2024-2025 OKC Thunder Games Thread

[Dadouv47]

im officially a mark d hater

Why? He didn't hire himself...or Billy D or Scott Brooks...or refuse to consolidate the roster to improve it at the top for the playoffs...

how do you fix it when it's the top of your roster that is costing you games?

[Kizz Fastfists]

im officially a mark d hater

Why? He didn't hire himself...or Billy D or Scott Brooks...or refuse to consolidate the roster to improve it at the top for the playoffs...

how do you fix it when it's the top of your roster that is costing you games?

If your 6-7-8 is better then you don't strain the top of your roster having to carry a team. Presti accomplished his goal and made the playoffs. Anything else is just bonus. I've said it for years and no one wants to believe it. The Thunder had a great season, from an organizational standpoint, and if they go out in the 2nd round it doesn't change anything internally. Depth is your enemy, not your friend, in the playoffs.

[Dadouv47]

in a vacuum it's a good thing to play in 36 hours but with the altitude...no idea.

[bbms]

lol

the thing is there are players in the bench that are more positive than starters.

there are at least 3 players in the bench performing better than dort. caruso, cason, wiggins. arguably hartenstein has been a mixed bag

there's absolutely no reason for wiggins and cason to play so little.

dort playing as much as he is playing is a **** travesti he's easily the WORST thunder rotation player this series jaylin included

[Zagor]

Can't play Isaiah Joe anymore, we need 5 good defenders on the floor.

But how can they play guys like MPJ and Jokić who are not good defenders but still team play very good defense, but we need to have 5 good defenders all the time?
That reasoning killed us because MPJ and Gordon were hitting every 3P and we didn't have player who can answer.

Chet and IHart should play less together. In last 4-5 minutes od 4th qtr Mark should have tried unit of SGA, Wallace, Wiggins, JDub and IHart.
Then try same but with Chet instead of IHart.

We can crush them with defensive unit only when Shai has great night. Then Mark needs to play SGA, Dort, JDub, Chet and IHart in clutch minutes.
But when we are struggling offensively, there is no point in relying on defense because we are not going to score enough points with those units.

Mark is showing his inexperience. Unfortunately for us, that could end the season for Thunder.

[Kizz Fastfists]

While overreacting is fun. If OKC wins game 4 they will have court advantage for a best of 3 and be in a good position to win. If they collapse and lose game 4 and the series they will be the most disappointing playoff team in NBA history. it would make the off-season potentially very interesting. Even if they lose games 4 and 5 I can see Presti talking about internal development and not making any moves in the off-season with possible exception of moving a contract to make roster space for a rookie.

[Dadouv47]

he isn't old but Hartenstein was supposed to bring some experienced and he choked too...able to make an air ball with his floater is something.

He was 5-14 yesterday an those were mainly floaters or shots at the rim. He was terrible game one too.

[Dadouv47]

While overreacting is fun. If OKC wins game 4 they will have court advantage for a best of 3 and be in a good position to win. If they collapse and lose game 4 and the series they will be the most disappointing playoff team in NBA history. it would make the off-season potentially very interesting. Even if they lose games 4 and 5 I can see Presti talking about internal development and not making any moves in the off-season with possible exception of moving a contract to make roster space for a rookie.

I know you are already trying to push your agenda against Presti but from a theoretical point of view Presti made the right offseason moves last year by adding 1) a big with good passing skill that had playoff experience and 2) a defensive monster that already won a championship and has experience and was coming of a 40% 3pt season. Can't blame Presti for this postseason mess if we lose against Denver but yeah we aren't playing Kenrich and we probably won't play Isaiah Joe that much so another move should come.

[Dadouv47]

funny enough that the National media praised OKC those last few days because every player know their role from Shai the leader to the second/third best players and role players but it's the lack of adaptation and understanding of the moment that led us to lose this game. There's obviously a world where JDub goes 0/2 in the last minute too but I still liked his chance to at least go to the line and win this game for us.

[Zagor]

If we lose this series, Mark needs to be fired. Hire experienced veteran coach.

[Dadouv47]

If we lose this series, Mark needs to be fired. Hire experienced veteran coach.

stop overacting please. Mark is one of the best coaches in the NBA. Who do you want to hire that is on the market? Doc Rivers? Let's be serious for one second. Maybe we should for another assistant coach with more experience but again I don't know who's available on the market.

That being said, Mark inexperience comes playoff time is a real factor in the same way our players inexperience is an issue. Mark used to make GREAT challenges and is one of the best in the NBA at it but somehow he made two stupid ones game 1 and game 3...just think he's not handling the pressure well.

Rotations were good yesterday though. I can complain a bit over the two big line up but other than that he made the right decisions: benched Isaiah Joe pretty fast because he was struggling on both ends, gave Jwill decent amount of minutes in the last two games (didn't think he would be decent). Maybe it was a bad decision not starting Chet in the OT but we don't know how tired he was.

This team relies on his best player making his jumper and the other guys to hit their 3's because opponents are playing zone defense because of Shai. Neither of them worked yesterday and I don't think another coach could have fixed it. A team built around elite midrange players like Shai or a monster at the rim like Giannis needs their players to make a decent amount of 3's or the offense is broken.

Feel that overall fans are a bit unfair towards Mark and Chet. Mark messed up late in game 1 so he deserves a lot of blame for that but that's it. Chet is playing his best basketball. He needs to improve a lot offensively to become the player we want him to be but that's who he's right now and he's delivering on defense. Can't expect Chet to step up on offense in the same way JDub did yesterday, he isn't there yet in his development and even less after his terrible injury. That's the main reason why I hated those anti SGA MVP propaganda because Shai is almost our entire offense despite what common NBA fans say.

[Dadouv47]

Chet/JDub best quarter in a playoff game but OKC is forcing too many shots and Shai looks very nervous (hope I'm wrong about Shai)

wrote this before Q1 was over...I don't know if he was a bit injured or just super nervous but I don't get it. Some will say he's a choker but I saw him balling against Dallas last year.

[Dadouv47]

Nuggets players not named Jokic were 53% from three...

Thunder with a "beautiful" 38/25/68. Way worse than game 1 and probably the worst shooting performance from OKC in this new era.

[Kizz Fastfists]

stop overacting please. Mark is one of the best coaches in the NBA. Who do you want to hire that is on the market? Doc Rivers? Let's be serious for one second.

Michael Malone was the name that came to mind as soon as I read it. I'm not going to say he would fit with Presti, but he's a good coach. Presti has always hired first time head coaches. Presti likes a certain type of coach and runs the organization his way. Like it or hate it I don't see him changing and bringing in a veteran coach. I don't see him suddenly becoming a GM that adds a significant piece at the deadline. I don't see Presti deviating from who has been his entire career. I don't think another first time coach is the answer and I expect Mark to back next year. Presti could make a significant roster move this off-season, but I'll have to see it to believe. He's made significant off-season moves before, i.e. trading for Oladipo, PG13 and Melo come to mind. So I'm not leaving that completely out of the realm of possibilities, but I just don't see him doing that with such a young team and his love for internal growth and development.

If OKC loses I expect Presti to run it back and expect Topic to be the guy coming off the bench to keep the offense flowing. Topic was one of the beat P&R prospects ever and some called him the best ever. I'm looking forward to seeing Topic running P&R with IH and Chet next season. This is still a VERY young team. This is also the first time OKC has gone into the playoffs with me expecting a title since the year Russ got hurt against Houston. While a second round exit would be VERY disappointing I don't think Presti makes a blockbuster type of move given the age of the team and growth JDub, Chet and others still have. It just isn't the type of thing Presti has ever done with a team close to a championship and very young. Perkins was NOT a huge move. I'm more critical of Presti than anyone here, but he has been consistent over the years and been largely predictable. He believes in continuity and I don't see him doing anything significant with a team this young and this close even if they have another 2nd round exit.

[Dadouv47]

stop overacting please. Mark is one of the best coaches in the NBA. Who do you want to hire that is on the market? Doc Rivers? Let's be serious for one second.

Michael Malone was the name that came to mind as soon as I read it. I'm not going to say he would fit with Presti, but he's a good coach. Presti has always hired first time head coaches. Presti likes a certain type of coach and runs the organization his way. Like it or hate it I don't see him changing and bringing in a veteran coach. I don't see him suddenly becoming a GM that adds a significant piece at the deadline. I don't see Presti deviating from who has been his entire career. I don't think another first time coach is the answer and I expect Mark to back next year. Presti could make a significant roster move this off-season, but I'll have to see it to believe. He's made significant off-season moves before, i.e. trading for Oladipo, PG13 and Melo come to mind. So I'm not leaving that completely out of the realm of possibilities, but I just don't see him doing that with such a young team and his love for internal growth and development.

If OKC loses I expect Presti to run it back and expect Topic to be the guy coming off the bench to keep the offense flowing. Topic was one of the beat P&R prospects ever and some called him the best ever. I'm looking forward to seeing Topic running P&R with IH and Chet next season. This is still a VERY young team. This is also the first time OKC has gone into the playoffs with me expecting a title since the year Russ got hurt against Houston. While a second round exit would be VERY disappointing I don't think Presti makes a blockbuster type of move given the age of the team and growth JDub, Chet and others still have. It just isn't the type of thing Presti has ever done with a team close to a championship and very young. Perkins was NOT a huge move. I'm more critical of Presti than anyone here, but he has been consistent over the years and been largely predictable. He believes in continuity and I don't see him doing anything significant with a team this young and this close even if they have another 2nd round exit.

Billy Donovan and Brooks were terrible coaches...Mark D is a very good one. yeah he lacks experience and if a coach like Spoelstra or Ty Lue becomes available I would be more open about going for that veteran coach that knows how to win a championship but those guys aren't on the market for obvious reasons.

Presti likes continuity a bit too much but he still made two offseason moves adding two key players (at least in theory) to give us the best chances to compete for a championship. Hartenstein is having almost starter minutes and Caruso is by far the bench player with more minutes played in the POs and we should have won game one thanks to him (narrative would be that Presti made a genius trade without that Gordon 3). He was also the only player not named JDub to make key shots in the 3rd quarter and his experience is still important to this team that lack experience and is choking again

I don't know what a significant move means to you but we don't have future cap flexibility to add a a true star if we plan to keep JDub and Chet so at best it's gonna a guy that will take some Dort/Hartenstein minutes...obviously Cam Johnson comes to mind and I would trade a lot of assets for Desmond Bane if he becomes available but I still think it's unlikely the Grizzlies goes into rebuild mode. There will be other options this summer but I'm still not sure going for a true star and getting rid of several good young players on our squad is the optimal move. I'm not giving up on JDub yet and we can't afford to lose Chet's defense.

I think an ideal offseason would be to trade Joe/Kenrich/Dieng/assets for a good wing/PF and maybe try to sign a veteran big like Brook Lopez for cheap. He has not much left in the tank but we can use his shooting and experience. We wouldn't lose much depth but still add talent at the top.

...and I'm saying this regardless if OKC wins the title or lose to Denver.

[Dadouv47]

PJ Washington, Aaron Gordon...having a roster/player that can defend opponent's PFs should be a priority this summer. I know Aaron Gordon was elite all season shooting the ball but he wasn't getting open that easily against the Clippers.

[Zagor]

stop overacting please. Mark is one of the best coaches in the NBA. Who do you want to hire that is on the market? Doc Rivers? Let's be serious for one second. Maybe we should for another assistant coach with more experience but again I don't know who's available on the market.

It's not on me to name possible coaches. It's not overacting to say that we should part ways with Mark if he lose this series. There is no time for wait for him become a good playoff coach.
This game he wasn't on level of coaching we need.

Nuggets are playing with SEVEN guys. They played 7 game series and somehow they were mentally ready for overtime, Thunder were completely opposite. That's on coach.

Last year he was late to bench Giddey. This time he gives too many minutes to the players who are having a bad shooting game.
With Carlisle, Spo, Nurse we would be 3:0.

[Dadouv47]

stop overacting please. Mark is one of the best coaches in the NBA. Who do you want to hire that is on the market? Doc Rivers? Let's be serious for one second. Maybe we should for another assistant coach with more experience but again I don't know who's available on the market.

It's not on me to name possible coaches. It's not overacting to say that we should part ways with Mark if he lose this series. There is no time for wait for him become a good playoff coach.
This game he wasn't on level of coaching we need.

Nuggets are playing with SEVEN guys. They played 7 game series and somehow they were mentally ready for overtime, Thunder were completely opposite. That's on coach.

Last year he was late to bench Giddey. This time he gives too many minutes to the players who are having a bad shooting game.
With Carlisle, Spo, Nurse we would be 3:0.

well it's not on you to name possible coaches but you should have an idea about who's available before considering this.

I could say that we would need to trade for another franchise player if Shai keeps playing like yesterday but then if the options are an "old" Giannis or a fatty Luka I might decide to keep Shai.

and I genuinely think that we should blame Presti and not Daigneault for Giddey

In the end the only real solution not to face that lack of experience again in the POs is by trading one of Chet/JDub + ton of assets to get a Giannis kind of player and sign another good vet in the offseason. I don't like that path because it's gonna be a very small window to win and we will lose a ton of assets and flexibilty but that's an argument I could hear if a Thunder fan wants to win at all cost as soon as possible.

[Dadouv47]

also let's be honest it's not only a lack of playoff experience with our team. Some players have that "it" factor and some don't. I don't like ANT but I would be a fool to deny that the man delivers when it's playoff time. Tatum started playing very well in the POs at a very young age and without experience. I just can't trust a guy like Isaiah Joe and I don't think two more playoff runs would change that. I would never imagine we could play JWill in the POs but he plays well despite the playoff pressure and his inexperience/young age. I'm still not sure if I can trust JDub but he showed me yesterday that I might be wrong and he was the only positive note of that game.

[bbms]

mark d has always disappointed me when he had to come off the autopilot

he seems like a great prep guy, but he's like one of those game theory poker player that leaves tons of value on the table for refusing to play exploitatively