OKC Thunder Podcast: Loud Noises - episode 8; preparing for The Kobe Retirement Tour

The Oklahoma City Thunder now own the longest winning streak in the NBA, having taken care of business in five straight games. With impressive wins against Memphis and Atlanta this week, to go along with two hard-fought wins against the Jazz, the Thunder seems to have tapped into a new style of basketball that should serve them well going forward.

This coming week, after a nationally televised game against Lebron James and the Cavs, the Kobe Bryant Retirement Tour comes to Oklahoma City. Drew Garrison, of SB Naton's Silver Screen and Roll (The Lakers blog), came on to talk all about that visit and more.

As a Kobe Hater, I was ready to have a contentious conversation, but Drew was surprisingly realistic about all of it. We talked about Kobe's role this season, and how he has shifted from a delusional shot-chucker to team leader hoping to develop young guys. He then explained how much Lakers fans love Russell Westbrook, which was a pleasant surprise, but also ruined my plan to stir things up by implying Westbrook's first eight seasons have been on par with Kobe's first eight seasons.

We covered plenty more, from Westbrook's new home in LA, to Scott Brooks' unemployment, to Dion Waiters as a key to success. He even was willing to take Kyle Singler off of our hands!

As always, you can subscribe to the Loud Noises Podcast on iTunes and, if you like it, please leave us a review telling us so.