Dr Spaceman wrote:bondom34 wrote:The High Cyde wrote:
Firstly, I appreciate the fast response!
Now: Oh wow, I thought it would be some type of chemistry issue, but it seems even deeper than that. This is a coaching problem, I'm sure you know (at least a huge cause of the dysfunction). BUT - it's still very early in the season, and I think the Thunder are too talented top to bottom to not stable the ship, or it could be that Russ and KD don't entirely trust Donny's system yet. But you're saying everyone is complacent, hmm, how would you go about fixing these problems so far?
I don't even know for a lot of it, I think they're F'd. Donovan wants to do something and they don't have the time to piss around and do it without literally just practicing for weeks straight. But the rotations are easier, stop playing Singler, play Morrow, much less Waiters, put McGary in (hasn't played at all this year) and if DJ keeps sucking give Payne some burn and see what he can do. At least try it. But the biggest and most glaring is Morrow, there's no reason he should be getting 5 mpg.
Oh, and was just gonna post this on the OKC board but:
[tweet]https://twitter.com/MasonGinsberg/status/662637056007520256[/tweet]
Pshaw, you have a really good feel for the pulse of this team, so if you're freaking out, I need to too.
I was really against the Brooks firing from the start. He was a very good coach IMO. Clearly not elite, but also not in the vein that certain media members made him out to be. Was he a genius top 5 coaching prospect? No. Could he have led you to a title with this roster? Absolutely. His big flaw was lack of creativity, but he did a lot of things very well. I also thought it was a cheap shot that they used the "missed playoffs" thing to can him.
But the past is the past. I have a couple questions: 1. Donovan was considered a good NBA prospect because of his creative pick and roll sets, has there been any change in these plays specifically? Decoys, misdirection, spreading the floor, things like that? 2. Are they at least trying to run some sets? Under Brooks most of the time it was like all the isos were just his play calling.
And more fundamentally: do you think OKC needs a more creative offense in the first place? There's getting guys looks, which is great, but the average fan has jumped completely off the ledge and wants every team to look like the Spurs, and it misses the point of what the Spurs are doing and why that makes them great. OKC has two of the four or five best iso players in the league; IMO, iso SHOULD be a big part of their game plan.
Were ISO the grail.. OKC would have less losses. No question Durant and Westbrook are outstanding. But... what's winning NOW? No accident how well GSW,Spurs, Hawks are doing. There's a degree of "throwback" as Pros adapt to ZONE. Stuff college teams not loaded with stars doid.. even HS teams.. are getting merged into the NBA. A few years back.. my old HS did not have any big time scorer.. but made it to the semi finals by holding good teams to about 30 pt and a low%. We saw Hoosiers.....BALL MOVEMENT.. no chucking. TEAM game. That's now the PRO thing. OKC has as much sheer talent as anyone. What they LACK... is the max advantage of a TEAM that functions as a UNIT. That's about offense and defense. The Cavs... sort of have similar issues. LeBron TRIES but they just have guys who don't well adapt to that TEAM thing. LeBron gets it.. but not all players really adapt well.
With what GSW is doing... coaches are bound to copy. ( GSW and ATL stole from Popavich) Future drafts will focus more on the TEAM guy,the D guy, the guy who may not be a freak athlete but has skills, effort. OKC has guys who ain't adapting to the 2016 game. That will change, but not overnight.
CENSORED... No comment.
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