The Side Part: Unicycle Renaissance
Layne Murdoch Jr./NBAE via Getty Images
I wrote the second section of this piece — and this thing poured from me quickly, in a fiery haze — after the Nuggets game a few days ago. I pulled open WordPress and began this column and what is below is what I felt at the time of the writing. I didn’t submit it then for two reasons:
1) It wasn’t long enough.
2) I fancied a thing like this to be the basketball blogosphere version of an angry email. One you write with fury at night, then keep in your drafts while you sleep. If you wake up and you’re still that angry and you still want to send it, then you know it’s real.
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In three weeks, after Mitch McGary has become the face of a Unicycle Renaissance here in America and settled into averages of 13 and 9, everyone will want to write thought pieces on his impact. I’d imagine they’ll have titles like:
– Is Mitch McGary The Shot In The Arm The Thunder Need To Reach The Promised Land?
– It Would Make Sense That When Healthy He Plays With Durant and Westbrook Just As Well As (If Not Much Better Than) When He Played With Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. Who He Experienced Lots Of Success With.
– His Motor Doesn’t Stop And Neither Do Theirs (How Mitch McGary Saved The Thunder’s Season)
– Thunder Star Mitch McGary and Taylor Swift Reportedly Got Very Comfortable At An Oklahoma City Steakhouse On Thursday Night: Taylor Thinks This Could Be It!
– Come Ride With Me: Mitch McGary’s Unicycle Class A Massive Hit At Local Junior High
If you watched him play in the Orlando Summer League this summer then his play thus far is not a SURPRISE. It’s a surprise, sure, he did come out of “nowhere,” but not a SURPRISE. The kid can gallop. There’s a fluidity there, some soft touch around the rim with either hand and he can turn over either shoulder. He’s also providing Oklahoma fathers with someone they can direct their sons’ attention towards when Nick Collison inevitably retires as their heir to the “Watch how hard he works, son” throne. The one they pause the TV for to rewind and re-watch an offensive rebound. The one they point to and say things like, “You can be this.” Looking forward to all the buzz headed, shooting sleeve wearing bigs throughout the Sooner State. They’ll have a statue of him outside The Peake in five years if he stays healthy.
I give no cares to the cries of small sample size. Effort is something that can be controlled, corralled. His motor goes. I want to nickname him John Deer. That’s what I want to call him. If he’s given the minutes, he will produce. But then there is the “if.” The gross, forever present in the wonderful world of Brooks, “if.” Will he get the minutes? Or will Brooks, as he has been known to do, favor the vet (Perkins). Will McGary be given shine, or shade? I don’t know. It’s an impossibility to figure out. Jeremy Lamb was headed towards contributor territory last year until Caron Butler came minute grabbing, relegating Lamb to making faces that Droopy Dog would deem a little too sad. Give McScary the minutes. Don’t give us more Perk.
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In the post-Memphis daylight I sober up some. My Westbrook Frames are on. I can not expect the world of a rookie who is still playing himself into game shape. He has the ability to contribute now, and that is great, but to imagine that he’s going to play well every game is an absurdity, and I am an idiot for thinking so. And of course Perk goes for a +29 last night, greater even than Durant’s +28. Nothing makes sense ever.
Still, and Royce has talked about this, there is something about McGary running. It’s like he’s on tracks or something.
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Nick Collison is as tried and true as the sun setting tonight. He is a sure thing. His effort and professionalism are unmatched and I imagine he has all of pi — or however you spell it, where do you find symbols? — memorized. He put up 15 and 9 last night against that Brute Squad of a front line the Grizzlies trot out every evening and I don’t know this but I imagine he could tame elephants if given the opportunity.
Nick Collison, the man with the hair for whom this column got its name, the man who would take a charge on a train, the man who at one time was quietly responsible for the prettiest two-man game in the league AS A DADGUM BACKUP POWER FORWARD, is with the Thunder for at least another two years. This extension is a win for everyone. He’s only ever been with this organization, and hopefully it stays that way. In fifteen years I want to see him and Sam Presti — both immaculately dressed, hopefully wearing glasses with clear frames still — standing in the stands together during a playoff game, looking like some weird, nebulous father-son pair.
