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

[Dn4sty]

So it looks like the almost the entire Atlanta Hawks team is hurt for tomorrow

[EnragedThunder]

Melo with 21 points tonight, 50% shooting. Not bad, I'm assuming the hate in this board will die off eventually.

Patterson with 2 points, Heustis with 0 points (granted he received very little minutes).

With Brewer as the starter, the Thunder are on a 3-game winning streak, let's hope it extends to 4 with a win in Atlanta.

[getrichordie]

Read on Twitter

Good call. Dragging Adams out if the paint and then leaving the shooters to rotate is a recipe for disaster against this team.

Donovan did come up with that KD = tall Draymond scheme vs the Warriors, so let's see what he can do in the playoffs.

Donovan is so, so underrated. He out here playing 4D chess. He's thinking long-term when a lot of people criticizing him are thinking short-term.

[getrichordie]

Russ was definitely giving better effort. But dropping versus showing on the PnR is 100% a schematic difference, and a significant one.

I'm gonna pay closer attention to this over the next couple of games. Honestly, I just saw that Russ did not switch as much. Did not notice the dropping.

I think it's a shallow drop, not a deep drop. But it's definitely a change.

Westbrook frequently doesn't put his hands up when guarding perimeter players. Is that a schematic thing?

[bondom34]

Read on Twitter

Good call. Dragging Adams out if the paint and then leaving the shooters to rotate is a recipe for disaster against this team.

Donovan did come up with that KD = tall Draymond scheme vs the Warriors, so let's see what he can do in the playoffs.

Donovan is so, so underrated. He out here playing 4D chess. He's thinking long-term when a lot of people criticizing him are thinking short-term.

Um....could you explain the long term of the last 3 seasons? Because he's sucked all 3.

And you never refute anyone's points when we all bring them up numerous times on why he's been a terrible coach.

I'm gonna pay closer attention to this over the next couple of games. Honestly, I just saw that Russ did not switch as much. Did not notice the dropping.

I think it's a shallow drop, not a deep drop. But it's definitely a change.

Westbrook frequently doesn't put his hands up when guarding perimeter players. Is that a schematic thing?

No. And yet, we still lack evidence of him actually being a poor defender at a team level statistically.

[getrichordie]

Donovan did come up with that KD = tall Draymond scheme vs the Warriors, so let's see what he can do in the playoffs.

Donovan is so, so underrated. He out here playing 4D chess. He's thinking long-term when a lot of people criticizing him are thinking short-term.

Um....could you explain the long term of the last 3 seasons? Because he's sucked all 3.

And you never refute anyone's points when we all bring them up numerous times on why he's been a terrible coach.

I think it's a shallow drop, not a deep drop. But it's definitely a change.

Westbrook frequently doesn't put his hands up when guarding perimeter players. Is that a schematic thing?

No. And yet, we still lack evidence of him actually being a poor defender at a team level statistically.

How have I not refuted? As I recall, I refuted almost every point made against Donovan in the past. I think Donovan has done a great job of maximizing the roster and the talent Presti brought in. I think the issue is some fans tend to look at what is happening early in the season whereas I, and I'm sure some others, tend to look at what Donovan is trying to build for the playoffs.

As you've said, Russ is having a "down year," and Melo is almost 34 and not a super talented defensive player, yet George is having his best season as a player, in my opinion. Jerami Grant is playing better than Melo when everyone thought he would be trash. Given the talent outside of our starting lineup, I'd say we are doing pretty damn good with what we have. He has even maximized a 34-year old chunky Raymond Felton who is averaging his 3rd best season in terms of points scored per 100 and he's shooting 3s better than he ever has. Hell, he's currently making Corey **** Brewer look like Jesus. The fact that we have one of the best defenses in the league with Russ & Melo and the talent we have on the bench should speak volumes. If Russ isn't having a "down year," do we win 50 games? I think so. But my question is, do you put Russ' down year on Donovan?

[Pillendreher]

How have I not refuted? As I recall, I refuted almost every point made against Donovan in the past. I think Donovan has done a great job of maximizing the roster and the talent Presti brought in. I think the issue is some fans tend to look at what is happening early in the season whereas I, and I'm sure some others, tend to look at what Donovan is trying to build for the playoffs.

Enough with these **** myths and legends already. This is just embarassing. When horrible coaching decisions get pointed out, fools like you point towards the postseason as if we were suddenly sweeping everybody.

[ThunderBolt]

Look at a game like last night. George and Melo played reasonably well. Russ had a good second half. Brewer has been better than we had hoped. Not counting Huestis because he virtually didn’t play, four out of five bench guys shot well. Yet we still struggle to put the kings away. We have issues on both sides of the ball. Coaching is an issue. Even if the players aren’t doing what Billy wants, it’s still his job to get them to buy in to what he wants.

[Pillendreher]

Random stat I just discovered (I didn't know stats.nba.com had standing splits like this):

http://stats.nba.com/standings/?Season=2017-18&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&Section=margins

In games where our FG% is better than the opponent's, we're 28-3, which is good for the 4th best record in that category (Behind Rockets, Pacers and Cavs). By implication, we're 12-26 when losing the FG% battle. On a first glance, that's a horrible record, but league wise, that's still good for 4th overall when losing the FG% battle (Behind the Rockets, Raptors and Celtics).

The thing that sets us apart from the other 'top teams' is the frequency of these kind of games. We're just 19th in 'winning FG% battle' frequency (only 45 % of the time we shoot better than the opponent) and 12th in 'losing FG% battle' frequency (55 %). Among the 16 teams currently seeded 1-8 in both conferences, we're the worst in shooting better from the field than our opponent. The only other teams below 50% are Cleveland and Minnesota.

Now there are of course various reasons for losing or winning in FG%. Good offense, good defense. Good offense, bad defense, and so on.

I guess when it comes to us, you can kinda see with the frequency how variance and volatility is killing us.

BTW: 25-2 when our eFG% > opp eFG%; 15-27 when our eFG% < opp eFG%.

'House of Cards' is really a good way to describe this team. If we get going offenisvely for a couple of games in the Playoffs, we have a chance against anybody. If we don't, it could get ugly. Kinda reminds me of 2016.

[bondom34]

Donovan is so, so underrated. He out here playing 4D chess. He's thinking long-term when a lot of people criticizing him are thinking short-term.

Um....could you explain the long term of the last 3 seasons? Because he's sucked all 3.

And you never refute anyone's points when we all bring them up numerous times on why he's been a terrible coach.

Westbrook frequently doesn't put his hands up when guarding perimeter players. Is that a schematic thing?

No. And yet, we still lack evidence of him actually being a poor defender at a team level statistically.

How have I not refuted? As I recall, I refuted almost every point made against Donovan in the past. I think Donovan has done a great job of maximizing the roster and the talent Presti brought in. I think the issue is some fans tend to look at what is happening early in the season whereas I, and I'm sure some others, tend to look at what Donovan is trying to build for the playoffs.

As you've said, Russ is having a "down year," and Melo is almost 34 and not a super talented defensive player, yet George is having his best season as a player, in my opinion. Jerami Grant is playing better than Melo when everyone thought he would be trash. Given the talent outside of our starting lineup, I'd say we are doing pretty damn good with what we have. He has even maximized a 34-year old chunky Raymond Felton who is averaging his 3rd best season in terms of points scored per 100 and he's shooting 3s better than he ever has. Hell, he's currently making Corey **** Brewer look like Jesus. The fact that we have one of the best defenses in the league with Russ & Melo and the talent we have on the bench should speak volumes. If Russ isn't having a "down year," do we win 50 games? I think so. But my question is, do you put Russ' down year on Donovan?

You've literally not once refuted Donovan usingnthr worst lineup combinations the entire season not just early on. Or the lack of player development under him relative to Brooks. Or his admitted lack of an offense (his own saying that he thought it would just figure itself out) or that players don't play as hard for him as they did for Brooks or that Brooks got better results from worse rosters. Or that in 3 years he hasn't figured out how to stagger stars.

He came and was supposedly a coach who used advanced metrics and lineup data and in 3 years hasn't used either.


Literally your only rebuttal over years has been "But the 2016WCF!" which was because Waiters was playing over his head and Robes nailing 3s at a crazy rate

You've not once refuted arguments against Donovan. You have been asked to, but never have.

As for Russ he is having a down year. Bit your random shot taken there was irrelevant to that. We still lack statistical evidence of him harming the teams defense and he is in the end a pretty much neutral defender. Always has been, and given his offensive load that's pretty solid. You don't like him, but its statistically true.

[bondom34]

How have I not refuted? As I recall, I refuted almost every point made against Donovan in the past. I think Donovan has done a great job of maximizing the roster and the talent Presti brought in. I think the issue is some fans tend to look at what is happening early in the season whereas I, and I'm sure some others, tend to look at what Donovan is trying to build for the playoffs.

Enough with these **** myths and legends already. This is just embarassing. When horrible coaching decisions get pointed out, fools like you point towards the postseason as if we were suddenly sweeping everybody.

Disnt see this. But mostly this.

[spearsy23]

How have I not refuted? As I recall, I refuted almost every point made against Donovan in the past. I think Donovan has done a great job of maximizing the roster and the talent Presti brought in. I think the issue is some fans tend to look at what is happening early in the season whereas I, and I'm sure some others, tend to look at what Donovan is trying to build for the playoffs.

Enough with these **** myths and legends already. This is just embarassing. When horrible coaching decisions get pointed out, fools like you point towards the postseason as if we were suddenly sweeping everybody.

Disnt see this. But mostly this.

But we took Houston to 5 games!

[InTheSabonus]

DeRozan used to stand still on the wing. "He hangs out here a lot," Nurse says, using a salt shaker to represent DeRozan. "He can hang there some. But I want him to hang here, too." He moves the salt shaker to the corner.

Shifting positions isn't just about hunting shots. It forces the defense to reshape itself, to make decisions, and sometimes those decisions leave gaps for DeRozan's teammates. Highlight dunks are nice. Toronto's coaches derive more satisfaction from DeRozan skulking five feet sideways into a pocket of space..."He's getting there," Nurse says. "I mean, he did literally no cutting before."...None of it will matter if Toronto reverts on offense. "One thing we know: Going to Kyle and DeMar over and over didn't work in the playoffs," Casey says.

Hmmm...

[Pillendreher]

I'm doing my best to help pay for the team next season

[Dadouv47]

I'm doing my best to help pay for the team next season

Hope it's not a jynx with the #13 t shirt

[Pillendreher]

I'm doing my best to help pay for the team next season

Hope it's not a jynx with the #13 t shirt

There's no more space in my wardrobe for discarded Thunder shirts since the Durant one is still there. As long as I'm keeping that, George will never leave.

[spearsy23]

I'm doing my best to help pay for the team next season

Hope it's not a jynx with the #13 t shirt

There's no more space in my wardrobe for discarded Thunder shirts since the Durant one is still there. As long as I'm keeping that, George will never leave.

I want some robes gear but can't ever find any of the new stuff, even at the arena there was nothing.

[wco81]

Are those licensed? Do they get royalties?

[Pillendreher]

Are those licensed? Do they get royalties?

I bought them from the German Nike Store.

[Andre Roberstan]

How have I not refuted? As I recall, I refuted almost every point made against Donovan in the past. I think Donovan has done a great job of maximizing the roster and the talent Presti brought in. I think the issue is some fans tend to look at what is happening early in the season whereas I, and I'm sure some others, tend to look at what Donovan is trying to build for the playoffs.

Enough with these **** myths and legends already. This is just embarassing. When horrible coaching decisions get pointed out, fools like you point towards the postseason as if we were suddenly sweeping everybody.

Let's not resort to name calling, please.