Darnell Mayberry - 100 Things Thunder Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

To my precious Parker. Daddy loves you very much.

Contents

Foreword by Kendrick Perkins

When I first heard about the trade, I was in shock and thought to myself, Oh hell nah. Im not going to OKC . I called Danny Ainge, like, What are you doing? Just hold off until the summertime at least. Danny was like, Relax, Perk, you will love OKC and the organization. I started crying like a lil girl and went to KG, Ray, Paul, and Docs hotel room like, Whats going on here? Doc said, Perk, its hard for us to lose you, brother. But you are going to a great situation, and they want and need you. Trust me on this. So after I finished crying, we had one last card game in our hotel room with my brothers. And the next morning I flew out from Denver to OKC. And, boy, when I got off the plane I got greeted by so many great people telling me how Im the missing piece of the puzzle and how happy they are that Im here. I was, like, Okay, let me see what this new beginning gonna be like .

I was met by one of my favorite people, director of medical services Donnie Strack, and he took me straight to get my physical and a two-hour long MRI on both of my knees. Then I made my way to the old practice facility and while we were pulling up Im like, My God, Donnie, what the fk is that smell? He started laughing and was, like, Thats where they make dog food. In the back of my mind Im thinking, Damn, I have to smell that st every da y ? But when I walked in that practice facility and saw all those young guys like KD, Russ, James, Serge, and Maynor punching in that clock after a back to back, I was like, This might be where I need to be .

Sam Presti was so stern back then and was like a major or some st. I was, like, Oh, hold one mother fg minute. Im going to break him out of this st right here . LOL. Then I met Troy Weaver, one of the most down-to-earth GMs ever, but he was about winning. Then I met my boy Coach Brooks and we clicked on all cylinders instantly. Oh yeah, please dont forget about Nick. Once I saw the structure and culture of the organization, it literally took me two days to get over the trade and I was all in. Im like, Damn, I got these young studs who listen to everything Im telling them and theyre about winning. This about to be some st right here . And there started my OKC career.

Its so many memories. But one memory is how loyal the fans are to the Thunder and how they used to greet us at the airport, good or bad. And the food is great, too. LOL. One of the best series of my career is when we came back from being down 02 to the Spurs and beat them in the Western Conference finals. Besides the winning seasons, the most important thing I learned from the Thunder organization is STRUCTURE! The Thunder is a first-class organization across the board. They have one of the best practice facilities Ive ever seen. Their medical and training staff is one of the best in sports. The equipment staff is great with Saint and Wilson running the thing. The PR with my boy Matt and John and Mike are great, too. They have everything a player needs and wants to be successful there. And also one of the best massage therapists Ive ever had in Momma Val. The equipment and technology the Thunder have is light-years ahead of the NBA, in my opinion. I think about how I took so much of that for granted daily. Put it like this: on a scale of 1 to 10, the Thunder gets an 11 from me, and thats real talk.

I had a great 4 years in OKC, on and off the court, and I still say to this day that OKC has some of the best fans in the world. The culture around that entire state is exceptional. It just feels like a big familyexcept for the dude with the big-ass mouth on the radio.

Kendrick Perkins

1. Russell Westbrook

Prior to Game 5 of the Thunder-Mavs series in the opening round of the 2016 NBA Playoffs, Dallas owner Mark Cuban delivered some head-scratching comments about Russell Westbrook.

Cuban famously claimed the Thunder point guard wasnt a superstar.

Hours later, Westbrook closed out the series with a sensational 36-point, 12-rebound, nine-assist performance that sent Dallas home for the summer and made Cuban look silly. In the postgame press conference, a reporter asked Westbrook whether he was aware of Cubans pregame comments and inquired about Westbrooks reaction to them. Before the reporter could finish the question, Kevin Durant, sitting to Westbrooks left atop the dais inside Chesapeake Energy Arena, extended his right arm in front of Westbrooks torso and preempted his teammates answer.

Hold up, Durant told Westbrook before responding for him. Hes a [sic] idiot. Dont listen to st. Hes a [sic] idiot. All right? Thats what we got to say about that. Hes a [sic] idiot. Next question.

Cuban didnt just set fire to his credibility. The outspoken owner disparaged and disrespected one of the games truly great players. More than that, he disregarded an inspirational rags-to-riches route rarely seen in NBA superstars. Cuban, a self-made man himself, failed to consider where Westbrook started and just how far he had come.

By the time Cuban delivered his comical claim, Westbrook already had helped captain the Thunder to the 2012 NBA Finals, scoring 43 points in Game 4 to become only the 10 th player in NBA history to reach that mark and at only 23 years old, the second youngest to do so. He also had been named to five All-NBA teams, earned five All-Star Game selections, snagged two All-Star Game MVP Awards, recorded 37 triple doubles, notched one scoring title, and paced all players with a ridiculous record of durability.

Westbrook had done all that by 27.

Id take him, Mavs superstar Dirk Nowitzki said. Id definitely take him.

But when Westbrook arrived in Oklahoma City, he was far from a sure thing. Coming out of Leuzinger High School in Lawndale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, Westbrook was overlooked by most major Division I teams. He entered high school standing 5'8" and weighing 140 pounds. He didnt start on the varsity until his junior year. He didnt receive his first recruiting letter until the summer before his senior year, when he shot up to 6'3" and could finally dunk. Most recruiting websites didnt have Westbrook ranked among their top 100 prospects. Rivals.com listed him as a three-star recruit.

Creighton, Kent State, and San Diego showed the most interest early on. They were mid-major programs looking to land a diamond in the rough. Miami, Wake Forest, and Arizona State also showed interest. They were high-majors yet middle-of-the-road programs hoping to get lucky after the true big boys had gobbled up the top talent. Westbrook held out. He bet on himself. He averaged 25.1 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists while leading Leuzinger to a 254 record as a senior. Still, the big boys were nowhere to be found.

I coached against Russell in summer league, said Scott Pera, a former Southern California high school coach and Arizona State assistant. He was fast. Very unpolished. I hate to use the word reckless because I dont want to use it in a negative light, but thats how he was. He was athletic, fast, tough, but at times completely out of control. People [wondered] if all that could be reeled in and refined.

Russell Westbrook couldnt dunk until the summer before his senior year of high school, but he soon blossomed into the most athletic point guard in NBA history. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)