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

[ThunderBolt]

I do think Kizz has a valid point that we could have just enough success to maintain the status quo. We finished with a worse seed than last year and have countless issues. Presti acknowledged before the season we needed more shooting and the biggest move he made was cutting Abrines. He also guaranteed Donovan’s final year. There isn’t anything wrong with enjoying the playoffs anymore than there is anything wrong with looking at the bigger picture. Look at this thread title, “a renewed hope”. Were fans reasons for hope validated by what we’ve seen so far?

Also Abrines basically cut himself.

I guess but we’ll never really know.

[spearsy23]

Spoiler:

I do think Kizz has a valid point that we could have just enough success to maintain the status quo. We finished with a worse seed than last year and have countless issues. Presti acknowledged before the season we needed more shooting and the biggest move he made was cutting Abrines. He also guaranteed Donovan’s final year. There isn’t anything wrong with enjoying the playoffs anymore than there is anything wrong with looking at the bigger picture. Look at this thread title, “a renewed hope”. Were fans reasons for hope validated by what we’ve seen so far?

Well I don't blame OP for making ''a renewed hope'' thread. Our offseason wasn't perfect but it was far from bad :
- PG stayed (first time in OKC history that we are able to sign a star/superstar in free agency)
- We got Noel on a VERY nice salary
- We got rid of Melo (and some people had hope about Schroeder)
- We signed Grant on a relatively nice contract
- We hoped Roberson would come back in the end of last year or beginning of this year (at least semi healthy)

Still missing some shooters (even if Abrines was supposed to be there) and still kept Donvovan, but overall it was a good offseason.

When it comes to the question about the possibility of having enough success to maintain the status quo, it's another discussion. I personally believe that playing Portland is great because if we lose against a rival without his 2nd or 3rd best player, it would put more pressure on Presti than if we lose to Houston or Gs in 5-6 games in the first round. Sure, if he wins, the possibility of ''status quo'' for next year is higher, but I hope Presti is smart enough to make the right signings. We also don't know if Bennett wants to keep spending money, so if by some miracle we could reach the WCF, I believe it could motivates him to keep spending money which would allow Presti to sign one or two role players (If Presti will finally sign a decent wing that's another question).

Making a coaching change is obviously a key factor for many fans. I believe most of us here want Billy Donovan gone, but I also think we all know that Presti would find ANY excuse in order to keep him for next year. I personally believe that missing the playoffs would have been the only way to get rid of Donovan.

I don’t blame anyone for creating a thread about renewed hope. Keeping George was pretty cool. However it’s hard to see how we could do anything that could top signing George and getting rid of Melo.

Getting a fully healthy robes back, if such a thing is even possible, would be a major step. Getting a coach who isn't ass may or may not ultimately make a difference, but it gives reason for hope. And adding a productive bench scorer would actually push this team somewhere if combined with the other two. Like, we're not that far away, it's just harder to go from good to great than below average to good.

[spearsy23]

I do think Kizz has a valid point that we could have just enough success to maintain the status quo. We finished with a worse seed than last year and have countless issues. Presti acknowledged before the season we needed more shooting and the biggest move he made was cutting Abrines. He also guaranteed Donovan’s final year. There isn’t anything wrong with enjoying the playoffs anymore than there is anything wrong with looking at the bigger picture. Look at this thread title, “a renewed hope”. Were fans reasons for hope validated by what we’ve seen so far?

Also Abrines basically cut himself.

I guess but we’ll never really know.

I'm sure we will one day. Abrines said we would soon a couple months back.

[SecondTake]

Highest luxury tax in the NBA doesn't matter. WE'RE NUMBER NINE! Ok, we are 9/10 tied with Boston, but we're happy about it! WE MADE THE PLAYOFFS!!! We don't have home court and the playoffs is when Billy finds new and creative ways to blow games, but THIS IS OUR YEAR!!! We'll go as far as our seeding says we should!!! THUNDER UP!!! Ignore PG being hurt that doesn't matter because he's going to be Playoff P just like he was last year! It's going to be great!

Dude we're going to the WCF. Now's not the time to be pessimistic. Billy's tactical tanking worked out perfectly. Enjoy the ride.

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[SecondTake]

Highest luxury tax in the NBA doesn't matter. WE'RE NUMBER NINE! Ok, we are 9/10 tied with Boston, but we're happy about it! WE MADE THE PLAYOFFS!!! We don't have home court and the playoffs is when Billy finds new and creative ways to blow games, but THIS IS OUR YEAR!!! We'll go as far as our seeding says we should!!! THUNDER UP!!! Ignore PG being hurt that doesn't matter because he's going to be Playoff P just like he was last year! It's going to be great!

You sound really upset that OKC got an incredible draw with a legit chance to make it to WCF.

You probably need to take a break from all of this stuff.

What do you want? To root against OKC?

We all know our issues. 6th in the West, PG13 injured, lack of depth, bad coaching. Somehow we got lucky and IF (big if) the players play well and PG13 is semi healthy, we have a shot to go to the WCF. I mean, it's pretty normal to root for our team even if we know all the issues we are dealing with (otherwise I wouldn't watch a game anymore and I wonder why u are still losing time on this forum)

Obviously we need some changes for the future (Joerger to OKC would be a nice start)

Remember what I said our floor was? It's. All. Coming. Together. Like. I. Foresaw.

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[SecondTake]

If OKC loses to Portland without Nurkic in the first round, Donovan should be fired the very next day.
I'm tired of watching this team be held back from great things due 75% to coaching

The only chance Donovan gets fired is if they get swept by Portland. If they lose in 7, which is what I expect with PG hurt, there will be no significant changes just like last off-season. They'll use the PG was hurt excuse instead of accepting the reality that injuries happen and if your roster and coaching is unable to handle an injury then you were not good enough to begin with. The really bad part is that if it comes down to PG being hurt then the medical staff was letting him play down the stretch when he should have been being forced to sit and get healthy. That would be another in the long list of blunders by OKC's medical staff under Presti.

Uh without pg playing we probably wouldn't have even made the playoffs. He had to play

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[SecondTake]

They rested pg because Mil threw out their g league at us

Why is everyone in the media and on other platforms taking this matchup as some kind of laugher? This is the same team that has a losing record over the last two months, right?

On paper OKC should win in 4/5. The problem is that Donovan isn't taken into account when comparing rosters and PG's shoulder is an unknown. If you tell me PG is 90%+ then I say OKC in 6. I don't believe PG is anywhere near that or he plays in game 82 with playoff seeding on the line so I am looking at Portland in 7 and it might not even take 7 if PG misses games. If PG ends up with a serious shoulder injury that costs him a large chunk of next season and people are still worshiping at the alter of Presti I will have no hope at all for this fan base to ever wake up.

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[SecondTake]

So basically we should complain and be pessimistic about everything. I'm not optimistic at all by many things (our roster construction, coaching staff, PG13's injury) but you have to be stupid not to be just a bit satisfied about the fact that we are avoiding playing Gs or Houston and have a shot to advance to the second round (and who knows after that depending on PG13's shoulder).

I think we agree on the bold part. Then you follow it up by basically saying you have to be stupid to not be satisfied that none of it is going to change. I find that confusing.

My argument would be you have to be brain dead to not be completely upset that OKC just lucked into the best possible scenario to maintain the status quo for next season when you are not happy with the roster or the coaching staff. How can you say that you aren't happy with things, but you are satisfied with the outcome that most guarantees the things you are not happy with stay the same. That is like saying you are not happy that your wife is sleeping with other men, but you are satisfied that she sleeps with you once a month.

You're basically saying that a down in his luck bum that won't get a job shouldn't be happy he just won 100k in the lottery to carry him for the next few years

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[hardenASG13]

Kizz, I'll extend the same bet to you that slick is passing on. Okc wins the Portland series, you never post here again. Portland wins it and I do the same. You seem to think every team has it better, make the bet......

[ThunderBolt]

Kizz, I'll extend the same bet to you that slick is passing on. Okc wins the Portland series, you never post here again. Portland wins it and I do the same. You seem to think every team has it better, make the bet......

You’ve already said you are readying to jump on the kings bandwagon as soon as you’ve you’re done with the thunder. This bet is weak. You already have one foot out the door.

[Kizz Fastfists]

Uh without pg playing we probably wouldn't have even made the playoffs. He had to play

They only needed two wins after the all-star break to make the playoffs. Are you really saying that this team is so bad they couldn't have won two games if they had rested PG for that whole stretch? I'm not even saying they should have rested him that long, but resting him a few more weeks for him to actually be healthy would have been nice. Keep in mind they got one win without him against the Bucks so your entire argument is that OKC would have lost EVERY game between the all-star break and the Bucks game without PG. You must really think this team sucks.

[hardenASG13]

Kizz, I'll extend the same bet to you that slick is passing on. Okc wins the Portland series, you never post here again. Portland wins it and I do the same. You seem to think every team has it better, make the bet......

You’ve already said you are readying to jump on the kings bandwagon as soon as you’ve you’re done with the thunder. This bet is weak.

Yep, but I also think they're as good as any team team in the West not golden state, who I think loses KD this offseason, opening it right up. You're obsession with the fact I also the like the kings is funny.

I'd extend the bet to you just to lose some of the negativity on this board, but you'd probably just change you're name again and come back. Itd be hard to change your name to something cooler than thunderbolt (like, you must have thought that was such a cool name to actually change your username to it ), but still.....

[ThunderBolt]

Kizz, I'll extend the same bet to you that slick is passing on. Okc wins the Portland series, you never post here again. Portland wins it and I do the same. You seem to think every team has it better, make the bet......

You’ve already said you are readying to jump on the kings bandwagon as soon as you’ve you’re done with the thunder. This bet is weak.

Yep, but I also think they're as good as any team team in the West not golden state, who I think loses KD this offseason, opening it right up. You're obsession with the fact I also the like the kings is funny.

I'd extend the bet to you just to lose some of the negativity on this board, but you'd probably just change you're name again and come back. Itd be hard to change your name to something cooler than thunderbolt (like, you must have thought that was such a cool name to actually change your username to it ), but still.....

Do you read posts or just show up to run your mouth? I’ve said I think the series could go other way.

[Old Man Game]

I can't believe we actually stumbled into the one team that may have been our best individual matchup in the 1st round. I feel like the basketball karma gods can't actually be this kind to us. There has to be a catch.

[slick_watts]

russell westbrook finishes the year with career low (by far) ftr and ft/fga, career low orb%; lowest ts%, usg%, and obpm since his sophomore season. lowest ast% and eFG% since 2014-15.

close to a career high in drb%.

most of those lows have been year over year trends since his mvp season. westbrook's CARMELO projection in the offseason last summer was +7.3 overall, and he had the 2nd highest 5-year valuation of any player in the league. his current valuation in 538's CARMELO based playoff projections is +5.4, one of the largest projection-to-actual drops over the course of the season. unrelated but remarkable: paul george has one of the largest projection-to-actual rises over the course of the season, especially among non-rookie scale players.

two seasons could still be a coincidence. three seasons would be a trend. next year will probably tell us for sure what the thunder got themselves into with westbrook's extension. early returns are not looking promising.

[slick_watts]

Kizz, I'll extend the same bet to you that slick is passing on. Okc wins the Portland series, you never post here again. Portland wins it and I do the same. You seem to think every team has it better, make the bet......

i don't want you to stop posting here. i enjoy having disparate opinions on the site. our disagreements are nothing personal.

[slick_watts]

I can't believe we actually stumbled into the one team that may have been our best individual matchup in the 1st round. I feel like the basketball karma gods can't actually be this kind to us. There has to be a catch.

i hope it's not pg's shoulder.

[SecondTake]

Uh without pg playing we probably wouldn't have even made the playoffs. He had to play

They only needed two wins after the all-star break to make the playoffs. Are you really saying that this team is so bad they couldn't have won two games if they had rested PG for that whole stretch? I'm not even saying they should have rested him that long, but resting him a few more weeks for him to actually be healthy would have been nice. Keep in mind they got one win without him against the Bucks so your entire argument is that OKC would have lost EVERY game between the all-star break and the Bucks game without PG. You must really think this team sucks.

Post ASB they did suck, really bad. We beat the MIL g league team without PG. I suppose we would have made the playoffs, but likely at 8th only to get bounced in the first round. I'd rather play a banged up GSW in the WCF than in the first round with our own list of banged up players.

[SecondTake]

russell westbrook finishes the year with career low (by far) ftr and ft/fga, career low orb%; lowest ts%, usg%, and obpm since his sophomore season. lowest ast% and eFG% since 2014-15.

close to a career high in drb%.

most of those lows have been year over year trends since his mvp season. westbrook's CARMELO projection in the offseason last summer was +7.3 overall, and he had the 2nd highest 5-year valuation of any player in the league. his current valuation in 538's CARMELO based playoff projections is +5.4, one of the largest projection-to-actual drops over the course of the season. unrelated but remarkable: paul george has one of the largest projection-to-actual rises over the course of the season, especially among non-rookie scale players.

two seasons could still be a coincidence. three seasons would be a trend. next year will probably tell us for sure what the thunder got themselves into with westbrook's extension. early returns are not looking promising.

WB is looking great. Since the ASB his shoot looks a lot better. His decision making has improved immensely this year. He won't be scoring like he used to, but he may be just as, if not more impactful going forward if he keeps improving his shot selection and decision making, which he has been doing.

[Andre Roberstan]

Kizz, I'll extend the same bet to you that slick is passing on. Okc wins the Portland series, you never post here again. Portland wins it and I do the same. You seem to think every team has it better, make the bet......

You’ve already said you are readying to jump on the kings bandwagon as soon as you’ve you’re done with the thunder. This bet is weak.

Yep, but I also think they're as good as any team team in the West not golden state, who I think loses KD this offseason, opening it right up. You're obsession with the fact I also the like the kings is funny.

I'd extend the bet to you just to lose some of the negativity on this board, but you'd probably just change you're name again and come back. Itd be hard to change your name to something cooler than thunderbolt (like, you must have thought that was such a cool name to actually change your username to it ), but still.....

Dude. Give it a rest.

If y'all bother each other this much, set each other to foe and call it a day.