OKC Thunder Social Roundup: Views from a lively week in the community

Over the past nine days, the OKC Thunder have been active in the virtual and physical community with unique events such as the annual Why Not Comedy Show.

The OKC Thunder are often active in the community, via the Thunder Cares Foundation. However, some weeks are more engaged than others, the lead up to Christmas and Thanksgiving are particularly lively times for OKC community outreach. Judging by the past nine days Halloween can be added to the list of busy holidays for the Thunder.

Recently Thunder player Patrick Patterson hosted a movie screening, Russell Westbrook & close friend Demetrius ‘Juice’ Deason hosted the third annual WhyNot? Comedy Show, Steven Adams & Jerami Grant joined the children of Positive Tomorrows, Paul George held a fishing clinic at Lake Arcadia, a bevy of players hit the OKC Zoo for Haunt the Zoo, and last, but not the least Oklahoma City played three games sandwiched between their local events.

Let’s go to the movies

Patterson’s ‘Pat Presents’ events are his way of giving back to the community. At the first one of the season he was joined by fellow teammates Andre Roberson, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, and Abdel Nader. The movie screened was Hunter Killers it is now in theaters everywhere.

Thunder battle the Kings in home opener and Westbrook returns

Fun exchange between a fan and coach

Mini movie recapping the home opener

The Thunder’s home opener did not go according to plan as they fell to the Sacramento Kings 120-131. Yet, the evening was not a total loss as the Brodie made his season debut, registering 32 points, eight assists, and 12 rebounds.

The player whom ultimately did the Thunder in was former Knicks and Cavaliers player Iman Shumpert. He led Sacramento in scoring, putting 26 points on the board on an efficient 13 shots.

Returning to Lake Arcadia

PG13 continues being enamored with Lake Arcadia as he hosted 50 Cesar Chavez Elementary students for an afternoon out on the water.

Why Not have a laugh?

Westbrook and Deason began hosting these annual comedy shows after Westbrook renegotiated his contract, in the summer of 2016. Although Oklahoma City already played four regular-season games before the comedy show occurred, it still serves as a kickoff to the new NBA season. As it could be seen on their Instagram stories, several of Westbrook’s teammates joined him for an evening of laughs.

The event featured comedians Ron Taylor, Yasamin Bayatar, B.T. Kingsley, and headliner Gary Owens.

Let’s haunt the zoo

Haunt the Zoo is a tradition in Oklahoma City, the event is in its 35th year and continues to draw in thousands of guests each year. This year the zoo welcomed a 7′ butterfly (Adams), a 6′6″ bee (TLC), and a 6′9″ ladybug (Grant). Westbrook, George, and Raymond Felton were also on hand, but Russ and PG were not in costume, whereas Felton’s attire could not be identified.

After handing out candy to young zoo-goers the bevy of Thunder players got a behind the scenes peek at one of the zoo’s newest editions a baby Asian elephant named Kairavi, the baby elephant’s name is Sanskrit for “moonlight. Adams who is fond of elephants seemed the most excited for the exclusive peak.

While handing out candy, Adams urged trick or treaters to use their manners by saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. This is not his first account of encouraging fans to use good manners when interacting with them. This act continues to display why Adams is beloved by most people he comes in contact with. Perhaps Adams should add proper etiquette advocate to his extensive and impressive résumé.

Tale of two halves as OKC battled the C’s

Deja double vu

Rookie mistakes

Hamidou Diallo missing shoot around looks bad on the rookies part, but the punishment did not fit the crime. Missing the first half would have been acceptable instead of the whole game, but this should serve as an example of the Thunder’s culture.

When Patterson scores he does it in bunches

This is very true

The Donovan dilemma

Billy Donovan’s comments after the Thunder’s fourth loss were striking, but not surprising. As he revealed Westbrook did not follow his instructions on one of the final plays. This reinforces the fact, that if Donovan gives no direction that is bad, but if he is giving instruction and his players are not listening that is worse. Until this problem is addressed the Thunder’s underlying issues will remain.

Grant and Adams enjoy and afternoon jam session

Thunder score first win against lowly Suns

That winning feeling

The Kiwi way

PG with a long three

The Thunder’s first win in a nutshell

Less is more when it comes to shooting threes for OKC

 Nerlens the Beast Noel

Wise words from AD

The Suns are not a good basketball team, but coming into the match they possessed a better record than the Thunder. Although OKC should have and ultimately did win the game, sometimes it is underestimated how difficult it is to win in the NBA. With that, a victory is a victory and the Thunder are onto the next.

A few odds and ends

These posts do not exactly have a theme, but they fit the criteria of this column and the majority add lighthearted fun, while one tweet supports a cause near and dear to many Oklahoman’s hearts.

The cold hard truth

Scott Pollard wins Halloween

Dennis Schroder goes for a swim

Oklahoma October’s can be cold or warm. However, on this particular morning, it was chilly and damp. But, that didn’t stop Schröder from enjoying a dip in the pool. Despite not playing his best basketball to start the season for the Thunder, Dennis appears to be having fun, perhaps that will translate into improved play.

Lowry is not the only player doing a ghost handskake

The ghost handshakes sweeping across the NBA are a combination of class and sadness. Both Adams and Lowry are missing the yin to their yang. Once the ball tips, it is hard to tell though as both players have performed well early on, yet one player is enjoying much more team success.

Save the iconic Space Needle

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• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

A brief history, the Space Needle was built in 1968, it sores over the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. It would take riders a baffling 330 feet into the air while rotating 360 decrees. After a storm in 2010, the ride was damaged and has been inoperable ever since.

On October 25, 2018, it was announced the ride would be torn down. The tower is iconic to the Oklahoma City skyline and holds countless memories to those who have visited State Fair Park, please join in the efforts to save a piece of Oklahoma history by simply signing the petition. Thank you in advance for your support.

On a brighter note

Taking into account the numerous events the Thunder and their players participated in this week, it offered them the chance to build cohesion. Off-court bonding is a positive sight, as it can be vital down the line.

Chemistry counts for something and last season the Thunder’s seemed out of whack. This year OKC’s chemistry seems tight, but it has not correlated into wins. With more community events and bonding opportunities to come, maybe the Thunder’s close-knit chemistry will become their strongest attribute on the court.

Disclaimer: due to the column moving to Tuesday this edition of OKC Thunder Social roundup covered nine days, rather than a standard seven day week.