PG: Utah Jazz (104) vs Oklahoma City Thunder (112)

[Thabo Sefolosha]

UTAH JAZZ at OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
• http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400900368

Watch on YouTube

[oken]

First!

[Pillendreher]

Somebody has got to slap the Christon out of Billy. -42 NetRtG in 17 minutes. -42 !!!!!

**** terrible coaching. Almost cost us this game.

[oken]

Some nice stats about our fellow human handcuffs Roberson.

He ranks nr. 422 among all NBA players in FT% (maybe with only 10 worse guys than him)
For forwards he is just above Dragan Bender and Thomas Robinson.
For the forward position he is among a select 20 or so guys with FG% > FT%
I find similar players stat wise (not necessarily defenders): Willie Reed (MIA, Rookie), Sam Dekker (HOU, Rookie), Terrence Jones (MIL, 2.5mil/year)
So here is a head-to-head with those players:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.fcgi?request=1&sum=1&hint=Sam+Dekker&player_id1_select=Sam+Dekker&player_id1=dekkesa01&hint=Terrence+Jones&player_id2_select=Terrence+Jones&player_id2=joneste01&hint=Willie+Reed&player_id3_select=Willie+Reed&player_id3=reedwi02&hint=Andre+Roberson&player_id4_select=Andre+Roberson&player_id4=roberan03

[spearsy23]

Somebody has got to slap the Christon out of Billy. -42 NetRtG in 17 minutes. -42 !!!!!

**** terrible coaching. Almost cost us this game.

Being at the game a few things stood out and this is one of them. Not that there was any question he sucked, but he legitimately does nothing at an average NBA level. Even athletically he's below average. he made dante exum look like an all-star. When vic came in with the second unit there was no reason to keep semaj in instead of using Doug.

[Pillendreher]

Somebody has got to slap the Christon out of Billy. -42 NetRtG in 17 minutes. -42 !!!!!

**** terrible coaching. Almost cost us this game.

Being at the game a few things stood out and this is one of them. Not that there was any question he sucked, but he legitimately does nothing at an average NBA level. Even athletically he's below average. he made dante exum look like an all-star. When vic came in with the second unit there was no reason to keep semaj in instead of using Doug.

The best thing Christon does on the basketball court is breathing.

We thought Foye sucked. He was a 1st ballot HOF compared to Christon.

[spearsy23]

Things I noticed today:

Alex is tiny. Not like NBA tiny but like I could probably post him up tiny. He is going to be outmuscled by any SF he ever tries to guard. Even singler would give him issues.

Robes's defense is insanely physical. The guy he's guarding has to be bruised all over the next day, and somehow he does it with minimal grabbing and holding. Dude is TOUGH.

Taj really is the key to our season, with him we looked like we'd be perfectly on par with Utah/Houston if healthy, with grant or Domas we looked like they could get an open shot every trip down.

The fourth quarter offense was atrocious and Donovan didn't even bother coaching. His adjustment was going away from action that had scored 90 in 3 quarters and instead isoing Russ IN THE POST. When that didn't work we instead isoed Russ at the top of the key. Nobody else even touched the ball for what felt like a few minutes in a row. It was partially Russ's fault but it felt pretty clear Donovan called for the post touches.

[bondom34]

Somebody has got to slap the Christon out of Billy. -42 NetRtG in 17 minutes. -42 !!!!!

**** terrible coaching. Almost cost us this game.

Being at the game a few things stood out and this is one of them. Not that there was any question he sucked, but he legitimately does nothing at an average NBA level. Even athletically he's below average. he made dante exum look like an all-star. When vic came in with the second unit there was no reason to keep semaj in instead of using Doug.

This is exactly what Brooks does in DC w/ Burke. Just has Beal run backup PG, Oladipo can and should do the same.

[Old Man Game]

Somebody has got to slap the Christon out of Billy. -42 NetRtG in 17 minutes. -42 !!!!!

**** terrible coaching. Almost cost us this game.

If there's one thing I think we can say about Bill doh in the year plus he's been here, he's slow to abandon a guy who is giving effort, regardless of the results. Pretty much a college basketball mentality. A sucker for hustle.

[Old Man Game]

Things I noticed today:

Alex is tiny. Not like NBA tiny but like I could probably post him up tiny. He is going to be outmuscled by any SF he ever tries to guard. Even singler would give him issues.

Robes's defense is insanely physical. The guy he's guarding has to be bruised all over the next day, and somehow he does it with minimal grabbing and holding. Dude is TOUGH.

Taj really is the key to our season, with him we looked like we'd be perfectly on par with Utah/Houston if healthy, with grant or Domas we looked like they could get an open shot every trip down.

The fourth quarter offense was atrocious and Donovan didn't even bother coaching. His adjustment was going away from action that had scored 90 in 3 quarters and instead isoing Russ IN THE POST. When that didn't work we instead isoed Russ at the top of the key. Nobody else even touched the ball for what felt like a few minutes in a row. It was partially Russ's fault but it felt pretty clear Donovan called for the post touches.

I think I tried to tell you a couple months ago we were running to much stuff from the post ...

It kills any semblance of offensive flow. Can't run offense in the NBA that way in 2017. What's worse is when we're doing it with Adams, Taj, or even Kanter. Run the damn high PnR and stop this 1980s stuff.

[Old Man Game]

Somebody has got to slap the Christon out of Billy. -42 NetRtG in 17 minutes. -42 !!!!!

**** terrible coaching. Almost cost us this game.

Being at the game a few things stood out and this is one of them. Not that there was any question he sucked, but he legitimately does nothing at an average NBA level. Even athletically he's below average. he made dante exum look like an all-star. When vic came in with the second unit there was no reason to keep semaj in instead of using Doug.

I've watched more D League games than any reasonable person should (not that I've watched a ton this year). Christon looks like a D Leaguer. Can't shoot. Can sort of handle but the first step isn't good enough to really beat his man and when he does he can't finish at the rim or do much with the second line defense. He's awful. And now Dono has deluded himself into believing he's a defensive stopper which is laughable.

[Pillendreher]

Somebody has got to slap the Christon out of Billy. -42 NetRtG in 17 minutes. -42 !!!!!

**** terrible coaching. Almost cost us this game.

Being at the game a few things stood out and this is one of them. Not that there was any question he sucked, but he legitimately does nothing at an average NBA level. Even athletically he's below average. he made dante exum look like an all-star. When vic came in with the second unit there was no reason to keep semaj in instead of using Doug.

This is exactly what Brooks does in DC w/ Burke. Just has Beal run backup PG, Oladipo can and should do the same.

He has to realize that he can't keep putting these terrible players on the floor and hope to get away with it. What the **** is he even doing? We're spanking the Jazz and then barely get over the finish line.

[Pillendreher]

Somebody has got to slap the Christon out of Billy. -42 NetRtG in 17 minutes. -42 !!!!!

**** terrible coaching. Almost cost us this game.

If there's one thing I think we can say about Bill doh in the year plus he's been here, he's slow to abandon a guy who is giving effort, regardless of the results. Pretty much a college basketball mentality. A sucker for hustle.

Yeah that has got to be it. Same thingh happened with Foye.

[NaturalThunder]

First off, I have a disclaimer. I was watching the Arkansas/Vandy game on my TV and the Thunder game (on mute) on my laptop. Essentially, I had the Thunder game on in the background, so I didn't play real close attention to the game. I watched, but not intently.

Anyway, looking at the boxscore and Westbrook's 9/26 shooting game shocked me. Most games where he shoots 33%-ish on 25-30 attempts, even if he has 10-15 rebounds and/or 10-15 assists, it still feels like he had a poor game. This game didn't feel that way. Maybe it's because Semaj Christon is our backup PG, and any time Westbrook went to the bench we looked worse by a factor of infinity, but I actually think Westbrook played very well despite the 9/26 shooting stat line.


On another note, I want to make a motion that we put in a filter that changes "Semaj Christon" to "Worst Player in the NBA". I can't recall ever watching an NBA player who regularly gets rotational minutes that was this comically terrible.

[NaturalThunder]

Somebody has got to slap the Christon out of Billy. -42 NetRtG in 17 minutes. -42 !!!!!

**** terrible coaching. Almost cost us this game.

That's insane. A -42 NetRtg in 17 minutes means every one minute he was on the court we were 3.5 points worse. That's an absurdly terrible rate. He is the primary reason we only won by 8 and not by 25.

If Christon steps on the floor in a playoff game that's not a 20-30 point blowout either way with less than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, then I'm done with Donovan.

[NaturalThunder]

Things I noticed today:

Alex is tiny. Not like NBA tiny but like I could probably post him up tiny. He is going to be outmuscled by any SF he ever tries to guard. Even singler would give him issues.

Robes's defense is insanely physical. The guy he's guarding has to be bruised all over the next day, and somehow he does it with minimal grabbing and holding. Dude is TOUGH.

Taj really is the key to our season, with him we looked like we'd be perfectly on par with Utah/Houston if healthy, with grant or Domas we looked like they could get an open shot every trip down.

The fourth quarter offense was atrocious and Donovan didn't even bother coaching. His adjustment was going away from action that had scored 90 in 3 quarters and instead isoing Russ IN THE POST. When that didn't work we instead isoed Russ at the top of the key. Nobody else even touched the ball for what felt like a few minutes in a row. It was partially Russ's fault but it felt pretty clear Donovan called for the post touches.

I think I tried to tell you a couple months ago we were running to much stuff from the post ...

It kills any semblance of offensive flow. Can't run offense in the NBA that way in 2017. What's worse is when we're doing it with Adams, Taj, or even Kanter. Run the damn high PnR and stop this 1980s stuff.

Not to mention that the high ball screen offense is a highly effective offense. Even if you don't have shooters, and have multiple bigs who are good to very good pick-and-roll and/or pick-and-pop bigs (we have three now in Adams, Kanter, and Gibson), then you should just endlessly run high ball screens. It should especially be done with you have a point guard as devastatingly good as Westbrook.

I mean I know we're a terrible 3P shooting team, but we have the point guard and bigs to pretty much just run a pick-and-roll offense the entire game.

[NaturalThunder]

Somebody has got to slap the Christon out of Billy. -42 NetRtG in 17 minutes. -42 !!!!!

**** terrible coaching. Almost cost us this game.

Being at the game a few things stood out and this is one of them. Not that there was any question he sucked, but he legitimately does nothing at an average NBA level. Even athletically he's below average. he made dante exum look like an all-star. When vic came in with the second unit there was no reason to keep semaj in instead of using Doug.

I kept saying out loud, to no one in particular because my wife and daughter weren't listening, that it made no sense to have both Oladipo and Christon on the floor at the same time and have McDermott on the bench. I have no bleeing clue what Donovan was thinking, but Donovan is a bad coach so it wasn't surprising. Oladipo isn't a good PG, but he sure as hell isn't even kinda sorta close to being as bad as Christon. If you're going to have Oladipo out there with the second unit, then you have to go with Abrines at SG and McDermott at SF. There's absolutely no reason to play Christon.

Also, I know the Jazz didn't have Gobert today and they pretty much "benched" Hayward in the second half because I think they gave up on the game, but it only just makes up for the game we played against them without Oladipo (and won), but we went 3-1 against the Jazz this year. Meaning, one game we didn't have Oladipo and one game they didn't have Gobert and we still went 3-1 against them. One game they won in blowout fashion and won game we won in semi-blowout fashion. That's why this recent four game losing streak is so frustrating. It's going to cost us winning the division. Like the Spurs without Parker and Ginobili, this iteration/version of the Jazz (without Gobert) is still a better basketball team than the four teams (Blazers 2x, Suns, and Mavs) that we lost to during the four game losing streak.

[oken]

On another note, I want to make a motion that we put in a filter that changes "Semaj Christon" to "Worst Player in the NBA". I can't recall ever watching an NBA player who regularly gets rotational minutes that was this comically terrible.

I second that. Also while checking NBA stats today I had a horrible revelation that not only Christon ranks around same with Roberson in FT% (near dead last) he also has the priviledge of having an inhuman FG% of 33% (sorry it is 32.4% after today's game) which is only better than Jared Sullinger(foot surgery), Andrew Harrison, Wade Baldwin IV, Mike Scott(busted with drugs) and..yes you guessed right, Norris Cole!

[DoubleJ13]

Been nice to see Dipo be aggressive when he's out there without Russ the last 2 games. Hope he keeps that up but it's Dipo so it'll come & go.

[Andre Roberstan]

guess who's coming

guess who's coming