Welcome back to The Graham Jam! And a special welcome to our friends in Ponca City, Tonkawa and Beckham County who may be receiving the newsletter for the first time this week.
This is your free weekly dose of Oklahoma City Thunder news, notes and quotes.
This week, we'll be reviewing the past few games of Thunder basketball, meeting OKC's talented rookie center and discussing some unpleasant Bally business.
Let's get to it!
Last week
Golden State 106, Thunder 98 (10/26 HOME)
Thunder 123, Los Angeles Lakers 115 (10/27 HOME)
Golden State 103, Thunder 82 (10/30 AWAY)
Get to know: Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
Four members of the Thunder's starting lineup have been absolutely consistent so far this season: guards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey, wing Luguentz Dort, and forward Darius Bazley. At the 5, though, things are less settled.
There's veteran ex-Jazzman Derrick Favors, who started on Opening Night and has made three total starts. Isaiah Roby, the third-year big, offers a small-ball center option with his 6-8 frame and has made one start.
And then there's Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, another 6-8 player fresh out of college powerhouse Villanova, who was drafted 32nd overall by the Thunder this summer. OKC traded up a few spots to get the Kansas City native, and seem thrilled with that decision; the second-rounder has now started two games, has logged more minutes than either Favors or Roby, and appears to be quickly gaining the trust of head coach Mark Daigneault.
It's rare for second-round picks to be getting immediate NBA starts, which is of course a testament to the Thunder's youth and expectations. But it's also a testament to JRE, who's shooting 56% from the field and 46% from 3 in a small sample so far.
He was even named to the NBA's first "Rookie Ladder" of the season, which is basically a power ranking of youngsters from across the league. JRE checked in at No. 10, three spots behind his teammate Giddey.
Both of Robinson-Earl's start's so far have come against the Warriors. Before Saturday's game in San Francisco, Daigneault said JRE earned another opportunity because he "did a nice job the other night" when the teams matched up in Oklahoma.
"He kind of found a groove and a rhythm inside of that game," the coach went on. "We thought that letting him build on that was good for the team tonight, and he's a good matchup for them. And it allows us to use Derrick (Favors) in a different way. Again, we're just trying to figure out what the best version of this team looks like."
JRE logged 12 points and five rebounds in 27 minutes during his first start, but only six points and three rebounds in 19 minutes the second time. Still, the surprising second-rounder is worth keeping an eye on and could become the team's go-to big as the season goes on.
Bally blunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder started white-hot when they played the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, Oct. 26, leading the Dubs at halftime before ultimately surrendering the lead and the game. While these aren't the Warriors of the mid-2010s, they're still a formidable opponent with history's best shooter on the roster, in Steph Curry, and any matchup with Golden State is must-see TV.
But Thunder fans tuning in — including myself — were sorely disappointed during the third quarter of Tuesday's game when Bally Sports Oklahoma was unable to broadcast the beginning of the second half. Citing technical difficulties, the station cut to a holding screen, then to commercials, and finally to a studio where poor John Rhadigan and Nancy Lieberman had to basically describe the action on the court while the channel worked feverishly to restore the broadcast. It finally did, after missing about seven minutes of game action.
I haven't seen enough games on Bally to say so myself, but I'm told this isn't the first snafu the station has experienced since transitioning away from Fox Sports Oklahoma this spring. It's a little complicated, but essentially Fox tried to sell a bunch of its assets to Disney. For legal reasons, Disney turned around and sold Fox's regional sports networks to Sinclair Broadcast Group, which sold their naming rights to the international gambling company Bally's Corporation.
Supposedly, nothing much was going to change. And superficially that is certainly the case; Bally's aesthetic is more or less exactly what fans got from Fox. But I don't remember missing huge chunks of games under the previous ownership.
I can guarantee you that some unsuspecting Oklahoman got a notification on their phone last Tuesday that the Thunder were actually beating the Warriors at halftime and decided to watch the second half. And then promptly gave up when Bally couldn't broadcast the third quarter.
Bally and OKC, knee-deep in a rebuild, need as many fans watching them as possible. It's hard enough to find a provider that carries Bally. Technical difficulties during marquee matchups aren't going to help, and, given the cost of a cable subscription, they won't be long tolerated by the fanbase.
That's all for me, folks. Until next time, Thunder Up!
(P.S. — Sorry for including a broken link in last week's newsletter. I misspelled the word "health." For more information about how to attend a Thunder home game this year, visit okcthunder.com/healthprotocol.)