2017-2018 OKC Thunder Regular Season Thread Part Deux: Follow the Melo Brick Road

[ThunderBolt]

I hope grant becomes our Robert Covington by being a late bloomer. I hope he’s by no means a finished product. If we could benefit by a tight year in the salary cap across the league and he can continue to develop, he could be the kind of role player we really need on a favorable contract. It would be nice if Presti didn’t overpay this time.

[Pillendreher]

i feel like grant has improved during the 2nd half of the season on offense but he's still bad on defense. outside of drawing charges and rim defense instincts he has poor awareness. being the guy coming in for melo helps him look decent.

You don't think he has become better defending in space? I still don't think he's all that good defensively, but I think he's played better on that side as well.

[Thundershock88]

I hope grant becomes our Robert Covington by being a late bloomer. I hope he’s by no means a finished product. If we could benefit by a tight year in the salary cap across the league and he can continue to develop, he could be the kind of role player we really need on a favorable contract. It would be nice if Presti didn’t overpay this time.

He seems like he has more room to grow. I have high hopes that he returns, and does just that. He has really been a pleasant surprise. He doesn't play scared anymore. Feels like he will be out of our price range though. Someone will overpay.

[bondom34]

Yeah I really hope he didn't play himself out of their price range. He made a big leap this year and is at the least a solid bench guy who works well off Adams and Russ.

[hardenASG13]

Care to explain? I think his shot blocking, defensive energy, ability to get to the line, post up, dunk, drive, and improved jump shot have been awesome off the bench.

Grant can only score at the rim. He is not a big man and can't defend bigs adequately. His block% and steal% are both below his career average this year. His blocks and steals per 100 possessions are at career lows. He is the same player he was last year only with a higher usage and taking a higher percentage of his shots at the rim. If you thought he was great last year then you should still think he is great. If you accepted that he was a scrub in the past he has done NOTHING to change that. He has shown NO improvement to the eye or stat test. There are a lot of players that will be available for the vet minimum that can do what he does.

OKC probably gives him something around the MLE to keep him around, like they did Singler. If they get a real backup center that will eliminate those paint touches from Grant then the same people calling him great this year will call his contract an albatross for the next 3-4 years.

He scores extremely well at the rim, and has shot with much more confidence during the second half of the season. He is still a work in process I that regard. The guy is very versatile on D, and can guard a wide variety of players, 3-5. Struggles in quickness vs. Elite 3s, and with size against monster 4/5s. They in turn struggle with his quickness.

Your saying his blocks and steals percentage are down, huh by how much, im curious, bc his charges taken are way up, and his averages in both steals and blocks are the same......oh yeah and basically all his other numbers are up to (ppg, fg%, efg%, ft % fta, rebounds, in addition to the stats pilendreher gave you. He's finishing inside/getting fouled at elite levels. He's so quick and long nobody can stop him.) But harp on those steal percentages. Give it up bud, you're really embarrassing yourself here, he's improved alot. This is almost as bad as saying jae Crowder is better than Paul George bc he was ahead of him in rpm or something before the season. Grant has been great, it's ok to be wrong.

[Kizz Fastfists]

He scores extremely well at the rim

Again that is nothing new. He is shooting the same FG% at the rim this year that he shot his 2nd season in the NBA!!! You are not showing development or improved skill you showing increased volume. OKC is finally using him similar to what Philly was, offensively, in his first two seasons in the league. Grant's FT rate is still below what it was his first two seasons in the league. There is no improvement from Grant. There is improved shot selection and higher usage.

Grant has not shown to be good at ANYTHING this year that you couldn't already say he was good at before the season. If you want to say that he looks better because he is being used properly and give Donovan credit for that then go ahead. Just don't try claiming this is some new or different Grant when it is the same player he has been since day one in the NBA. This is also why a lot of people expect him to appear improved if he leaves OKC this off-season to a better coached team.

[bondom34]

He's actually driving to the basket. I mean, dribble drives multiple times, I don't see how that's not a big improvement alone.

[spearsy23]

The truth is somewhere in the middle. He's far from awesome, but he can at least be a competent rotation piece now. Have our bench expectations fallen so low that a capable 7-8th man is considered awesome?

[hardenASG13]

The truth is somewhere in the middle. He's far from awesome, but he can at least be a competent rotation piece now. Have our bench expectations fallen so low that a capable 7-8th man is considered awesome?

Nobody is saying he's an all star, but he's far from a scrub. You would almost have to have not watched grant play at all this season to think he hasn't improved in almost every aspect, particularly during the second half of the season.

[thekaoswithin]

He scores extremely well at the rim

Again that is nothing new. He is shooting the same FG% at the rim this year that he shot his 2nd season in the NBA!!! You are not showing development or improved skill you showing increased volume. OKC is finally using him similar to what Philly was, offensively, in his first two seasons in the league. Grant's FT rate is still below what it was his first two seasons in the league. There is no improvement from Grant. There is improved shot selection and higher usage.

Grant has not shown to be good at ANYTHING this year that you couldn't already say he was good at before the season. If you want to say that he looks better because he is being used properly and give Donovan credit for that then go ahead. Just don't try claiming this is some new or different Grant when it is the same player he has been since day one in the NBA. This is also why a lot of people expect him to appear improved if he leaves OKC this off-season to a better coached team.

...So you ignored every argument other than 1, where you could find a stat to back you up.

I'll ask again, since you conveniently ignored me last time: Do you actually watch the games?

While we're at it, throw in an explanation as to why you only show up when the team is dong poorly. I can count on 1 hand the number of positive takes I've seen from you in the last year.

[Kizz Fastfists]

...So you ignored every argument other than 1, where you could find a stat to back you up.

I'll ask again, since you conveniently ignored me last time: Do you actually watch the games?

While we're at it, throw in an explanation as to why you only show up when the team is dong poorly. I can count on 1 hand the number of positive takes I've seen from you in the last year.

I only watched about 25-30 games this year. That is more then I watched last year. Until last year I watched 70+ regular season games a year and tried to watch them all. The last two years there has been no real point as the outcome of the season was easily predictable.

Define "doing poorly". They are the 4 seed. Is that "doing poorly"? If the team is "doing poorly" finishing the season winning three in a row to clinch the four seed then there should be no positive takes from anyone! If that is the standard of "doing poorly" this team is highly unlikely to ever reach the standards for doing good until a complete bottoming out rebuild. I don't offer positive takes because I see nothing to be positive about with the direction the organization has gone since kd left. Before that I had a lot of "positive takes". I still do about the players that are worth having them for like Adams, Ferguson and Roberson before he got hurt.

I believe Presti has been a disaster since kd left. I find it hard find things Presti has done well since that happened. Keep in mind trading Ibaka for Dipo and Sabonis, which was a GREAT trade was before kd left. The trade at the deadline last year that brought in Taj was good, but I can't think of any other move. Of course, with a competent coach the Patterson signing might have been as good on the court as it looked on paper and they might have actually played Taj enough to beat Houston, etc. So that one massive mistake of hiring Donovan does hurt everything else Presti does.

[ThunderBolt]

...So you ignored every argument other than 1, where you could find a stat to back you up.

I'll ask again, since you conveniently ignored me last time: Do you actually watch the games?

While we're at it, throw in an explanation as to why you only show up when the team is dong poorly. I can count on 1 hand the number of positive takes I've seen from you in the last year.

I only watched about 25-30 games this year. That is more then I watched last year. Until last year I watched 70+ regular season games a year and tried to watch them all. The last two years there has been no real point as the outcome of the season was easily predictable.

Define "doing poorly". They are the 4 seed. Is that "doing poorly"? If the team is "doing poorly" finishing the season winning three in a row to clinch the four seed then there should be no positive takes from anyone! If that is the standard of "doing poorly" this team is highly unlikely to ever reach the standards for doing good until a complete bottoming out rebuild. I don't offer positive takes because I see nothing to be positive about with the direction the organization has gone since kd left. Before that I had a lot of "positive takes". I still do about the players that are worth having them for like Adams, Ferguson and Roberson before he got hurt.

I believe Presti has been a disaster since kd left. I find it hard find things Presti has done well since that happened. Keep in mind trading Ibaka for Dipo and Sabonis, which was a GREAT trade was before kd left. The trade at the deadline last year that brought in Taj was good, but I can't think of any other move. Of course, with a competent coach the Patterson signing might have been as good on the court as it looked on paper and they might have actually played Taj enough to beat Houston, etc. So that one massive mistake of hiring Donovan does hurt everything else Presti does.

How about drafting the guy you have called the next Jimmy Butler?

[Kizz Fastfists]

How about drafting the guy you have called the next Jimmy Butler?

Ok, that is a 2nd thing. I even mentioned Ferguson earlier in the post. I still say Presti had the worst off-season of any GM this past off-season dumping valuable assets for rentals and aging players. After kd left I understood the freeze last off-season. Everyone else had signed and there was nothing to do unless he changed course and traded Russ right then. Taking some time to evaluate the situation was prudent. However, after it became clear where the team was there was only one correct path and Presti went the wrong way down a one way road as fast as he could.

[thekaoswithin]

How about drafting the guy you have called the next Jimmy Butler?

Ok, that is a 2nd thing. I even mentioned Ferguson earlier in the post. I still say Presti had the worst off-season of any GM this past off-season dumping valuable assets for rentals and aging players. After kd left I understood the freeze last off-season. Everyone else had signed and there was nothing to do unless he changed course and traded Russ right then. Taking some time to evaluate the situation was prudent. However, after it became clear where the team was there was only one correct path and Presti went the wrong way down a one way road as fast as he could.

He gambled that we had a shot at the title. You never know what happens, injuries or otherwise.

[Kizz Fastfists]

He gambled that we had a shot at the title. You never know what happens, injuries or otherwise.

What he did is the poker, hold 'em, version of shoving all your chips into the middle with a straight on a paired board with a four flush out there. You are beat, but you are caught up on thinking a straight is a strong hand so you ignore all logic and waste your money.

[slick_watts]

He gambled that we had a shot at the title. You never know what happens, injuries or otherwise.

What he did is the poker, hold 'em, version of shoving all your chips into the middle with a straight on a paired board with a four flush out there. You are beat, but you are caught up on thinking a straight is a strong hand so you ignore all logic and waste your money.

sam presti can't be bluffed.

[Kizz Fastfists]

sam presti can't be bluffed.

No, but when he shoves in with the worst hand he can get called by better hands. Do you think Houston, Golden State, Cleveland, Portland, Boston, Toronto and Utah are all bluffing? At least a few have better rosters and coaching.

[thekaoswithin]

sam presti can't be bluffed.

No, but when he shoves in with the worst hand he can get called by better hands. Do you think Houston, Golden State, Cleveland, Portland, Boston, Toronto and Utah are all bluffing? At least a few have better rosters and coaching.

Guarantee if Robes doesn't get injured you're not saying this stuff.

[Kizz Fastfists]

Guarantee if Robes doesn't get injured you're not saying this stuff.

If Roberson doesn't get injured AND they still add Brewer, which might not have happened since they wouldn't have been offering him a starting job, they are still well behind Houston and GS in the West and a coin flip with Portland and Minny. Minny, with Butler back, will give Houston a good series. I would expect them to get past Utah assuming everyone was healthy. I would probably be disappointed with those expectations as Donovan would do something stupid like play Felton, Brewer, Roberson, Grant and Patterson for 10 minutes a game and not be able to figure out why they were unable to score for those 10 minutes.

[wco81]

Didn't have such a great game today but Sabonis looks like a long-term keeper.