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

[Pillendreher]

Since we stopped defending and started taking more 3s (after the first Portland win; we went from .321 3PAr to .381), Adams' role with Grant on the floor has changed as well (attempts per 100 poss):

Till 1/4: 7.10 non-putbkack-attempts at the rim; 77.8 % of them have been existed
Since 1/5: 5.76 non-putback-attempts at the rim; 83.1 % of them have been assisted

And now let's look at Grant:

Till 1/4: 5.62 non-putbkack-attempts at the rim; 87.5 % of them have been existed
Since 1/5: 5.17 non-putback-attempts at the rim; 89.4 % of them have been assisted

Let's also look at Adams' short midrange attempts with Grant on the floor:

Till 1/4: 4.88 attempts
Since 1/5: 3.89 attempts

And finally their USG%:

Till 1/4: Adams 17.5, Grant 13.6
Since 1/5: Adams 14.9, Grant 14.9

A shot distribution like this is just not gonna work. Adams needs to be a guy that gets close to 10 cracks per 100 poss directly at the basket every game on top of his offensive rebounding efforts. To me it's insane that for the last 2.5 months, the team has dumbed him down to getting a high % shot up on every 17th possession that he spends on the floor. And no, it's not a typo. Last season, Capela had a non-2nd-chance attempt at the rim every 9th possession he was on the floor; the same is true for him this season. Why are we too stupid to do the same thing with our Center?

[NaturalThunder]

Since we stopped defending and started taking more 3s (after the first Portland win; we went from .321 3PAr to .381), Adams' role with Grant on the floor has changed as well (attempts per 100 poss):

Till 1/4: 7.10 non-putbkack-attempts at the rim; 77.8 % of them have been existed
Since 1/5: 5.76 non-putback-attempts at the rim; 83.1 % of them have been assisted

And now let's look at Grant:

Till 1/4: 5.62 non-putbkack-attempts at the rim; 87.5 % of them have been existed
Since 1/5: 5.17 non-putback-attempts at the rim; 89.4 % of them have been assisted

Let's also look at Adams' short midrange attempts with Grant on the floor:

Till 1/4: 4.88 attempts
Since 1/5: 3.89 attempts

And finally their USG%:

Till 1/4: Adams 17.5, Grant 13.6
Since 1/5: Adams 14.9, Grant 14.9

A shot distribution like this is just not gonna work. Adams needs to be a guy that gets close to 10 cracks per 100 poss directly at the basket every game on top of his offensive rebounding efforts. To me it's insane that for the last 2.5 months, the team has dumbed him down to getting a high % shot up on every 17th possession that he spends on the floor. And no, it's not a typo. Last season, Capela had a non-2nd-chance attempt at the rim every 9th possession he was on the floor; the same is true for him this season. Why are we too stupid to do the same thing with our Center?

Very enlightening post. To answer your question at the end...I think it mostly lends itself to poor coaching. I don't think Adams' sudden drastic drop-off in the second half of the season two years in a row is some sort of indictment of which he deserves fully credit. I think it's a combination of piss poor coaching (Donovan is not a good NBA coach) and his superstar teammates start pressing more because, at some point in the second half of both seasons, they think they need to achieve more (2018-2019) or should've been achieving more all along (2017-2018), and they start trying to do more than they did October through December.

[Pillendreher]

Since we stopped defending and started taking more 3s (after the first Portland win; we went from .321 3PAr to .381), Adams' role with Grant on the floor has changed as well (attempts per 100 poss):

Till 1/4: 7.10 non-putbkack-attempts at the rim; 77.8 % of them have been existed
Since 1/5: 5.76 non-putback-attempts at the rim; 83.1 % of them have been assisted

And now let's look at Grant:

Till 1/4: 5.62 non-putbkack-attempts at the rim; 87.5 % of them have been existed
Since 1/5: 5.17 non-putback-attempts at the rim; 89.4 % of them have been assisted

Let's also look at Adams' short midrange attempts with Grant on the floor:

Till 1/4: 4.88 attempts
Since 1/5: 3.89 attempts

And finally their USG%:

Till 1/4: Adams 17.5, Grant 13.6
Since 1/5: Adams 14.9, Grant 14.9

A shot distribution like this is just not gonna work. Adams needs to be a guy that gets close to 10 cracks per 100 poss directly at the basket every game on top of his offensive rebounding efforts. To me it's insane that for the last 2.5 months, the team has dumbed him down to getting a high % shot up on every 17th possession that he spends on the floor. And no, it's not a typo. Last season, Capela had a non-2nd-chance attempt at the rim every 9th possession he was on the floor; the same is true for him this season. Why are we too stupid to do the same thing with our Center?

Very enlightening post. To answer your question at the end...I think it mostly lends itself to poor coaching. I don't think Adams' sudden drastic drop-off in the second half of the season two years in a row is some sort of indictment of which he deserves fully credit. I think it's a combination of piss poor coaching (Donovan is not a good NBA coach) and his superstar teammates start pressing more because, at some point in the second half of both seasons, they think they need to achieve more (2018-2019) or should've been achieving more all along (2017-2018), and they start trying to do more than they did October through December.

Last night was another perfect example for this. The first non-putback FGA for Adams came with 6 minutes to go in the 2nd half. And I think they only went to him once (!) out of the Pick and Roll and it was George in the 4th quarter. Meanwhile Westbrook has started using Adams' screens simply to get some more space, but he does not attack the basket or drops it off to Adams. The PnR has basically been converted to a simple space creation tool. And that's just not good enough.

[ThunderBolt]

We might as well change out mascot to The Fighting Truck Stops. That freaking loves logo is so hideous.

[SecondTake]

Since we stopped defending and started taking more 3s (after the first Portland win; we went from .321 3PAr to .381), Adams' role with Grant on the floor has changed as well (attempts per 100 poss):

Till 1/4: 7.10 non-putbkack-attempts at the rim; 77.8 % of them have been existed
Since 1/5: 5.76 non-putback-attempts at the rim; 83.1 % of them have been assisted

And now let's look at Grant:

Till 1/4: 5.62 non-putbkack-attempts at the rim; 87.5 % of them have been existed
Since 1/5: 5.17 non-putback-attempts at the rim; 89.4 % of them have been assisted

Let's also look at Adams' short midrange attempts with Grant on the floor:

Till 1/4: 4.88 attempts
Since 1/5: 3.89 attempts

And finally their USG%:

Till 1/4: Adams 17.5, Grant 13.6
Since 1/5: Adams 14.9, Grant 14.9

A shot distribution like this is just not gonna work. Adams needs to be a guy that gets close to 10 cracks per 100 poss directly at the basket every game on top of his offensive rebounding efforts. To me it's insane that for the last 2.5 months, the team has dumbed him down to getting a high % shot up on every 17th possession that he spends on the floor. And no, it's not a typo. Last season, Capela had a non-2nd-chance attempt at the rim every 9th possession he was on the floor; the same is true for him this season. Why are we too stupid to do the same thing with our Center?

Adams should be more heavily utilized for sure. The PNR with him and WB is gone despite it being one of OKCs most consistent plays. However I don't want to reel Grant back in. His shooting is something the team really needs.

[Pillendreher]

His shooting is something the team really needs.

Then let him shoot. But we can't have him crowding the paint and push Adams away from the basket.



Stuff like this just can't happen. Look at what Adams does.

[SecondTake]

His shooting is something the team really needs.

Then let him shoot. But we can't have him crowding the paint and push Adams away from the basket.



Stuff like this just can't happen. Look at what Adams does.

I think the issue with Grant is that he never passes on those drives. I think it helps keep the defenses honest when he makes those hard drives sometimes, but he should be dropping it off to Adams when he's getting doubled at the rim. He never does though.

[RalphSampsonJr]

His shooting is something the team really needs.

Then let him shoot. But we can't have him crowding the paint and push Adams away from the basket.



Stuff like this just can't happen. Look at what Adams does.

I think the issue with Grant is that he never passes on those drives. I think it helps keep the defenses honest when he makes those hard drives sometimes, but he should be dropping it off to Adams when he's getting doubled at the rim. He never does though.

Thats something ive noticed for a while now. Even when Grant sucks in two defenders he NEVER drops it off to Adams standing there with no1 on him

[hardenASG13]

Then let him shoot. But we can't have him crowding the paint and push Adams away from the basket.



Stuff like this just can't happen. Look at what Adams does.

I think the issue with Grant is that he never passes on those drives. I think it helps keep the defenses honest when he makes those hard drives sometimes, but he should be dropping it off to Adams when he's getting doubled at the rim. He never does though.

Thats something ive noticed for a while now. Even when Grant sucks in two defenders he NEVER drops it off to Adams standing there with no1 on him

Adams creates no angle here guys. Saying grant is crowding the or shouldn't drive makes no sense. Grant has to be and should be aggressive, it's not his fault adams has no range outside of 10 feet. That's an adams problem. Watch adams. When there's an empty ball side block and he's opposite, he doesn't fill it and demand the ball. He plays off other guys driving , and positions himself smartly for offensive rebounds. That's his offensive game.

[SecondTake]

I think the issue with Grant is that he never passes on those drives. I think it helps keep the defenses honest when he makes those hard drives sometimes, but he should be dropping it off to Adams when he's getting doubled at the rim. He never does though.

Thats something ive noticed for a while now. Even when Grant sucks in two defenders he NEVER drops it off to Adams standing there with no1 on him

Adams creates no angle here guys. Saying grant is crowding the or shouldn't drive makes no sense. Grant has to be and should be aggressive, it's not his fault adams has no range outside of 10 feet. That's an adams problem. Watch adams. When there's an empty ball side block and he's opposite, he doesn't fill it and demand the ball. He plays off other guys driving , and positions himself smartly for offensive rebounds. That's his offensive game.

I wasn't talking about this play, but in general. WB has no issue dumping the ball to Adams over and over again. Grant never tries. I also almost never see Grant kick out to the corners to open 3s either.

We have the same issue with Adams. Once he's on the low block it seems everyone clears out to the weak side leaving Adams with no one to pass to. Even when there is an outlet, he virtually never tries to pass even when doubled.

Ferg has been passing slightly more lately, but in general he's also been a shoot it or lose it guy. # of our key starters seem incapable and unwilling to ever pass. Early against Toronto in the first game we were killing them because the ball was moving all over the place.

Let's not even start on the bench passing...

[RalphSampsonJr]

Thats something ive noticed for a while now. Even when Grant sucks in two defenders he NEVER drops it off to Adams standing there with no1 on him

Adams creates no angle here guys. Saying grant is crowding the or shouldn't drive makes no sense. Grant has to be and should be aggressive, it's not his fault adams has no range outside of 10 feet. That's an adams problem. Watch adams. When there's an empty ball side block and he's opposite, he doesn't fill it and demand the ball. He plays off other guys driving , and positions himself smartly for offensive rebounds. That's his offensive game.

I wasn't talking about this play, but in general. WB has no issue dumping the ball to Adams over and over again. Grant never tries. I also almost never see Grant kick out to the corners to open 3s either.

We have the same issue with Adams. Once he's on the low block it seems everyone clears out to the weak side leaving Adams with no one to pass to. Even when there is an outlet, he virtually never tries to pass even when doubled.

Ferg has been passing slightly more lately, but in general he's also been a shoot it or lose it guy. # of our key starters seem incapable and unwilling to ever pass. Early against Toronto in the first game we were killing them because the ball was moving all over the place.

Let's not even start on the bench passing...

Yep both Grant and Adams have zero vision when theu have the ball in or close to the paint. Seems like something a good coaching team should be able to drill in to their players..

[hardenASG13]

Adams creates no angle here guys. Saying grant is crowding the or shouldn't drive makes no sense. Grant has to be and should be aggressive, it's not his fault adams has no range outside of 10 feet. That's an adams problem. Watch adams. When there's an empty ball side block and he's opposite, he doesn't fill it and demand the ball. He plays off other guys driving , and positions himself smartly for offensive rebounds. That's his offensive game.

I wasn't talking about this play, but in general. WB has no issue dumping the ball to Adams over and over again. Grant never tries. I also almost never see Grant kick out to the corners to open 3s either.

We have the same issue with Adams. Once he's on the low block it seems everyone clears out to the weak side leaving Adams with no one to pass to. Even when there is an outlet, he virtually never tries to pass even when doubled.

Ferg has been passing slightly more lately, but in general he's also been a shoot it or lose it guy. # of our key starters seem incapable and unwilling to ever pass. Early against Toronto in the first game we were killing them because the ball was moving all over the place.

Let's not even start on the bench passing...

Yep both Grant and Adams have zero vision when theu have the ball in or close to the paint. Seems like something a good coaching team should be able to drill in to their players..

Yeah they should run.......more vision drills in practice? Court vision is an intangible. A guy can know where his options are supposed to be, clear headed in a practice or watching on film. Actually Playing and being comfortable enough when driving or in traffic to also see the floor and think slowly is a different story. It's not anything you drill into players.

But agreed, neither are good enough passers at this point in time. Adams has to do a better job creating an angle if his man doubles if he wants grant to find him. Grant isn't Westbrook. Adams has a look of a guy who'd rather try to get in rebounding position than a guy who wants the ball on a dish more often than not. being able to shoot a 15 footer on a kick out would help him too. Teams only have to prevent him catching under the hoop, so 2 guys can just wait under the basket. The defense wants the pass out to adams if he moves outside the lane. Adams doesn't want to catch it because he's basically useless from 12 feet out.

[RalphSampsonJr]

I wasn't talking about this play, but in general. WB has no issue dumping the ball to Adams over and over again. Grant never tries. I also almost never see Grant kick out to the corners to open 3s either.

We have the same issue with Adams. Once he's on the low block it seems everyone clears out to the weak side leaving Adams with no one to pass to. Even when there is an outlet, he virtually never tries to pass even when doubled.

Ferg has been passing slightly more lately, but in general he's also been a shoot it or lose it guy. # of our key starters seem incapable and unwilling to ever pass. Early against Toronto in the first game we were killing them because the ball was moving all over the place.

Let's not even start on the bench passing...

Yep both Grant and Adams have zero vision when theu have the ball in or close to the paint. Seems like something a good coaching team should be able to drill in to their players..

Yeah they should run.......more vision drills in practice? Court vision is an intangible. A guy can know where his options are supposed to be, clear headed in a practice or watching on film. Actually Playing and being comfortable enough when driving or in traffic to also see the floor and think slowly is a different story. It's not anything you drill into players.

But agreed, neither are good enough passers at this point in time. Adams has to do a better job creating an angle if his man doubles if he wants grant to find him. Grant isn't Westbrook. Adams has a look of a guy who'd rather try to get in rebounding position than a guy who wants the ball on a dish more often than not. being able to shoot a 15 footer on a kick out would help him too. Teams only have to prevent him catching under the hoop, so 2 guys can just wait under the basket. The defense wants the pass out to adams if he moves outside the lane. Adams doesn't want to catch it because he's basically useless from 12 feet out.

Im talking passing out of a double team.. something easily practiced.

[Pillendreher]

I think the issue with Grant is that he never passes on those drives. I think it helps keep the defenses honest when he makes those hard drives sometimes, but he should be dropping it off to Adams when he's getting doubled at the rim. He never does though.

Thats something ive noticed for a while now. Even when Grant sucks in two defenders he NEVER drops it off to Adams standing there with no1 on him

Adams creates no angle here guys. Saying grant is crowding the or shouldn't drive makes no sense. Grant has to be and should be aggressive,

Grant is the one totally out of place, not Adams. He has no business running at the rim when Gasol is right there NEXT TO ADAMS and he is defended by a great and strong defender in Leonard. This is just one of those "Let me try another Circus shot here" bull moves by Grant.

it's not his fault adams has no range outside of 10 feet. That's an adams problem.

And this line of thinking is exactly why we never get everything out of our role players. Each guy on this team has a role to fill. Grant's role is to spot up at the 3pt line and take efficient shots at the rim when the opportunity presents itself. It's not Adams' job to create space for Grant's futile driving attempts. What a ridiculous notion. It's not a coincidence that Grant drove 14 times vs Toronto and scored just twice. He's too small to go at the basket against big frontcourts. Yet here we are, praising him for playing out of role and thereby hurting his team. But hey, I'm sure it's better for this team to just let certain players get away with **** like that while blasting the other, better players for not helping them enough.

[Pillendreher]

That pass to Adams needs to happen in the Playoffs. Teams will load up on George and force other players to make plays. The other guys will have space to operate, but they need to take advantage of that. Guys will need to make shots, they will need to move without the ball and they will need to make the extra pass.

[SecondTake]

That pass to Adams needs to happen in the Playoffs. Teams will load up on George and force other players to make plays. The other guys will have space to operate, but they need to take advantage of that. Guys will need to make shots, they will need to move without the ball and they will need to make the extra pass.

That pass should happen. But I'm just as surprised about the pass down to Adams as the pass out from Adams. He's not a willing passer, he literally had to get quadruple teamed to make that pass.

[SecondTake]

I wasn't talking about this play, but in general. WB has no issue dumping the ball to Adams over and over again. Grant never tries. I also almost never see Grant kick out to the corners to open 3s either.

We have the same issue with Adams. Once he's on the low block it seems everyone clears out to the weak side leaving Adams with no one to pass to. Even when there is an outlet, he virtually never tries to pass even when doubled.

Ferg has been passing slightly more lately, but in general he's also been a shoot it or lose it guy. # of our key starters seem incapable and unwilling to ever pass. Early against Toronto in the first game we were killing them because the ball was moving all over the place.

Let's not even start on the bench passing...

Yep both Grant and Adams have zero vision when theu have the ball in or close to the paint. Seems like something a good coaching team should be able to drill in to their players..

Yeah they should run.......more vision drills in practice? Court vision is an intangible. A guy can know where his options are supposed to be, clear headed in a practice or watching on film. Actually Playing and being comfortable enough when driving or in traffic to also see the floor and think slowly is a different story. It's not anything you drill into players.

But agreed, neither are good enough passers at this point in time. Adams has to do a better job creating an angle if his man doubles if he wants grant to find him. Grant isn't Westbrook. Adams has a look of a guy who'd rather try to get in rebounding position than a guy who wants the ball on a dish more often than not. being able to shoot a 15 footer on a kick out would help him too. Teams only have to prevent him catching under the hoop, so 2 guys can just wait under the basket. The defense wants the pass out to adams if he moves outside the lane. Adams doesn't want to catch it because he's basically useless from 12 feet out.

Adams would have pretty easy pass out options. But one of 2 things always happens with him on the block;

1. We clear out to the weak side leaving Adams with no outlet
2. We leave one outlet pass option open. Unfortunately more often than not Adams gets the ball poked away while he spends 5 seconds dribbling trying to decide between passing or hooking.

Grant is no Wb, that's true. But the guy drives so much now that someone should really be showing him film of all those open guys he would be better off dishing to on some of those drives. I like the fact that Grant is a double digit scorer now, but he could still get his, more efficiently, if he didn't feel the need to crash on every drive attempt.

Also, I do think Adams could shoot outside 12 feet. The guy is banging in 3s in practice. I think the game plan is to not allow him to shoot any of those, because then he's not in position for the ORB. I don't really know if we'd be better served with him further out on some of these possessions or not, but I'm pretty sure he could shoot out of 12 feet if he was allowed to. Billy views Adams purpose as an offensive rebound machine only.

[Pillendreher]

That pass to Adams needs to happen in the Playoffs. Teams will load up on George and force other players to make plays. The other guys will have space to operate, but they need to take advantage of that. Guys will need to make shots, they will need to move without the ball and they will need to make the extra pass.

That pass should happen. But I'm just as surprised about the pass down to Adams as the pass out from Adams. He's not a willing passer, he literally had to get quadruple teamed to make that pass.

Again with the lies.

[hardenASG13]

Thats something ive noticed for a while now. Even when Grant sucks in two defenders he NEVER drops it off to Adams standing there with no1 on him

Adams creates no angle here guys. Saying grant is crowding the or shouldn't drive makes no sense. Grant has to be and should be aggressive,

Grant is the one totally out of place, not Adams. He has no business running at the rim when Gasol is right there NEXT TO ADAMS and he is defended by a great and strong defender in Leonard. This is just one of those "Let me try another Circus shot here" bull moves by Grant.

it's not his fault adams has no range outside of 10 feet. That's an adams problem.

And this line of thinking is exactly why we never get everything out of our role players. Each guy on this team has a role to fill. Grant's role is to spot up at the 3pt line and take efficient shots at the rim when the opportunity presents itself. It's not Adams' job to create space for Grant's futile driving attempts. What a ridiculous notion. It's not a coincidence that Grant drove 14 times vs Toronto and scored just twice. He's too small to go at the basket against big frontcourts. Yet here we are, praising him for playing out of role and thereby hurting his team. But hey, I'm sure it's better for this team to just let certain players get away with **** like that while blasting the other, better players for not helping them enough.

So grant is at fault for trying to make plays? Do you want Westbrook and George to create every single shot? With the starters, only those 2 and grant are capable of creating, he's become alot better spotting up at the 3 pt line, and driving. Even when guarded by a "great and strong defender". Should everyone in the starting 5 just stand there or do simple rolls the basket and play off Russ and George all the time? Isn't that what the team and Donovan are constantly criticised for.

When a guy drives at a big man, and the bigs defender helps, it's on the big man to aggressively create a passing angle, if they want the ball. Adams stands there passively, or hides behind defenders if he isn't in his sweet spot. Enough with the circus shot bs. Grants versatility on offense has been much needed this season, he's the best young player on OKC.

It's not adams job to create space for anyone's drives, of course. Nobody said it was. It's his job to create the passing angle if he truly wants the ball though(honestly, do u understand this? It's not quantifiable by a stat, just common sense in basketball). But to suggest guys shouldn't drive, because adams is standing near the rim, and blame the guy actually driving and creating a play is is just mind boggling. Maybe it's why the ability of bigs to step out of the lane is a premium league wide, since basically every teams offense is predicated on shooting 3s, driving, and pick and rolls? OKC, and apparently you, still think this team needs to build to beat the 2010 lakers.

[SecondTake]

That pass to Adams needs to happen in the Playoffs. Teams will load up on George and force other players to make plays. The other guys will have space to operate, but they need to take advantage of that. Guys will need to make shots, they will need to move without the ball and they will need to make the extra pass.

That pass should happen. But I'm just as surprised about the pass down to Adams as the pass out from Adams. He's not a willing passer, he literally had to get quadruple teamed to make that pass.

Again with the lies.

You ever fault Adams for anything? Or is he the best center in the league?