3/25 - POSTGAME | Portland Trail Blazers (108) - (105) Oklahoma City Thunder

[InTheSabonus]

Melo is great at saying the right things on court and acting like a leader while completely ignoring the advice he's giving others so he can do whatever he feels like.

[High level]

I'm a OKC fan and I hope they beat Houston and Golden State but man they bit off more than they can chew adding Melo. I think that Russ and PG running the team as the only legit scoring options would have worked out much better than trying to satisfy a washed up third option taking away momentum and hurting Adams. Russ PG Kanter and Adams would have been a true problem for opponents all season.

[Thundershock88]

When are we going to blame PG13? I know Melo is trash, Billy Donovan is stupid, but apparently PG13 stayed in LA since the all star week end. He can't shoot anymore and his defense is not near what it was.

And yet he keeps trotting him out there like a point guard with the bench unit. How many bad passes and steals happen when he is out there? A ton. Lillard picked his pocket and PG gave up on the play. I'm tired of watching it. This team is handicapped with a college coach.

[sushibear]

I'm a OKC fan and I hope they beat Houston and Golden State but man they bit off more than they can chew adding Melo. I think that Russ and PG running the team as the only legit scoring options would have worked out much better than trying to satisfy a washed up third option taking away momentum and hurting Adams. Russ PG Kanter and Adams would have been a true problem for opponents all season.

This....Team would have been beast with just pg and russ. Everything else will just fall in line. As soon I saw melo laughed at the thought of coming off the bench, I knew you guys were Fuqed.

[Osirus89]

When are we going to blame PG13? I know Melo is trash, Billy Donovan is stupid, but apparently PG13 stayed in LA since the all star week end. He can't shoot anymore and his defense is not near what it was.

And yet he keeps trotting him out there like a point guard with the bench unit. How many bad passes and steals happen when he is out there? A ton. Lillard picked his pocket and PG gave up on the play. I'm tired of watching it. This team is handicapped with a college coach.

You know .. its funny. I probably almost gave myself a contusion face-palming last night as I was subjected to PG led bench lineups for what feels like the millionth time. I complained about it early in the season when the "experiment" first started and I hate it even more now that it is obvious it won't work. As many have said on the board, this has to be a way of placating PG. They did the same thing with Durant and his lineups also always underwhelmed.

The reason is simple. Russ led lineups will always be able to either tread water or be net positives because of his ability to drive through the defense and draw help. Durant and George are neither super quick or exceptional ballhandlers. Durant is longer than George which gives him the ability to shoot over defenders better, but he always struggled to create good looks whenever RW was off the floor. Since PG can't drive or handle the ball particularly well, he can't create shots for others well either. So you have a bunch of guys that can't create shots lumped together with the expection of Raymond Felton. Felton has to be the primary ballhandler in those lineups for them to have any chance of success. However, that runs the risk of marginalizing George so that probably won't happen.

I view it as them giving George his individual time to be "the guy" with the bench. It hasn't worked in the slightest, but that is the reason why they probably do it. Melo would make more sense with the bench since he can at least post up and draw some help on smaller guys, but they aren't worried about Melo leaving the team.

[bbconair]

i like to check melo's stats to see how he's doing. he was a top 500 player in advanced stats, now he's a top 521 (out of 524) player.

i don't think saying he can only get better, or if his shot were on he would be better, is something you can really say at this point. call him a steak but he's well done.

[Kizz Fastfists]

They need a backup PG or combo guard that can run a bench unit. They don't have to be someone that takes shots, but can move the defense to get someone an open look. Felton isn't really that guy unless you are actually going to run an offense. If OKC had a coach with the talent on this roster they would be the 3rd seed and might be in position to fight GS for the 2nd seed with Curry out. As long as they switch everything on defense to let the opponent dictate the mismatch they want to exploit and have the offense as the Russ show with minimal motion and set plays they will continue to struggle.

The Russ show will always be fun to watch and produce results, but the bench unit will always need structure which means you have to instill it for everyone. You can have certain parts of the game where you turn Russ loose and let him run the show, but you can't do it late in close games when the other team knows he is likely to either take an early shot clock 3 or drive to the rim out of control looking to kick it or throw up a wild shot. If everyone stays home that wild shot becomes low percentage or passing lanes are anticipated and easier to jump.

[sleestak33]

That is very true. By the way, do you think Presti thought of the Melo trade as a high-upside, Kanter-contract dump? Presti sells more tickets and is perceived by potential free agents to be a GM who can get you what you need to be a contender. I'm curious to know the intricate thought process that went into this move.

Honestly at the time I thought it was a win on court and off. But Melo fell off a cliff worse than I think anyone could have seen and seems to give approximately zero **** anymore. I miss Enes.

I don't miss Enes just because he was unplayable in the playoffs. He just can't get better on defense.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kanteen01.html#playoffs_totals::none

The guy I miss the most is McDermott. I knew he was about to turn the corner. How nice would it have been to have Patterson starting and McDermott coming off the bench playing the stretch 4 and giving Russ so much space to operate? A line up of: Westbrook/Abrines/George/McDermott/Adams would just be ridiculous.

Kanter was never "unplayable" at any time, they simply decided to not play him against Houston and Golden State. OKC was 2-11 against those 2 teams last year if you include the playoff series. Doesn't appear as though not playing Kanter worked out very well. It would be difficult to do much worse than 2-11 don't you think? The actual truth is that the only way OKC had any chance against those 2 teams would not only to play Kanter but to start him and play him about 35 minutes per game since the starting point of competing with those 2 teams was getting up to around 115 points. You're not beating those teams without playing your 2nd best offensive player which Kanter was last season. As we can all see now this team would have been much better had they kept Kanter and McDermott and not gotten Carmelo. Kanter averages the same number of points per minutes as Carmelo but does it shooting 60% as opposed to Carmelo's 41% and also he is dominating the boards this year at 11 per 27 minutes. They also would have McDermott who is averaging 7.2 points per game and shooting 39% on 3s. OKC's bench has been terrible this year and he really would have helped.

[slick_watts]

Kanter was never "unplayable" at any time, they simply decided to not play him against Houston and Golden State.

in 178 minutes last season versus the rockets and warriors, the thunder were outscored by 17 points per 100 possessions with kanter in the game.

the biggest difference between kanter and carmelo anthony is the team had no problem benching kanter when appropriate. he's a situational role player. anthony should be as well. if he was, he'd be more helpful than kanter and useful in more situations. i wouldn't want to see our defense this year without andre roberson and with kanter on the floor. oh boy.

by the way- knicks haven't been able to defend with kanter in the game all year. surprise.

[Thundershock88]

Honestly at the time I thought it was a win on court and off. But Melo fell off a cliff worse than I think anyone could have seen and seems to give approximately zero **** anymore. I miss Enes.

I don't miss Enes just because he was unplayable in the playoffs. He just can't get better on defense.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kanteen01.html#playoffs_totals::none

The guy I miss the most is McDermott. I knew he was about to turn the corner. How nice would it have been to have Patterson starting and McDermott coming off the bench playing the stretch 4 and giving Russ so much space to operate? A line up of: Westbrook/Abrines/George/McDermott/Adams would just be ridiculous.

Kanter was never "unplayable" at any time, they simply decided to not play him against Houston and Golden State. OKC was 2-11 against those 2 teams last year if you include the playoff series. Doesn't appear as though not playing Kanter worked out very well. It would be difficult to do much worse than 2-11 don't you think? The actual truth is that the only way OKC had any chance against those 2 teams would not only to play Kanter but to start him and play him about 35 minutes per game since the starting point of competing with those 2 teams was getting up to around 115 points. You're not beating those teams without playing your 2nd best offensive player which Kanter was last season. As we can all see now this team would have been much better had they kept Kanter and McDermott and not gotten Carmelo. Kanter averages the same number of points per minutes as Carmelo but does it shooting 60% as opposed to Carmelo's 41% and also he is dominating the boards this year at 11 per 27 minutes. They also would have McDermott who is averaging 7.2 points per game and shooting 39% on 3s. OKC's bench has been terrible this year and he really would have helped.

The thing that killed me about the Houston series, was the fact that he wouldn't try the Kanter/Adams combo. Despite having success with it against Golden State the year before. It may not have worked, but he didn't even try. For a guy who likes to throw **** at the wall to see if it sticks, you'd think it would dawn on him.

[Pillendreher]

The thing that killed me about the Houston series, was the fact that he wouldn't try the Kanter/Adams combo. Despite having success with it against Golden State the year before.

You're misremembering something. That worked against the Spurs. Kanter was riding the bench vs the Warriors.

[Thundershock88]

The thing that killed me about the Houston series, was the fact that he wouldn't try the Kanter/Adams combo. Despite having success with it against Golden State the year before.

You're misremembering something. That worked against the Spurs. Kanter was riding the bench vs the Warriors.

Really? Could have sworn we used it to counter their smallball.

http://m.newsok.com/article/5498642

[Pillendreher]

The thing that killed me about the Houston series, was the fact that he wouldn't try the Kanter/Adams combo. Despite having success with it against Golden State the year before.

You're misremembering something. That worked against the Spurs. Kanter was riding the bench vs the Warriors.

Really? Could have sworn we used it to counter their smallball.

http://m.newsok.com/article/5498642

We killed them with our own version of smallball - Durant at the 4, Ibaka at the 5. Kanter-Adams had a -26 NetRtG in 28 minutes against them. We outscored the Warriors by 24.5 points per 100 possessions with both Adams and Kanter off the floor in that series (59 minutes).

[Bergmaniac]

Kanter was never "unplayable" at any time, they simply decided to not play him against Houston and Golden State. OKC was 2-11 against those 2 teams last year if you include the playoff series. Doesn't appear as though not playing Kanter worked out very well. It would be difficult to do much worse than 2-11 don't you think? The actual truth is that the only way OKC had any chance against those 2 teams would not only to play Kanter but to start him and play him about 35 minutes per game since the starting point of competing with those 2 teams was getting up to around 115 points. You're not beating those teams without playing your 2nd best offensive player which Kanter was last season.

Do you have this passage saved in a text file on your desktop so you can quickly copy and paste it in every discussion on this board?

[ThunderBolt]

Honestly at the time I thought it was a win on court and off. But Melo fell off a cliff worse than I think anyone could have seen and seems to give approximately zero **** anymore. I miss Enes.

I don't miss Enes just because he was unplayable in the playoffs. He just can't get better on defense.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kanteen01.html#playoffs_totals::none

The guy I miss the most is McDermott. I knew he was about to turn the corner. How nice would it have been to have Patterson starting and McDermott coming off the bench playing the stretch 4 and giving Russ so much space to operate? A line up of: Westbrook/Abrines/George/McDermott/Adams would just be ridiculous.

Kanter was never "unplayable" at any time, they simply decided to not play him against Houston and Golden State. OKC was 2-11 against those 2 teams last year if you include the playoff series. Doesn't appear as though not playing Kanter worked out very well. It would be difficult to do much worse than 2-11 don't you think? The actual truth is that the only way OKC had any chance against those 2 teams would not only to play Kanter but to start him and play him about 35 minutes per game since the starting point of competing with those 2 teams was getting up to around 115 points. You're not beating those teams without playing your 2nd best offensive player which Kanter was last season. As we can all see now this team would have been much better had they kept Kanter and McDermott and not gotten Carmelo. Kanter averages the same number of points per minutes as Carmelo but does it shooting 60% as opposed to Carmelo's 41% and also he is dominating the boards this year at 11 per 27 minutes. They also would have McDermott who is averaging 7.2 points per game and shooting 39% on 3s. OKC's bench has been terrible this year and he really would have helped.

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