2017-2018 OKC Thunder Regular Season Thread Part Deux: Follow the Melo Brick Road

[Pillendreher]

And this is why I've always said that Russ can't just not defend these kind of situations. This is horrible defense by him. And he does stuff like this all the damn time.

Russ died on the screen like he always does

There was no screen to die on. Capela slipped it. Russ could have easily followed Paul. He just chose not to.

but Steven runs into the paint even though PG already has it covered.

Yeah that's a misscommunication. But even then it's idiotic: Why rotate George on Capela and Adams out to Paul?!

Russ ends up having to guard two people and Capela is being guarded by PG and SA.

The thing is: Russ isn't guarding anybody. He just floats around. It should not be Adams job to run all the way out to the 3pt line and leave his assignment because Russ just stops moving. That's an idiotic scheme. And we have been doing it all season long. Enough with trying to hide Russ not doing anything.

[ThunderBolt]

And this is why I've always said that Russ can't just not defend these kind of situations. This is horrible defense by him. And he does stuff like this all the damn time.

To be fair, I think both Russ and Steven screwed up on that coverage. Russ died on the screen like he always does, but Steven runs into the paint even though PG already has it covered. Russ ends up having to guard two people and Capela is being guarded by PG and SA. They just royally bungled that up. You would think they would cover these sort of things in practice...

True but best case scenario we end up with multiple mismatches that Houston exploits. There wasn’t even a screen for russ to fight through. Capela took off running early but russ still quit.

[Osirus89]

And this is why I've always said that Russ can't just not defend these kind of situations. This is horrible defense by him. And he does stuff like this all the damn time.

To be fair, I think both Russ and Steven screwed up on that coverage. Russ died on the screen like he always does, but Steven runs into the paint even though PG already has it covered. Russ ends up having to guard two people and Capela is being guarded by PG and SA. They just royally bungled that up. You would think they would cover these sort of things in practice...

True but best case scenario we end up with multiple mismatches that Houston exploits. There wasn’t even a screen for russ to fight through. Capela took off running early but russ still quit.

Hmm... I missed there not being a screen on the play. Dre really covers so many sins for this team. If he had been where Huestis was, he would have yelled at either PG or Adams to take his spot and closed out on CP3. He actually talks on defense which is something that its obvious even Adams and PG don't do adequately all the time. If George had just yelled "I have post. Stay Out!" there wouldn't have been such a silly breakdown in the D.

Russ is what he is. He is a brilliant offensive force when he is on, but he becomes a space cadet on defense. Harden does the same types of things, but Houston is much more defensively aware. People either space out (Russ), assume they are guarding their man when it isn't called for (Adams), or don't communicate coverages (PG). Without someone to hold it together, they are all equally bad at defense. The defense has cratered and only one variable in the equation has changed. They could have at least a league average defense with a competent defender on the floor that knows the schemes and actually talks. He doesn't even have to be Dre level.

[ThunderBolt]

Read on Twitter

Not so subtle recruiting effort by russ or am I reading too much into it?

[Pillendreher]

Read on Twitter

Not so subtle recruiting effort by russ or am I reading too much into it?

Friends being friends. I don't think this will come down to footwear.

[Old Man Game]

This team has frustrated me so much with the crap effort most of the year that I find myself unable to even enjoy a game like last night. Instead I just think, 'well duh, the Suns are tanking.'

[ThunderBolt]

Read on Twitter

Not so subtle recruiting effort by russ or am I reading too much into it?

Friends being friends. I don't think this will come down to footwear.

I don’t either but I do think it could come down to more than just basketball, regardless of what George has said. I think he and Russ have developed a strong friendship.

[wco81]

It will be interesting to see at the end of the year how many shot attempts PG and WB get, compared to how many KD and WB used to get.

Seems like he's trying to defer more to PG than he used to when KD was on the team.

[ThunderBolt]

It will be interesting to see at the end of the year how many shot attempts PG and WB get, compared to how many KD and WB used to get.

Seems like he's trying to defer more to PG than he used to when KD was on the team.

The problem is it will likely only be a 4-5 game sample size.

[Andre Roberstan]

It will be interesting to see at the end of the year how many shot attempts PG and WB get, compared to how many KD and WB used to get.

Seems like he's trying to defer more to PG than he used to when KD was on the team.

Russ usage in 2015–16: 31%
KD usage in 2015–16: 31%

Russ usage in 2017–18: 34%
PG usage in 2017–18: 26%

Russ FGA in 2015–16: 18 FGA
KD FGA in 2015–16: 19 FGA

Russ FGA in 2017–18: 21 FGA
PG FGA in 2017–18: 17 FGA

Russ % of total passes going to KD in 2015–16: 37%

Russ % of passes going to PG in 2017–18: 30%

Russ number of touches in 2015–16: 87
KD number of touches in 2015–16: 64

Russ number of touches in 2017–18: 95
PG number of touches in 2015–16: 55

Russ time of possession per touch in 2015–16: 8.5 sec
KD time of possession per touch in 2015–16: 3.6 sec

Russ time of possession per touch in 2017–18: 9.2 sec
PG time of possession per touch in 2017–18: 2.8 sec

Nothing I can find indicates that there's a greater level of deferment going on with PG than there was with KD. In fact, the OPPOSITE trend holds true across every statistical category.

Some of that may be due to increased touches being siphoned off by Melo/Steve. Some of that may be due to changes in NBA style. But if anything the main trend here seems to be PG getting more use as an off-the-ball weapon and not having the ball in his hands much.

Forty percent of Russ's passes went to KD. FORTY. FRIGGING. PERCENT. I'm still in shock from looking through this.

[wco81]

Is PG getting ISOs or mostly catch and shoot opportunities?

I guess you'd expect the Thunder to run more ISOs for KD.

Yeah despite those stats, the quintessential scenario is that it's a crucial possession and WB dribbles into the front court and pulls up and takes an early 3 while KD is trying to get his pass near the elbow.

KD never complained but it had to get to him some of the time.

[Pillendreher]

KD never complained but it had to get to him some of the time.

Should have learned how to get free whole being guarded by the likes of Chris Paul and Wesley Matthews then.

[bondom34]

Is PG getting ISOs or mostly catch and shoot opportunities?

I guess you'd expect the Thunder to run more ISOs for KD.

Yeah despite those stats, the quintessential scenario is that it's a crucial possession and WB dribbles into the front court and pulls up and takes an early 3 while KD is trying to get his pass near the elbow.

KD never complained but it had to get to him some of the time.

Hes at a lower usage in gsw. Seems ok there

[spearsy23]

Yeah despite those stats, the quintessential scenario is that it's a crucial possession and WB dribbles into the front court and pulls up and takes an early 3 while KD is trying to get his pass near the elbow.

That's most assuredly not what generally happened.

[Pillendreher]

One thing that gets lost in this whole 'Roberson discussion' is that he does give this team a couple of easy buckets each game. 1.1 2nd chance points per game. ~2 assisted layups or dunks per game. That's mostly just him moving, finding holes in the opposing defense, cutting, etc.

Since he got injured, nobody has been giving us that. So if Brewer could at least somewhat replicate that (simplifying it: When people load up on Russ, the weakside is way less covered), that could help us quite a bit. We have been lacking easy buckets all season long.

[Thundershock88]

Uconn fired Kevin Ollie. Make it happen, Presti.

[Pillendreher]

Uconn fired Kevin Ollie. Make it happen, Presti.

Aren't we still getting burned with some College guy with no NBA head coaching experience?

[Thundershock88]

Uconn fired Kevin Ollie. Make it happen, Presti.

Aren't we still getting burned with some College guy with no NBA head coaching experience?

Lol! Can't be worse, right? I have Semaj/Norris syndrome.

[ThunderBolt]

I was intrigued by him when we hired dononvan. I didn’t expect him to be the Larry Coker of college basketball.

[retrobro90]

Uconn fired Kevin Ollie. Make it happen, Presti.

Ehh the only reason to hire him a couple years ago was the fact that he and KD are boys. I'd much rather bring in JVG for his team USA connections or Stackhouse because I think he understands the modern game and players respect him.