Chances Durant Leaves?

[Bravenewworld]

I would say he has a 85% chance of resigning with Thunder.
And the Wizards might be in a questionable situation by the time he becomes a free agent, and still probably wouldnt be a better team then the Thunder.

BUT, if i were the Thunder i would be doing what the Wizards are doing right now.
So they go out and hire his ex-coach.
Yah, okay, im gonna hire his mom, brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, friends, im gonna pay to have his dog win dog shows. AND, im going to try to get the city of OKC, to have an official holiday called "Durant Day". Then do the same damn thing with Westbrook and Ibaka.

[bondom34]

I would say he has a 85% chance of resigning with Thunder.
And the Wizards might be in a questionable situation by the time he becomes a free agent, and still probably wouldnt be a better team then the Thunder.

BUT, if i were the Thunder i would be doing what the Wizards are doing right now.
So they go out and hire his ex-coach.
Yah, okay, im gonna hire his mom, brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, friends, im gonna pay to have his dog win dog shows. AND, im going to try to get the city of OKC, to have an official holiday called "Durant Day". Then do the same damn thing with Westbrook and Ibaka.

How can't his dog win?

[instagram]http://instagram.com/p/W8Iat6TSlE/[/instagram]

[kd 35]

I would say he has a 85% chance of resigning with Thunder.
And the Wizards might be in a questionable situation by the time he becomes a free agent, and still probably wouldnt be a better team then the Thunder.

BUT, if i were the Thunder i would be doing what the Wizards are doing right now.
So they go out and hire his ex-coach.
Yah, okay, im gonna hire his mom, brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, friends, im gonna pay to have his dog win dog shows. AND, im going to try to get the city of OKC, to have an official holiday called "Durant Day". Then do the same damn thing with Westbrook and Ibaka.

How can't his dog win?

[instagram]http://instagram.com/p/W8Iat6TSlE/[/instagram]

That's an awesome dog!

[Bravenewworld]

That dog looks like its head would cause it to tip over the wrong way.

Wheres the center of gravity on that puppy?!?!

[ThunderCeltic]

If the Thunder don't win a title in the next two seasons, he'll be taking his talents to D.C. to play for the Bullets. (I refuse to call them by their proper name).

[Bravenewworld]

If the Thunder don't win a title in the next two seasons, he'll be taking his talents to D.C. to play for the Bullets. (I refuse to call them by their proper name).

I dont think a title has anything to do with it.
Simple fact is, the Wizards wont be a better team. By the time he is going to be a FA, Nene will probably be completely done. They will have lost one of their solid guards. And they wouldnt have cap to anything but sign KD. So you end up with a situation where its KD, Wall or Beal and then maybe one of the okay bigs.
The only advantage to doing that would be, being in the East, which again, in two years the land scape of the East should be very different. Therea re stacked teams in the east right now that are quickly developing.

BTW, i am issuing you a 500 dollar ticket for thinking you can be a KU fan and Dallas Cowboys fan. This will need to be paid by next month.
Send the money to RealKUFanshatethecowboys.com.

[theboomking]

If the Thunder don't win a title in the next two seasons, he'll be taking his talents to D.C. to play for the Bullets. (I refuse to call them by their proper name).

I dont think a title has anything to do with it.
Simple fact is, the Wizards wont be a better team. By the time he is going to be a FA, Nene will probably be completely done. They will have lost one of their solid guards. And they wouldnt have cap to anything but sign KD. So you end up with a situation where its KD, Wall or Beal and then maybe one of the okay bigs.
The only advantage to doing that would be, being in the East, which again, in two years the land scape of the East should be very different. Therea re stacked teams in the east right now that are quickly developing.

BTW, i am issuing you a 500 dollar ticket for thinking you can be a KU fan and Dallas Cowboys fan. This will need to be paid by next month.
Send the money to RealKUFanshatethecowboys.com.

Wizards fan here. I think KD stays in OKC, but the above isn't true. We wouldn't have to resign Beal before signing KD and Beal's cap hold is going to be about 11.5 million, or 1.5 times his salary. I ran the numbers in another forum and We will have room for Beal, Wall, KD, Gortat and Porter, and likely Blair, but not for anything else of substance unless the cap increases a lot.

The truth is that Westbrook is better than Wall and Ibaka is at least as good as Beal. The rest of the OKC roster is probably going to be deeper and more talented than that of the Wizards. Presti is also clearly a better GM than Grunfeld. I agree with the above posters that if KD comes to DC it is because he wants to return to the area, not because it increases his chance of winning.

That being said, if I were KD I would be pissed about letting Harden go for monetary reasons and there has to be some consideration given to what is going to happen the year after KD is a free agent, when both Westbrook and Ibaka are due new contracts.

Regarding whether KD leaves if OKC wins a championship, there is no way KD can leave if OKC wins the championship the year KD is due to become a free agent. He has to come back to defend the title doesn't he?

[bondom34]

If the Thunder don't win a title in the next two seasons, he'll be taking his talents to D.C. to play for the Bullets. (I refuse to call them by their proper name).

I dont think a title has anything to do with it.
Simple fact is, the Wizards wont be a better team. By the time he is going to be a FA, Nene will probably be completely done. They will have lost one of their solid guards. And they wouldnt have cap to anything but sign KD. So you end up with a situation where its KD, Wall or Beal and then maybe one of the okay bigs.
The only advantage to doing that would be, being in the East, which again, in two years the land scape of the East should be very different. Therea re stacked teams in the east right now that are quickly developing.

BTW, i am issuing you a 500 dollar ticket for thinking you can be a KU fan and Dallas Cowboys fan. This will need to be paid by next month.
Send the money to RealKUFanshatethecowboys.com.

Wizards fan here. I think KD stays in OKC, but the above isn't true. We wouldn't have to resign Beal before signing KD and Beal's cap hold is going to be about 11.5 million, or 1.5 times his salary. I ran the numbers in another forum and We will have room for Beal, Wall, KD, Gortat and Porter, and likely Blair, but not for anything else of substance unless the cap increases a lot.

The truth is that Westbrook is better than Wall and Ibaka is at least as good as Beal. The rest of the OKC roster is probably going to be deeper and more talented than that of the Wizards. Presti is also clearly a better GM than Grunfeld. I agree with the above posters that if KD comes to DC it is because he wants to return to the area, not because it increases his chance of winning.

That being said, if I were KD I would be pissed about letting Harden go for monetary reasons and there has to be some consideration given to what is going to happen the year after KD is a free agent, when both Westbrook and Ibaka are due new contracts.

Regarding whether KD leaves if OKC wins a championship, there is no way KD can leave if OKC wins the championship the year KD is due to become a free agent. He has to come back to defend the title doesn't he?

Hey, welcome to the board. Yeah, I knew they'd have cap space actually, but meh, most teams will. There's likely to only be a few teams w/o the ability to give him a max type deal as a lot of teams have planned for that summer. I also pretty much agree with the analysis, except the Harden part. Though it does seem Harden's changed a bit and become kind of a jerk, there are a lot of stories out there of poor behavior when he was in OKC. KD's friends with him, but he'd apparently been known to party before games, and also may or may not have tried to get with Ibaka's girlfriend. I also think Harden wanted his own team and to be "the man". I don't know if that comes into his decision, and as well, I don't think that he looks at Ibaka and Russ needing extensions either (heck if you wanna do that, he may look at Wall's next extension as well). It's OKC or Washington, but I hate this conversation TBH, it's 2 years off and I'm tired of it already.

[Bravenewworld]

Wizards fan here. I think KD stays in OKC, but the above isn't true. We wouldn't have to resign Beal before signing KD and Beal's cap hold is going to be about 11.5 million, or 1.5 times his salary. I ran the numbers in another forum and We will have room for Beal, Wall, KD, Gortat and Porter, and likely Blair, but not for anything else of substance unless the cap increases a lot.

You're right, for some reason i was thinking Beal was up for extension this next off season.

The truth is that Westbrook is better than Wall and Ibaka is at least as good as Beal. The rest of the OKC roster is probably going to be deeper and more talented than that of the Wizards. Presti is also clearly a better GM than Grunfeld. I agree with the above posters that if KD comes to DC it is because he wants to return to the area, not because it increases his chance of winning.

I wouldnt necessarily say Westbrook is a better point than Wall. For his style, he cannot be beat. But the two are very different. Like.... Wall seems to be a very high IQ point and he reminds me of a higher producing but younger Billups and it also seems like that Billups leadership is slowly coming to him. Which for CB it took like 6 or 7 years for him to get there.
I really like John Wall, it would be fantastic if we could put him as our point with RWB as our 2.

That being said, if I were KD I would be pissed about letting Harden go for monetary reasons and there has to be some consideration given to what is going to happen the year after KD is a free agent, when both Westbrook and Ibaka are due new contracts.

But those monetary reasons were legit, and legit for KD too. You gotta remember that what Harden ended up asking for, would have been a higher contract then what KD had. And this is why i really dislike some aspects of the new CBA. Its also worth noting that Steven Adam's looks like he is our center answer, which is more valuable then what Harden was doing for the team AND, Jackson has done a great job of taking that Harden role.

Im actually very curious what Presti has up his sleeve. Because we have what? like 9 mill in exemption, our amnesty (which im not sure if this could be transferred or how it could be used in a three way trade. but i think it could be) plus some solid trade assets.

Lastly, im to the point where i think the Wizards have the chance to win the East this next year. The loss of Ariza sucks for defensive reasons, but picking up PP was a great move. And so far, even with Love on the Cavs, the Wizards have a big man advantage that they could not deal with.
Im not 100% on that one though, im switching between the Wizards and the Bobcats/Hornets in the ECFs with Pacers or Cavs.
I leave the Bulls out because i refuse to put them in any category until i actually see Rose healthy until the play offs start.

[theboomking]

I wouldnt necessarily say Westbrook is a better point than Wall. For his style, he cannot be beat. But the two are very different. Like.... Wall seems to be a very high IQ point and he reminds me of a higher producing but younger Billups and it also seems like that Billups leadership is slowly coming to him. Which for CB it took like 6 or 7 years for him to get there.
I really like John Wall, it would be fantastic if we could put him as our point with RWB as our 2

That would be nasty, especially with a 3 that can shoot like Durant and a rim protector like Ibaka that can also space the floor.

Its also worth noting that Steven Adam's looks like he is our center answer, which is more valuable then what Harden was doing for the team AND, Jackson has done a great job of taking that Harden role.

I didn't get to watch OKC enough this year to get a good look at Adams, but I am glad to hear he is panning out. He is an interesting story being one of so many siblings, and it would be a shame if OKC was held back because of a lack of a center. Especially with centers having changed hands recently for relatively little return in Gortat and Asik. It would be frustrating to lose Harden and still have the, "what if we could have just moved Harden for a center" feeling. In the West, my main rooting interest has been wanting the LAC to lose, and wanting a team to reach the finals that matched up well against the Heat.

[Bravenewworld]

t would be frustrating to lose Harden and still have the, "what if we could have just moved Harden for a center" feeling. In the West, my main rooting interest has been wanting the LAC to lose, and wanting a team to reach the finals that matched up well against the Heat.

1. Nah i dont think so. Given Reggie Jackson has done a fantastic job of supplementing what Harden did anyway. I would be more than happy to say we traded Harden for what, IMO, will eventually be a top 5 center. The dude's bad. His understanding of the fundamentals of his position, for a rookie, was something ive never seen and a reminder of the centers of the 80s but far more versatile and quick. Bondom and i had a little conversation about the man a few threads ago, that also included some highlight video's. You should check it out, it was the "Tibor Pleess to OKC "(sp?) thread. Talent wise he is not the most impressive, probably right above average. But his fundamentals, IQ, understanding of the game, etc. really seem to make up for that and he's going to do nothing but improve.

2. I think any Western team would have taken out the Heat this year. Every seed, 1-8 would have been able to do it. Especially those goddamn Memphis Grizzlies, man i hope we dont have to deal with them in next years play offs. I worry less about the Spurs than the Grizzlies.

[bondom34]

One random point to the PG debate....Wall and Russ's assist and TO rates are literally nearly identical. The only difference is Russ shoots (slightly) more, but is also a better shooter (slightly). I see Wall as Westbrook "lite", really like his game.

http://bkref.com/tiny/xheIq

[Kizz Fastfists]

Im actually very curious what Presti has up his sleeve. Because we have what? like 9 mill in exemption, our amnesty (which im not sure if this could be transferred or how it could be used in a three way trade. but i think it could be) plus some solid trade assets.

The only thing the amnesty can be used for at this point would be to amnesty KD in the first week of next year's FA period. So The Thunder will not be using it. What $9M exception are you talking about? They have a $4M trade exception from Thabo leaving. The $6M exception from Kevin Martin expired.

OKC is not going to make any big trades. They are not going to trade Westbrook, KD or Ibaka. Perkins is not going to be traded for some all-star caliber player, because the asset cost would start with at least two and possibly three of Reggie, Lamb, PJ3 and Adams. The only order of business left for Presti this off-season is to extend Reggie to a reasonable contract in the $8M/yr range. If that can be done then it is time to just hope for a healthy team and that Lamb and PJ3 can take the steps forward needed. Also hope that if Roberson is the starting SG that he somehow found an offensive game. Hope that McGary is as good as he looked in Summer League when the real games start.

Next year Thabeet will be gone. Perkins will either be on a league minimum contract or gone. Collison will either retire or be on a league minimum contract. Pleiss will be over as a new big man. Everything else will pretty much be the same. Two guys out, Thabeet and Collison, along with possibly Roberson and Perkins. Huestis will probably be on an NBA contract. They might draft a rookie or they could go with another European since Pleiss will be coming over. They won't have the cap room for anything fancy and I'm not sure they will use the MLE next off-season if they keep Reggie. If Reggie does get a RFA offer they can not match, which I do not think will happen, they will have to evaluate if they have someone to take over the backup PG position, Semaj Christon?, drafted someone who can fill it, or need to use the MLE on a backup PG. Very little chance of something as exciting as pursuing Pau was this year, unless the other Gasol brother starts thinking he'd like to play in OKC for the MLE. If that happens we could have something crazy go down next off-season.

[Bravenewworld]

Im actually very curious what Presti has up his sleeve. Because we have what? like 9 mill in exemption, our amnesty (which im not sure if this could be transferred or how it could be used in a three way trade. but i think it could be) plus some solid trade assets.

The only thing the amnesty can be used for at this point would be to amnesty KD in the first week of next year's FA period. So The Thunder will not be using it. What $9M exception are you talking about? They have a $4M trade exception from Thabo leaving. The $6M exception from Kevin Martin expired.

OKC is not going to make any big trades. They are not going to trade Westbrook, KD or Ibaka. Perkins is not going to be traded for some all-star caliber player, because the asset cost would start with at least two and possibly three of Reggie, Lamb, PJ3 and Adams. The only order of business left for Presti this off-season is to extend Reggie to a reasonable contract in the $8M/yr range. If that can be done then it is time to just hope for a healthy team and that Lamb and PJ3 can take the steps forward needed. Also hope that if Roberson is the starting SG that he somehow found an offensive game. Hope that McGary is as good as he looked in Summer League when the real games start.

Next year Thabeet will be gone. Perkins will either be on a league minimum contract or gone. Collison will either retire or be on a league minimum contract. Pleiss will be over as a new big man. Everything else will pretty much be the same. Two guys out, Thabeet and Collison, along with possibly Roberson and Perkins. Huestis will probably be on an NBA contract. They might draft a rookie or they could go with another European since Pleiss will be coming over. They won't have the cap room for anything fancy and I'm not sure they will use the MLE next off-season if they keep Reggie. If Reggie does get a RFA offer they can not match, which I do not think will happen, they will have to evaluate if they have someone to take over the backup PG position, Semaj Christon?, drafted someone who can fill it, or need to use the MLE on a backup PG. Very little chance of something as exciting as pursuing Pau was this year, unless the other Gasol brother starts thinking he'd like to play in OKC for the MLE. If that happens we could have something crazy go down next off-season.

Well you just answered the 10 million in exemption.
Lambs gone, there's a good chance PJ3 is gone if he does not clean his **** up this season.
Perkins i think will sign for a vets min. and be a 3rd string. Or, 2-3 mill, but they will keep him because of how much KD looks up to him.
Collison is going to be the same thing. Except i could actually see them asking Collison to instead of continuing to play, be part of the coaching staff. Again though, this is a guy they want to keep to show KD that they treat their lifer's the way any team should.

The point is we still have Lamb we can trade away. PJ3 im sure still holds value in trades. We have exemptions we can use. I was simply wondering if we could use our amnesty in a three way to get a team a player at a cheaper cost, get what im saying? Im not really versed in the rules of amnesty. Either way, we have enough to trade for a player of real value, suggesting we can only afford an MLE or so, is simply not true. Its also something that is going to have to be done if we really want to lock in our chances of winning a title.

[Kizz Fastfists]

You do realize that Lamb put up the exact same per minute numbers, FG% and 3pt% in his 2nd season that James Harden did, right? I guess they could give him away before seeing if he takes the same year 3 jump Harden took, because apparently some people feel he is fully developed after one full NBA season at age 22. Harden, for comparison, was 22 as a rookie and 23 his second season.

PJ3 shot 36% from 3 last year. I think he has some value, but the issue is his position. Is he a SF, PF, can he play both, can he defend SG these and other questions are still pending. He should get more playing, as should Lamb, with Thabo and Fisher gone. The best 3 point shooters the Thunder have are 1) Morrow 2) KD 3) Lamb 4) Ibaka 5) PJ3 6) Reggie and no one else should be shooting them at any volume. Any of them could drop 40% from 3 this year and it wouldn't be surprising. Lamb shot over 40% in three months last year. November, December and April. Three months is also the number of months KD shot over 40% from 3. Only Ibaka returns with 4 months of 40% 3point shooting last year, but he shot less then 1 a game, but if he increases the volume he could become an even more dangerous offensive player. Morrow is a show off and only failed to shot 40% from 3 one month last season, where he slacked off at 38%.

The amnesty can not be traded. It can not be used on a contract that you trade for. It can only be used during the first week of FA on players signed BEFORE the current CBA went into effect. There were 7 players eligible for amnesty this off-season and three of them were on the Thunder. The window for using it this year is gone. Only Kevin Durant will be eligible for it on the Thunder next year. Collison is 33, coming off knee surgery, and is clearly declining. He will retire after this season and either be on a bench, coaching, or in a front office next year. Perkins could also find himself coaching next year over playing. Perkins has never been the same since he tore his knee ligaments and while he isn't 30 yet, he has declined physically. He could be a league minimum 3rd center, but I think his pride would rather coach then be the 3rd center on a team.

The team is over the salary cap. It will be over the salary cap next off-season. That means they can only offer FAs the MLE. Yes, they can trade contract value for contract value. However, giving up Perkins, Adams, Reggie and Lamb for a max contract player is not going to happen. After they signed replacement players, for the league minimum or a maximum of $2M since they used most of the MLE on Morrow, they would be over the luxury tax and would it would cost the team a conservative estimate of $20M between the tax bill and lost revenue. The loss of a backup PG, their top two centers, and best SG would be worse then adding any single player. Telfair, Roberson and Thabeet playing significant minutes every night would offset any gains from the player added. Go read up on the CBA, cbafaq.com will get you taken care off, then you will understand the restrictions they are under to improve the team. Also, if they would have used the amnesty on Perkins it would not have allowed them to spend any more money this off-season so they couldn't have just amnestied him and added another $9M player.

[THA6]

Brooks needs to stop playing Durant heavy minutes in the regular season. Regular season should be used to develop our young guys like Lamb, and Perry Jones. Playing our star players heavy minutes got us in second place, and who did we play in the first round? The grizzles! In the west you don't really get rewarded for being a top team. Whoever you play is going to put up a fight.

That is why i think it is more important to give our young guys some burn. We can't play 3 on 5 and win a championship. Look at all the teams that have won a championship in the last decade. They got contribution out of every single guy that played. Good thing Sefolosha is gone, that guy did nothing for us last season. Perkins is another guy that does nothing. I really don't want to see him on the court at all this season. It just puts more pressure on our star guys to do more.

Durant has logged more minutes than any player in the last 5 seasons, think about it. LBJ been to the finals 4 times and yet Durant has still played more minutes. Scott Brooks is one of the worst coaches in the league, i still can't figure out how he still has the coaching gig. He cant design a offense, can't manage minutes. We been getting away with playing iso ball for so many years, because we have two of the best players in the league, but Iso ball only gets you so far. Hopefully we can implement some plays into our offense this year.

[Kizz Fastfists]

Scott Brooks is one of the worst coaches in the league, i still can't figure out how he still has the coaching gig. He cant design a offense, can't manage minutes. We been getting away with playing iso ball for so many years, because we have two of the best players in the league, but Iso ball only gets you so far. Hopefully we can implement some plays into our offense this year.

The best play in the entire NBA, based on points per possession, is the KD iso. A strong argument could be made that the fact that OKC runs the best play in the NBA so much is a testament how brilliant an offensive coach Brooks is. I think it is just that Brooks knows the numbers and doesn't see any reason to fix what isn't broken. OKC was 5th in PPG and 7th in offensive efficiency with their 2nd best player missing half the season while starting two players who offered nothing on offense. In 2012-2013 they were 3rd in PGG and 2nd in offensive efficiency with only the iso heavy Heat being more efficient. You can't put up those numbers with a bad offense. So while the "system" might not look as pretty as the Spurs it is more effective. Efficiency numbers in 2012-2013 for OKC was 110.2 with the Spurs at 105.9 and last year the Thunder were at 108.1 with the Spurs at 108.2. So if you take Russ away from the Thunder in their current offense they are only as efficient as the Spurs instead of much more so at full strength.

There are a lot of things I would nitpick on with Brook's coaching, but running a KD iso would never make that list. How many players in the NBA do you trust more with the ball in their hands than KD? Less than 3? Do any of them play for OKC? I don't care for his rotations a lot of the time. I don't like his obsession with starting multiple all D no O players like Thabo and Perkins. I can't argue with him playing KD as much as he did last year, because Russ was out for half the season. There were a few games down the stretch where I thought he could have given KD a night off or at least more rest, but he was trying to get the #1 seed until the final week of the season so I understand it. He couldn't have predicted that OKC would play more OT games in the post-season than any other team in history. I also don't even think KD realized how much he needed to rest and if Brooks would have asked him if he wanted/needed a night off he would have said no. It took him through half the summer of playing USA ball to realize he was playing a bit slower and the end of games because of the years of non-stop playing with no rest.

I think the rest issue was as much about KD needing to mature as a player as it was any shortcoming on Brooks' end. Now that KD has admitted publicly that he does need rest from time to time it gives Brooks the ability to go to KD and tell him that he is getting a game off. If KD argues Brooks can tell him that he knows he needs to stay fresh and he use KD's own words against him. By him being able to do that with KD he can also do that with Ibaka, Russ and anyone else that needs an extra day off or two down the stretch. This is a YOUNG team with some big egos and they all seem to love Brooks. So now as they mature and begin to understand why the Spurs give their players so many days off, etc Brooks can begin to do that with his younger players without feeling like he arguing with a 3 year old when he wants them to do something they don't want, because they are starting to see the bigger picture. The Thunder only have one player 30+ on their roster so they are a very young team and are going through expected growing pains and unexpected injuries.

[bondom34]

Also, to add to the iso thing, they're a top iso team in the league in general, not just KD. League average PPP is .84 on isos, OKC is at .95. Here's the entire league and split by play type:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... =617755955

The weak spot is on hand offs, off ball screens, and in transition.

[THA6]

Scott Brooks is one of the worst coaches in the league, i still can't figure out how he still has the coaching gig. He cant design a offense, can't manage minutes. We been getting away with playing iso ball for so many years, because we have two of the best players in the league, but Iso ball only gets you so far. Hopefully we can implement some plays into our offense this year.

The best play in the entire NBA, based on points per possession, is the KD iso. A strong argument could be made that the fact that OKC runs the best play in the NBA so much is a testament how brilliant an offensive coach Brooks is. I think it is just that Brooks knows the numbers and doesn't see any reason to fix what isn't broken. OKC was 5th in PPG and 7th in offensive efficiency with their 2nd best player missing half the season while starting two players who offered nothing on offense. In 2012-2013 they were 3rd in PGG and 2nd in offensive efficiency with only the iso heavy Heat being more efficient. You can't put up those numbers with a bad offense. So while the "system" might not look as pretty as the Spurs it is more effective. Efficiency numbers in 2012-2013 for OKC was 110.2 with the Spurs at 105.9 and last year the Thunder were at 108.1 with the Spurs at 108.2. So if you take Russ away from the Thunder in their current offense they are only as efficient as the Spurs instead of much more so at full strength.

There are a lot of things I would nitpick on with Brook's coaching, but running a KD iso would never make that list. How many players in the NBA do you trust more with the ball in their hands than KD? Less than 3? Do any of them play for OKC? I don't care for his rotations a lot of the time. I don't like his obsession with starting multiple all D no O players like Thabo and Perkins. I can't argue with him playing KD as much as he did last year, because Russ was out for half the season. There were a few games down the stretch where I thought he could have given KD a night off or at least more rest, but he was trying to get the #1 seed until the final week of the season so I understand it. He couldn't have predicted that OKC would play more OT games in the post-season than any other team in history. I also don't even think KD realized how much he needed to rest and if Brooks would have asked him if he wanted/needed a night off he would have said no. It took him through half the summer of playing USA ball to realize he was playing a bit slower and the end of games because of the years of non-stop playing with no rest.

I think the rest issue was as much about KD needing to mature as a player as it was any shortcoming on Brooks' end. Now that KD has admitted publicly that he does need rest from time to time it gives Brooks the ability to go to KD and tell him that he is getting a game off. If KD argues Brooks can tell him that he knows he needs to stay fresh and he use KD's own words against him. By him being able to do that with KD he can also do that with Ibaka, Russ and anyone else that needs an extra day off or two down the stretch. This is a YOUNG team with some big egos and they all seem to love Brooks. So now as they mature and begin to understand why the Spurs give their players so many days off, etc Brooks can begin to do that with his younger players without feeling like he arguing with a 3 year old when he wants them to do something they don't want, because they are starting to see the bigger picture. The Thunder only have one player 30+ on their roster so they are a very young team and are going through expected growing pains and unexpected injuries.

As effective as you say it is, it hasn't really gotten us over the top. I never said the KD Iso isn't effective. I said we cannot be playing 3 on 5. We can run ISO with KD, that's fine. But what about other guys? Not everyone can play iso ball. We need ball movement on offense to get guys like Lamb, Jones, and the rest of the shooters open looks. Brooks has failed to do that. KD & Westbrook can put up 30 every night, but it's been proven to not be enough. We need these other guys to step up. Look how Miami moved the ball, and got open looks for guys like Chalmers, Allen, Miller, etc. That is one of the reason we had a really hard time beating the Heat. If you want to limit great team defenses, you have got to move the ball.

[bondom34]

The reason it was 3 on 5 on offense wasn't Brooks, it was the fact that Thabo and Perk can't score. So really, if you wanna blame someone on that, it's Presti. You're saying Miami gave the ball to those guys, but they all have the same thing in common, they can score when they get the ball. Thabo's shot died last season, and Perk's just not an offensive weapon. With Adams there, its a little different but it's not what they run through. It's not on Brooks entirely, its largely on players.