2018-2019 OKC Thunder Regular Season Pt 1: A Renewed Hope

[Pillendreher]

Dononvan sucks but I don’t think there is enough time to bring in a decent coach to reshape Westbrook’s game. I think he’s already declining from his mvp season. We could get a nice return for George. Not sure what we could get for russ or even what teams would want him. We’re out of time to salvage this particular iteration of thunder basketball.

You at least have to give it a shot after investing so heavily. Can't just roll over because Presti's bff did not deserve the job and is well out of his depth. You can't reshape Westbrook, but you sure as hell can be better than this dumpster fire on both ends of the floor.

[ThunderBolt]

Dononvan sucks but I don’t think there is enough time to bring in a decent coach to reshape Westbrook’s game. I think he’s already declining from his mvp season. We could get a nice return for George. Not sure what we could get for russ or even what teams would want him. We’re out of time to salvage this particular iteration of thunder basketball.

You at least have to give it a shot after investing so heavily. Can't just roll over because Presti's bff did not deserve the job and is well out of his depth. You can't reshape Westbrook, but you sure as hell can be better than this dumpster fire on both ends of the floor.

What kind of changes can we realistically expect with a mid season take over from mo cheeks? Seems like at best we wait until next season to hope for change. That’s assuming russ doesn’t have is annual knee procedure and miss the offseason again.

[Pillendreher]

Dononvan sucks but I don’t think there is enough time to bring in a decent coach to reshape Westbrook’s game. I think he’s already declining from his mvp season. We could get a nice return for George. Not sure what we could get for russ or even what teams would want him. We’re out of time to salvage this particular iteration of thunder basketball.

You at least have to give it a shot after investing so heavily. Can't just roll over because Presti's bff did not deserve the job and is well out of his depth. You can't reshape Westbrook, but you sure as hell can be better than this dumpster fire on both ends of the floor.

What kind of changes can we realistically expect with a mid season take over from mo cheeks? Seems like at best we wait until next season to hope for change. That’s assuming russ doesn’t have is annual knee procedure and miss the offseason again.

I know, it's **** frustrating. A change should have happened after the George trade. Give the team a real chance.

[Pillendreher]

It is so painfully obvious that the starting five needs to be Westbrook-Abrines-George-Patterson-Adams, but instead of that we're going with the turd brothers. Abrines-George-Patterson-Adams has played 5 minutes so far, George-Grant-Adams 53.

Unleash one of the turd brothers and this is what you get:

[slick_watts]

Dononvan sucks but I don’t think there is enough time to bring in a decent coach to reshape Westbrook’s game. I think he’s already declining from his mvp season. We could get a nice return for George. Not sure what we could get for russ or even what teams would want him. We’re out of time to salvage this particular iteration of thunder basketball.

You at least have to give it a shot after investing so heavily. Can't just roll over because Presti's bff did not deserve the job and is well out of his depth. You can't reshape Westbrook, but you sure as hell can be better than this dumpster fire on both ends of the floor.

What kind of changes can we realistically expect with a mid season take over from mo cheeks? Seems like at best we wait until next season to hope for change. That’s assuming russ doesn’t have is annual knee procedure and miss the offseason again.

little to none.

my guess is that the thunder honestly believe 'dre might come back healthy and all will be sunshine and roses with the 'dre starters minus carmelo anthony. if the thunder struggle for much longer and donovan isn't canned i think this would be why. there's a reason they had him on an 'accelerated rehab' over the summer.

regardless, whether everyone would like to admit it or not, this is the path they've been on for years with westbrook and the team structure in general. he's 30 years old in the first year of a $200+ million contract. the idea that there is a coach that's going to come in and make sweeping changes in a reasonable time span is ludicrous.

the offense is better than how it is showed and our defense is actually better than league average so we'll see. lots of hand wringing over four games, still.

[Pillendreher]

Four games in:

1st in catch and shoot FGA per game
30th in catch and shoot eFG%
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18th in drives per game
23rd in drives PTS%
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28th in passes per game
5th in potential assists per game
28th in assist points created
27th in adjusted assists
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10th in pull up FGA per game
30th in pull up eFG% per game
----------------
9th in FTr
30th in FT%
----------------
5th in wide open 3PA per game
30th wide open 3P%
----------------
11th in restricted area FGA per game
19th in restricted area FG%
----------------
11th in mid range FGA per game
20th in mid range FG%



This is amazing. They literally suck from everywhere and in every offensive facet of today's NBA. If you take away the 2nd chance points, they're currently scoring 20 points per 100 possession less than the rest of the league on average.

[hardenASG13]

It is so painfully obvious that the starting five needs to be Westbrook-Abrines-George-Patterson-Adams, but instead of that we're going with the turd brothers. Abrines-George-Patterson-Adams has played 5 minutes so far, George-Grant-Adams 53.

Unleash one of the turd brothers and this is what you get:

Way to cherry pick his bad plays. He had a great game. Patterson finally hit a few shots, that was nice. Where's his shot chart? Why do you hate on the one guy who the thunder have brought in that has actually developed and improved alot. They were great to start the game, with grant. Stop hating just because you all hated grant 2 years ago.

[Pillendreher]

He had a great game.

HE WHAT?!

Patterson finally hit a few shots, that was nice. Where's his shot chart?

Here:



And guess what - he's in a shooting slump and is still outshooting Grant. Grant's at 37 TS%, Patterson at 45 TS. Contrary to Grant, Patterson knows what he can and cannot do though. So instead of driving into three opposing defenders, trying to draw the foul by falling on his ass, he sticks to what his role should be. Even when his shot is not falling, he's not forcing up shots he cannot hit like this scrub.

Funnily enough, tools like you called for Roberson's head for years because he couldn't shoot. Yet Turd The Elder is immune to said ciriticism because he's one of those guys some people ascribe impact and value to simply because of athleticism.

Why do you hate on the one guy who the thunder have brought in that has actually developed and improved alot.

Because he's still not close to good enough to warrant the role they're giving him. That's why.

They were great to start the game, with grant. Stop hating just because you all hated grant 2 years ago.

Cool. So Jerami Grant was on the floor when the Boston Celtics could not buy a bucket and actually managed to shoot worse than us.

Grant still sucks. He worked last season in a very specific role. A role they can't give him because he's the worst of our bigmen and you can't play Noel and Adams together. So now he's back to dancing on the perimeter and being borderline unplayable. But hey, at least he has the green light from the coaching staff. I'm looking forward to his next fadeaway jumper. He's come such a long, long, way.

[slick_watts]

Way to cherry pick his bad plays. He had a great game. Patterson finally hit a few shots, that was nice. Where's his shot chart? Why do you hate on the one guy who the thunder have brought in that has actually developed and improved alot. They were great to start the game, with grant. Stop hating just because you all hated grant 2 years ago.

grant isn't a good player, but he is not as bad as he was two seasons ago. anyone who says he didn't improve a lot last year is just being a stubborn ideologue. it seems counter intuitive and silly to play grant with the starters with the lack of shooting, and he's had way more opportunity in those lineups than ppat dating back to last season so the quick ppat hook is inexplicable. nobody can form any reliable conclusions after one game (that ppat played w/ westbrook starters).

i think what a lot of people don't appreciate about grant is the freedom he's afforded in the offense. there are times westbrook deliberately looks for him on the wing to isolate.. or we have him in the corner as a shooter. both these roles are unsuited to him. he's been effective in the pnr with westbrook and those have been rare the first couple games in lieu of this more open and casual game. grant should know his limitations, but at the same time if he's given the ball on the wing to iso what's he supposed to do? not do it? westbrook should know his limitations, as well. donovan should prohibit it.

it reminds me a lot of how we used melo, actually.

[ThunderBolt]

Is Russ a top ten player anymore? Is George top twenty?

[Pillendreher]

Game 1 vs. Warriors: 27% from 3

Game 2 vs. Clippers: 21% from 3

Game 3 vs. Kings: 23% from 3

Tonight vs. Celtics: 25% from 3

This whole team turned into Andre Roberson offensively.

[Old Man Game]

I marvel at anyone who can look at these numbers (less the free throws) and not at least be wondering what a coaching change would look like. The roster isn't perfect, it isn't LAST in the NBA level.

Read on Twitter

[slick_watts]

Game 1 vs. Warriors: 27% from 3

Game 2 vs. Clippers: 21% from 3

Game 3 vs. Kings: 23% from 3

Tonight vs. Celtics: 25% from 3

This whole team turned into Andre Roberson offensively.

i don't like antonio daniels much as an analyst (loved him as a player tho), but he's on the mark saying the thunder don't have an identity. they want to be a pace and space team but have three capable shooters, and their latest lineup change only puts one of them on the court at times.

the %'s should get better to some extent. shooting a lot of threes is what offenses should be doing, but our roster is not arrayed for it. it's a mess. say what you want about melo, he could make threes at league average.

[RalphSampsonJr]

Is Russ a top ten player anymore? Is George top twenty?

George needs to be used as the dubs use Klay. Nothing more. He cant create plays for others and he cant seem to drive to the hoop anymore.
He likes to go at guys one on one with this weird slo mo type dribble drive then just turns it over everytime.
His defense hasnt stood out yet this season either. Okc were great at getting hands in passing lanes last year. Now both russ and dennis cant get over screens and Adams wants to always come up to high on the ball handler. Thos is cool if your three other team mates are willing to help and rotate but instead Adams and whoever seem to get caught in the same spot this then leads to players like Shumpert looking like Steph

[Old Man Game]

This is a guy who has no respect for his coach. He either needs to get with the program or get a new coach. Only two realistic options here:

Westbrook made some bad decisions (especially that wild three with 28 seconds left), but Billy Donovan needs to take responsibility for not holding his team accountable. He said after the game that he didn’t think it was a terrible shot while hinting that’s not what they drew up. (It sounds like the plan was to score a quick two and foul. Westbrook took a deep three immediately after catching the ball, like he’s Steph Curry or something.)

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/10/26/18026364/russell-westbrook-thunder-vs-celtics-score-clutch-gmib

[Pillendreher]

This is a guy who has no respect for his coach. He either needs to get with the program or get a new coach. Only two realistic options here:

Westbrook made some bad decisions (especially that wild three with 28 seconds left), but Billy Donovan needs to take responsibility for not holding his team accountable. He said after the game that he didn’t think it was a terrible shot while hinting that’s not what they drew up. (It sounds like the plan was to score a quick two and foul. Westbrook took a deep three immediately after catching the ball, like he’s Steph Curry or something.)

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/10/26/18026364/russell-westbrook-thunder-vs-celtics-score-clutch-gmib

There seems to be this weird notion within the franchise that being "positive" and accommodating is somehow going to make players drop bad habits. Melo didn't become a better player after Donovan praised him (!) for our defense. Russ won't stop taking shots like that if they keep letting him get away with them. You have to make change like that happen and can't just expect them to manifest themselves if you make players comfortable.

[Old Man Game]

This is a guy who has no respect for his coach. He either needs to get with the program or get a new coach. Only two realistic options here:

Westbrook made some bad decisions (especially that wild three with 28 seconds left), but Billy Donovan needs to take responsibility for not holding his team accountable. He said after the game that he didn’t think it was a terrible shot while hinting that’s not what they drew up. (It sounds like the plan was to score a quick two and foul. Westbrook took a deep three immediately after catching the ball, like he’s Steph Curry or something.)

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/10/26/18026364/russell-westbrook-thunder-vs-celtics-score-clutch-gmib

There seems to be this weird notion within the franchise that being "positive" and accommodating is somehow going to make players drop bad habits. Melo didn't become a better player after Donovan praised him (!) for our defense. Russ won't stop taking shots like that if they keep letting him get away with them. You have to make change like that happen and can't just expect them to manifest themselves if you make players comfortable.

My theory, Presti's single greatest fear/obstacle is recruiting players to stay in this bottom basement quality of living market. So the last thing he wants is a coach who'll actually hold these dudes accountable in the media and risk them becoming disgruntled with the organization.

[slick_watts]

This is a guy who has no respect for his coach. He either needs to get with the program or get a new coach. Only two realistic options here:

either way he has to get with the program. why can't he get with the program now?

[RalphSampsonJr]

This is a guy who has no respect for his coach. He either needs to get with the program or get a new coach. Only two realistic options here:

Westbrook made some bad decisions (especially that wild three with 28 seconds left), but Billy Donovan needs to take responsibility for not holding his team accountable. He said after the game that he didn’t think it was a terrible shot while hinting that’s not what they drew up. (It sounds like the plan was to score a quick two and foul. Westbrook took a deep three immediately after catching the ball, like he’s Steph Curry or something.)

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/10/26/18026364/russell-westbrook-thunder-vs-celtics-score-clutch-gmib

There seems to be this weird notion within the franchise that being "positive" and accommodating is somehow going to make players drop bad habits. Melo didn't become a better player after Donovan praised him (!) for our defense. Russ won't stop taking shots like that if they keep letting him get away with them. You have to make change like that happen and can't just expect them to manifest themselves if you make players comfortable.

Thats what i think **** me off the kost with Billy. Just the way he talks and acts its like hes walking on egg shells around his "stars".
He will openly **** on Adams in pressers yet has never said a bad word about Russ or PG. What Russ did in this last game was ridiculous. Im not saying Billy should publicly **** on Russ but he seems to just accept what went on.

Melo was the same. Its like billys in high school trying to hang out with the cool kids. He should be an authority figure. Not a peer

[slick_watts]

My theory, Presti's single greatest fear/obstacle is recruiting players to stay in this bottom basement quality of living market. So the last thing he wants is a coach who'll actually hold these dudes accountable in the media and risk them becoming disgruntled with the organization.

after all this and we are in agreement. this is the reason for hiring donovan imo. and interviewing no one else. and it's also why i suspect brooks was let go mostly due to the reggie situation and fall out.