Thunder in the news: Mo Cheeks hospitalized, Nick Collison feature
By Tony Heim
Welcome to Thunder in the news, your daily post dedicated to bringing you the best OKC Thunder content from across the web.
The NBA Finals is officially upon us, meaning nobody is paying attention to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Well guess what? We are! And so are a couple of other media organizations out there. Sadly our first story was something that was impossible to stay out of the headlines.
Mo Cheeks hospitalized and released
Thunder assistant coach Maurice Cheeks was released from the hospital today, a day after being admitted with an undisclosed injury. Reports say Cheeks is in “good spirits” and “doing well.” Best wishes out to Cheeks and his family.
"Known for his close relationship with Russell Westbrook, Cheeks has been an assistant coach with the Thunder for six seasons, in two different stints. Cheeks has had three head coaching gigs, with the Trail Blazers, 76ers and most recently the Pistons in 2013-14.Cheeks had hip surgery in February of 2016 and spent a month away from the Thunder recovering. A Thunder team spokesman said they’re awaiting the test results before releasing more information about the medical incident."
Oklahoma City’s second favorite basketball son gets a feature
Questions surround Nick Collison and his future in the NBA with the Thunder. For now we should sit back and enjoy Nick Gallo’s feature on the lone role player who has seen it all in Oklahoma City.
"One of the most difficult things to do in the NBA is to come in and play a four-minute burst after sitting on the bench for an hour or more of real time. But that’s the reality of professional basketball for role players like Collison, who train themselves to adjust to those crucial moments. Part of his leadership role with the Thunder has been to school younger players on that challenging aspect of 48-minute contests.“We all have our ideal playing conditions, but reality is we don’t always get those,” Collison explained. “The players that adjust to smaller minutes, smaller roles, the ones that are the best at it are the ones that are able to play the play in front of them and learn to do that, learn to do just the next thing even within a play, within a possession.”"
It’s okay to skip out on the Finals
Per usual, Jeremy Lambert’s weekly column was fantastic. On Thursday Jeremy explained why it’s okay to actually avoid the Finals – it’s torture watching KD win a title somewhere else. And after watching how Game One turned out I’d say Jeremy new exactly what he was foreshadowing.
"As Thunder fans, we’re probably praying for something a little different. I don’t want to speak for every Oklahoma City fan, but I think it’s safe to assume that the majority of us are hoping the Warriors fall flat on their faces for a second straight year. We’re all a little giddy to see Kevin Durant and Draymond Green argue if things get tough. We can’t wait to take to Twitter and criticize Durant for shying away from the moment, allowing Steph Curry to take the final shot.We all hope this happens. But we’ve also been resigned to the fact we’ll probably be witnessing Durant hold up the Larry O’Brien trophy, standing beside Curry and Green with a big smile on his face. Tears rolling down his eyes because he took the toughest path."