UCLA Coach Steve Alford and Shooting Guard Isaac Hamilton Spoke at Pac-12 Basketball Media Day

Steve Alford (USA Today)

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Oct. 21 -- Read what UCLA head coach Steve Alford and senior guard Isaac Hamilton had to say Friday during their 10 minutes on the podium at Pac-12 Basketball Media Day...

Opening statement...

STEVE ALFORD: "Well, we're excited to be here. It's great being at Pac-12 Media Day and the enthusiasm around another college basketball season. We're right there with that enthusiasm. We've got a great blend of veterans like Isaac (Hamilton) who have been to a couple Sweet Sixteens and a lot of fun times, and then last year not so fun. So we've got hungry vets with a collection of freshmen that we're going to ask to do a lot for us that we're very excited about. We're pretty healthy at this point of the season, which is pretty good when you get to the third week of practices a little banged up but nothing serious. Things are progressing very well for us."

On the leadership of the older players...

ISAAC HAMILTON: "For the most part, coming in from high school to college, it's a big transition but I've told these guys to play their game. Coach is letting us read and react. These guys have have IQs so they're just playing like they did in high school. We'll instruct with coach and what I've told these guys is to play like they did in high school and talk on defense because that's what we're going to need this year."

ALFORD: "Yeah, and then we don't have Lonzo (Ball) shooting half-court shots. It's a style that is a lot of fun but conducive to what our talent is. It's not just Lonzo and T.J. (Leaf), who are obviously McDonald's All-Americans and have gotten a lot of hype, but Ike (Anigbogu). He's 6-9 and a half, 250 pounds and averaged a double-double down in Australia and two of those three teams were pro teams. He's doing that against grown men really early in his career and gives us a rim presence we really haven't had. These are three freshmen that are going to be in mix from Day 1 with a lot going on, so that leadership from our senior class of Isaac and Bryce (Alford) is going to be huge. They're going to be the ones that have the experience. The thing you worry about is that freshmen are going through things for the first time, whether it's a home opener, the NCAA Tournament or conference play -- it's all going through it for the first time, where Isaac and Bryce have been through these road trips and understood it. They've got to do a good job and continue to do it. They've created that culture in house because they are two really good men and are respected by their teammates. I really do think that Isaac and Bryce have done a good job of being the older ones and here come the younger guys, the younger guys feel like they're walking on egg shells for a couple months because they want to know if all of a sudden the older guys accept them. Bryce and Isaac have done a really good job of accepting those guys dating back to June when they first arrived on campus. That has eased the transition where they just do what they do. Bring your talents, bring what you brought in high school to Westwood -- that's why you're here and that's what we need as a team. That's been good leadership on Isaac's part."

On how different practices have been...

ALFORD: "We've probably talked enough about last year but we're always going to compare that because it's what you learn. When adversity hits and bad times hit, it's about what doors open, how you get better and last year's team was a really hard team to improve because they're not going against each other. We didn't have the depth. This year we've got incredible depth and I hope we stay healthy and that depth continues, but for most the practices Bryce and Isaac are going against each other, Lonzo and (Aaron) Holiday are going against each other, Gyorgy (Goloman) is going against T.J. and Ike is going against Thomas Welsh every day. When that happens, when you're going against guys that are your equal or very good players, you can't help but get better. That's what we're seeing. From what we looked like in June through Australia to now three weeks into practice, I just like our development. They've got to bring it every day because if they don't, the other guy embarrasses them. I think that's what's been the most benefit of having depth from the new guys joining the current team."

On how his letter after last season has been received...

ALFORD: "All we do is continue. All the booster functions have been tremendous throughout Los Angeles. It hasn't been talked about much I don't think from a team standpoint. I don't think our team is concerned about what money I make or what money I give back. I don't think that's an issue to our guys at all, so that part hasn't been talked about. It's about where that bar is. Coach Wooden, whether it's me, guys before me or guys after me in the future, same with players that played for Coach Wooden and guys that are playing in Westwood now, that bar was raised a long time ago by a guy that won a bucket load of games and championships, and established something that quite honestly hasn't been established anywhere else in the country. So when the bar is that way, there are expectations and when you don't meet or even come close to those expectations, we talk to our players all the time that there are going to be consequences. That's a great word I learned from coach Knight. If you're out of a stance, don't block out, you don't think the game, move the ball or make the extra play, there are going to be consequences. You're going to lose games. I wanted our players to see there are consequences when we as coaches don't perform well. Whether it was giving back an extension or writing a letter to the fan base that letting them know we care. Sometimes you get isolated as a coach whether you really care or if there is passion. Yeah, it's a reason why I came to Westwood -- to be able to coach guys like this at the level these players are at and have a chance to win championships, both in league and nationally. When you have a year when that doesn't happen, there is frustration. I want the fans to know there is frustration on our part just as much if not even more so."

On the parity in the conference...

ALFORD: "A lot of parity in the conference last year obviously with seven teams making the tournament. I think we're the only league in the country to go to three straight Elite Eights. We're getting more teams in and more teams are advancing in the tournament, more teams are getting ranked. We've got three in the top 25 to start this season. We're starting to get that recognition that this league deserves. It's an exciting league with a lot of head coaches that played the game long before we coached the game, we were having fun with the players in there during the photo shoot at 9:30 and the Network people asked that we have all the players up there and the coaches started walking. We were players first, and that's exciting. Because of that we've been able to recruit big-time players like the Isaac Hamiltons. We're scheduling better and playing in more national tournaments, we're getting a lot of big games home-and-home and starting to perform well in those games. That all breeds a lot of success and that parity will only continue this year. You're seeing a lot of great players moving on to the NBA from our league and yet there are a lot of guys that have been retained that are special. There's going to be just as much if not more parity as this season unfolds in January or February."

LAT's Bolch: "With more depth, UCLA men's basketball team is ready to push the pace and have fun"

UCLA's Bryce Alford, Coach Steve Alford, Isaac Hamilton and Jerrold Smith, from left, pose for photos during the team's media availability on Oct. 12. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

 OCT 11, 2016 | BEN BOLCH | L.A. TIMES | ARTICLE LINK

Isaac Hamilton, poised to start his fourth and final season at UCLA, has freely dispensed advice to his team’s highly touted freshmen.

Do what you did in high school, Hamilton has told them. Play your game. Read and react to what you see on the court. Have fun.

There are some limitations, of course.

“We don’t have Lonzo shooting half-court shots,” Bruins Coach Steve Alford said with a smile Friday at Pac-12 Conference men’s basketball media day, referring to prized freshman point guard Lonzo Ball.

If there’s an early description of UCLA’s style this season, it might be run and fun. The Bruins, ranked No. 20 in the preseason USA Today coaches poll, intend to push the pace behind Ball’s passing sorcery and a glut of guards who might collectively be as good as any in the country.

That’s not to say that practices are always a joy.

Whereas the Bruins’ top players found themselves matched up against second-stringers and walk-ons last season because of flagging depth, now they’re going against players who equal or exceed their talent.

Ball has faced Aaron Holiday, a crafty competitor with an NBA pedigree.

Hamilton has gone up against Bryce Alford, a shooting menace whose touch has only improved now that he’s freed from having to handle the ball.

Gyorgy Goloman has faced T.J. Leaf, a freshman power forward whose range extends beyond the three-point line. 

Thomas Welsh has matched up against Ike Anigbogu, a freshman forward-center who averaged a double-double in points and rebounds during an Australian exhibition tour against college and professional teams.

The results are already evident three weeks before UCLA’s season opener Nov. 11 against Pacific at Pauley Pavilion. Steve Alford said the Bruins are taking and making more three-pointers than they were a year ago, largely because they have as many as eight players who can shoot from beyond the arc, while vastly improving their assist-to-turnover ratio.

“When that happens, and you’re going against guys of your equal or guys that are very good players, you can’t help but get better,” Steve Alford said. “These guys have to bring it every day, because if they don’t, the other one embarrasses them.”

Hamilton knows about embarrassment, having endured a 15-17 season at a school that has produced 113 NCAA championships.

“You see other teams at our school, they’re looking at us like we’re supposed to win because they’re winning championships, so it’s like, just demand to win,” Hamilton said. “If I have three points and we win, I’m totally fine with that. I’m just trying to will these guys to win so we can have a great season and do what UCLA is supposed to do. We’re supposed to win.”

That should be a lot easier thanks to a roster stocked with players on the watch list for nearly every major college basketball award.

Ball is a candidate for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the top point guard; Leaf is a candidate for the Karl Malone Award honoring the top power forward; Welsh is a candidate for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award that goes to the top center; and Hamilton is a candidate for the Jerry West Award, honoring the top shooting guard.

It all starts with the mind-set that Steve Alford wants his players to have.

“Bring your talents. Bring what you brought out of high school to Westwood,” Alford said. “That’s why you’re here and that’s what we need out of you.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Twitter: @latbbolch

LA Times: Basketball Media Day Oct-12-2016

SI: Russell Westbrook: 'I Was Never Going To Leave'

QUICKLY

• After a wild off-season, the NBA is back. And nowhere will changes be more evident than in Oklahoma City, where Russell Westbrook has gone all in on his commitment to the new-look, but still tight-knit, Thunder

LEE JENKINS

Wednesday October 19th, 2016

​After the milquetoast essay and the token text, Russell Westbrook played dominoes. He had started the game early that July 4 morning, as friends and family filled his sunny backyard for a housewarming party, and he did not stop when his phone throbbed with the news he dreaded. A union that spanned eight seasons in Oklahoma City, producing everything but a championship, was over. The goodbye text, which landed in Westbrook’s phone a couple of minutes after the first-person essay appeared online, mentioned a desire for a new journey. Kevin Durant was, of all things, a Warrior. “The team that just beat us,” Westbrook muttered over dominoes.

Clicking on box will take you to the original SI article that contains the active link. Look for it early in the article. 

His guests had come to toast him—a son of South L.A. on a spread in Beverly Hills—but they did not know what to say, and neither did he. The first call came from Thunder assistant general manager Troy Weaver, who heard the disbelief in Westbrook’s voice. “You have to do your job,” Weaver said, “and trust us to do ours.” Then OKC power forward Nick Collison, who had been in the private room at BOA Steakhouse in West Hollywood a week earlier, when Westbrook asked Durant what he could do and how he could change. “He went above and beyond,” Collison says. Westbrook offered to fly to the Hamptons mansion where Durant was holding free-agent pitch meetings.

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Westbrook and Durant were not best buds, but they were peerless partners, a souped-up Stockton and Malone, transporting a mini market to the big time. Westbrook’s closest friends are actually former high school teammates, long-standing wing men like Donnell Beverly and Demetrius (Juice) Deason, who flank him in summer pickup games and play dominoes with him on the Fourth. “He didn’t talk much about what happened,” says Beverly. Westbrook didn’t disparage Durant. He didn’t judge him. All he did was take a picture. When Kendrick Perkins played center for the Thunder, he called teammates “cupcake” if he thought they were acting a little soft. Westbrook and Durant adopted the term in jest. Westbrook posted a bittersweet pic on Instagram: three plates of cupcakes topped by red and blue stars and sprinkles.

Durant’s departure was distressing enough without the subsequent piling on, several Warriors suggesting that the former MVP had grown weary of his edgy but explosive point guard, eager for the Big Fun promised by Steph Curry & Family. Durant’s move morphed into yet another referendum on Westbrook, despite all the assists he’d delivered and arrows he’d absorbed, wearing the black hat while his costar wore white. “I don’t know if Russ was hurt,” says center Steven Adams, “because he’d never tell me, and he’d definitely never tell you.” Adams recalls a litany of ordeals he has endured in recent years. “Russ is always the first person to help,” Adams adds. “But if you try to reciprocate, he’s the last person to accept help himself.” He bears every burden. He betrays no weakness.

“This is professional sports,” Westbrook sniffs. “You have to live with it. I just continued about my day.” As the afternoon wore on, and more dominoes were played, Beverly turned the topic to Oklahoma City and the franchise left behind. “I like my team,” Westbrook told him. “I still really like my team.” His tone took Beverly back a decade, to the blank navy thermal sweatshirts they wore in layup lines at Leuzinger High, as rivals from Westchester and Artesia rocked shiny jackets with shoe company logos. Westbrook, desperate for a college scholarship, could have mulled a transfer. “Oh no,” he says now, cutting off the question. “No, no, no. That school was where I’m from. It’s where my friends went. I was never going to leave. I was never going to be a follower.”

Late in his senior season one player quit and two others were ruled academically ineligible. “You can guess how he responded,” Beverly says. “‘Forget ’em. We’ll go with what we got. We’ll run with who we have. We’ll fight to the end.’” When Leuzinger fell in the sectional quarterfinals, finishing 25–4, Westbrook staggered to the locker room with cramps buckling both legs. Beverly eyed his fuming friend and worried he might slug an opponent. But Westbrook felt oddly at peace. “You don’t win a championship every year,” he says. “The moment, the process, the ups and downs, the bumps and bruises, are special to me. We didn’t win it all, but we became better, we became closer.” He savored the struggle. He treasured the crew.

On July 6, Westbrook flew to Oklahoma City to shoot a spot for Jordan Brand. Execs across the league were already speed-dialing the Thunder, convinced they would trade him before he too bolted as a free agent in 2017. After all, Westbrook is 27, from L.A. and loves fashion, and if you dug no deeper, it was easy to connect the dots leading out of town. Westbrook insists that he did not realize on the 6th how Durant’s decision would accelerate his own. But unlike so many of his contemporaries, forever jockeying to improve their title shots, Westbrook was doubling down on sinking odds.

He wanted to work out, but the court at Thunder headquarters was being resurfaced, so he drove past the dog-food factory to the old gym where the team had practiced after it moved from Seattle. He told Matt Tumbleson, the p.r. director, to meet him on the floor. Like many in the organization, Tumbleson was tight with Durant and gutted by his exit. Westbrook spent a half hour with Tumbleson.

“We’re going to be all right,” Westbrook said.

He never dreamed he’d reach the NBA, much less become one of its leading men, and in that way he is different from the former prodigies who populate his stratosphere. “I wasn’t that good,” Westbrook says. “I really wasn’t. All I cared about was that my parents didn’t have to pay for college. I didn’t care where the hell I played after that.”

On Dec. 29, 2011, in a home game against the Mavericks, Westbrook started 3 of 11 with seven turnovers. This was one night after he went 0 for 13 and squabbled with Durant on the bench in Memphis. “It was a really tough time for me,” Westbrook says. “I was hearing a lot of things.” He shot too much. He didn’t pass enough. Durant was the savior and he was the foil, getting in the way. “He’d come into my office feeling so beat up,” says Weaver. “He didn’t understand the criticism. The kid was Brett Favre. Remember how Brett Favre would drop back, see what coverage you were in and believe he could put the ball wherever he wanted. Sometimes he could. Sometimes you’d pick him off and take it to the house. He wasn’t Joe Montana. He wasn’t Dan Marino. I had to tell Russell, ‘Continue to be who you are. Continue to be Brett Favre.’ ”

Not every exec would say that. Not every coach would allow it. Not every fan base would encourage it. Not with Durant perched on the wing. “He was playing so bad that night against Dallas, I mean really struggling,” Weaver recounts. “But our crowd wouldn’t leave him. They just stayed with him. I remember this one kid, up in the Loud City section, chanting ‘Rus-sell! Rus-sell!’ and then everybody started chanting it.” Late in the fourth quarter, after a prolonged stint on the bench, Westbrook converted a three-point play and sank a 17-foot jumper to set up a Durant buzzer beater. “I think his career changed that night,” Weaver says. “I think it was the defining moment.”

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Weaver, in another cross-sport comparison, likens the Thunder to the St. Louis Cardinals. Players are protected and eccentricities embraced. Take Westbrook, for instance, who has his own shower, his own parking spot and his own massage table (marked by a pair of sandals) at the training facility. He is not an isolationist. He is a neat freak, shunning tattoos and piercings, chiding rookie Josh Huestis for a messy locker (“We keep it clean here”) and Adams for untied shoes. When posing for a picture with his coach, Billy Donovan, he ensures that Donovan is holding the basketball so the logo points toward the camera. He makes self-deprecating references about his OCD tendencies. “Sometimes, when he’s not looking, I lie on his table and rub my ass on it,” Adams says. The big man must be joking. The last person who swiped Westbrook’s parking spot got boxed in for the rest of the day.

His sense of order extends to his daily schedule. Shoot from 9 to 9:30 a.m. Breakfast from 9:30 to 10. “If you’re a minute late for anything,” says athletic trainer Tony Katzenmeier, “he’s tapping his wrist and asking what happened.” Lock in, Westbrook tells Katzenmeier, and everybody else. “I’ve never known someone like this,” says guard Anthony Morrow, “who wasn’t in the military.” Westbrook listens to the same eclectic playlist on the drive to games, calling both of his parents, Russell Sr. and Shannon. Then he calls them again on the way home.

In the off-season he works out at 8 a.m. at Jesse Owens Park in L.A., where his father trained him, and he still does his dad’s drills. He is often alone. “I know what to do,” Westbrook says. “I don’t need a bunch of people around to give me—whatever those people give you.” He pays his own bills, a rarity in the NBA, hauling stacks of them into the Thunder lunch room. “This isn’t $32,” a staffer heard him grouse at a miscalculated invoice. When the team eats dinner on the road, they toss their phones in the middle of the table, so nobody is distracted. The first person to reach for his cell has to pick up the check. Westbrook typically goes home with a free meal. “My life is pretty simple,” he says, contrary to the mad dashes and outrageous outfits he shows the public. When Westbrook was younger, he tried to ingratiate himself with Durant, according to those who knew both. But KD was surrounded by a thick circle of friends and associates. By the time Durant streamlined his entourage and attempted to reciprocate, Westbrook had settled down. He lives in the Oklahoma City suburbs with his wife, Nina, whom he met at UCLA. He does not drink. He toils over his clothing designs.

Simon Bruty/SI

Westbrook’s shell is tough, but you know you are cracking it when he starts calling you an “a‑‑hole” or a “piece of s---.” You’re really getting somewhere when he flips you off. The Thunder have understood this quirk of personality since June 2008, when he swaggered into the Furtado Center in Seattle for the first time. Marc St. Yves, the Sonics’ legendary equipment manager, greeted him at the front door. St. Yves wanted to know if Westbrook was going to stick with the number 0 he wore with the Bruins. St. Yves does not remember Westbrook’s exact response, but it was something like, “Get my f‑‑‑‑‑‑ zero ready.” St. Yves turned to the security guard and rolled his eyes. “This kid is going to be fun,” he said, shaking his head.

He had no idea. St. Yves now cusses Westbrook like a longshoreman and loves him like Gary Payton and Xavier McDaniel rolled into one. When St. Yves bought a Western Conference All-Star jersey for Westbrook to autograph two years ago, he pleaded, “Don’t write a--hole on this one.” That’s how you break the shell. “Russell takes a long time to feel comfortable with people, to trust people, but he realizes he has that here,” Collison says. “He knows he’s been treated well.”

A blue-chipper like Durant, saddled with whacked-out expectations since adolescence, could have looked at the last eight years as a ringless disappointment. Westbrook, the kid in the blank thermal begging for a scholarship, never would. “This environment is a huge part of how I got to this point,” Westbrook says. “There’s a sense of comfort for me here.” During nationally televised games Westbrook can come across as chilly in his sideline interviews. But on local broadcasts his demeanor is much warmer, which is no coincidence. In 2012, Thunder sideline reporter Lesley McCaslin challenged Westbrook on his clipped answers. “I have to ask you these questions,” McCaslin said, “and you’ve got to help me out.”

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Westbrook will never be a garrulous speaker, but he respected McCaslin’s candor. During the playoffs last spring McCaslin was pregnant, and Westbrook pestered her about when she was starting maternity leave. She didn’t understand why he was so interested. Finally, after a flight from San Antonio to Oklahoma City, Westbrook led McCaslin through the airport parking lot and popped the trunk of his car. Inside was a Maclaren stroller. “He’s more human than people would ever think,” McCaslin says. “He just doesn’t want you to know that.” When McCaslin thanked Nina for picking out the stroller, soon to be occupied by baby Hunter, Westbrook’s wife laughed. “That wasn’t me,” she said. “That was all Russell.”

Not long after Durant’s decision Westbrook returned to Oklahoma City for his annual basketball camp, and general manager Sam Presti met him back at the dog-food gym. The Thunder were prepared to offer Westbrook a maximum contract extension, and if he turned it down, they’d have no choice but to consider those trade offers. “I don’t want you to do this because you feel you need to,” Presti said. “I want you to do it because you want to.” Westbrook could have told Presti that he’d talk about free agency next year, setting up the Summer of Russ, and all the ensuing attention. But Presti had a pretty good feeling that he wouldn’t. “One way or another he lets you know where you stand,” Adams says, “and he doesn’t do it with a whisper. He does it with a few more decibels than that.”

For someone who is loath to change, slow to trust and attached to routine, the choice was easy. “You remember the people you’ve been in the trenches with,” Westbrook says. Besides, he’d earn more money in Oklahoma City.

On Aug. 4, Westbrook signed a three-year, $86 million extension, and then ducked into St. Yves’s office. An early version of the 2016–17 schedule was out, and Westbrook wanted to see it. Every year he loses himself in the schedule, reviewing hotel choices and departure times. For 30 minutes he studied the document, his eyes burning holes in it. St. Yves didn’t ask if he was looking at any games in particular.

He didn’t have to.

Shane Bevel/Getty Images

Westbrook is making the case, impossible as it may be, that the Clippers game on Nov. 2 will mean as much to him as the Warriors game on Nov. 3 or the Timberwolves game on Nov. 5. “Who it is, what day, what time, pickup, not pickup, I only know how to play one way,” he says. “There’s nothing extra. I don’t need it. I already have it. My duty is to give all I have. Other people have to think about competing. I don’t. Watch those games and tell me I don’t play the same way.”

He was a football star first, a heat–seeking tailback, pounding between Pop Warner tackles and looking for linebackers to level. “I liked to hit,” Westbrook says, gazing down at the scars that stripe his arms, badges from runs up the middle. “I liked contact.” He brought the gridiron to the hardwood, taking no breaks, tolerating no lapses, regarding the T-Wolves just as he does the Dubs. But then a quote is relayed to him from another NBA star he knows well. “I don’t pay to watch sporting events, but I would pay to watch Russell Westbrook against Golden State.” At this, he unleashes a delirious laugh.

Media and fans are prone to hyperbole, but even Westbrook’s peers speculate about his upcoming campaign in terms normally reserved for natural phenomena. They expect him to breathe fire, hottest on Nov. 3, but inextinguishable every other night as well. Can he score 35 points per game? Can he average a triple double? Can he go one-on-four at Oracle Arena and rip the hoop from the stanchion? In a season when the champion appears preordained—and the runner-up as well—Westbrook is the most captivating subject.

There is basis for the hype. When Durant was recovering from foot surgery in early 2015, Westbrook embarked on a two-month offensive binge reminiscent of Oscar Robertson, making 40/15/10 stat lines look commonplace. The everlasting question—What could Durant do if un-tethered from Westbrook for 82 games?—was suddenly flipped on its head. What could Westbrook do? He can answer that in a couple of different ways, either by turning Oklahoma City into a wildly entertaining if ultimately nonthreatening solo act, or by moving the ball and lifting a young core back toward contention.

“Let’s say Russell becomes a one-man wrecking machine, night in and night out: Where’s the growth in that?” asks Donovan. “Can you develop the rest of the roster to complement Russell and help Russell? He’s so bright. I think he understands the importance of having guys he can rely on.”

Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Sometimes the wrecking ball prevails. In the 2000–01 season Allen Iverson hauled the 76ers to the Finals, with a starting lineup that featured George Lynch, Tyrone Hill, Theo Ratliff and Eric Snow. An assistant coach was Maurice Cheeks, now with the Thunder. “We’ve talked about that team,” Donovan says. “Iverson took the majority of the shots and did the scoring. They had great defenders and rebounders. If you look at the stats, there was so much attention on Iverson, they killed teams when he shot and they got offensive rebounds.”

Oklahoma City, with its length and toughness, is not so different. Power forward Enes Kanter pulled down 18.5 rebounds per 48 minutes last season, fifth in the NBA, and Adams gathered 12.7. Andre Roberson is a stopper on the wing, and Victor Oladipo, acquired from the Magic in the deal involving Serge Ibaka, is a more dynamic scorer than any of those old Sixers. But for every Iverson there have been countless solo shows who failed to cause a playoff ripple—including Westbrook in ’15, when the Thunder missed the postseason. OKC lacks outside scoring, an issue for Westbrook, who figures to find driving lanes clogged. “I have to do what’s best for the team,” he says. “I have to gauge that. And as a leader you have to gauge how you help other guys get better. I want to make sure everybody feels comfortable about what they’re doing.”

The Thunder are not making the Finals this year, barring an Iversonian surge, but they are not going to be the 2010 Cavaliers, either. They privately prefer to be compared to the Cardinals, strained as it may be, who lost Albert Pujols in ’11 and reached the World Series in ’13. Westbrook has never been the franchise face, but he has long prepared for the day. Over the past few years he has watched game film to evaluate his body language and tried to tailor his style of communication depending on the recipient.

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“He blasts me all the time because I’m fine with it,” Adams says. “He can scream in the middle of a game, ‘F--- that!’ and we’re totally cool. But I see him take another approach with others.” The Thunder heard the off-season indictments, that Westbrook is difficult to play alongside, and compared with Curry those claims may be true. But the same used to be said about Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, both of whom call Westbrook the current player who most reminds them of their younger selves. “This is the way I look at it,” says Kanter. “When he yells at me that I need to do a better job, it’s probably because I need to do a better job.”

Just as Westbrook will have to strike a balance between carrying teammates and enabling them, he will also need to alternate tongue lashings with attaboys. “All eyes in the room are on him, where they used to be split,” Weaver says. “Russell could be the hard charger, and Kevin would go pick guys up. He needs to be a little more understanding, a little more sensitive. I think he will. I think that’s in him.” Weaver flashes back to Khelcey Barrs, Westbrook’s high school teammate and best friend, who died during a pickup game in 2004 and was later found to have an enlarged heart. When Weaver scouted Westbrook four years later, he came across a piece of personal information that froze him. “Do you know that after the boy died, Russell would go over to his grandmother’s house and do his chores?” Weaver asks. “Part of the reason we liked him was his compassion.”

Super teams are as endearing as hedge funds, so even if Westbrook scowls all season, he will still be the league’s darling. Just like that, he and Durant switched hats, not that he gives a damn. “I didn’t care about that then, and I won’t care about it now,” Westbrook says. “Good things, bad things, I’m going to do the same things, like it or love it. Before, nobody liked it, and now everybody loves it. Doesn’t matter to me either way.”

What does matter is the picnic. One afternoon every September, the Thunder hop on Route 66 and head to Arcadia Farms, 30 miles north. Almost everyone in the organization, plus spouses and children and a few Disney characters, gather on a grassy bluff for food and football, cornhole and karaoke. The first year, Presti counted 60 people under the pine trees. Now, there are more than 250. Westbrook, in a white T-shirt and gray shorts, mirrored sunglasses and red-and-black Jordans, is the Pied Piper. He holds Presti’s 18-month-old son, Nicholas. He teaches handshakes to Tumbleson’s four-year-old, Teddy. He encourages teammates to mingle. Lock in. Kanter bounds down an inflatable slide. Roberson poses for a caricature. One backup point guard, Cameron Payne, fires a water gun. Another, Ronnie Price, drops a line into a pond. Adams compares mustaches with Captain Hook. (“Bastard,” he mutters, defeated.) Oladipo serenades Tinker Bell with “I Believe I Can Fly.” (“Any duets here?” he asks, and she rises from her hay bale.)

Westbrook, cradling a football, surveys the folksy tableau. Oladipo and Tinker Bell have moved on from R. Kelly to John Legend. Even when I lose I’m winning, ’cause I give you all of me, and you give me all of you. A year ago Westbrook was running fly patterns with Durant on the bluff, and now he is throwing spirals to Nina. Finally, he fires one deep, into a bouncy house, and kids scatter with terror and glee. Their laughter fills the farm as Westbrook turns to leave, having crashed one fun house, locked in on another.

Article SI Link
Thanks to mendels for sharing this article on BZ. 

Oct 12 2016 Pressers - Coach Steve Alford, Bryce, Lonzo, T.J. and Welsh

TBT: Fan Jam 1996

Found these photos from Fan Jam 1996 (the year after Banner 11). Taken with a non-digital camera. I apologize for the fuzziness. Good times :-). P.S. Can anyone help me with the ??? players? 

Bob Myers, Cameron Dollar, Kris Johnson, Toby Bailey, Harold Sylvester

Bailey, Sylvester, J.R. Henderson, ???, Jelani McCoy, Brandon Loyd, Kevin Daley

Jim Saia, Steve Lavin, Michael Holton, Charles O'Bannon, Myers, Dollar, Johnson

Lavin, Holton, Charles O'Bannon, Myers, Dollar, Johnson, Bailey, Sylvester, Henderson

Myers, Charles O'Bannon (obscured), Dollar, Johnson, Bailey, Sylvester, Henderson, ???

Myers, Charles O'Bannon, Dollar, Johnson, Bailey, Sylvester, Henderson, ???, McCoy

Sylvester, Henderson, ???, McCoy, Loyd, Daley, ???

Jelani for the slam

Jelani covering JR 

A Coach Jim Harrick sighting!

Brandon on Tob

Tob to the rack 1

Tob to the rack 2