2017-2018 OKC Thunder Regular Season Thread part one: The Fellowship for A Ring

[jambalaya]

Spearsy, my comment was based on all games / cumulative shot totals, so yeah the missed games are a factor.

[ThunderBolt]

A lot of times a win like last night is a positive, you get the win despite your main guys not playing well. I’m not convinced Russ, Melo and George will improve their shooting. How long can we keep saying, “they won’t keep missing these shots”? Melo is shot. Russ is not what he was last year and I don’t see it improving. George is inconsistent. What’s really going to suck is that the west is so weak that I think we’ll sneak in at the 7-8 seed and not get our pick.

[jambalaya]

Over last 10 games, Russ shooting just a tiny, tiny bit better than the surging from horrendous to just awful Lonzo Ball.

[Andre Roberstan]

I still think we're due for a jump in shooting. Shot quality aside, these guys didn't suddenly forget how to score.

[Pillendreher]

we attempt the most pull-up jump shots of any team in the nba per game and we're shooting 38% eFG on those (27th). this is almost a third of our field goal attempts.

westbrook, george, and melo account for almost all of these. felton has some but he's actually decent (46% eFG). the three stooges are shooting a combined 37% eFG on them. westbrook takes 10 a game, including 4.4 threes which he's shooting 29% on. that sounds bad, but he's also shooting 29% on his pull up twos so maybe he should take them all from beyond the arc.

westbrook attempted more pull up shots last year somehow and shot better (44% eFG). melo was also at 44% eFG on them last year. george was at 46% eFG%.

none of those figures are bad for pull up but none of them are good for an offense. one guy shooting a bunch of pull up shots a game as a usage sponge can exist in an effective offense as an outlet- a last resort. but we have three guys using pull up jump shots as a staple of their games. even if they were shooting their career average on these shots right now it would improve the offense some but not all that much.

there's a lot of hand wringing about 'bad shooting' but i think the problem is poor shot selection. you just can't have an effective offense with three guys shooting that many pull up shots, and none of them high volume pull up three point shooters like curry, harden, etc. this is what needs to be fixed most with the offense imo. less pull up shots for these guys.

Westbrook ON, George ON, Anthony ON:

10 + ft. (2pt):

Anthony: 123 FGA, 39.0 FG%, 48% of his total FGA with the other two on the floor
George: 70 FGA, 29.9 FG%, 30 % of his total FGA with the other two on the floor
Westbrook: 82 FGA, 26.7 FG%, 29% of his total FGA with the other two on the floor

--------------------

You just can't win like this. Those three have combined for 773 FGA combined on the floor and more than 1/3 of those have been long jumpers that have not fallen at all.

[Pillendreher]

[Pillendreher]

Funaki is key.

[thekaoswithin]

Why do we never go to Adams in the 4th even when he's dominating? So frustrating.

[Andre Roberstan]

Mo Dakhil has me coming around to Dom's view on Donovan a bit.

[slick_watts]

I still think we're due for a jump in shooting. Shot quality aside, these guys didn't suddenly forget how to score.

i find it more likely that melo is experiencing age-related decline and westbrook (who already had offseason prp injection) is suffering from an acute or overuse malady than all three of these guys are just 'slumping' for this length of time, simultaneously.

for westbrook in particular, i'd be more accepting of 'variance' if he weren't shooting poorly from multiple locations. the free throw thing in conjunction with the poor jump shooting concerns me a lot.

[slick_watts]

Why do we never go to Adams in the 4th even when he's dominating? So frustrating.

something something winning time. something something clutch.

[InTheSabonus]

Why do we never go to Adams in the 4th even when he's dominating? So frustrating.

How many times would Ibaka be like 8/8 from the field entering the fourth quarter and then proceed to not touch the ball. We've seen it before. Crunch time habits are not our friend.

[ThunderBolt]

If anyone cares to read Colin Cowherds thoughts on Sam Presti and the thunder. The video on fox sports wasn’t working.

Spoiler:

COLIN COWHERD: So I watched OKC beat Indiana last night. Indiana is not very good. OKC is not very good, and we thought they would be great. And it's not working. It's not working. Last night Indiana almost came back and won a game with virtually all B and C talent against four stars-- Westbrook, Paul George, Steven Adams, Melo. Sam Presti, the general manager, he knows it's not working. It's going to be a public divorce, I know, I had one, they're embarrassing.

I believe that professional men-- I can't speak for women-- but professional men are often loners, less social than women, and we make our decisions often by ourselves in our car. It's the one time we have space with no kids, no wife, no friends, just us. Yes, I can remember the day I decided it wasn't working. Connecticut, freeway, overcast, had a cup of coffee to my right, UConn medical hospital off to the left. I remember the sign, and I remember thinking these words, it's got to get better. How can I have these great kids, and this amazing job, and feel like this? And by the way, she felt the same, probably even more so.

So I had dinner that night, and we ended it, and it was brutal. Sam Presti is going to have that drive. He may have already had it. And he knows, and it's painful. It's got to get better than this. When you get married-- I was married in Vegas-- he brought Melo and Paul George. There's glamor, there's flash, it's attractive. You're absolutely damn sure it's going to work. There are good days and bad days. I mean they did win last night. We had a great honeymoon, kids, a lot of great weekends, a lot of great days.

When I made that drive in Connecticut I knew. 10 years in, all that therapy, it's got to get better than this. That night made a decision. By the way, Sam Presti the GM of OKC, I had to call my mom, brutal. Utter embarrassment. He's going to have to call his owner. He rolled the dice on this, assured him it would work. That's a tough phone call, to your mom or to your owner. I had tell my daughter, only six, seven years old. Not sure what she could understand. Humiliating. Smart kid, dad failed.

He's going to have to sit down with his team, his players, guys he traded away, all the depos, the bonus playing well. Guys he brought in don't fit. How much will they understand? It's kind of embarrassing. I had to call friends. God that's awful. They're judging you, they don't trust you, they think you're a failure. Sam Presti is going to have to call in his staff and his scouts. Sam's the one that okayed it. They don't trust you, they talk behind your back, they're not sure you get it.

Public divorce? The internet's the least of your problems. Oh, I mean it's there, it's not pretty. But let me tell you how it works. Nobody, when you get married, think it's going to fail. But you know way before it does. I did, my ex-wife did, and Sam Presti does. Indiana last night abused Carmelo Anthony for the last five minutes. They pick and rolled him to death. He's an old, shot, tired fighter who'd never taken care of his body and it's never been more apparent. He's done.

Steven Adams is probably now their second-best player. I'd go with Paul George, but he doesn't fit. Westbrook? Dynamic. Steven Adams, young and fantastic. But Sam Presti is the GM, and he's watching that game last night against a collection of C players. He knows the truth. It's got to be better than this.

I called my mom, my kids, and my friends. Each one, terrifying and brutal. He'll call his owner, his team, and his staff. Each one really embarrassing. But he knows. It doesn't matter that they beat Indy, it just doesn't matter. It didn't matter that I had a great dinner two nights earlier. You know. You're in the car. Overcast skies. It's got to get better than this.

[Pillendreher]

Mo Dakhil has me coming around to Dom's view on Donovan a bit.

Who?

[Pillendreher]

I still think we're due for a jump in shooting. Shot quality aside, these guys didn't suddenly forget how to score.

i find it more likely that melo is experiencing age-related decline and westbrook (who already had offseason prp injection) is suffering from an acute or overuse malady than all three of these guys are just 'slumping' for this length of time, simultaneously.

for westbrook in particular, i'd be more accepting of 'variance' if he weren't shooting poorly from multiple locations. the free throw thing in conjunction with the poor jump shooting concerns me a lot.

Main guys shooting this terribly at the same time points to shot selection and the general way they play together imo.

[Pillendreher]

https://youtu.be/xJbckXcpX1Q

I agree with everything.

[InTheSabonus]

https://youtu.be/xJbckXcpX1Q

I agree with everything.

Is that the first time anyone of note in the media has really criticised Donovan?

Unfortunately more people are focusing on the "Melo needs to sacrifice" part instead of their points about Donovan having no system and no control over his players.

[Andre Roberstan]

Mo Dakhil has me coming around to Dom's view on Donovan a bit.

Who?

Former video guy for the Clips and Spurs, works for Aussie national team, active on NBA Twitter. Smart dude. He did a pod with Dave DuFour the other day that's really worth the listen.

[Pillendreher]

Mo Dakhil has me coming around to Dom's view on Donovan a bit.

Who?

Former video guy for the Clips and Spurs, works for Aussie national team, active on NBA Twitter. Smart dude. He did a pod with Dave DuFour the other day that's really worth the listen.

Gotta give it a listen on my drive home. Anything in particular I should pay attention to?

[Andre Roberstan]

Who?

Former video guy for the Clips and Spurs, works for Aussie national team, active on NBA Twitter. Smart dude. He did a pod with Dave DuFour the other day that's really worth the listen.

Gotta give it a listen on my drive home. Anything in particular I should pay attention to?

They talk a lot about how defensive schemes have changed—that whole conversation is terrific.