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

[bondom34]

I do wonder if Donovan wouldn't a better coach with a rebuilding roster where he could instill a system while being seen as an authority figure over young guys. Russ, PG and Melo are veterans that clearly do not respect him and/or think they know more. I'm not saying Donovan would actually have a system, but if he does get another job on a different team it would be interesting to see how they played. I believe Russ is beyond coaching at this point and set in his ways. I blame a lot of that on Brooks for not forcing an offense on him when he was young. Donovan COULD have come in benching Russ every time he took a stupid early shot clock 3 and forced the issue, but he didn't.

Brooks, for all his faults about the lack of an offensive system, always seemed to maximize his rosters. I'm not calling him a great coach, but he isn't a disaster like Donovan. He's doing well in Washington with Wall missing 40 games. I always through Brooks in a 2nd tier of coaches behind guys like Pop and Brad Stevens who have great systems to go with their talent and can maximize their role players. It is why I was never for getting rid of Brooks. It wasn't that Brooks was ever going to become a Phil Jackson, but he was never going to become Donovan either. Getting rid of Brooks without bringing in a coach that would be just as good was never going to be easy. D'Antonio was probably the only option at the time for an equal or better coach.

Hrs college coach so I don't doubt this. And Brooks got respect fromvets for all his faults. I do think Russ had been open to change though. He tried taking a step back early season and the offense stunk. O think he would be willing

are you guys serious !!!??! Westbrook for Collison

I can't even...

[spearsy23]

113.5 ortg with Westbrook on the court. As per usual the offense with Russ is not an issue. Defense without Roberson and offense without Westbrook is atrocious. I've never seen any other team that was entirely dependant on one player on both ends.

Lack of depth at SG. Lack of role players on bench.

And everything runs through Westbrook when he’s on the court because w/o ball in his hands he’s literally useless on offense.

If you want a different system, you are going to have to ask Westbrook (which FO is scared to confront) to start running off of screens and producing off-ball action. What you are seeing is everyone else running off-ball action and coming off of screens besides Westbrook and Westbrook playing P&R w/ Adams because that’s all that Westbrook can do so the offense is catered to him. And why not? He’s the supermax player we all wanted right?




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You realize 113.5 is ridiculously good, right? We probably shouldn't be running everything through Russ while he's in the bench though...

Also lol at everyone else coming off screens. That's literally George and abrines and nobody else.

[anthony00]

113.5 ortg with Westbrook on the court. As per usual the offense with Russ is not an issue. Defense without Roberson and offense without Westbrook is atrocious. I've never seen any other team that was entirely dependant on one player on both ends.

Lack of depth at SG. Lack of role players on bench.

And everything runs through Westbrook when he’s on the court because w/o ball in his hands he’s literally useless on offense.

If you want a different system, you are going to have to ask Westbrook (which FO is scared to confront) to start running off of screens and producing off-ball action. What you are seeing is everyone else running off-ball action and coming off of screens besides Westbrook and Westbrook playing P&R w/ Adams because that’s all that Westbrook can do so the offense is catered to him. And why not? He’s the supermax player we all wanted right?




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You realize 113.5 is ridiculously good, right? We probably shouldn't be running everything through Russ while he's in the bench though...

Also lol at everyone else coming off screens. That's literally George and abrines and nobody else.

is he even watching the games ???

[spearsy23]

GROSs solution is trade Westbrook for mediocre players. Donovan is great and they just need a pg who can be not Westbrook. Maybe a Darren Collison. Nah Indy wouldn't downgrade

I do wonder if Donovan wouldn't a better coach with a rebuilding roster where he could instill a system while being seen as an authority figure over young guys. Russ, PG and Melo are veterans that clearly do not respect him and/or think they know more. I'm not saying Donovan would actually have a system, but if he does get another job on a different team it would be interesting to see how they played. I believe Russ is beyond coaching at this point and set in his ways. I blame a lot of that on Brooks for not forcing an offense on him when he was young. Donovan COULD have come in benching Russ every time he took a stupid early shot clock 3 and forced the issue, but he didn't.

Brooks, for all his faults about the lack of an offensive system, always seemed to maximize his rosters. I'm not calling him a great coach, but he isn't a disaster like Donovan. He's doing well in Washington with Wall missing 40 games. I always through Brooks in a 2nd tier of coaches behind guys like Pop and Brad Stevens who have great systems to go with their talent and can maximize their role players. It is why I was never for getting rid of Brooks. It wasn't that Brooks was ever going to become a Phil Jackson, but he was never going to become Donovan either. Getting rid of Brooks without bringing in a coach that would be just as good was never going to be easy. D'Antonio was probably the only option at the time for an equal or better coach.

He'd be better because he literally couldn't be worse.

[Pillendreher]

Also lol at everyone else coming off screens. That's literally George and abrines and nobody else.

Per synergy, the team is 24th in 'off screen' possessions per game. Out of those 4.6 per game, George averages 3.1. Then there's Melo at 0.5, Abrines at 0.4, Russ at 0.3, Felton at 0.2 and both Ferguson and Huestis at 0.1.

Fun fact tho: We score the 3rd most points per possession on those off screen actions. Yet we run the 7th fewest of them.

[ThunderBolt]

GROSs solution is trade Westbrook for mediocre players. Donovan is great and they just need a pg who can be not Westbrook. Maybe a Darren Collison. Nah Indy wouldn't downgrade

I do wonder if Donovan wouldn't a better coach with a rebuilding roster where he could instill a system while being seen as an authority figure over young guys. Russ, PG and Melo are veterans that clearly do not respect him and/or think they know more. I'm not saying Donovan would actually have a system, but if he does get another job on a different team it would be interesting to see how they played. I believe Russ is beyond coaching at this point and set in his ways. I blame a lot of that on Brooks for not forcing an offense on him when he was young. Donovan COULD have come in benching Russ every time he took a stupid early shot clock 3 and forced the issue, but he didn't.

Brooks, for all his faults about the lack of an offensive system, always seemed to maximize his rosters. I'm not calling him a great coach, but he isn't a disaster like Donovan. He's doing well in Washington with Wall missing 40 games. I always through Brooks in a 2nd tier of coaches behind guys like Pop and Brad Stevens who have great systems to go with their talent and can maximize their role players. It is why I was never for getting rid of Brooks. It wasn't that Brooks was ever going to become a Phil Jackson, but he was never going to become Donovan either. Getting rid of Brooks without bringing in a coach that would be just as good was never going to be easy. D'Antonio was probably the only option at the time for an equal or better coach.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Dononvan got a other job or OKC went in to full rebuild mode and retained dononvan. If anything, it would result in some conclusive answers to debates we’ve had here for a while.

[anthony00]

GROSs solution is trade Westbrook for mediocre players. Donovan is great and they just need a pg who can be not Westbrook. Maybe a Darren Collison. Nah Indy wouldn't downgrade

I do wonder if Donovan wouldn't a better coach with a rebuilding roster where he could instill a system while being seen as an authority figure over young guys. Russ, PG and Melo are veterans that clearly do not respect him and/or think they know more. I'm not saying Donovan would actually have a system, but if he does get another job on a different team it would be interesting to see how they played. I believe Russ is beyond coaching at this point and set in his ways. I blame a lot of that on Brooks for not forcing an offense on him when he was young. Donovan COULD have come in benching Russ every time he took a stupid early shot clock 3 and forced the issue, but he didn't.

Brooks, for all his faults about the lack of an offensive system, always seemed to maximize his rosters. I'm not calling him a great coach, but he isn't a disaster like Donovan. He's doing well in Washington with Wall missing 40 games. I always through Brooks in a 2nd tier of coaches behind guys like Pop and Brad Stevens who have great systems to go with their talent and can maximize their role players. It is why I was never for getting rid of Brooks. It wasn't that Brooks was ever going to become a Phil Jackson, but he was never going to become Donovan either. Getting rid of Brooks without bringing in a coach that would be just as good was never going to be easy. D'Antonio was probably the only option at the time for an equal or better coach.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Dononvan got a other job or OKC went in to full rebuild mode and retained dononvan. If anything, it would result in some conclusive answers to debates we’ve had here for a while.

Donovan did well today

[slick_watts]

donovan is exactly what sam presti wanted.

the problem is that i don't think sam presti expected kevin durant to leave.

[ThunderBolt]

I do wonder if Donovan wouldn't a better coach with a rebuilding roster where he could instill a system while being seen as an authority figure over young guys. Russ, PG and Melo are veterans that clearly do not respect him and/or think they know more. I'm not saying Donovan would actually have a system, but if he does get another job on a different team it would be interesting to see how they played. I believe Russ is beyond coaching at this point and set in his ways. I blame a lot of that on Brooks for not forcing an offense on him when he was young. Donovan COULD have come in benching Russ every time he took a stupid early shot clock 3 and forced the issue, but he didn't.

Brooks, for all his faults about the lack of an offensive system, always seemed to maximize his rosters. I'm not calling him a great coach, but he isn't a disaster like Donovan. He's doing well in Washington with Wall missing 40 games. I always through Brooks in a 2nd tier of coaches behind guys like Pop and Brad Stevens who have great systems to go with their talent and can maximize their role players. It is why I was never for getting rid of Brooks. It wasn't that Brooks was ever going to become a Phil Jackson, but he was never going to become Donovan either. Getting rid of Brooks without bringing in a coach that would be just as good was never going to be easy. D'Antonio was probably the only option at the time for an equal or better coach.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Dononvan got a other job or OKC went in to full rebuild mode and retained dononvan. If anything, it would result in some conclusive answers to debates we’ve had here for a while.

Donovan did well today

Ok.

[anthony00]

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Dononvan got a other job or OKC went in to full rebuild mode and retained dononvan. If anything, it would result in some conclusive answers to debates we’ve had here for a while.

Donovan did well today

Ok.

is that all ?

[ThunderBolt]

Donovan did well today

Ok.

is that all ?

Yes.

[anthony00]

Ok.

is that all ?

Yes.

nothing positive at all wow

[ThunderBolt]

is that all ?

Yes.

nothing positive at all wow

I’ve said repeatedly that I’m basing my opinions on more than a knee jerk reaction to a game. What happened in game 78 of this season does not represent a sudden revelation for Billy Dononvans coaching decisions. The league is full of coaches who for the entire year have been doing the same things you are praising dononvan for doing tonight. If you want to discuss the longterm potential of this team, I’ll gladly have that discussion. Otherwise you don’t need to quote me multiple times, in multiple threads, just to say the same thing.

[Dn4sty]

Yes.

nothing positive at all wow

I’ve said repeatedly that I’m basing my opinions on more than a knee jerk reaction to a game. What happened in game 78 of this season does not represent a sudden revelation for Billy Dononvans coaching decisions. The league is full of coaches who for the entire year have been doing the same things you are praising dononvan for doing tonight. If you want to discuss the longterm potential of this team, I’ll gladly have that discussion. Otherwise you don’t need to quote me multiple times, in multiple threads, just to say the same thing.

I am in no way a Billy fan, but I think the best thing he does is conserve minutes for his starters. Hopefully the rotations change a bit and it results in a rested group capable of winning a playoff series or so

[slick_watts]

corey brewer starting unit now +0.4pp100. trending in the wrong direction. it's cute how they dumped the huestis starters in favor of this so quickly despite the huestis starters having significantly more success.

[hardenASG13]

It's great to see Donovan is coming around on playing more abrines, less to none of ferguson/huestis. Abrines has looked better defensively lately and at least putting in consistent effort on that end.

I think they have to find a way to get grant more minutes at this point going into the playoffs. He's playing extremely confident ball, very active defensively, hitting open jumpers, finishing great inside. They obviously can't sit adams much for him, and I don't see melos minutes decreasing for the playoffs. I think he should get some of the minutes that brewer/abrines have been playing. Neither he or brewer are knock down shooters, grant is a better rebounder and finisher. I love what brewer is doing, but I'd like to see brewer play about 20-22 min a night, with grant absorbing 7 or so additional minutes to put him in the mid 20s. He's been too good not to give him over 20 min a night. There is no reason a Westbrook, George, grant, Anthony, adams lineup can't play together. Westbrook guards the point, george takes the best wing, grant takes the second best wing, adams takes the center, melo takes the worst forward/wing. They aren't loosing any spacing offensively with grant instead of brewer.

This team is extremely close to being on a 12 game win streak right now, whether you want to deny that or not. They should've beat Boston and Portland, and gave the game away to the spurs. I didn't see the Denver game but they lost by 1 in overtime. The rotation is tightening and again I'm just not sure who all these other teams are who are playing better and have better star power (important in the playoff) than OKC. Houston is great but has playoff questions, golden state is extremely vulnerable without curry (their bench inst what it was), and would have to say Portland is currently, would rather avoid them in the first round, but certainly don't see them as unbeatable come playoff time. If anything this team is extremely fun to watch, in part because of how volatile they are minute to minute.

[bondom34]

Huestis has been mostly their best bench wing. Abrines can shoot. That's mostly it.

[Pillendreher]

corey brewer starting unit now +0.4pp100. trending in the wrong direction. it's cute how they dumped the huestis starters in favor of this so quickly despite the huestis starters having significantly more success.

Shot defense is horrible. The only Westbrook-George-Anthony-Adams lineups that are not below 50th percentile in opp eFG% are starters+Roberson and starters+Felton. Starters+Grant is at 39th percentile.
Huestis/Ferguson/Abrines/Brewer+starters are all below 30th percentile in opp eFG%.

If you're just looking at Huestis, Ferguson, Abrines and Brewer with the starters, they're allowing 55.8 eFG% in over 1800 possessions. That would rank 30th in the league.

[slick_watts]

This team is extremely close to being on a 12 game win streak right now, whether you want to deny that or not

is that you, royce young?

[slick_watts]

There is no reason a Westbrook, George, grant, Anthony, adams lineup can't play together. Westbrook guards the point, george takes the best wing, grant takes the second best wing, adams takes the center, melo takes the worst forward/wing. They aren't loosing any spacing offensively with grant instead of brewer.

this unit has performed atrociously on defense this year, by far our worst no-roberson starters combination. you should e-mail billy d. your defensive suggestions!