As I was walking off the court towards the press room at the end of Game 5, a middle aged woman came up to my seat and stopped me. In Oklahoma more than any other city, everybody wants a photo with me. So at first, before even looking carefully at the woman I thought, "She probably wants a photo with me." Then she introduced herself. She was the governor of Oklahoma. So she wanted to meet me and we had a nice conversation. That was pretty interesting.

When the Sonics moved, I was upset as a fan because Seattle had such a good basketball tradition and supported their team. So I didn’t think they deserved to lose their team. I put the blame on the previous owner of the team for being willing to sell his team to Oklahoma group when it was pretty obvious what was going to happen. I don’t blame the current owners. They’re from Oklahoma and Clay Bennett has become a good friend of mine. I think he’s a terrific guy. That was his plan and I think the previous owner should have realized that.

At the press conference Monday night, I was sitting in the front row. Mike Brown didn’t choose to address me that night. But if I had been thinking quickly when he did address me after that heartbreaking defeat in Game 2, my question would have been "How do you maintain your sense of humor in the face of such a terrible defeat?" Because I really give him credit for keeping everything in perspective.

Shaquille used to address me from time to time during press conferences. During the Finals, Pat Riley would ask me questions. But last week I wasn’t ready for it. I go into these press conferences feeling that it’s not my place to ask questions because everyone in the room with the exception of me is from the media. They’re doing their jobs and I feel like I’ve gotten a special privilege by being allowed in after the game and if I were to interject myself by asking questions, it would be taking it too far.

I attend the press conferences for the insight, particularly what the coaches have to say. I’ve found that the player’s portion of the press conference really isn’t significant, but the coaches do have interesting comments that I do enjoy listening to. It also provides me access to media and in between the Q&A from whomever’s at the podium, often a lot of time goes by. Sometimes I have some good discussions with the media.

I have developed a lot of friendships with the media. During the Finals in particular, when there’s off days and I’m on the road and I have nothing better to do than to go to the media sessions with the players where players are stationed around the court, I move from station to station and I see a lot of media people that I know. Many international media approach me and I have a lot of fun with that.

I smile when I see Russell Westbrook’s fashion choices. Wearing glasses without any lenses in them I don’t think is something I admire, but if the players want to look like mirrors, that’s their prerogative.

I do think players are making an attempt to be more stylish. I never liked the hip hop look of baggy pants, t shirts down to the knee and cap on backwards. That was something that never appealed to me and I never understood why the style was adopted en masse. Allen Iverson did it in a way that had a little bit of his own personality attached to it. I can’t remember precisely what it is that he did, but he wasn’t the average looking guy.