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CHARLOTTE HORNETS at OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
• Record: 43-33
• http://www.espn.com/nba/game?gameId=400899406

Someone photoshop Donovan and Semaj in this.

Steven Adams is the worst starting big man in the NW division.

13 minutes for Gibson.

Somebody take Donovan please. I can't deal with this idiot anymore.

I bet Gibson is still sick though.

So after that very nice 5 game stretch we've crashed down to earth losing 4 out of the next 7. 3 games in a row we've looked completely horrible against bad sub .500 teams.

I see we're finding our Playoffs form. Good job guys.

Hornets have the right defensive personnel to deal with us. They turn it over less than any team in the NBA and we operate best in the full court. Have to agree about Gibson though. Wonder if he had some lingering effects from his illness that kept him out. Can't wait till Christon is our 3rd stringer instead of our primary backup. Dude is straight useless on offense. At least Dre can cut and finish. Semaj does nothing helpful on that end whatsoever.

Pillendreher wrote:So after that very nice 5 game stretch we've crashed down to earth losing 4 out of the next 7. 3 games in a row we've looked completely horrible against bad sub .500 teams.

I see we're finding our Playoffs form. Good job guys.

Don't forget that two of the wins were miraculous comebacks against non playoff teams.

Thundershock88 wrote:I bet Gibson is still sick though.

Sick from this **** franchise I bet. Just a disgraceful treatment. He's pretty clearly our best bigman and yet he's out there getting disrespected every damn game. He came off the bench for the Bulls and played close to 30 minutes a night. He's down to 18 a game over the last 5.

I see things continued to only get worse. I watched the first quarter. Watched us jump out to a quick 7 point lead, watched the wheels fall off and I wake up and see we were down by nearly 20 at one point, at home, to a sub-.500 team, and this time we never really threatened to come back and win.

Screw this NBA season. Screw Billy Donovan. Screw Sam Presti. And Screw this laughably, impossibly incompetent roster.

Good new is that we've got Steven Adams and his ridiculously overpriced, overrated worthless piece of trash self locked up for five more years! And, if I"m a betting man, we're stuck with our incompetent coach for at least two more seasons.

Yay!

Calling this roster the nets with Westbrook is an insult to the nets.

There really should be more talk in the media how terrible Donovan has been this season. People keep saying how Westbrook's teammates suck but nobody in the media seems to be calling out Donovan which I don't get.

Bergmaniac wrote:There really should be more talk in the media how terrible Donovan has been this season. People keep saying how Westbrook's teammates suck but nobody in the media seems to be calling out Donovan which I don't get.

Most of the local sports radio don't know anything about basketball. One well known host was complaining why the thunder hadnt traded for Rudy Gay yet. This was about a week after he had tore his Achilles. They don't know any better to call out Donovan and most national people can't keep up with all of the games.

Well I doubt we will get the 7th seed since Memphis is without Gasol and they have been struggling badly for a long stretch now. So apparently Semaj is a crunchtime guy now, since the lineup down the stretch was Semaj, Russ, Vic, Andre, and Steven. WTF is that? I guess we need to draft a point guard since they seem to want to run 3 guard lineups now like we think we are Boston or something.

At this point I'm watching the games to see if Russ gets Oscars record. Other than that there is nothing to really see. Victor will start hot and then vanish into thin air. Semaj is trash. Mcdermott can't defend anthing. Alex is in a shooting slump. JUST IN TIME FOR THE PLAYOFFS. College basketball is almost over so I won't have that to look forward to. Just a quick exit in the playoffs. Ah well... at least I can theory craft trades and draft prospects.

Bergmaniac wrote:There really should be more talk in the media how terrible Donovan has been this season. People keep saying how Westbrook's teammates suck but nobody in the media seems to be calling out Donovan which I don't get.

It really couldn't be better for both Presti and Donovan. Durant left and Russ is good enough to make the team look respectable. They'll be able to use the first one as an excuse for several years to come. And the second one is just hiding their sheer incompetence.

Russ could have this great of a season and we'd be 10 games under .500. But even then people wouldn't start blaming the Front Office and Coaching Staff because they were actually dumb enough to argue that this would be our actual performance this season.

Media members saying Donovan should have a shot at being CotY just solidifies my belief that like 90 % of them have absolutely no idea what they're talking about.

Pillendreher wrote:

Bergmaniac wrote:There really should be more talk in the media how terrible Donovan has been this season. People keep saying how Westbrook's teammates suck but nobody in the media seems to be calling out Donovan which I don't get.

It really couldn't be better for both Presti and Donovan. Durant left and Russ is good enough to make the team look respectable. They'll be able to use the first one as an excuse for several years to come. And the second one is just hiding their sheer incompetence.

Russ could have this great of a season and we'd be 10 games under .500. But even then people wouldn't start blaming the Front Office and Coaching Staff because they were actually dumb enough to argue that this would be our actual performance this season.

Media members saying Donovan should have a shot at being CotY just solidifies my belief that like 90 % of them have absolutely no idea what they're talking about.

And ever since the Mr Unreliable headline, and Durant subsequently leaving, it feels like OKC media has been terrified of being critical. Also doesn't help that any general media member, courtesy of Presti's iron curtain, can't get access to the team at the best of times, let alone if they dare criticise anything to do with the organisation.

InTheSabonus wrote:

Pillendreher wrote:

Bergmaniac wrote:There really should be more talk in the media how terrible Donovan has been this season. People keep saying how Westbrook's teammates suck but nobody in the media seems to be calling out Donovan which I don't get.

It really couldn't be better for both Presti and Donovan. Durant left and Russ is good enough to make the team look respectable. They'll be able to use the first one as an excuse for several years to come. And the second one is just hiding their sheer incompetence.

Russ could have this great of a season and we'd be 10 games under .500. But even then people wouldn't start blaming the Front Office and Coaching Staff because they were actually dumb enough to argue that this would be our actual performance this season.

Media members saying Donovan should have a shot at being CotY just solidifies my belief that like 90 % of them have absolutely no idea what they're talking about.

And ever since the Mr Unreliable headline, and Durant subsequently leaving, it feels like OKC media has been terrified of being critical. Also doesn't help that any general media member, courtesy of Presti's iron curtain, can't get access to the team at the best of times, let alone if they dare criticise anything to do with the organisation.

This is the same media that gave us the 'Randy Foye is a good defender' articles. It's pretty clear they're pushing the Front Office's/franchise's agendas at times.
Darnell really was the only guy who wasn't afraid of calling out the team. I still remember them talking in the 2014 Playoffs and Darnell saying 'I would love Anthony Morrow on this team, standing in the corners' with their driver replying 'Yeah, but where's KD gonna stand then?'. Too bad he got promoted out of the public eye.

People always talk about accountability, but there is close to none with this franchise. What we have is agenda driven 'policies' that have no bearing in reality.

Btw:

Foye post ASB:



Christon post ASB:



We should have seen this coming. His minutes have been close to 20 a night the last couple of weeks.

Bergmaniac wrote:There really should be more talk in the media how terrible Donovan has been this season. People keep saying how Westbrook's teammates suck but nobody in the media seems to be calling out Donovan which I don't get.

ESPN ranks him 14th . And what's amazing is they televise a ton of Thunder games. It's unreal.

Pillendreher wrote:

InTheSabonus wrote:

Pillendreher wrote:
It really couldn't be better for both Presti and Donovan. Durant left and Russ is good enough to make the team look respectable. They'll be able to use the first one as an excuse for several years to come. And the second one is just hiding their sheer incompetence.

Russ could have this great of a season and we'd be 10 games under .500. But even then people wouldn't start blaming the Front Office and Coaching Staff because they were actually dumb enough to argue that this would be our actual performance this season.

Media members saying Donovan should have a shot at being CotY just solidifies my belief that like 90 % of them have absolutely no idea what they're talking about.

And ever since the Mr Unreliable headline, and Durant subsequently leaving, it feels like OKC media has been terrified of being critical. Also doesn't help that any general media member, courtesy of Presti's iron curtain, can't get access to the team at the best of times, let alone if they dare criticise anything to do with the organisation.

This is the same media that gave us the 'Randy Foye is a good defender' articles. It's pretty clear they're pushing the Front Office's/franchise's agendas at times.
Darnell really was the only guy who wasn't afraid of calling out the team. I still remember them talking in the 2014 Playoffs and Darnell saying 'I would love Anthony Morrow on this team, standing in the corners' with their driver replying 'Yeah, but where's KD gonna stand then?'. Too bad he got promoted out of the public eye.

People always talk about accountability, but there is close to none with this franchise. What we have is agenda driven 'policies' that have no bearing in reality.

Btw:

Foye post ASB:



Christon post ASB:



We should have seen this coming. His minutes have been close to 20 a night the last couple of weeks.

A lot of the problem here comes from media people needing to make hot takes, without actually watching the team. People see that the team has a winning record, and equate it not just to Russ, but to the coach.

First you have the big shots, like Zach Lowe or Bill Simmons. They don't particularly like OKC, and don't watch them anyway. Ranting about Donovan isn't going to get the views even SAS wants.

Most commentators are former coaches who won't put down current coaches on air as part of their little fraternity thing they have going on. JVG will blast players and refs, but how often does he have cracks at coaches?

Honestly the only time I can remember is recently when TNT had their players only crew commentating our game, and McHale was basically criticising the team as best he could without directly implying that Donovan is a bad coach. But even that was a welcome change.