Welcome to RumbleRants – Climbing the Second Mountain

15 years – surreal to think about how I’ve been a die-hard Oklahoma City Thunder fan for almost half of my life.

This team is the root of everything that I am today: I discovered my love of basketball because of the Thunder, subsequently leading me to find all of my closest friends through pick-up games, and ultimately helping me find confidence and a voice.

Most importantly, the team provided a sense of pride. I went to business school across the country in 2018, and was the only Oklahoman in my class – in introductions to the class, I would often get the “Oklahoma City? Like the home of the Thunder? Are you a fan?” questions. It helps that the team enjoyed a long run of success in the past decade that even some of my non-NBA classmates would recognize the team. But, as someone who grew up in Oklahoma City, I couldn’t help but be appreciative of what the team has done for the city:

• From Statista, GDP in Oklahoma has grown from 160.9 B USD to 191.4 B USD since the Thunder arrived (2009 – 2022) which marks a 20% growth.
• From BLS, the population of Oklahoma City has also grown at a 20% rate as it went from ~580,000 (2010) to ~695,000 (2022).

Being a Thunder fan has taught me the cliché of enjoying the journey and not the destination. In my first year as a Thunder fan, when Earl Watson was our starting point guard over Russell Westbrook, I wanted nothing more than a winning record and for the rest of the league to view us respectably. Shortly thereafter, the goal for our team was to make the playoffs, and that goal eventually shifted into making the finals. The goalpost seemed to keep extending. We’ve reached many goals and failed to accomplish the big one of winning a championship. However, I don’t think about the 2012 Finals run or the 2016 Western Conference Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors. I reminisce fondly about how Kevin Durant was there after the Moore tornado to provide warmth to a community that was devastated by a natural disaster; with every Daequan Cook three, my friends and I putting a 3-sign in the air and yelling “Trey-Quan”; and Scott Brooks mentoring a young team in a timeout in the final minutes of losing the NBA finals to go congratulate the Miami Heat on a well deserved win.  

 As a type-A individual and as someone who has always been concerned about how others see my accomplishments (or lack thereof), the Thunder helped me realize that the most important component of being a fan is to cherish the day-to-day growth. Like the Thunder’s first decade run, in my life, I’ve accomplished many goals that I’ve set for myself: to graduate as an engineer; to go to business school; to work as a management consultant. With each checked box off my list, I never found myself satisfied – now as I settle more comfortably into my life, I look back on all those accomplishments and fondly remember the day-to-day moments rather than dwell on the hard times: the 4am McDonald’s run with my engineering study groups on an all-nighter; the weekends learning how to code to bolster my resume for my MBA applicatiosn; etc.

It’s more important now than ever to think about this framing as Sam Presti has alluded to on multiple occasions about “making a second climb.” In the past few years, we’ve seen improvements in Josh Giddey’s shooting form; Lu Dort’s shot selection; etc. As we prepare to check off milestones, I ask us to remember to appreciate the day-to-day, month-to-month improvements. The intent of this blog is to help capture all those observations that we may see on our journey.

Thunder up & thanks for reading Rumble Rants!