Thunder @ Kings

[3gbrrrfkyt]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu8dLCzufCM[/youtube]

[MASH Transit]

Whether or not the core of Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka develops into a dynasty will be dependent upon how Sam Presti handles the head coaching spot. Scott Brooks has done a great job. He oversaw the development of some monster talent and played a hand in the franchises turn around. But lets be honest, and you can see this in the type of basketball the Thunder play(A whole lot of iso ball, especially late), the talent on that roster is far more responsible for OKC's success than Scott Brooks coaching prowess. The Thunder currently have an amateur driver behind the wheel of a formula 1 race car. Sure, he'll win a bunch of races against sub par cars in meaningless track races simply on the pedigree of his vehicle, but when he's up against superior drivers in races that matter, against cars that aren't completely over matched, he'll struggle.

Maybe he'll be a great coach down the line, but he isn't yet, and the Thunder roster has developed beyond his coaching ability. He's Doug Collins and it's about time OKC starts looking for their Phil Jackson. Jerry Sloan is out there. He's never won a ring, and I'm sure he's hungry to. Small market, no divas or cancers in the locker room, very young pre-prime core that developed and continues to develop together, etc. Really no potential head aches that may deter a veteran coach. Perfect fit. And I know with almost absolute conviction that Sloan would take Westbrook, Durant, Harden, and Ibaka's games to the next level. Better ball movement, offensive and defensive sets, less turnovers, etc. Just a higher quality of basketball more conducive with post season success. And if not Sloan, there's Jeff Van Gundy, or Larry Brown. Hell, if Phil is healthy call him. I don't know, just try and get somebody that will take OKC's roster and mold it into a great basketball team, and not a team of great individual basketball players. Brooks is simply outclassed by coaches like Pop, Doc, Carlisle, Karl, Thibodeau, Adleman, and Collins.

There's no excuses for the routine lapses in focus, mass turnovers, poor late game sets and execution, and mediocre team defense(OKC has a ridiculous amount of defensive potential). Will Sam Presti see the issues and make a move, or allow the team's speedy success to make him complacent? I don't know. I fear Scott Brooks is there for the long term. I don't even think an early exit in the playoffs would get him replaced, unfortunately. Oh well, we'll see.

[jwilliamson23]

Did anyone else notice how physical the paint got late in the game, especially with Cousins. He was pushing, elbowing and shoving all over the place for O-Rebounds. Initially I thought, why aren't they calling those as fouls. Then I remembered these are grown men, the paint is physical especially late. We got out muscled in the paint. Serge is strong and had a great blocking game. But we just got bullied.

Also, we did a really poor job of staying in front of our man defensively, especially Russell. Isaiah Thomas got by Russell a couple times. Yes, he is quick but Russ is supposedly one of the most athletic guards of all time. Allowing this penetration from the point throws off your whole scheme. It usually causes your help-side big a lot of foul trouble because of the typical rotation scheme. That's a coaching thing though. To have a good team defensive scheme and have effort to not let our man get by us soooo easily. We will keep winning games but when we face teams with quick guards and physical bigs we will struggle. Like:

LAC
CHI
POR
MIN
GS
SAC (When they show up to play)
HOU
MEM

Hopefully none of those teams make the playoffs, or that will be end of our season. Of course there are other issues we have, but as a former college basketball player that is what I noticed. It's a Coaching problem.