2018-2019 OKC Thunder Regular Season Pt 1: A Renewed Hope

[slick_watts]

westbrook was great in the 4q offensively. i don't see how anyone could complain. the three was bad but that take off the dribble was fine. the only complaint one could possibly make is questioning why westbrook doesn't behave this way all the time.

i still think there's some shady scoring going on in that game. russ definitely had more than 2 turnovers lol.

[Dn4sty]

Since we talked about this a couple of weeks ago: I was listening to the latest TrueHoop podcast earlier and they touched briefly on the comeback win vs the Nets. So fater praising George, Windhorst immediately - and without any prompt - went in on Russ once again. Lamented that George didn't touch the ball twice in the last 90 seocnds. And he also said that Donovan called timeout before the last shot and that "everybody knew why", ie "RUSSELL WESTBROOK BAD".

Russ took two shots in the 4th quarter. One was the horrible 3 with 3 minutes to go and the other one was the layup attempt with 30 seconds to go where he got fouled, but didn't get the call. That's it. He had 5 assists, no turnovers and a USG rate of below 9 % in the 4th quarter comeback. Meanwhile George took 2 out of 3 total shots when on the floor in the 4th quarter. But instead of saying that Westbrook realized that he needed to step back and made sure his team was getting what it needed at that moment, he - once again- just trashes him. When asked by MacMahon about the amount of shots by Westbrook in the 4th quarter, Windhorst admitted that he didn't know. Imagine my shock.

Color me unsurprised as well with regard to the validity of the "George didn't touch the ball"-bib. This is the last two minutes:

1. Harris misses a layup. George grabs the rebound, drives hard to the rim, probably gets fouled by Allen and still makes the shot. 1 point game with 1:44 to go.
2.Crabbe steps out of bounds. Russ brings the ball up the floor, Ferguson sets a screen for George and Russ passes him the ball with 20 seconds on the shotclock. Grant sets a screen for George, George misses the pull-up 3. Schröder gets the offensive rebound, passes to Westbrook with 11 seconds on the shotclock. Russ passes to George at the 3pt line with 6 seconds to go. George misses a pull up 2, Westbrook tries to secure the rebound but fails.
3.Thunder force a miss, Grant grabs the rebound and pushes it up the floor. Passes to Westbrook who then takes the ball to the rim -as already mentioned - and misses.
4.The Nets miss and the rest is history.

He's just making **** up. The layup attempt was probably not the best shot the team was going to get, but Russell Westbrook attacking the rim one on one against a guy that can't guard him is not bad enough to trash Russ for it. He should have gone to the FT line, but didn't. Tough luck.

Oh and regarding the timeout - this is what the situation on the court looked like:



It's not like we had a clear cut fastbreak opportunity. It was a very sensible decision by Donovan because they did not have a good opportunity to score in a scramble like that. Instead of mentioning that, it's "I need to get my shot in"-time yet again. Like if Dennis Schröder had the ball, Donovan would have been absolutely happy with whatever shot they take.

He's biased and he knows it. He even said people could call him a cynical son of a bitch. This is not cynicism though; this is just biased hating while cloaking oneself in this aura of credibilty.

It doesn’t surprise me. The story was ONE bad Russ shot yesterday and not George going off for 47.

It’s lazy media. They don’t have to watch every game, but if they don’t watch a game (which is understandable), then just don’t make stupid comments about it. That doesn’t seem so hard does it.

[Pillendreher]

in games westbrook has played this year the thunder are -4.28pp100 with him off the court.

in games westbrook played last year the thunder were -5.25pp100 with him off the court.

not much of a difference. those sample minutes this year have been better defensively but offensively have been worse. abrines and patterson not making threes has hurt. i don't think schroder has been very good either. noel making his impact felt defensively. if our defense wasn't playing elite level in those minutes our bench would be a disaster.

Just some food for thought on this issue:

Through the first 9 games (aka till Russ hurt his ankle) both Patterson and Abrines were at 57-58 TS%. The Abrines-Patterson-Noel lineup had a 107.0 ORtG.
Since then Patterson's at 34 TS% and Abrines at 42 TS%. Abrines-Patterson-Noel: 91 ORtG

[Pillendreher]

https://www.welcometoloudcity.com/2018/12/6/18129920/okc-thunder-russell-westbrook-evolution

While I don't agree with some of the stats used here, I tend to agree with the general sentiment. I fear what we've been seeing the last couple of games might be more due to his inability to get to the rim right now than due to a different approach to the game though. It would be nice if he found it within himself to combine the two: Being himself attacking and also finding his teammates and being more comfortable with them doing stuff.

[getrichordie]

https://www.welcometoloudcity.com/2018/12/6/18129920/okc-thunder-russell-westbrook-evolution

While I don't agree with some of the stats used here, I tend to agree with the general sentiment. I fear what we've been seeing the last couple of games might be more due to his inability to get to the rim right now than due to a different approach to the game though. It would be nice if he found it within himself to combine the two: Being himself attacking and also finding his teammates and being more comfortable with them doing stuff.

Russ knows his knee(s) aren’t in great shape. He has to save himself for playoffs. That’s why we are seeing a lot of different things on offense this year from him. Everyone keeps saying he doesn’t have his legs under him, but when have you ever seen Russ take so long to get his legs under him?


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[Pillendreher]

https://www.welcometoloudcity.com/2018/12/6/18129920/okc-thunder-russell-westbrook-evolution

While I don't agree with some of the stats used here, I tend to agree with the general sentiment. I fear what we've been seeing the last couple of games might be more due to his inability to get to the rim right now than due to a different approach to the game though. It would be nice if he found it within himself to combine the two: Being himself attacking and also finding his teammates and being more comfortable with them doing stuff.

Russ knows his knee(s) aren’t in great shape. He has to save himself for playoffs. That’s why we are seeing a lot of different things on offense this year from him. Everyone keeps saying he doesn’t have his legs under him, but when have you ever seen Russ take so long to get his legs under him?


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Apparently he rolled his ankle during the Denver game as well, so maybe he's still not 100 %. I don't think he'd be this passive attacking the rim otherwise. Before his ankle injury vs NOP, he was averaging 16 drives a game and 7 FGA on drives in ~31 minutes. Since coming back vs the Kings, he's at 14 drives a game and 5 FGA on them in ~ 35 minutes a game. Something's up and I don't think it's part of the offensive gameplan.

[ThunderBolt]

“I think one of the things is for him when you have two different stints where you miss training camp and then you come back and play a couple of games and you miss again another several games because of an ankle injury, it's hard to get into any kind of rhythm,” Donovan said. “He's still getting his legs under him and he's still getting back to where he was, but he's had a lot he's had to overcome and endure since training camp started.

“The way he plays and the way he continues to progress, I think those numbers will go back to where he's been throughout his career.”

https://newsok.com/article/5617074/thunder-journal-westbrook-still-getting-his-legs-under-him-says-donovan

[Bergmaniac]

https://www.welcometoloudcity.com/2018/12/6/18129920/okc-thunder-russell-westbrook-evolution

While I don't agree with some of the stats used here, I tend to agree with the general sentiment. I fear what we've been seeing the last couple of games might be more due to his inability to get to the rim right now than due to a different approach to the game though. It would be nice if he found it within himself to combine the two: Being himself attacking and also finding his teammates and being more comfortable with them doing stuff.

Russ knows his knee(s) aren’t in great shape. He has to save himself for playoffs. That’s why we are seeing a lot of different things on offense this year from him. Everyone keeps saying he doesn’t have his legs under him, but when have you ever seen Russ take so long to get his legs under him?

Last season, he was missing easy layups in every game during the first month. His shooting percentage on drives was 41.6% in that period.

[Pillendreher]

“I think one of the things is for him when you have two different stints where you miss training camp and then you come back and play a couple of games and you miss again another several games because of an ankle injury, it's hard to get into any kind of rhythm,” Donovan said. “He's still getting his legs under him and he's still getting back to where he was, but he's had a lot he's had to overcome and endure since training camp started.

“The way he plays and the way he continues to progress, I think those numbers will go back to where he's been throughout his career.”

https://newsok.com/article/5617074/thunder-journal-westbrook-still-getting-his-legs-under-him-says-donovan

Yeah I don't think he's there yet physically. He's nowhere close to the explosiveness he had to start the season.

[getrichordie]

“I think one of the things is for him when you have two different stints where you miss training camp and then you come back and play a couple of games and you miss again another several games because of an ankle injury, it's hard to get into any kind of rhythm,” Donovan said. “He's still getting his legs under him and he's still getting back to where he was, but he's had a lot he's had to overcome and endure since training camp started.

“The way he plays and the way he continues to progress, I think those numbers will go back to where he's been throughout his career.”

https://newsok.com/article/5617074/thunder-journal-westbrook-still-getting-his-legs-under-him-says-donovan

Yeah I don't think he's there yet physically. He's nowhere close to the explosiveness he had to start the season.

Could be that. Could be that all of the minutes he’s played is starting to catch up to him.


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[spearsy23]

https://newsok.com/article/5617074/thunder-journal-westbrook-still-getting-his-legs-under-him-says-donovan

Yeah I don't think he's there yet physically. He's nowhere close to the explosiveness he had to start the season.

Could be that. Could be that all of the minutes he’s played is starting to catch up to him.


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So it caught up to him right after a two week break due to an ankle sprain?

[Pillendreher]

Since the Denver game, Westbrook has been taking more than six 3s a game on 32 % shooting. Somebody needs to tell him to stop that.

[Old Man Game]

Russ is giving up on his roleplayers isn't he? Watch the last several games. Teams are packing the paint and Russ is running headlong into the defense trying to force passes to Adams who is the one guy outside of George that he appears to have faith in to actually finish shots.

[Old Man Game]

Since the Denver game, Westbrook has been taking more than six 3s a game on 32 % shooting. Somebody needs to tell him to stop that.

I'm fairly certain his own mother couldn't tell him to stop anything he does on the court.

[Pillendreher]

Russ is giving up on his roleplayers isn't he? Watch the last several games. Teams are packing the paint and Russ is running headlong into the defense trying to force passes to Adams who is the one guy outside of George that he appears to have faith in to actually finish shots.

It has not been pretty since he came back from the ankle injury:



These bench guys need to play better than this. Not even Felton+bench was this bad offensively.

[Old Man Game]

Russ is giving up on his roleplayers isn't he? Watch the last several games. Teams are packing the paint and Russ is running headlong into the defense trying to force passes to Adams who is the one guy outside of George that he appears to have faith in to actually finish shots.

It has not been pretty since he came back from the ankle injury:



These bench guys need to play better than this. Not even Felton+bench was this bad offensively.

Yes. Pros need to play better. No excuses. At the same time the bench has been so messed up by injuries the last several weeks with the differing wings in and out of the rotation I just think its especially hard for them to get into any sort of rhythm. We've seen literally every wing on the roster, down to TLC and Nader, get minutes the last several weeks thanks to the spate of injuries and missed games. It's just tough.

[Bergmaniac]

Russ is giving up on his roleplayers isn't he? Watch the last several games. Teams are packing the paint and Russ is running headlong into the defense trying to force passes to Adams who is the one guy outside of George that he appears to have faith in to actually finish shots.

That's not my impression, he still looks for Grant a lot and doesn't ignore Ferguson (4 assists to him in the last 2 games). If anything, he should look for Adams more after the first quarters instead of looking for the drive and kick every time IMO.

[slick_watts]

they need to continue to play abrines and patterson and have them take threes. volume seems a lot lower especially with the bench. if they are going to play they need to shoot. it's inexplicable that both these guys won't shoot well over the long run.

[Pillendreher]

they need to continue to play abrines and patterson and have them take threes. volume seems a lot lower especially with the bench. if they are going to play they need to shoot. it's inexplicable that both these guys won't shoot well over the long run.

Both of them should get at least one or two shots with the starters each game. Maybe that would help them get their rhythms back.

[Old Man Game]

Russ is giving up on his roleplayers isn't he? Watch the last several games. Teams are packing the paint and Russ is running headlong into the defense trying to force passes to Adams who is the one guy outside of George that he appears to have faith in to actually finish shots.

That's not my impression, he still looks for Grant a lot and doesn't ignore Ferguson (4 assists to him in the last 2 games). If anything, he should look for Adams more after the first quarters instead of looking for the drive and kick every time IMO.

I just feel like he's giving up on any semblance of ball movement to generate shots outside of the PNR with Adams. No wonder no one can shoot for ****. Never know when or if they're getting a look.