personal life of people?

Further why make so many assumptions? Could it be possible that the reporters covering OKC (Young, Dawson, Horne, etc...) would rather choose decency (aka let Abrines have whatever space and time necessary to work through whatever is going on) rather than pacify the curiosity of fans. Further if they do know what is going on, it in no way means they are obligated to inform us.

I know this position doesn’t fit your narrative, but posts like this infuriate me. There are things we just don’t need to know.

[spearsy23]

a legitimate sports journalism ecosystem in oklahoma would have unearthed what this was about by now. the thunder media is terrible at this sort of thing. but i guess credit the thunder for holding their thumb over reporters.

So do you really believe this? Why do you expect media to pry into the personal life of people?

Further why make so many assumptions? Could it be possible that the reporters covering OKC (Young, Dawson, Horne, etc...) would rather choose decency (aka let Abrines have whatever space and time necessary to work through whatever is going on) rather than pacify the curiosity of fans. Further if they do know what is going on, it in no way means they are obligated to inform us.

I know this position doesn’t fit your narrative, but posts like this infuriate me. There are things we just don’t need to know.

I do believe the way OKC beat writers work is influenced by the culture of the Midwest in addition to the culture of the Thunder. I don't know if it's good or bad, but I do prefer giving guys some space rather than assuming everything they do is our business.

[Dn4sty]

a legitimate sports journalism ecosystem in oklahoma would have unearthed what this was about by now. the thunder media is terrible at this sort of thing. but i guess credit the thunder for holding their thumb over reporters.

So do you really believe this? Why do you expect media to pry into the personal life of people?

Further why make so many assumptions? Could it be possible that the reporters covering OKC (Young, Dawson, Horne, etc...) would rather choose decency (aka let Abrines have whatever space and time necessary to work through whatever is going on) rather than pacify the curiosity of fans. Further if they do know what is going on, it in no way means they are obligated to inform us.

I know this position doesn’t fit your narrative, but posts like this infuriate me. There are things we just don’t need to know.

I do believe the way OKC beat writers work is influenced by the culture of the Midwest in addition to the culture of the Thunder. I don't know if it's good or bad, but I do prefer giving guys some space rather than assuming everything they do is our business.

Both can be true, but it’s strange to me that some feel it’s their “right” to know the inner workings of a players personal life.

[slick_watts]

a legitimate sports journalism ecosystem in oklahoma would have unearthed what this was about by now. the thunder media is terrible at this sort of thing. but i guess credit the thunder for holding their thumb over reporters.

So do you really believe this? Why do you expect media to pry into the personal life of people?

Further why make so many assumptions? Could it be possible that the reporters covering OKC (Young, Dawson, Horne, etc...) would rather choose decency (aka let Abrines have whatever space and time necessary to work through whatever is going on) rather than pacify the curiosity of fans. Further if they do know what is going on, it in no way means they are obligated to inform us.

I know this position doesn’t fit your narrative, but posts like this infuriate me. There are things we just don’t need to know.

thunder hold a lot of sway over what is reported by the oklahoma sports media. listen to darnell mayberry, anthony slater, or fred katz post-okc mention how restrictive the club is on what is reported. especially darnell. weston shepherd, who runs daily thunder, said once that he was looking to do a piece on thunder injuries and team culpability and was pretty much told not to. there's not even really a dissenting voice in okc media when it comes to the thunder. it's a sham.

i don't necessarily need or even want to know what's going on specifically with abrines. but this is one of many examples where information available to the public in other markets is non-existent here.

[spearsy23]

a legitimate sports journalism ecosystem in oklahoma would have unearthed what this was about by now. the thunder media is terrible at this sort of thing. but i guess credit the thunder for holding their thumb over reporters.

So do you really believe this? Why do you expect media to pry into the personal life of people?

Further why make so many assumptions? Could it be possible that the reporters covering OKC (Young, Dawson, Horne, etc...) would rather choose decency (aka let Abrines have whatever space and time necessary to work through whatever is going on) rather than pacify the curiosity of fans. Further if they do know what is going on, it in no way means they are obligated to inform us.

I know this position doesn’t fit your narrative, but posts like this infuriate me. There are things we just don’t need to know.

thunder hold a lot of sway over what is reported by the oklahoma sports media. listen to darnell mayberry, anthony slater, or fred katz post-okc mention how restrictive the club is on what is reported. especially darnell. weston shepherd, who runs daily thunder, said once that he was looking to do a piece on thunder injuries and team culpability and was pretty much told not to. there's not even really a dissenting voice in okc media when it comes to the thunder. it's a sham.

i don't necessarily need or even want to know what's going on specifically with abrines. but this is one of many examples where information available to the public in other markets is non-existent here.

I like darnell's writing, but he clearly has a bit of a grudge over something that went down while he was here.

[getrichordie]

So do you really believe this? Why do you expect media to pry into the personal life of people?

Further why make so many assumptions? Could it be possible that the reporters covering OKC (Young, Dawson, Horne, etc...) would rather choose decency (aka let Abrines have whatever space and time necessary to work through whatever is going on) rather than pacify the curiosity of fans. Further if they do know what is going on, it in no way means they are obligated to inform us.

I know this position doesn’t fit your narrative, but posts like this infuriate me. There are things we just don’t need to know.

thunder hold a lot of sway over what is reported by the oklahoma sports media. listen to darnell mayberry, anthony slater, or fred katz post-okc mention how restrictive the club is on what is reported. especially darnell. weston shepherd, who runs daily thunder, said once that he was looking to do a piece on thunder injuries and team culpability and was pretty much told not to. there's not even really a dissenting voice in okc media when it comes to the thunder. it's a sham.

i don't necessarily need or even want to know what's going on specifically with abrines. but this is one of many examples where information available to the public in other markets is non-existent here.

I like darnell's writing, but he clearly has a bit of a grudge over something that went down while he was here.

Maybe people don’t like it when someone tells the truth objectively... that’s usually why people in power get upset over journalists.


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[Dn4sty]

a legitimate sports journalism ecosystem in oklahoma would have unearthed what this was about by now. the thunder media is terrible at this sort of thing. but i guess credit the thunder for holding their thumb over reporters.

So do you really believe this? Why do you expect media to pry into the personal life of people?

Further why make so many assumptions? Could it be possible that the reporters covering OKC (Young, Dawson, Horne, etc...) would rather choose decency (aka let Abrines have whatever space and time necessary to work through whatever is going on) rather than pacify the curiosity of fans. Further if they do know what is going on, it in no way means they are obligated to inform us.

I know this position doesn’t fit your narrative, but posts like this infuriate me. There are things we just don’t need to know.

thunder hold a lot of sway over what is reported by the oklahoma sports media. listen to darnell mayberry, anthony slater, or fred katz post-okc mention how restrictive the club is on what is reported. especially darnell. weston shepherd, who runs daily thunder, said once that he was looking to do a piece on thunder injuries and team culpability and was pretty much told not to. there's not even really a dissenting voice in okc media when it comes to the thunder. it's a sham.

i don't necessarily need or even want to know what's going on specifically with abrines. but this is one of many examples where information available to the public in other markets is non-existent here.

Let’s say you are correct. It doesn’t have to mean that they are withholding Abrines info. Maybe as decent human beings they have decided not to press things.

Not everything has to fit your narrative

[getrichordie]

So do you really believe this? Why do you expect media to pry into the personal life of people?

Further why make so many assumptions? Could it be possible that the reporters covering OKC (Young, Dawson, Horne, etc...) would rather choose decency (aka let Abrines have whatever space and time necessary to work through whatever is going on) rather than pacify the curiosity of fans. Further if they do know what is going on, it in no way means they are obligated to inform us.

I know this position doesn’t fit your narrative, but posts like this infuriate me. There are things we just don’t need to know.

thunder hold a lot of sway over what is reported by the oklahoma sports media. listen to darnell mayberry, anthony slater, or fred katz post-okc mention how restrictive the club is on what is reported. especially darnell. weston shepherd, who runs daily thunder, said once that he was looking to do a piece on thunder injuries and team culpability and was pretty much told not to. there's not even really a dissenting voice in okc media when it comes to the thunder. it's a sham.

i don't necessarily need or even want to know what's going on specifically with abrines. but this is one of many examples where information available to the public in other markets is non-existent here.

Let’s say you are correct. It doesn’t have to mean that they are withholding Abrines info. Maybe as decent human beings they have decided not to press things.

Not everything has to fit your narrative

I think both can be true. OKC F.O. could easily “ask” journalists not to report things and journalists understand the ask and oblige for obvious reasons.

I don’t think slick is pursuing some narrative. He’s just using what we know about how the world works to post his observations. Slick’s views are often a bit anthropologic in that respect.


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[spearsy23]

So do you really believe this? Why do you expect media to pry into the personal life of people?

Further why make so many assumptions? Could it be possible that the reporters covering OKC (Young, Dawson, Horne, etc...) would rather choose decency (aka let Abrines have whatever space and time necessary to work through whatever is going on) rather than pacify the curiosity of fans. Further if they do know what is going on, it in no way means they are obligated to inform us.

I know this position doesn’t fit your narrative, but posts like this infuriate me. There are things we just don’t need to know.

thunder hold a lot of sway over what is reported by the oklahoma sports media. listen to darnell mayberry, anthony slater, or fred katz post-okc mention how restrictive the club is on what is reported. especially darnell. weston shepherd, who runs daily thunder, said once that he was looking to do a piece on thunder injuries and team culpability and was pretty much told not to. there's not even really a dissenting voice in okc media when it comes to the thunder. it's a sham.

i don't necessarily need or even want to know what's going on specifically with abrines. but this is one of many examples where information available to the public in other markets is non-existent here.

Let’s say you are correct. It doesn’t have to mean that they are withholding Abrines info. Maybe as decent human beings they have decided not to press things.

Not everything has to fit your narrative

Fwiw I've specifically asked Dawson if they ask him not to publish/discuss certain things and he said no, he's told stuff off the record but never specifically asked not to discuss things.

[slick_watts]

So do you really believe this? Why do you expect media to pry into the personal life of people?

Further why make so many assumptions? Could it be possible that the reporters covering OKC (Young, Dawson, Horne, etc...) would rather choose decency (aka let Abrines have whatever space and time necessary to work through whatever is going on) rather than pacify the curiosity of fans. Further if they do know what is going on, it in no way means they are obligated to inform us.

I know this position doesn’t fit your narrative, but posts like this infuriate me. There are things we just don’t need to know.

thunder hold a lot of sway over what is reported by the oklahoma sports media. listen to darnell mayberry, anthony slater, or fred katz post-okc mention how restrictive the club is on what is reported. especially darnell. weston shepherd, who runs daily thunder, said once that he was looking to do a piece on thunder injuries and team culpability and was pretty much told not to. there's not even really a dissenting voice in okc media when it comes to the thunder. it's a sham.

i don't necessarily need or even want to know what's going on specifically with abrines. but this is one of many examples where information available to the public in other markets is non-existent here.

Let’s say you are correct. It doesn’t have to mean that they are withholding Abrines info. Maybe as decent human beings they have decided not to press things.

Not everything has to fit your narrative

i don't know if they are withholding information or just lack the penetration to acquire information the thunder are not force feeding them. either way, we don't get it. and we've seen examples of both. the former: reggie jackson allegedly dunking in practice when he was sitting out games for injury. this only came out when he became a problem around the time he was traded. the latter: thunder media rarely, if ever, breaks thunder trade or transaction news or interest. almost always beaten by national media.

i'm not sure which one this is, but it doesn't really matter. the end result is the same-- less information for fans.

[thekaoswithin]

thunder hold a lot of sway over what is reported by the oklahoma sports media. listen to darnell mayberry, anthony slater, or fred katz post-okc mention how restrictive the club is on what is reported. especially darnell. weston shepherd, who runs daily thunder, said once that he was looking to do a piece on thunder injuries and team culpability and was pretty much told not to. there's not even really a dissenting voice in okc media when it comes to the thunder. it's a sham.

i don't necessarily need or even want to know what's going on specifically with abrines. but this is one of many examples where information available to the public in other markets is non-existent here.

Let’s say you are correct. It doesn’t have to mean that they are withholding Abrines info. Maybe as decent human beings they have decided not to press things.

Not everything has to fit your narrative

i don't know if they are withholding information or just lack the penetration to acquire information the thunder are not force feeding them. either way, we don't get it. and we've seen examples of both. the former: reggie jackson allegedly dunking in practice when he was sitting out games for injury. this only came out when he became a problem around the time he was traded. the latter: thunder media rarely, if ever, breaks thunder trade or transaction news or interest. almost always beaten by national media.

i'm not sure which one this is, but it doesn't really matter. the end result is the same-- less information for fans.

Presti and the org seem to be pretty big on 'culture', so if I had to guess I'd say they chose to withhold it, and extended this to reporters as well.

100% agree on the overall coddling nature of the OKC press however.

[Old Man Game]

a legitimate sports journalism ecosystem in oklahoma would have unearthed what this was about by now. the thunder media is terrible at this sort of thing. but i guess credit the thunder for holding their thumb over reporters.

So do you really believe this? Why do you expect media to pry into the personal life of people?

Further why make so many assumptions? Could it be possible that the reporters covering OKC (Young, Dawson, Horne, etc...) would rather choose decency (aka let Abrines have whatever space and time necessary to work through whatever is going on) rather than pacify the curiosity of fans. Further if they do know what is going on, it in no way means they are obligated to inform us.

I know this position doesn’t fit your narrative, but posts like this infuriate me. There are things we just don’t need to know.

I do believe the way OKC beat writers work is influenced by the culture of the Midwest in addition to the culture of the Thunder. I don't know if it's good or bad, but I do prefer giving guys some space rather than assuming everything they do is our business.

But the team issues injury reports. When a player has a surgery its not uncommon for a team (even this team) to provide very detailed breakdowns of the injury and how the surgeon repaired it (KD's screw in the foot comes to mind). That's technically private info that your Doctor for instance would have no right to broadcast to anyone else without your permission.

So when they keep it super vague "illness" providing no other details, it makes me suspicious.

[Old Man Game]

Eh, I kinda respect the idea that personal issues are the player's private info. I wish they'd dig deeper on basketball issues, but if the org says personal matter and won't disclose more then let it be.

Being able to make a player just disappear for weeks at a time and cover it up with "illness" or "personal reasons" is something they could easily abuse to cover up information that might make them look bad. Remember when McGary was gone for several weeks and they just said personal reasons? And then he eventually fails the umpteenth drug test of his career and he's off the roster in short order in the ensuing offseason? Seems pretty clear he had some sort of substance abuse disorder. Did the team try to help him with that? Does an organization owe a responsibility to a player in that situation? I don't know, but it's a conversation worth having that never was had.

Does it really matter though? The truth comes out eventually like it did with McGary.

The timing of a story means a great deal. If something were to come out about a guy after he's left town, no one is likely to follow that thread, least of all the co-opted local Thunder media. So to the extent they could bury something which would otherwise result in negative P.R., even if just for a few months, that would be of value.

[ThunderBolt]

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This kind of surprised me. I thought he genuinely didn't like Russ.