11/17 - POSTGAME | Oklahoma City Thunder (101) - (104) San Antonio Spurs

[Mick75]

That‘s just batshit-crazy!

[Old Man Game]

There's plenty of blame to go around unfortunately.

When you have a player with Russ’ ability then it’s the coaches job to use him effectively. That being said, I can’t completelt blame dononvan when I see Felton play like a true point guard. Is it because Felton learned how to run an offense before he came here or is Russ only capable of playing one way? I have no idea.

Not running the offense (at least partially) through George and playing him with the bench has not worked at all.

You know last year we had a guy who struggled with the second unit too. He looks good playing elsewhere. Hmm...

There's plenty of blame for both sides. Russ is playing like an idiot all season long. Forcing shots, forcing passes, not creating good offense for his teammates. He has this much more help and our offense with him on the floor is worse than last year's offense with him on the floor? Insanity.

On the other hand, it's not just on Russ. Like I said during lour losing streak (hey, we might just start another one!): The offese can't just come from one guy and when his impact falls off a cliff, you're done.

Donovan's biggest weakness is not being able to understand what your players are capable of and how they should be used (accordingly). Patterson was signed to start on a bargain deal, heralded by journalists all over the league. Now he's 9th in minutes per game, 8th in USG% (10 % which is the lowest of his career by far) and has only played a total (!!!!) of 23 minutes (!!!) next to Russ and Adams over a whole month.
So the guy who was starting as of 2 days before training camp is not getting minutes with the starters and is instead wasting away on the bench. Somebody explain that to me. The +/- king of Toronto, a real glue guy, is not getting a chance to improve our most important lineups. Yet we have Grant out there 5th (!!) in minutes and 5th (!!) in USG%.

The Patterson minutes just kill me. He had Huestis out there for a bit trying to guard Gasol while Patterson just wasted away on the bench. I think Billy might just overthink things a lot.

[Pillendreher]

When you have a player with Russ’ ability then it’s the coaches job to use him effectively. That being said, I can’t completelt blame dononvan when I see Felton play like a true point guard. Is it because Felton learned how to run an offense before he came here or is Russ only capable of playing one way? I have no idea.

You know last year we had a guy who struggled with the second unit too. He looks good playing elsewhere. Hmm...

There's plenty of blame for both sides. Russ is playing like an idiot all season long. Forcing shots, forcing passes, not creating good offense for his teammates. He has this much more help and our offense with him on the floor is worse than last year's offense with him on the floor? Insanity.

On the other hand, it's not just on Russ. Like I said during lour losing streak (hey, we might just start another one!): The offese can't just come from one guy and when his impact falls off a cliff, you're done.

Donovan's biggest weakness is not being able to understand what your players are capable of and how they should be used (accordingly). Patterson was signed to start on a bargain deal, heralded by journalists all over the league. Now he's 9th in minutes per game, 8th in USG% (10 % which is the lowest of his career by far) and has only played a total (!!!!) of 23 minutes (!!!) next to Russ and Adams over a whole month.
So the guy who was starting as of 2 days before training camp is not getting minutes with the starters and is instead wasting away on the bench. Somebody explain that to me. The +/- king of Toronto, a real glue guy, is not getting a chance to improve our most important lineups. Yet we have Grant out there 5th (!!) in minutes and 5th (!!) in USG%.

The Patterson minutes just kill me. He had Huestis out there for a bit trying to guard Gasol while Patterson just wasted away on the bench. I think Billy might just overthink things a lot.

Yeah I thought of that as well. You can bet your ass Patterson won't play vs Cousins+Davis the minutes he deserves either. It's gonna be Grant.

We're treating Patterson like Gibson last season and the advanced stats look the same. And decisions like this aren't on Russ. And if they are, we need a new coach so very much, because we can't let Russ run amok with the whole franchise. He's a superb basketball player, but he needs his limits.

[ThunderBolt]

We're treating Patterson like Gibson last season and the advanced stats look the same.

I was just about to say the same thing.

[Pillendreher]

We're treating Patterson like Gibson last season and the advanced stats look the same.

I was just about to say the same thing.

At some point you just can't keep ignoring the elephant in the room. We're turning proven players into way worse versions of themselves and it's not just because Bad Russ is showing himself from time to time. You could give us the 96 Bulls roster and we would find a way to win 53 games.

[Rotten Apple]

I think the first key is Russ and Billy figuring out the kind of PG they want/need Russ to be and then it'll allow PG/Melo and everyone else to fall in line.

There's too much talent for Russ to play that way, he doesn't have to do it all especially when you go up 20.

That's gotta be the foundation of the team's offense and then you find ways to involve PG/Melo.

[Orlando_kingdom]

Fun fact: We have the 4th best DRtG and the 5th best NetRtG in losses. That kinda reminds me of the 2015-2016 season (although we lost those games in a different fashion; this season we just stop playing after having one good quarter): 3rd in ORtG in losses, 1st in NetRtG in losses.

spurs is poor at defend the pick,okc is not play smart after a big lead

[slick_watts]

i was laughing at the post up iso's for melo in the last 3 minutes.

at the end of the day, this team is going to suck with westbrook playing like he is. if he doesn't get better we're not much better (if at all) than last season.

westbrook yelling at dre for not shooting and then acting like a maniac the rest of the quarter is not what a leader does.

[Dadouv47]

Even if Donovan is doing a terrible job and Westbrook is playing really really bad this year, they would have a way better record if they just relax a bit. They enter in panic mode every time things are not working 100% their way for a couple of possessions. It's like they feel put too much pressure on them (probably for being a ''big 3'' and in a win now situation). They are mentally SO weak. Maybe Melo is the one who feels a little bit less the pressure but Russ & PG13 need to chill.

[oken]

USG% >= 30 %, TS% <= 50 %, Guards, PPG Leaderboard:



Justin was right.

I even updated my avatar!

[Pillendreher]

USG% >= 30 %, TS% <= 50 %, Guards, PPG Leaderboard:



Justin was right.

I even updated my avatar!

[getrichordie]

I wonder if Presti is asking Donovan to play Grant more to try and get his trade value up so we can move him for a big? Just a thought.

Also, I think we have figured it out. Not a lot of stern coaches out there willing to bench Russ when needed or get real with him and tell him to stop jacking up shots.

Can you put this on Donovan? Sure. But it happened under Brooks too. Is it possible the OKC organization is afraid of pissing Russ off? He is a bit of a hot head, especially when it comes to reporters. I can see the PR nightmare now.

Look, I think we can all agree that Donovan isn’t encouraging Westbrook to shoot early shot clock 3s nor is he encouraging him not to rotate on defenders.

But it is on Donovan and maybe Presti that they don’t get real with Russ. We’ve got him locked up on a contract. Coach that man the same you would coach any other player.

I will say that it is possible that we just have an Uber-athletic point-guard with a hard personality to manage from a coaching standpoint. I think it is easier for people to point the blame at Donovan here than dare criticize Mr. Triple Double.

Also, someone mentioned that Donovan is encouraging bad play (paraphrasing) in a prior post. What evidence is there of this happening?

I’ll end by saying this: Swap Westbrook our for let’s say... John Wall. Is our losing record as bad? Is John Wall going 3/22? 5/22? No! We have a solid winning record, no crazy runs of forced shots from Westbrook and Donovan isn’t on the fans’ hotseat.


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[ThunderBolt]

There seems to be very little media coverage about last nights game. Nothing from Royce and not much of anything of substance from Katz. No reports or team meetings or anything.

Also, has Donovan ever been asked a tough question by the local media?

[Pillendreher]

There seems to be very little media coverage about last nights game. Nothing from Royce and not much of anything of substance from Katz. No reports or team meetings or anything.

Because then they'd have to talk about the fact that we didn't actually play better after the losing streak (well maybe vs the Clippers but they played like 20 G League players).

Also, has Donovan ever been asked a tough question by the local media?

What does it matter? He's just gonna talk for 5 minutes without saying anything just like Presti in his pressers.

Somebody who does not talk (and think) that way might do this franchise some good.

[ozwizard8]

Looks like another team meeting after the game is needed! LOL. It's the same thing over and over with this team...complete lack of any kind of an offensive system which leads to inefficient offense. Meanwhile the Spurs run everything through good sets with ball movement, screens proper usage of the low post and they simply get better looks throughout the game which leads to more efficient scoring. Russ and PG combined to go 10-38 and it's just because they're taking much more difficult shots than the Spurs are taking. Add into the equation that Roberson's defender is literally not guarding him and either standing in the lane clogging it or double teaming since he doesn't need to be guarded and it's just never going to work since he's out there for 25 minutes every game. Nothing is going to change until they get Roberson out of the starting lineup and implement some sort of an offense and considering those two things haven't happened in Donovan's time here it's never going to happen.

Robertson kills many sets and plays.
Opponents just deny him on those plays, picks. They brought help D from Robertson's defender.

Robertson's offensive woes push people to think he's an elite defender or such.
The fact is he is not that good defender. He has physical tools and he is a good defender. But thats it. He isnt a lock down defender.
People want to be polite and they start their criticism with praising his defense. He's not impactful defender. People dont avoid him.

Huestis, Grant should get more of Robertson's minutes.

***

I dont think Presti can trade Russ so he should consider coaching change at some point.

[Pillendreher]

Robertson's offensive woes push people to think he's an elite defender or such.
The fact is he is not that good defender. He has physical tools and he is a good defender. But thats it. He isnt a lock down defender.
People want to be polite and they start their criticism with praising his defense. He's not impactful defender. People dont avoid him.

Roberson has been our best defender for 3 years straight and is one of the top 3 wing defenders in this league.

"People don't avoid him" - go look at the Bucks game. Giannis started taking jumpers because of Roberson.

[Mick75]

Sorry, can’t take your opinion serious if you’re not even able to spell Robersons name correctly.

[sleestak33]

Looks like another team meeting after the game is needed! LOL. It's the same thing over and over with this team...complete lack of any kind of an offensive system which leads to inefficient offense. Meanwhile the Spurs run everything through good sets with ball movement, screens proper usage of the low post and they simply get better looks throughout the game which leads to more efficient scoring. Russ and PG combined to go 10-38 and it's just because they're taking much more difficult shots than the Spurs are taking. Add into the equation that Roberson's defender is literally not guarding him and either standing in the lane clogging it or double teaming since he doesn't need to be guarded and it's just never going to work since he's out there for 25 minutes every game. Nothing is going to change until they get Roberson out of the starting lineup and implement some sort of an offense and considering those two things haven't happened in Donovan's time here it's never going to happen.

Robertson kills many sets and plays.
Opponents just deny him on those plays, picks. They brought help D from Robertson's defender.

Robertson's offensive woes push people to think he's an elite defender or such.
The fact is he is not that good defender. He has physical tools and he is a good defender. But thats it. He isnt a lock down defender.
People want to be polite and they start their criticism with praising his defense. He's not impactful defender. People dont avoid him.

Huestis, Grant should get more of Robertson's minutes.

***

I dont think Presti can trade Russ so he should consider coaching change at some point.

Watch the Warriors game this week and pay attention to Roberson's defender (most likely Green) as he literally doesn't even guard him. He will either stand by the lane and clog it or double team since Roberson doesn't even need to be guarded and it will cause a multitude of problems but it will be much more noticeable since they're playing the best team in the league. You can't allow the Warriors to play 5 against 4 defensively and expect to have any chance in hell. Also watch whoever Roberson guards (either KD or Thompson) score 30 and then everybody on here will come on here and talk about the great defense he played...LMAO. I've never seen the level of denial that there is on this message board.

[dakomish23]

Would it kill them to keep running plays in crunch time that moves the rock? I saw one play. Got Adams FTs. Everything else an ISO.

[dakomish23]

Looks like another team meeting after the game is needed! LOL. It's the same thing over and over with this team...complete lack of any kind of an offensive system which leads to inefficient offense. Meanwhile the Spurs run everything through good sets with ball movement, screens proper usage of the low post and they simply get better looks throughout the game which leads to more efficient scoring. Russ and PG combined to go 10-38 and it's just because they're taking much more difficult shots than the Spurs are taking. Add into the equation that Roberson's defender is literally not guarding him and either standing in the lane clogging it or double teaming since he doesn't need to be guarded and it's just never going to work since he's out there for 25 minutes every game. Nothing is going to change until they get Roberson out of the starting lineup and implement some sort of an offense and considering those two things haven't happened in Donovan's time here it's never going to happen.

Robertson kills many sets and plays.
Opponents just deny him on those plays, picks. They brought help D from Robertson's defender.

Robertson's offensive woes push people to think he's an elite defender or such.
The fact is he is not that good defender. He has physical tools and he is a good defender. But thats it. He isnt a lock down defender.
People want to be polite and they start their criticism with praising his defense. He's not impactful defender. People dont avoid him.

Huestis, Grant should get more of Robertson's minutes.

***

I dont think Presti can trade Russ so he should consider coaching change at some point.

Watch the Warriors game this week and pay attention to Roberson's defender (most likely Green) as he literally doesn't even guard him. He will either stand by the lane and clog it or double team since Roberson doesn't even need to be guarded and it will cause a multitude of problems but it will be much more noticeable since they're playing the best team in the league. You can't allow the Warriors to play 5 against 4 defensively and expect to have any chance in hell. Also watch whoever Roberson guards (either KD or Thompson) score 30 and then everybody on here will come on here and talk about the great defense he played...LMAO. I've never seen the level of denial that there is on this message board.

So who do you think should start? Felton? Abrines?