OKC Thunder growing into NBA's top villain was inevitable | Mussatto
· Yahoo Sports
The Thunder, in so many ways, is an outlier.
It’s an NBA team in a city that probably shouldn’t have one. A team that’s enjoyed an inordinate amount of success, and has rostered an inordinate number of all-time greats — three MVPs for a franchise not even two-decades old.
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A team that’s had the same chairman, Clay Bennett, and same general manager, Sam Presti, for the entirety of its existence. A team that won an NBA title (way) ahead of schedule, as if there’s a schedule for such things. A team led by the coolest of superstars in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his band of goober teammates.
How the Thunder got here is inimitable, admirable, but now that OKC has reached the peak, it’s facing the same backlash of its championship ancestry. Once you win, and especially when you keep winning, you become the villain.
And in that sense, the Thunder is no outlier.
To the victor comes villainy.
“We have had success, consistent success, for a few years now, including a championship last year,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “If you look at the history of the NBA, there’s things that come with the territory of that.”
The Thunder (60-16) has a chance to be the No. 1 seed in the West for the third consecutive year. SGA is favored to repeat as MVP. The Thunder went from too many picks to too many good players. The once-cute group interviews are now cringey. The Thunder was wasting SGA’s career. Now SGA is laying waste to the league. The black eye now has a banner.
Presti, the best brain in basketball, has constructed a juggernaut — one that could have staying power in this era of parity. In a couple of years, the team will move across the street into a basketball palace that the residents of Oklahoma City practically gifted the franchise.
So yeah, of course there’s envy.
“They ain’t villains, they gettin’ hated on,” former NBA guard Lou Williams said on the "Run it Back" podcast. “This is not a unique circumstance. Anybody that’s at the top of the mountain, and you want to knock them off the top of the mountain … you’re gonna find reasons to be upset.”
And as the Thunder has played under the magnifying glass of national television, all of its nits, real or perceived, are being picked.
Like SGA’s foul-baiting. Does he feast on the occasional chicken wing? Does he get superstar calls? Does he shoot a lot of free throws? Yes, yes and yes. Is he different from any player of his ilk, of which there are few, in finding savvy ways to score? No.
“You can’t guard the guy to begin with,” longtime NBA coach and analyst P.J. Carlesimo told The Oklahoman. “Take your pick: midrange game, 3-point game, assists, the ability to put the ball on the floor and beat guys, the ability to make shots late in the game when it really matters, Shai does all those things.”
Here’s an idea when it comes to SGA: Instead of Thunder haters griping, and Thunder homers firing back in an equally exhaustive manner, how about we appreciate his artistry and the Jordan-esque way he closes games? Or, even with his occasional wide-eyed looks of astonishment, how he complains less than any superstar in the league.
“An internal mantra we have about leadership is a leader’s a person doing the right thing,” Daigneault said. “... Shai’s the leader in that case. He’s obviously at the center of a lot of the narratives, and rightfully so. He’s the reigning MVP of the league. He’s done a masterful job and a graceful job and has just shown tremendous poise through this time.”
SGA, by the way, ranks third in the NBA in free-throw attempts per game (9.4) behind Luka Doncic (10.1) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (9.9). The Thunder ranks 14th as a team in free throw attempts.
Minnesota’s Chris Finch started the trend of coaches whining about the Thunder — both the calls OKC gets and the ones it gets away with. New York’s Mike Brown and Detroit’s JB Bickerstaff have joined the chorus.
It’s all tactical. An extra layer of defense Thunder opponents are trying to deploy. On one hand, they’re looking for a competitive edge. Can’t blame them for that. On the other hand, idiots on the internet feel emboldened when coaches are echoing their same tired claims.
“It’s garbage,” Carlesimo said. “The officials ref everybody the same. When you’re an elite team, when you defend the way OKC defends, you’re gonna keep people crying and trying to influence the officials. There’s nothing to it.
Speaking of crying …
There are 42 players in the NBA with at least five technical fouls. Not one of them plays for the Thunder. Jolly Jaylin Williams has a team-high four techs. Gilgeous-Alexander has three. He only needs 13 more to catch Doncic. Among coaches, Daigneault is tied for 19th with three technicals. Houston’s Ime Udoka has 12.
Lu Dort took a cheap shot at Nikola Jokic, which resulted in a deserved ejection, but how can Dort be the league’s biggest bully when he has fewer flagrants than Rudy Gobert, Grayson Allen, Desmond Bane, Dillon Brooks, Jalen Duren and Russell Westbrook?
Would anyone consider Dort the league’s dirtiest player if he played in Portland or Atlanta? It’s a product of playing for the best team, and being the face of the Thunder’s dogged brand of defense. Some of Dort’s antics are inexcusable, but his transgressions have been overblown.
The ways in which the Thunder has become loathed are different from some of their championship predecessors, but the end result is the same. This is a rite of passage for pretty much anyone who hoists the Larry O’.
“That’s a privilege,” Daigneault said. “We’re fortunate to be in this position, and now it becomes a challenge. Can you focus through that noise? But the narratives that exist, you can’t control them. They come and go.”
Tim Duncan’s Spurs were boring. Gregg Popovich was a grouch.
LeBron and the Heatles were a hateable superteam.
The Warriors were fun and all. And then they added Kevin Durant.
Even this version of the Celtics. They shoot too many threes!
“At the end of the day, the noise around the team, anything a competitor’s doing, the media’s doing, is just a distraction that can weaken you,” Daigneault said. “Or, if you can transcend it and cut through it with your focus, it can strengthen you. We want to be a team that can cut through the distractions.”
The whole villain thing is antithetical to the “underdog” mindset Oklahoma City and the surrounding state proudly adopt. Big, bad Oklahoma City? It doesn’t make for a convincing evil empire.
“The only thing they’ve done is kicked everybody’s a--,” Lou Williams said, “and had fun doing it. They ain’t bothering nobody, they’re not giving you billboard material.”
But teams at the top don’t have to be villainous to be the villain.
The Thunder is no outlier.
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at [email protected]. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder being viewed as NBA villains is just a rite of passage