Someone found a CD that Sam Presti released in 1999…

There are a lot of things you probably know about Oklahoma City Thunder GM and Executive Vice President Sam Presti. He was a Rhodes Scholar; enjoys planning, flexibility, and patience; popularized the phrase "Oklahoma Standard;" lucked into Kevin Durant; and will go down in history as the man who pulled the trigger on one of the worst, most one-sided NBA trades in NBA history. (See Harden, James.)

But there are some other things you may not know about Sam. From what I've heard, he's a bit of a micromanager. Ever wonder why the Thunder routinely has one of the most boring pre-game videos in the NBA, featuring blocks, charges, and dives out-of-bounds in favor of exciting highlight reel dunks, alley oops and game winning shots? It's because that's what Presti wants. He wants everything to be about the team and defense, and not the individual accomplishments of the players we pay to see.

Presti is also a musician. It's rarely brought up, but it is briefly noted in his Thunder bio:

An accomplished drummer? That's kind of cool, because it means Presti and I share the same favorite muppet. Is there a cooler muppet than Animal? You know that when Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem go out on tour, Animal always got the best groupies. It also explains why the organization routinely features those boring Thunder drummers.

Anyway, I bring all this up because Jeff Wade, a sports radio host from Dallas, somehow got his hands on one of Sam Presti's early CDs and tweeted a pic of it yesterday. The CD was released in 1999, one year before Presti began an internship with the San Antonio Spurs that would eventually lead to the every-man's-dream-job that he has today.

I don't know why, but that's just hysterical. It just screams Sam Presti. I bet the CD art goes great with the black and white Danish furniture and minimalist artwork he probably uses to decorate his house.

Also, I love the name "All Things Considered." That's fitting. I bet Presti is the type of guy who reads every single word on the Cheesecake Factory menu before settling on the orange chicken like he always does. Basically, he's a planner who loves flexibility and likes to keep all of his options open, even if they're the horribly wrong ones, like trading away one of best players in the NBA for a back up center.

Side note: If you can't tell, I'm still bitter and not in any way over the James Harden trade. I'm like a jilted lover. It's been over three years and I still can't move on. When I watch the team play, it's still on the back of my mind and serves as a reminder for how good things could be. I've seriously considered canceling my season tickets over it.

Don't believe the Thunder Ministry of Propaganda and the talking points they feed to everyone in the brainwashed local media. Instead of shipping the Beard to Houston, OKC could have done the right thing and signed him to a max deal and named him a starter. What would have been wrong with that? The Thunder is now worth $930-million. They could afford it. Would they have lost Ibaka? Sure, but with a core of Durant, Westbrook and Harden, you could fill holes with aging vets, hard-working rookies and guys playing rec ball at the Lighthouse and still win multiple titles.

Once again, don't buy the local propaganda. The trade was a cheap, awful, panicky, poorly thought out decision that brought down a potential NBA dynasty. I've tried to convince myself otherwise, but the pessimist in my soul won't let it die. In five years, the Harden trade will be the main reason why KD (with Brooklyn), Westbrook (with the Lakers) and Harden (still in Houston) will all be competing for titles while OKC toils in last place. Of course, who cares about all that? The Thunder stayed under the salary cap for a season or two and have Serge Ibaka taking threes. Yay!!!

Okay, sorry about that rant. I think a bad Bill Simmons medium just took over my body like that scene in Almost Famous when Billy Crudup thinks he's a golden god. I need to "breathe in / breathe out" like Daniel in Karate Kid, Part II and calm down.

Anyway, I've searched long and hard on the internet to find a copy of Presti's "All Things Considered" so we can give it a listen, but my quest came up empty like a Scott Brooks' play call out of a timeout. I've checked eBay, Amazon and everywhere else and can't find it. Hopefully someone does that right thing and uploads it YouTube. I need a soundtrack to cry to for when KD leaves in free agency and/or Houston wins the NBA title.