Billy Donovan...

[Thundestruck]

End of the day, it is a risk. Every decision they make there is a risk. Inaction is also a risk. Keeping Brooks was a risk. If your answer is to not take risk then Russ wouldn't be on our team. Heck the Thunder wouldn't be in OKC.

[Thunderhead]

Yes he traded for Waiters. He also traded for Steve Novak. Do you think that means he wanted to Steve Novak to play over Kanter? Of course not. It was on Brooks to put together a proper rotation.

Saying Brooks didn't have a floor spacer is flat out wrong. He had one of the best in the whole league. He chose to play the anti-floor spacer over him.

Come on man, Novak was only in the deal to balance salaries, Waiters was only player involved. Presti went for Waiters, period.

And I really doubt Presti brings him in, to play a small role. In fact, if you want to speculate, I think they brought him here because they thought they could develop him into the player he was projected to be.

No Brooks has not had ample 3P shooters, and this past season was terrible, they were sub 30 percent.

[Thundestruck]

Of course he brought in Waiters to have a role. Every player on the roster is brought in to have a role. It is on Brooks to put those guys in the correct role. Roberson has a role. Parking him in the corner on offense is not the correct role.

[Thunderhead]

End of the day, it is a risk. Every decision they make there is a risk. Inaction is also a risk. Keeping Brooks was a risk. If your answer is to not take risk then Russ wouldn't be on our team. Heck the Thunder wouldn't be in OKC.

If Brooks risk was XnO's, there were other ways to deal with that, there's gotta be ample number of NBA assts who can draw up plays. That's not a skill that goes begging. In fact, Williams with the Pels, has turned that over to an assistant.

But what you can not readily find, is the leader. The guy who can manage people. The guy the players will run through walls for. Those guys are hard to replace.

The only way I can justify what Presti has done, is if the team got too comfortable. If there was a comfort level, with no urgency. That an edge no longer existed. I can see that very much being a problem in Norman with Bob Stoops, he has no fear of failure. If that existed, and I saw no signs of it from Brooks, then ya gotta shuffle the deck to shake things up.

But that has nothing to do with offense, or defense, or any XnO's ..... its " people " things.

There's a lot of nerds who can sit around and draw up plays.

[bondom34]

I think that WAS a part of the issue, there wasn't really accountability.

[Thunderhead]

Of course he brought in Waiters to have a role. Every player on the roster is brought in to have a role. It is on Brooks to put those guys in the correct role. Roberson has a role. Parking him in the corner on offense is not the correct role.

No, no, no ....... Presti signed off on the defensive SG, when he drafted Thabo's clone in Roberson.

And Presti traded for Thabo.

That was every bit Presti telling Brooks who he will play. The idea there, is that you need someone to defend the opposing teams best offensive wing player, to save KD from that role, and keep him out of foul trouble.

When PJ was coaching, KD played the two. The problem with that , and this is straight from KD after the fact, is that KD had to guard SG, and he had to run through screens. And to solve that, Presti traded for Thabo.

And he continued that concept, when he drafted Roberson, and probably Josh Huestes too.

That's not on Brooks, Brooks is playing who Presti sends him , in the role Presti wanted them played.

There is proof of that, in Prestis player moves.

[Thunderhead]

I think that WAS a part of the issue, there wasn't really accountability.

But with the cluste of the season, we just witnessed ............how can anyone tell that ?

This thing was doomed from training camp, if morale was down, if malaise set in .... there was ample reason for that.

[bondom34]

I think that WAS a part of the issue, there wasn't really accountability.

But with the cluste of the season, we just witnessed ............how can anyone tell that ?

This thing was doomed from training camp, if morale was down, if malaise set in .... there was ample reason for that.

That's part of the job too, and you know I was a Brooks supporter and still am, but its very possible and even probable after 7 years that his voice didn't have the same authority it once did. I know you don't believe Royce but he wrote that it was an issue, and I wouldn't doubt that some of the vets (Russ, KD, Serge even) could use a new voice to maybe keep them in line a little more, as good as they are they're still young. Ultimately Presti's decisions have been good when he's had them planned this far in advance, and it seems this one was.

[Thundestruck]

Yes Presti drafted Roberson. That does mean you park one of the worst shooters in the corner and be done with it. That is on Brooks. How about some cuts for Roberson. Something where at some point the opposing defense has to at least pretend he is on the floor.

So what is exactly Brooks' role in the team in your opinion? You argue rotation, roles, and playing times were Presti's decisions. You also say if Brooks was deficient in Xs and Os you hire a great assistant to do that. At that point what is the role for Brooks? Yell go team. Tell the guys to play hard in the huddle.

[Podirk]

This move makes me think, that Aubrey McClendon is heavily influencing the ownership group. It would be really interesting to sit in on an owners meeting. This has McClendon written all over it.

Cause this exactly the kind of risk McClendon took, that ended up with him losing his company. They guy was not happy making 25 , 30, or 40 million per year, he leveraged all of his Chesapeake stock and when the market crashed in 2008 , he lost his position in the company and almost lost everything he had.

Pretty soon, guys like Carl Icahn stepped in, became major stockholders, demanded changes in the company, and fired the guy who founded and built the company, McClendon ............because McClendon was addicted to taking risk.

So tell me, bout how these smart guys never make mistakes. It happens every day in the business world.

McClendon retired from the company just over 2 years ago..so that 2008/9 crash had little to nothing to do with it.
Aubrey pushed the line, toed the line and crossed the line on numerous occasions. Risk is too tame a word for how AC functioned.

This has little to no McClendon wrote on it.

With hindsight you can see the writing on the wall for Brooks this summer.
The hiring of Donovan associates.
The wise route of giving KD a year with a new coach, opposed to going through negotiations with KD and a coach at the same time.

These following two statements are both totally true while hard to comprehend together.
Scott Brooks did nothing to deserve to be fired.
Thunder some new life pumped into it's structure.

[Podirk]

Waiters shot 42% from 3 on 4 attempts per game the last 2 and a half weeks.

Ever since he had that sit down with Brooks.

Exactly. Waiters was more brought in for the future.

They saw the chance to grab a top 5 pick that has had little development from his team who they only had to give up a late 1st rnd pic for.

Hopefully Waiters can continue to improve with Donovan like he was with Brooks.

[Zack M]

GOATbrook and KD wont put up God like stats anymore

[HeartSouloma]

So does Donovan know his x's n o's? And who will be our assistant coaches?

[Hogified05]

So does Donovan know his x's n o's? And who will be our assistant coaches?

Oh hell yea he does. Going make it a lot easier on KD and RW. They don't have to go iso as much, of course they still will but Billy D is going have that ball moving. Going be a lot of picks being set. His offense provides structure while giving the players freedom. It's a great balance, all the Gators who play for him raved about it.

Plus I feel he has one of the best coach demeanor I have ever seen. I think a team feeds off the coach's demeanor. He is firm and respected but he doesn't jump down anyone's throat. Even kill. It was a pleasure having him as a coach. It's going be impossible to like any coach UF hires more then him.

[spearsy23]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvklb1uEfnA[/youtube]
The highlights show a pretty similar concept to Brooks, the exception being that there is a bit more backside action and the opportunities are spread around. Backside action is good, but it will be interesting to see what happens with Morrow and Roberson. Neither should be P & R ballhandlers, also the shorter shot clock means you can't just keep looping the play, I'd GUESS that it will be a lot of Russ in the p&r with Kanter while KD comes off a down screen from Robes, if nothing is there for Russ KD gets the ball while Robes fills the corner, Ibaka/KD P&P and if nothing opens up spread the floor for iso.

[QPR]

Hey, the problem with taking this risk, is that the potential gain is small , in comparison to the amount of risk assumed. Its like an investment, where you stand to make very little profit, for high risk. In investing, the amount of risk you take should be commensurate with the amount of possible return.

Offense will be the least of BD's challenge, keeping team chemistry at the level Brooks did, will be Job One.

Spacing ??? When Presti sends Brooks the players he's had to work with , did you not see a SG who is defensive specialist ? Did you not see an untradeable contract given to an center who had the worst offensive game in the NBA ??? Where has all the floor spacers been ? DCook ? DFish ? Presti finally, this past season brings in a 3P guy.

And btw, when Brooks had his best offensive team, he had Kevin Martin to space the floor, and Harden before that.

Well the potential gain is a title. Obviously Presti didn't think the team was going to get there under Scotty, fair or unfair. So in that sense I don't agree that the potential gain is small. I agree it is a risk but again I don't believe it's a decision that's been taken quickly or lightly.

Donovan has had no issues at all with player buy in, but it will be a massive difference between getting college players to buy in and getting pros to buy in. Whether he can do this effectively remains to be seen and will easily present his biggest challenge. If he gets through to Durant and Westbrook then everyone else will fall into place, but if he doesn't then the whole franchise could blow up.

One of Donovan's biggest strengths at Florida was adapting his offensive systems to the types of players he had recruited. I'm not sure that was something Brooks was able to do this season just gone (granted with injuries), and often ended up in Westbrook doing what he liked. There was very little accountability.

[Thunderhead]

JVG just gave Scott Brooks a big endorsement ........... he does not understand why Brooks was fired also. Has the same questions I do. Presti just give us a bunch of mumbo jumbo.

[QPR]

Well Presti isn't going to flat out say "I don't think we can win a title under Scott", is he? He's got to be diplomatic about it in the media.

[Thunderhead]

Well Presti isn't going to flat out say "I don't think we can win a title under Scott", is he? He's got to be diplomatic about it in the media.

or he can't say " I really want to work with my buddy Billy " .

[KD35Brah]

Well Presti isn't going to flat out say "I don't think we can win a title under Scott", is he? He's got to be diplomatic about it in the media.

or he can't say " I really want to work with my buddy Billy " .

Dude is that honestly what you think?

Presti has wanted him gone since the 2012 season(you know, the year they went to the Finals) for Brad Stevens, the only reason he was brought back was because KD and Russ intervened.

Why do you keep acting like Presti chose to hire his best friend without thinking of KD's future and his own job?

This wasn't a rushed hire, Presti did his homework.