OKC Thunder Offseason: Avengers Assemble

[bondom34]

NVM

[ThunderBolt]

-Ferguson keeps showing flashes. He should get minutes.
-Dakari just seems slow. It's just preseason, but I have to say I expected more. On both sides of the floor, it looks like he doesn't really know what he's doing.

Ferguson looked decent last night. I like his defensive activity. I'm still waiting for regular season games to get a full read on how good he actually is. I'm afraid he'll get the typical rookie hazing from the officials and end up a foul magnet this season.

Johnson just looks like a dinosaur out there to me. He looks like a back-to-the-basket center from the 1980s just plodding along doesn't really do much in terms of face-up game hasn't really shown any of the playmaking that he was renowned for in the D-League. I don't think there's a place for him this league.


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Agree, no use for Dakari. They idea he can be a playmaker in any capacity in the NBA is laughable. You don't need a lumbering center as your backup, or starter in alot of cases.

I’m not saying you won’t be right when it’s all said and done but I don’t think it’s a good idea to make decisions that rashly. Let’s give him a little bit of
time to adjust to the NBA game and speed. Also, it’s possible he looks better when he’s not out there with other garbage players. Part of player development is letting guys go through growing pains.

[Kizz Fastfists]

Dakari will be fine against other teams that play big. He shouldn't get any playing time against teams like the Warriors or Rockets when they go small.

[hardenASG13]

Dakari will be fine against other teams that play big. He shouldn't get any playing time against teams like the Warriors or Rockets when they go small.

Yea he's fine against other lumbering backups....dont see many other teams going that direction any more. Was hoping he was a little more athletic, just don't see where he'd be better than going small/athletic with the second unit. Okc is really fast, long, and athletic on defense now, they can effectively employ their switch everything strategy alot more effectively this year. Haven't even seen patterson yet either.

[slick_watts]

dakari can actually set screens.

[jambalaya]

If coaches flipped off the super-dink lineup jag when the regular season started I wouldn't bring it up but they don't. I don't care about pre-season, just delivering my critique of this practice early.

I do think Adams will have harder time passing effectively when RS starts cuz the defenses will be more energetic. But try it. They'll need every assist they can get in the playoffs. Last time they were 10th on assists per game out of 16 and pace adjusted perhaps 12-14th.

[spearsy23]

Let's not forget, Abrines can actually put the ball on the floor and create off for himself or others off of P&R, he was only one who slashed a few times successfully during the playoffs vs Houston, alongside Russ and Dipo.
He is a decent ball handler, did that plenty of time in Barcelona aswell.
He is a COMPLETE package. The one in who you want to invest as many time as possible. He is our Klay in the making. Our better D.Green. Fit any 3rd/4th option you want.

I watched D.Green at Alex's age live while he was playing for Union in ABA league here in Europe. He had nowhere near the potential Alex has, regarding IQ, handling, shooting, and yes, tools needed for good defender. Cmon, lets not screw this up, giving Dre MORE minutes then Alex. Split those minutes accordingly who performs the best between these two.

Yep, completely on point. Just waiting for theses guys to hafta eat crow on that. Abrines defense isn't nearly as bad as they make it out to be. His offense is miles ahead. Pretty obvious. Blind minutes to roberson is absurd.

Frankly, anyone who couldn't see that abrines was straight trash last year on defense doesn't deserve to have their opinion considered.

[hardenASG13]

Let's not forget, Abrines can actually put the ball on the floor and create off for himself or others off of P&R, he was only one who slashed a few times successfully during the playoffs vs Houston, alongside Russ and Dipo.
He is a decent ball handler, did that plenty of time in Barcelona aswell.
He is a COMPLETE package. The one in who you want to invest as many time as possible. He is our Klay in the making. Our better D.Green. Fit any 3rd/4th option you want.

I watched D.Green at Alex's age live while he was playing for Union in ABA league here in Europe. He had nowhere near the potential Alex has, regarding IQ, handling, shooting, and yes, tools needed for good defender. Cmon, lets not screw this up, giving Dre MORE minutes then Alex. Split those minutes accordingly who performs the best between these two.

Yep, completely on point. Just waiting for theses guys to hafta eat crow on that. Abrines defense isn't nearly as bad as they make it out to be. His offense is miles ahead. Pretty obvious. Blind minutes to roberson is absurd.

Frankly, anyone who couldn't see that abrines was straight trash last year on defense doesn't deserve to have their opinion considered.

Or anyone who thought he'd still be after his rookie year....or that tried to say Roberson wasn't the worst offensive wing in basketball. Might as well shut the whole board down.

[spearsy23]

It just makes more sense why Donovan hasn't been in any hurry to play him. He's very 1 dimensional offensively. Those spot ups are great but that appears to be literally all he can competently accomplish.

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As opposed to the many different dimensions grant and singler brought?

Or Roberson, who brings no dimension! They need huestis ' dimension, which appears to be spot up shooting. Makes their offense even more deadly.

Also yea, ditto for singler he brings nothing to the table. Grant has been disappointing from a perimeter offense perspective (still way better than roberson- he actually wants to catch the ball and won't pass up dropstep layups on the block, or force guys to take bad shots because they don't want to pass to him.....it happens!). It seems he's in line to play more 4/small ball 5 anyway though. Free Huestis!

For someone who doesn't want to argue about Robes every day you can't seem to keep his name out of your mouth. The difference between robes and Grant/Singler is that Robes is actually a positive basketball player. Grant and Singler are not.

[spearsy23]

Yep, completely on point. Just waiting for theses guys to hafta eat crow on that. Abrines defense isn't nearly as bad as they make it out to be. His offense is miles ahead. Pretty obvious. Blind minutes to roberson is absurd.

Frankly, anyone who couldn't see that abrines was straight trash last year on defense doesn't deserve to have their opinion considered.

Or anyone who thought he'd still be after his rookie year....or that tried to say Roberson wasn't the worst offensive wing in basketball. Might as well shut the whole board down.

No, this something that was impossible miss both real time and on the stat sheet. He was awful. He wasnt able to stay in front of guys, and when he miraculously did they'd simply shove him out of the way and lay the ball up. That said, pretty much everyone acknowledged that he had the athleticism and ability to be better and had high hopes for him. Pretending you saw something others didn't is absurd.

[hardenASG13]

Frankly, anyone who couldn't see that abrines was straight trash last year on defense doesn't deserve to have their opinion considered.

Or anyone who thought he'd still be after his rookie year....or that tried to say Roberson wasn't the worst offensive wing in basketball. Might as well shut the whole board down.

No, this something that was impossible miss both real time and on the stat sheet. He was awful. He wasnt able to stay in front of guys, and when he miraculously did they'd simply shove him out of the way and lay the ball up. That said, pretty much everyone acknowledged that he had the athleticism and ability to be better and had high hopes for him. Pretending you saw something others didn't is absurd.

Not pretending to have seen anything. Just think it's pretty clear he should be playing majority of minutes over him.

[ThunderBolt]

Man, what if we gave up 3.5M cash for Jordan Bell. Damn that would be an awesome small ball lineup for us.

Warriors thinking light years ahead, really. Pay 3.5M plus his salary whereas it’s hard to get a good small ball 5 for that much money in today’s league.

Westbrook
Abrines
George
Anthony
Bell

Westbrook
Abrines
George
Patterson
Bell

Bah gawd. Wish we would have done that.


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The bulls are ran about as well as the Cleveland Browns.

I wish we had gotten a second round pick as well but I’m guessing the fact that we anticipated being tax payers had something to do with this.

[Balkman32]

How do folks look @ the Harden trade now with Durant gone and PG13 and Melo added to the roster.

We basically got Adams and Abrines for Harden. Kevin Martin and a one and done with the Thunder, Mitch McGary some how made it to season two with the Thunder once he put his peace pipe down, and Jeremy Lamb who was on the roster for 3 years but never really did much of anything.

I think most would argue that the Thunder should have kept Harden and signed him to the max deal of 4 years $60 million. But, I get what Presti was trying to do. He was trying to make sure they had layers of young talent when the main guys were just hitting their prime. Which would then help when these guys get older and start to break down.

If Harden is still in OKC I don't think Durant leaves. I think he left because he saw a big 4, and that was what he had before 10/28/2012.

Adams and Abrines were both picks so they weren't actually in the trade. But, it goes to show if you get enough assets in a deal you can get some value. Obvi Harden blew up but who know how this would have looked if we didn't do that trade.

Man only if we would have taken Curry over Harden in the 09 draft...

I am sure Toronto keeps thinking about how they could have had Harden for Val and picks.

Again I don't think I make that trade. But, If I am the Pacers, I don't do that PG13 trade. So some you win and some you lose. I think Sam took a couple of L's with the Perkins trade (getting a center as them become extinct), Harden (the Rockets got the better player), the Kanter deal (giving up a 2018 first and Reggie Jackson, and the Waiters Deal (giving up a first that turned into Furkan Korkmaz of the 6ers). But, has hit on some deals recently in PG13 and the Bulls trade at the deadline.

Its been a crazy road to get here. Lots of ups and plenty of downs between July 4th last year and the injuries between 2012- 2015 where each year we lost a member of the big 3 to injury. Presti really worked his magic to get this team back. They still have an uphill battle.

I can't wait for the season to start. I am very excited for this team to hit the floor. I cant wait to see how these guys play together. I am really excited for the playoffs and to see what Billy Donovan has up his sleeves. Finally I cant wait for a good game between the Thunder and Warriors. The Warriors brought their A game against our cats last year. Now Russle has some extra fire power to throw down. This rivalry will be amazing. I just hope we can stop these guys from winning championships.

[ThunderBolt]

One of the reasons I want Steven Adams to have a breakout year is so people will stop saying we got nothing for Harden.

[RunOKC]

Huestis was stroking it last night

Looking forward to seeing his improvement this season

[Old Man Game]

How do folks look @ the Harden trade now with Durant gone and PG13 and Melo added to the roster.

I look at our current roster as too attenuated from that trade to even analyze it in that context.

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[Pillendreher]

These play-type stats

https://nbamath.com/nba-play-type-data/

are weird. This is the total defensive value added for our current roster:

Westbrook: 316/423
Felton: 26/423
Roberson: 2/423
Abrines: 418/423
George: 128/423
Grant: 38/423
Anthony: 58/423
Patterson: 36/423
Adams: 139/423

And for former Thunder players:

Oladipo: 364/423
Sabonis: 169/423
Kanter: 144/423
Gibson: 408/423

Some of those make sense, some of those don't at all.

[getrichordie]

These play-type stats

https://nbamath.com/nba-play-type-data/

are weird. This is the total defensive value added for our current roster:

Westbrook: 316/423
Felton: 26/423
Roberson: 2/423
Abrines: 418/423
George: 128/423
Grant: 38/423
Anthony: 58/423
Patterson: 36/423
Adams: 139/423

And for former Thunder players:

Oladipo: 364/423
Sabonis: 169/423
Kanter: 144/423
Gibson: 408/423

Some of those make sense, some of those don't at all.

Ah, another example of how stats don’t tell the whole story and can be unreliable.


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[Dadouv47]

Last game was really good. No ISO Melo was great. The team really wanted to move the ball as much as possible.

I hope Patterson will play soon He could fit so well in our team (if healthy )

[OkcMagic]

I had a dream that I invented a pill that makes anyone that takes it shoot 87.5% from the field.


Idk if I should take it or give it to Steven adams


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