Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

It won’t be long as the college football season gets into gear this week-end. It’s hard for me to get amped about OU’s opener versus UTEP with the state in the midst of an iconic heat wave and drought.

But the Sooners will be one of my beats as usual this sports year of ’26-27′. In ernest I’ll get going on that front as we prepare for an immensely important game Week 2 in Ann Arbor.

O State with a healthy portion of last season’s North Texas State’s roster now playing under the guise of the ‘Brightest Shade of Orange should be a much better team this season especially on the offensive side of the ball. I’ll keep on eye on that track as well as Divison I football returns to Stillwater after a two-year death penalty implemented by both Mike Gundy and O State leadership.

The truth is the truth, and sometimes it hurts. But on this blog you get the truth. It was a self-inflicted death penalty because the NCAA doesn’t care enough to close anybody down given we now live in the Lane Kiffen era of college football. It was all self-inflicted. Period. End of paragraph.

Now…on to my first look at this OKC Thunder roster heading to pre-season camp.

1 Shai

2 J-Dub

3 Caruso

4 Wallace

5 Isaiah

6 Chet

7 Ajay

8 J-Ark

9 Jared McCain

10 Kenrich

11 Topic

12 Brook Barnhizer

13 Sorber or Aday

14 Aday or Sorber

So…I have one of Sam Presti’s max players listed in the No. 6 slot after last season’s Western Conference Finals. Maybe too draconian on my part? Here’s how I would respond to that thought … when needed, Chet did not engage. The end and every player in that locker room knows it.

We’ll just have to see how Coach Mark navigates this during the season. I’m sure Chet will be fine versus teams without Wemby, but no team will get past the Spurs in the West if there isn’t some resistence in both lanes on both ends of the floor near the rim.

Love and wisdom always my children, while time and perfection of flight are limitless in the cosmos. Never say or think never. The possibilities with self-realization are truly amazing.

MJ-JLS Yogananda

For me, this marks the end of the golf season. My two young guys from Oklahoma and O State were in a position to win this tournamnet making the turn to the back nine. But what we saw instead was Scottie Scheffer showing the entire golf world why he’s the best player in the world and why he will win the PGA Golfer of the Year for a fifth straight golf season.

Chris Gotterup and Viktor Hovand will look back with remorse when they take apart their back nines. I mean, when you’re playing Scheffler the ball off the tee needs to find the fairway. End of story.

Both young guys just really seemed to press once Scheffler captured the lead and in a sense didn’t give themsleves a chance to win the tournament.

You can’t spray the ball all over the course when Scottie Scheffler can smell the finish-line with the lead. You’re not going to hang with the guy burying the ball in deep rough.

So for Scottie Scheffler…congrats on being a golf dynasty these past five seasons in winning twenty-two tournaments and quite frankly separating from the rest of the PGA field with the possible exception of Rory’s resume to date.

Scottie won the Fed-Ex Tour Championship and Rory won the Masters in April. Rory actually played great the back nine, but three early bogies on the front nine torpedoed any real chance he had on Sunday in Atlanta.

If I were voting for player of the year… I’d go 1 Scottie, 2 Wyndam Clark (another ex- O State player), 3 Rory, 4 Chris Gotterup, and 5 Cam Young. I can’t really put Viktor on my list given how much he struggled at times this golf season. I think he’s on the cusp of greatness if he can just come to terms with when with what the next level requires mentally…shot in and shot out. I sound like Spec the caddy from Dead Solid Perfect.

A great season of golf and one would hope there won’t be another LIV tour or something of the like looming.

Everyone should play some golf if they can stay healthy and find the time. It’s a wonderful game.

Viktor and Chris … it’s all about mindset if you want to take down the best in the brightest lights on the biggest stage. But I’m certain that inner voice has already shared that thought with both of you guys though.

Golf is the ultimate mind game for sure.

I absolutely need to get my OKC Thunder roster ranking 1-14 done tomorrow before the start of the OU football season takes a hold of me.

It’s all about mindset, Viktor.

Mike J

I’ll tell you this and it’s coming from an aspiring Kriya yogic guru from his mini-ranch in Deer Creek, Oklahoma….I have no idea if this version of Marjorie Taylor Greene is authentic or not. She could just be in with the Tucker Carlsons and Joe Rogans of the political podcast world trying to distance themselves for their disastrous postures in 2024 while figuring a new marketing angle.

Keep this in mind as well…yogic gurus value God, love, kindness, the truth, and justice above all else. So what MJ-Jonathon Livingston Yogananda is saying on his blog this Sunday morning is this may or may not be the real version of MTG, but Maragaret did the interview which gives it some credence with me. So I’ll go with it for the time being because there are some things in this interview MTG says which I agree with.

The main thing I agree with her beyond Donald Trump being a complete lying grifter is that both parties are pathetic and nothing has really changed since the 2024 election minus the fact our country now has a forty trillion dollar debt, the Strait of Hormuz is under the control of Iran, none of these bullshit Trump tariffs make any sense whatsover, inflation for the avergage stupid white non-college educated male Trump voter is soaring, and the rest of the world views our country as an out of control dying democracy run by a group of spoiled brats who follow a senile, out of touch wannabe dictator.

And if you’re a Democrat–this is for you heading round the bend of these upcoming mid-terms…Donald Trump’s current approval rating is 36%, Democrats in Congress have a 21% approval rating, and Chuck Schumer’s abysmal rating as the Minority Leader stands at 12%.

These numbers aren’t exactly what I would describe as a positive sign for someone who still thinks his neighbor’s dog would be a better president than Donald Trump.

So, yeah, like Marjorie Taylor-Greene… I think our political parties on the national level are broken as far as the selection of presidential candidates.

I think I’ll get on to my meditations and then see if either Chris Gotterup or Viktor Hovland can win the Fed-Ex Tour Championship this afternoon in Atlanta.

The truth first should always be followed by justice ‘for all’, not just for the rich and powerful.

Eternal love,

MJ Yogananda.

I want to do Shai’s 2025-26 exit interview after the Thunder’s home loss to the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. I love Shai’s interviews because he takes the time to seriously consider the questions before he answers. There’s kind of a Kobeesque nature to Shai in this regard.

One thing I loved about this interview was Shai stating he can only wear the Shai Hat on this basketball team. He can’t wear the Sam Presti hat. He can’t wear the Coach Mark hat. He can’t wear J-Dub and Chet’s hats either. Those two are being paid plenty to bring their lunchpail to the office and wear their own hats.

I hope I’m clear on the above paragraph because I know the people on the Thunder telecast and Little Nick Gallo just don’t know how to speak in this type of manner.

Shai can only wear ONE HAT!

It’s a big hat because he’s the franchise player, but the other two max guys have to wear ‘their hats as well.’

I harped on this constantly in January, February, and March of last season to no avail.

Shai can’t carry the team on his back for all ’82’ and have enough gas left in the tank to deal with the Spurs and Wemby waiting for him in the neck of the Spurs’ defensive funnel in the NBA Playoffs.

I’m trying to get this out of my system in August so as I can focus on guys like Cason Wallace, Ajay Mitchell, Jared McCain, JWill-Ark, Brooks Barnhizer, and maybe even Thomas Sorber as their roles expand this coming season.

So… for the time being, I’ve gotten that off of my chest and next up for me is my 1-14 ranking of the Thunder’s current roster heading into the upcoming basketball season.

This will be my fifth NBA season since the Stage 4 diagnosis and I must say I’m thrilled to still be able to cover the Thunder and the entire NBA in my own manner on the Underground.

The Oklahoma heat has crossed the line of reason these past six weeks, but all we can do is provide the best versions of ourselves for the time being.

Love always.

MJ-Jonathon Livingston Yogananda.*

I think the above will eventually become my official Kriya yogic guru name when all is said and done. An explanantion will come sometime later.

Dolly Parton’s soul left her eighty year-old body yesterday after what was described as a brief battle with cancer. I’ve never posed anything on my blog in regards to Dolly Parton before, but now that I know the story behind the song ‘I Will Always Love You’… I feel I must add this story to my blog content.

Putting aside all her amazing accolades—to me this song and its history in her life is what most stands out.

She wrote and performed this beautiful song as a goodbye to Porter Wagoner as she prepared to go it alone with her career and life. Then…she turned down an offer from Colonel Parker to buy the rights to the song for Elvis and retained the rights for the song until she sold them to the people making the movie Body Guard so as we have all been able to enjoy Whitney Houston’s haunting rendition of the song as well.

So for me—this is the part of Dolly Parton’s legacy which stands out most. The point being, that a young woman breaking out on her own career she was smart enough, and confidant enough in herself to say no to Elvis and wait until the perfect performer came forward to sing her beautiful song.

Beyond all the hit songs, the various awards, the money, the philanthropy, the theme park—this is the part of Dolly Parton’s human legacy I’ll remember most. We would never had witnessed this if Dolly Parton had taken the money from Elvis and Colonel Parker.

What a life well lived. A beautiful life in fact. As MJ Yogananda…I would think Dolly Parton’s karma is in a fine place for the next stage of her soul’s journey. I can visualize Dolly trekking over the peaks of the Himalaya’s as I complete this subtle obit of sorts.

Eternal grace and peace. But always love. There has to be love. Because without love there is nothing.

MJ Yogananda.

For me this is not rocket science. For the Thunder to contend and win a second NBA championship in Oklahoma City will require the health of J-Dub. Given the wrist surgery missed games at the begining of last season coupled with the various hamstring and/or groin issues…JDub played a mere 33 games last season.

To put that in perspective…Joel Imbiid has averaged 28.5 games the last two seasons. As constructed…this Thunder roster is not a championship team without J-Dub on the court.

And yet as I completed the previous paragraph—if Chet Holmgren had shown up at all against the San Antonio Spurs…one could make the argument the Thunder would have been the Vegas favorite to win the NBA Finals.

But I’m not buying into that train of thought. Because while Shai is the two-time NBA regular season MVP who I’ve called Superman on my blog from time to time—I don’t think he’s the Thunder’s best two-way player.

Jaylin Williams-Santa Clara is who I think is the Thunder’s best two-way basketball player and most versatile five skill basketball player on the team.

I don’t want to read like Mr. Cliche on here, but the Thunder without Lu Dort’s defense this season are now more than ever going to be dependent on J-Dub and DEFENSE DOES WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS especially for a team which depends mightily on defensive created transition baskets.

So without Lu Dort’s defensive minutes that means J-Dub, Caruso, Cason Wallace, Ajay Mitchell, and perhaps Brooks Barnhizer are going to have be the brunt of the Thunder’s defense outside of the paint.

With all do respect to the kid from Duke who paints his fingernails, Jared McCain’s role is that of an offensive player who monetizes minutes off the bench into points. Jared McCain is an offensive player, it’s up to him this season if he wants to play enough defense for Mike J to call him a two-way player.

I don’t think all these white kids on the internet doing podcasts need to overthink this with math formulas’ theorems, and metrics. This is easy. Sam Presti needs J-Dub to be healthy, return to form, and be the best two-way Robin to Batman in the NBA this season if the Thunder want to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

I’ll deal with Chet Holmgren once we get into the season. I don’t feel any need at this point to trample the young man. His lack of performance versus Wemby spoke for itself in the Western Conference Finals.

First thing first is J-Dub getting healthy and coming out of the gates strong in October.

We’ll deal with Chet’s new role at a later time.

Eternal love always.

MJ Yogananda.

The Lebron signing happened when were in Del Mar-Torrey Pines immensely enjoying the wafting Pacific Ocean breezes caressing our whole Yogananda essence. I actually had quite an interesting conversation with a Laker fan on LeBron and what this move to Philly might mean to the entire NBA pecking order this coming season.

The way I do things on this blog is each season I pick the four teams, then two more I think which might have the best reasonable chance to win the O’Brien Trophy. Last year for instance I had 1 OKC, 2 Denver, 3 New York Knicks, 4 Minnesota, 5 San Antonio, and 6 Cleveland. Detroit did not make my Top 6 list and they showed us why in the playoffs last spring.

Obviously, Denver didn’t pan out with an injured Aaron Gordon, and the Spurs came in a year ahead of expectations. It can happen even to the most astute of us.

So does Lebron make Philly championship relevant this upcoming NBA season?

My answer is maybe. Right now I have Philly at either No. 6 or No. 7 on my list.

Here’s what cautions me most about LeBron being a Sixer this season…the number 57 in red flashing bright lights.

Why the number 57?

Because that’s the combined number of regular season games in the past two years for the most overpaid player in the NBA. 57 out of 164 possible games is how many games Joel Imbiid participated in for his Sixer mates these past two seasons. That’s not encouraging unless Philly has another center they can depend on and as of now that other center is second year Bono from UCLA. Not a bad defensive player, but is he enough to get the Sixers past the Knicks to an NBA Finals appearance?

Philly’s first five goes for me goes like this… 1 LeBron, 2 Tyrese Maxey, 3 Jaylen Brown, 4 Joel Embiid, and 5 VJ Edcombe.

Not a bad core…especially in the East where you don’t have to get past San Antonio or OKC to get to the NBA Finals. But is that enough with Embiid’s fragile knees.

So right now my Top 4 goes in this order with me assuming JDub is healthy and will be playing this season for the Thunder…1 OKC, 2 San Antonio, and then 3 the defending champion NY Knicks. I’m not ready to commit beyond the Top 3 just yet, but this Philly team with Nick Nurse as coach is on my Top 6 radar screen as of late August.

I think my next post will be on the Thunder roster ranking the players 1 thru 12 heading into camp.

If you live in Oklahoma, please show some common sense and stay out of this suffocating heat as much as possible.

Wisdom, kindness, transformation, and as always love from the Deer Creek Yogananda. I know this is tough for you Oklahoma-Trump fake Christians, but do the best you can and possibly show some godly tendencies for a change.

Eternal love.

MJ the Yogananda.

I’m glad Russell is ending his career. Enough is enough. Maybe Kevin and James Harden will take note as well. Maybe not. You never want to stay around too long and diminsih your legacy, and quite frankly after the Denver thing with Jokic didn’t work out…I thought Russell should have ended his career last August.

An amazing NBA career for Russell minus a championship ring. An NBA regular season MVP and an All-Star MVP as well. He surpassed Oscar Robertson as the king of the triple double.

The lack of a championship ring does ding his legacy a bit, but you know what…Chris Paul, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson, and James Harden to date didn’t ring the Golden Bell.

Perhaps…if Sam Presti had put more shooting on the 2016 team which collapsed to the Golden State Warriors after leading the series 3-1… both Russell and Kevin’s Pantheon legacies would be Top 12 all-time.

Kevin’s legacy in my mind will always be weakened by the fact he took the easiest path to a ring, while Russell remained loyal to Sam Presti for making a role player-defensive guard from UCLA the fourth player taken in his draft class.

Now—I’m not one of these knuckleheads who has booed Kevin Durant, but the fact of the matter is I’d rather have a beer (non-alcoholic these days) and talk politics, sports, and fatherhood with Russell.

Russell’s favorite player was Kobe and my second favorite player after Michael was Kobe…so the fact we both massively disdain Trump and love Kobe would be a substantial human bond of sorts.

Again…Russell has the same birth year as my son, so I think I’d fall in line with what Russell is thinking as pertaining too our country right now and the enormous challenges his generation of fathers face given what we’ve turned into as a country since 2016.

I’d probably even let him know I’d be interested in becoming a volunteer and donor to his youth reading program for kids who need some assistance in Oklahoma City.

In closing. during the Thunder’s championship celebration parade there’s this memory that never leaves me when that ten year-old was approached by Isaiah Hartenstein and forever became etched in my heart when he literally started crying he was so happy a Thunder player took the time to touch him.

Turns out Archie is a point guard in OKC youth basketball and his favorite player all-time was/is Russell Westbrook.

I think that’s where I’ll end this for today.

Kindness can never be underestimated.

Mike J

This put a little bit of a lump in my throat. Russell and Kevin are both 1988 birth years just like my son. There is a part of Russell that without a doubt touches my heart from a fan-love standpoint.

Then there is that other part of Russell which made me want to strangle him a couple of times.

But this is going to be the love part shining through because at the end of the day Russell has my admiration for what he did for not only himself and his family, but for what he did for Sam Presti, Clay Bennett, and the state of Oklahoma.

I would expect a retired jersey and ceremony whenever Russell has the time to come back to Okahoma City for what will be a night of adoration from Thunder Nation inside of PayCom Arena or Continental Arena or whatever it’s currently named for this season.

You know when Russell really had me?

When he took it upon himself to be the only athlete, politician, or public celebrity to take on Donald Trump in Oklahoma with his open and honest remarks. Sam Presti and Clay Bennett never had the guts to do that in this reddest of MAGA states. Same with Barry Tramel and Jim Traber or anyone else in Oklahoma who wants to be either re-elected or liked on the internet.

That’s when I fell in love with Russell Westbrook.

So for all you Trump fake Christians in Oklahoma…if you need some courage to ever say the truth and show a sliver of human integrity of any sort–just think of what Russell Westbrook did in Oklahoma City on and off the court.

I’m going to do more on Russell tomorrow simply because he, Shai, and Kevin are why we still have NBA basketball in a college market of which Sam Anderson wrote about in Boomtown.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more of my thoughts on Russell Westbrook’s career not only in Oklahoma, but at UCLA as well.

Love, Mike J

Back from Colorado where they were having copious rains on our last two days in Greenwood Village. The first week was awesome in Crested Butte, and the second week in Greenwood Village was pretty good as well. Warmer than normal in both Colorado locales, but clearly better than what was going on back in Oklahoma.

Wow… back to Oklahoma and the heat wave and drought which instantly brings John Steinbeck to mind. The mini-ranch held up fairly well though as far as the plants and wildlife go, but it is clearly a desolate look compared to where we came from in Del Mar and Colorado.

But here’s the good thing for Oklahoma’s premier underground sports and political blogger…OU football is just around the corner, my Sooners’ are still the reigning NCAA baseball champs, Porter Moser’s team should be better, and of course, the Thunder are one of the four teams I have listed currently with a viable chance to win the NBA championship.

MJ’s blogging cup runneth over.

I do not cover WNBA basketball on this blog, nor WWE, nor cagefighting, and refuse to lower this blog’s standards to that depth. Again…this is the New York Times or The Athletic in Oklahoma as far as I’m concerned. And I have as well for the most part ignored Donald Trump’s historically corrupt second term as POTUS.

I’m ready to get back in the studio because there’s a great deal to blog about. LeBron signed with Philly. Russell Westbrook did the right thing in retiring…. Kevin should follow his lead and become the voice of the WBNA along with Angel Reese.

We need a break from the weather in Oklahoma. I’m trying to think of a rain song…anything which might break the heat dome.

This is what first came to mind.

As always….kindness, faith, wisdom, light, salvation, love…and eternal strength.

Mike J