Yesterday, I listened to Sam Presti’s end-of-the-season press conference. You will not find another name mentioned as often as Presti’s in these weekly newsletters. Rain or shine, losing or winning season, I cherish listening to that guy talk about my Oklahoma City Thunder.
Compared to our recent finishes in the league’s cellar, the 2023-2024 season was a marvel. OKC was the youngest team in history to finish first in the Western Conference. The youngest team ever to win a playoff series before being eliminated two weeks ago by the Dallas Mavericks. Yet, as I listened to Presti’s reflections while stripping lacquer from a 1950s dresser, his energy was dense. Optimistic, yes. Insightful, always. But weighted. As expectations for next year’s team jettison off the planet, I could hear the consequence in his voice, cautioned by the new stakes. Because the stakes are once again high.
Toward the end of the presser, he was asked if he ever reflects on the letter he wrote to the fanbase five years ago. The letter published by The Oklahoman, the letter preaching patience and trust, the letter where he justified his choice to dismantle a middle-of-the-pack playoff team and rebuild the franchise from scratch, the letter where he said, “When we do get back to the postseason, we want it to be an arrival and not an appearance.” He admitted he rereads that letter often. He leaned on that letter this season.
As the stakes rise, the surroundings improve, and the outside scrutiny intensifies, he prizes having at heart the original aim. Has experience changed us? Have we settled? Have we forgotten the mission?
I paused the furniture stripping and reread my first essay from December 2022, then the second. I laughed heartily. The writing made me wince. But damn, I was hardcore and hellbent on the mission: wholeness. Inside a new environment with new challenges and new successes, I needed that reset. To look forward, we must look back… occasionally. Never be afraid to remember your mission.
To livin’ a life we love,
Ryan Fightmaster, MD
(P.S. If you’re seeking a reset of your own, I have a free seven-day course designed as the jumpstart I needed five years ago. Access is free. You can join here.)
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