Tramel's ScissorTales: Russell Westbrook passes Gary Payton on NBA all-time assist list

The List: NBA all-time assists

Russell Westbrook this week moved into 10^th on the all-time NBA assist list. Westbrook in many ways is a better assister than passer — at least with the Thunder, Westbrook mostly would pass not to expedite offensive flow, but only when assists were available.

Still, an assist is an assist. A made bucket. There always is value in buckets.

Here is the top 10 in NBA career assists:

1. John Stockton 15,806: Twenty-five percent ahead of the competition. A record that seems safe.

2. Jason Kidd 12,091: Thirty years and two months ago, Kidd debuted in college with Cal-Berkeley. In his second game, an ESPN broadcast with Dick Vitale on hand, Kidd had 13 points, five rebounds, seven assists, three steals and three turnovers in a win over OSU. Quite a ballplayer.

3. Chris Paul 11,249: CP3 has a shot to catch Kidd for No. 2 by the end of next season. But Paul’s glorious career is nearing the finish line.

4. LeBron James 10,338: Probably going to retire as the No. 4 assist man in NBA history. And the No. 1 scorer. Not too shabby.

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5. Steve Nash 10,335: It seems to me that Steph Curry, who rose to stardom as Nash’s career reached its end, stole a bunch of Nash’s thunder. But Nash was almost Curry’s equal as a shooter (they share the same career 3-point percentage, .428) and Curry’s superior as a playmaker.

6. Mark Jackson 10,334: The most unheralded player on the list. Now known as Mike Breen’s and Jeff Van Gundy’s sidekick on ESPN telecasts, Jackson made just one all-star team. But he was a phenomenal, traditional point guard over 17 NBA seasons.

7. Magic Johnson 10,141: A raging debate in 1979. Who was the better passer, Magic or Larry Bird? My old pal Bo Overton, who played point guard at OU, always told me to remember that Bird was passing to open players, because so much defensive emphasis was placed on stopping Bird himself. Magic was passing to guys who were covered.

8. Oscar Robertson 9,887: Oscar’s NBA debut, in 1960, was virtually two decades earlier than anyone else on this list. Magic was next, 1979.

9. Isiah Thomas 9,061: Thomas’ career was shorter than most great players. He played 13 seasons, all with the Pistons, but retired in 1994 at age 32.

10. Russell Westbrook 8,980: Westbrook is not the franchise career leader. Gary Payton, who played for the Seattle SuperSonics before the franchise moved to OKC in 2008, had 7,384 assists as a Sonic. Westbrook had 6,897 assists with the Thunder.

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Lottery-bound Thunder out-toughed in Houston

Deep down, we knew this Thunder edition wasn’t a playoff team. Heck, it’s pretty clear the organization doesn’t even want to be a playoff team. Not yet. Still too much rebuilding to do.

But a fanbase can dream, and a hot January put the Thunder in the middle of the playoff chase.

Then February arrived, and the NBA’s worst team reminded everyone how far the Thunder has to go. Houston, which entered the Wednesday night game against OKC with the league’s worst record, beat the Thunder 112-106 by sheer force.

The Rockets, playing without their two leading scorers, Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Junior, willed their way to victory by bullying the Thunder. If Houston can bully you, you need to toughen up.

And that quite adequately describes the Thunder. Lots of good parts. Lots of promising parts. Lots of help on the way.

But the Thunder needs to be bigger, stronger and tougher before it becomes a Western Conference playoff team.

That’s probably an apt description of all young teams. But it was on full display in Houston.

The Rockets had 24 offensive rebounds – so did the Thunder, but on many more opportunities, since OKC missed 65 shots and shot just 37 percent from the field.

“Give them a lot of credit,” Mark Daigneault said of Houston. “They really grinded that game out.

“We had a hard time. In the first half, they played with a lot more force than we did.”

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The Thunder got its defense going in the second half, but its offense collapsed. In the fourth quarter, OKC scored just 20 points and made only seven of 25 shots.

The Rockets swarmed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the other Thunder drivers, and Houston went to the basket much more freely than did OKC. The more aggressive team usually shoots more foul shots, and Houston did – 31 to OKC’s 22.

“I thought we were in a crowd much of the night,” Daigneault said. “That’s how most teams try to defend us. And that’s how they defended us. Probably missed some sprayouts. We ended up shooting a lot of 3’s (43, making 12). So I thought got a good amount of looks. But certainly weren’t good enough, especially the fourth quarter.”

The toughness issue will be helped a little by Luguentz Dort’s return. He missed a third straight game, and OKC’s defensive ferocity nosedives without Lord Lu.

The Thunder has been playing weeks and/or months without big men Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Aleksej Pokusevski, but they aren’t the answer to any physicality deficiencies. Neither is injured No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren, who despite being 7-foot-1 will bring something other than a Billy club to the proceedings next season.

The Thunder needs a few more Dorts and Kenrich Williamses. Maybe Santa Clara Williams or Arkansas Williams grows into that. Future trades probably will be needed to fix the problem.

The loss dropped the Thunder to 12^th in the West. The tightly-bunched conference – from fourth to 12^th was separated by just three games a few days ago – will not stay compacted.

The Thunder suddenly is two games out of the play-in spot (10^th); that’s the same distance to the sixth-best lottery odds.

The lottery is where the Thunder is headed, as we all sort of knew but hoped otherwise.

More:How Thunder is among NBA pace leaders thanks in part to Mark Daigneault's 'Minnesota' play

Red Panda visits a packed Lloyd Noble Center for Bedlam

Red Panda, the greatest show on Earth, placed five bowls on her instep as she balanced a 7-foot-tall unicycle – I know, sounds preposterous, but trust me and work with me. Red Panda was the halftime act at Bedlam basketball Wednesday night, and it’s likely that thousands of fans were seeing her for the first time.

Red Panda already had placed a bowl on top of her head, only to four times flip a bowl or bowls off her instep and into the bowl or bowls on top of her head. One bowl, then two, then three, then four.

Eleven bowls on top her head, somewhere north of 50 years old, while riding a 7-foot unicycle, in her 30^th year working basketball halftimes.

And just getting those five bowls on her instep is a chore for the Chinese-American acrobat. She twice had to retool, starting over while getting help from an Oklahoma Ruf-Nek to toss her more bowls.

The first time she tried the climactic five-bowl flip, something was amiss, and Red Panda let those five bowls scatter while she solidified the bowls on top her head. The Lloyd Noble crowd still gave her a rousing cheer.

Red Panda was running out of time. The OSU Cowboys were coming out of the tunnel, ready for some warmup, and her accompanying music was turned off. But Red Panda didn’t desert the unicycle.

With the pressure on, she quickly but meticulously placed the five bowls back on her instep – all the while, remember, using her left leg to balance on the unicycle – and flipped them into the air and magically into the bowls atop her head.

Lloyd Noble Center went nuts. It was like Trae Young had just hit a 30-foot game-winner. Think Buddy Hield taking down Kansas. As if Wayman Tisdale had hit a turnaround jumper to reach 50 points.

I’ve seen Red Panda perform at probably a dozen halftimes, both NBA and college, and I’ve never seen a crowd so deliriously and accurately celebrate her marvel the way Lloyd Noble celebrated Wednesday night.

It was not a coincidence that the arena doors were opened to unticketed guests. Free admission was the call earlier in the day, with the threat of inclement weather worrying OU officials that the game atmosphere might be damaged with people staying home.

And fans responded. As many as 13,500 people showed up at Lloyd Noble Center, which lists a capacity of 11,528.

People stood three and four deep around the upper concourse, looking down on Bedlam.

Fans milled around the middle walkway, looking for seats.

A few security issues arose, with peace officers summoned after arguments over seats.

More:Three takeaways from Oklahoma State's rout of OU for Bedlam basketball sweep

It was a wild, buzzing, most celebratory scene. Then the Cowboys served as buzzkill, winning 71-61 but dominating much more than that, leading by as many as 22 points.

And the experiment was incredibly educational. It proved there’s a thirst for college basketball in Oklahoma on some level.

Attendance at both OSU and OU has dimmed from the Billy Tubbs/Eddie Sutton/Kelvin Sampson glory days. But even the great OU teams didn’t always sell out non-marquee games. Sutton’s glorious teams played mostly in a 6,381-seat arena – Gallagher-Iba Arena was doubled in capacity with a 2000 expansion.

But the all-call Wednesday produced results.

Was it a sign that some fans want free entertainment? Maybe. Seems likely that lots of first-time fans showed up. But you can’t run a business based on free tickets.

Was it a sign that tickets are too expensive? Maybe. OU season tickets start at $250, which even for upper level is quite reasonable. Our pressrow seats are near the top of the coliseum, and it’s still a quality view.

OU’s next home game, Kansas, has lower-level tickets for $60 and $50. Upper-level general admission tickets are $40.

Strikes me as a little high, for the least-expensive tickets. A working family of four isn’t going to shell out $160 for tickets. Maybe $60, if at $15 each?

And that’s the value of the free-admission game. OU discovered interested people are out there.

College basketball has a thousand problems unrelated to marketing. The product needs an overhaul, from calendar to tipoff times to transient rosters.

But on some level, there clearly is interest in OU basketball – and OSU. Some of the extra fans Wednesday night wore orange.

No one was treated to a great game. The Cowboy minority thought the rout was great; the Sooner majority was stunned that a team that whacked then-second-ranked Alabama 91-69 four days earlier could get whacked in the same fashion.

But most fans had fun. Seeing Lloyd Noble filled to the brim, like Bedlams of old or the Billyball days, was great.

And lots of people got to see Red Panda for the first time. Maybe people got to see the Sooners or Cowboys for the first time. And maybe they’ll come back.

More:How Oklahoma State 'reinvented' itself offensively to surge in Big 12, rekindle NCAA hopes

Jason Capel at war with his alma mater

The NCAA Tournament’s 2009 South Regional championship game – Blake Griffin vs. North Carolina – served as the lighter fluid for a rivalry that still burns.

Jason Capel vs. his alma mater.

Capel, the younger brother of former OU basketball coach Jeff Capel, was a four-year Carolina starter, 1998-02. He averaged 12.1 points a game as a Tar Heel. Jason Capel helped UNC reach the 2000 Final Four.

But now, Jeff Capel is head coach at Pittsburgh, his brother is a Pitt assistant coach, and the Panthers beat the Tar Heels 65-64 Wednesday night in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

And Jason Capel celebrated vociferously after being booed by Tar Heel fans.

So much so that Jeff Capel felt the need to defend his brother’s actions.

A video shows Jason Capel yelling, “Check the recordbook! My boys did my work. I ain’t got to say nothing. All I did for this program and y’all disrespect me? You got a broom? That’s a sweep.”

Jeff Capel said his brother was upset by a pregame tweet from North Carolina basketball that featured the cover of the game program: UNC’s non-scholarship Creighton Lebo, the son of Tar Heel assistant coach Jeff Lebo, wearing his No. 25 jersey, with his tongue sticking out. Jason Capel also wore No. 25.

The offense? I guess you had to be there.

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But Jeff Capel said his brother’s rocky relationship with his alma mater stems from that 2009 OU-UNC game in Memphis, won 72-60 by the eventual NCAA champion Tar Heels.

Jason Capel wore Sooner crimson in the stands that day, in support of his brother, a Duke grad who was coaching the Sooners.

“My brother loves this school, he dreamt of coming here as a player when we were little,” Jeff Capel said. “This is the place that he always dreamt of playing. He wore that jersey with a lot of pride, and since he’s left here there has been a lot of disrespect towards him.”

Jeff Capel said his brother was jeered by UNC fans that day in Memphis, and another former Tar Heel player intervened to settle things down.

“The Carolina fans were pretty (crappy) towards him. Excuse my language, but pretty, pretty nasty,” Jeff Capel said. “For me, it’s just really interesting man, because I grew up in the state, and this is one of the most tradition-laden programs in the history of college athletics. Not just college basketball. You hear about the Carolina family, and it’s just amazing to me that their social media people would do that … I don’t think it’s coming from within the basketball program. I don’t know who controls their social media. I get social media, you try to be funny or whatever, but I thought it was them trolling him.

“It’s a complicated relationship with him and North Carolina. He loves (them), but I think at times, he doesn’t feel that back. Obviously the game was emotional.”

Jason Capel’s disgust with his alma mater flared so much that he referred to his senior season, 2001-02, when new coach Matt Doherty took over and the Tar Heels fell to 8-20.

“I held this s*** together when Matt Doherty tore it apart,” Capel said, according to Pittsburgh Sports Now.

Lots of bad blood in Carolina blue.

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Mailbag: Alabama gold standard

In a column a few days ago, I referred to Alabama football as the gold standard. At least one reader was curious to the reaction.

Greg: “How many OU fans clapped back at referring to Alabama as the gold standard?  You are correct in saying that, however, some of my Sooner friends disagreed. Lol.”

Tramel: I got no pushback. I believe Sooner fans have settled into some form of reality concerning the move to the Southeastern Conference.

There is no grand illusion of challenging Bama and Georgia. At least not initially. I think the Sooner fan base knows that staying on the same plane as Louisiana State or Florida, staying ahead of Texas A&M and Tennessee and Auburn, is the more realistic goal.

Heck, just staying ahead of Texas is Mission No. 1. And the Sooners, who have dominated UT most of the Big 12 era, lost a lot of ground to the Longhorns in a solitary year; 49-0 is no small thing.

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.  

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Lakers' Russell Westbrook passes Gary Payton on NBA career assist list