2018–2019 OKC Thunder Playoffs General Thread

[JustOneFix]

Lack of outside shooting was the problem all year long. And now it just reached its peak. I knew they would be bad comes a playoff time, but not THIS bad. You can even die on the defensive end but it's impossible to overcame this type of shooting display. Specially in this day and age.

[1bigfan13]

Lack of outside shooting was the problem all year long. And now it just reached its peak. I knew they would be bad comes a playoff time, but not THIS bad. You can even die on the defensive end but it's impossible to overcame this type of shooting display. Specially in this day and age.

The lack of shooting is a problem but it doesn't bother me. What bothers me is this team is too stupid and undisciplined to play to their strengths. This is why they're down 2-0.

Instead of jacking up threes they should be constantly attacking the rim. That was the game plan the entire 1st quarter then as usual they went away from what was working. Too undisciplined to stick to what's actually working.

[CROklahoma]

We are playing Raymond Felton and Terrance Ferguson way too many minutes, these guys dont have nothing to do that much on the floor.

In the same time, only solution for us would be giving Nader and Burton, guys that actually have size, and can shot, some minutes on wing rotation. Why werent they incorporated in rotation during regular season, only Billy knows. I cannot imagine the plan was to play Schroeder, Felton, Russ lineups when the trade deadline was looming, and Presti decided to stay put ...

It reminds me of last years Utah series where Billy finds out Melo is out there too much. And makes the adjustment when we are down 2-0 and 25 pt deficit ...

Burton can shot, he has size, and he can defend. But he isnt accomodated in the rotation to be given playing time.
Nader can shot the ball, he can slash somewhat, but had atrocious DRTG.

Go figure out ...

[ThunderBolt]

https://www.nba.com/thunder/news/release-diallo-190417

#whynot

[Kizz Fastfists]

https://www.nba.com/thunder/news/release-diallo-190417

I wonder when the injury actually happened. Is this the reason he got no playing time after January?

[Kizz Fastfists]

Burton can shot, he has size, and he can defend. But he isnt accomodated in the rotation to be given playing time.
Nader can shot the ball, he can slash somewhat, but had atrocious DRTG.

We have VERY different definitions of "can shoot". Burton shot 30% in the NBA this year on 27 attempts. Burton shot 30% in the g-league on 100 attempts. In his one g-league playoff game he was 0-6 from three! This is one of the few things Billy actually has right. Burton can't play. He is drastically inferior to Ferguson and while the gap isn't as big he is inferior to Felton and Patterson. If you are trying to win games then Burton isn't someone you put in the game.

Nader is a slightly different argument because he is at least a decent shooter from the corner. He has a lot of flaws and again is drastically inferior to Ferguson. The gap between Nader and Felton is very minor if there is one, but the Thunder generally shown a desire to play an aging PG over a younger player. I don't know if this is because of Presti giving the coach instructions or because of the roster construction and the coach going with the veteran over the youth in the playoffs. It is still on Presti either way because the only three players off the bench that are decent, for bench players, are Schroder, Morris and Noel. The lack of any quality wings to bring off the bench is a failure by Presti.

[JustOneFix]

We have VERY different definitions of "can shoot". Burton shot 30% in the NBA this year on 27 attempts. Burton shot 30% in the g-league on 100 attempts.

He has never been given opportunity to prove you're right. He's basically getting no minutes whatsoever. Even greatest shooters in the world can not showcase their touch if they're playing 2 minutes every 5th game of the season.

This is one of the few things Billy actually has right. Burton can't play. He is drastically inferior to Ferguson

That's actually impossible even in theory. You can not be 'drastically' inferior to a guy that plays like 30 minutes a game and scores 6 (six!) points per game while being outplayed on defense every night. Player drastically inferior to Ferguson actually doesn't even exist. His value would be below zero.

[Old Man Game]

RE: whether losing this would be considered under performance, there's also this: out of literally 20 pundits only 1 picked the Blazers to win this series. Not the be all end all, but there's some evidence there the team isn't meeting our reasonable expectations (not just overinflated, fan expectations). There's a lot of combined knowledge of the game there.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26500537/expert-predictions-first-round-2019-nba-playoffs

[Pillendreher]

RE: whether losing this would be considered under performance, there's also this: out of literally 20 pundits only 1 picked the Blazers to win this series. Not the be all end all, but there's some evidence there the team isn't meeting our reasonable expectations (not just overinflated, fan expectations). There's a lot of combined knowledge of the game there.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26500537/expert-predictions-first-round-2019-nba-playoffs

Let's be real: We are flawed, but so is every other franchise. It's not too much to ask to win a 1st round series. Or hell, to actually reach 50 wins for once. We're not playing the LeBron James Heat or the Michael Jordan Bulls each season in the first round of the Playoffs. Them underperforming their talent level is about the only sustainable thing about this team.

[Old Man Game]

Harden just clowns Utah's defense. Must be nice.

[Pillendreher]

Harden just clowns Utah's defense. Must be nice.

Yeah. Guess they are neither to stupid to score on them nor to defend them.

"We're an over team"

[slick_watts]

Harden just clowns Utah's defense. Must be nice.

harden can shoot and even aside from that he's a much better pnr handler than russ. the 'hang back and let russ shoot jumpers' strategy utah uses against us won't work against harden.

[slick_watts]

RE: whether losing this would be considered under performance, there's also this: out of literally 20 pundits only 1 picked the Blazers to win this series. Not the be all end all, but there's some evidence there the team isn't meeting our reasonable expectations (not just overinflated, fan expectations). There's a lot of combined knowledge of the game there.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26500537/expert-predictions-first-round-2019-nba-playoffs

Let's be real: We are flawed, but so is every other franchise. It's not too much to ask to win a 1st round series. Or hell, to actually reach 50 wins for once. We're not playing the LeBron James Heat or the Michael Jordan Bulls each season in the first round of the Playoffs. Them underperforming their talent level is about the only sustainable thing about this team.

i'm surprised to see you use regular season wins as some benchmark of success. our expected w-l the last two seasons was 50 wins. and obviously you're overrating our talent level. we have one really great player at the moment and he's probably hurt. losing in the 1st round w/o hca isn't underperforming no matter what the pundits say. the condition of our roster, the mysterious dropoff defensively, the roberson / abrines situations and russell westbrook decline are what is pertinent imo. losing to the blazers isn't a big deal considering where the team was heading into the postseason.

[Pillendreher]

RE: whether losing this would be considered under performance, there's also this: out of literally 20 pundits only 1 picked the Blazers to win this series. Not the be all end all, but there's some evidence there the team isn't meeting our reasonable expectations (not just overinflated, fan expectations). There's a lot of combined knowledge of the game there.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26500537/expert-predictions-first-round-2019-nba-playoffs

Let's be real: We are flawed, but so is every other franchise. It's not too much to ask to win a 1st round series. Or hell, to actually reach 50 wins for once. We're not playing the LeBron James Heat or the Michael Jordan Bulls each season in the first round of the Playoffs. Them underperforming their talent level is about the only sustainable thing about this team.

i'm surprised to see you use regular season wins as some benchmark of success. our expected w-l the last two seasons was 50 wins.

Expected performance should be raised as a banner this offseason. We were also expected to win a title over the last decade.

and obviously you're overrating our talent level. we have one really great player at the moment and he's probably hurt. losing in the 1st round w/o hca isn't underperforming no matter what the pundits say. the condition of our roster, the mysterious dropoff defensively, the roberson / abrines situations and russell westbrook decline are what is pertinent imo. losing to the blazers isn't a big deal considering where the team was heading into the postseason.

I'm not overrating anything, I'm simply not partaking in this weird ritual of certain parts of the Thunder fanbase and the haters faction that every disappointing performance gets justified by proclaiming that every player sucks after the fact. There is more than enough talent on this roster to win, especially since we're not playing world beaters. But since our Front Office ignores certain obvious holes in the roster and since our coaching staff has no idea how to play to our strengths and hide our weaknesses, we get treated to this turd every year.

[Pillendreher]

Read on Twitter

Pace adjusted:



In the regular season we averaged 230 passes and 8.9 miles covered per 100 possessions.

[slick_watts]

Expected performance should be raised as a banner this offseason.

er, why? russell westbrook could be in decline, we lost andre roberson for nothing, lost alex abrines for nothing. they're way in the tax without any significant resources to make a play for considerable roster upgrades. this could just be the end of the line. considering russ' performance this season, that the team was able to stay afloat without any contribution from roberson and abrines is evidence of improved performance otherwise.

We were also expected to win a title over the last decade.

that hope evaporated once kevin durant left, you know that.

There is more than enough talent on this roster to win, especially since we're not playing world beaters.

we're playing a team that was better than us during the regular season, and they have home court advantage. yes, i think you are certainly overrating our talent. how many net positive players are even on our roster. four, to be generous? even without nurkic, how many does portland have? could be all their rotation players with the exception of turner and curry.

But since our Front Office ignores certain obvious holes in the roster and since our coaching staff has no idea how to play to our strengths and hide our weaknesses, we get treated to this turd every year.

every year? you mean what, the last two? did you forget when we made the western conference finals and beat a 10+ srs spurs team with the same coach and same philosophy?

our main problem is that the team lost kevin durant for nothing, and then lost andre roberson for nothing-- our roster has degraded over the last 4-5 seasons to this point. losing to the blazers in the first round is only disappointing to you because your expectations for the current roster were probably unrealistic.

[Pillendreher]

Expected performance should be raised as a banner this offseason.

er, why? russell westbrook could be in decline, we lost andre roberson for nothing, lost alex abrines for nothing. they're way in the tax without any significant resources to make a play for considerable roster upgrades. this could just be the end of the line. considering russ' performance this season, that the team was able to stay afloat without any contribution from roberson and abrines is evidence of improved performance otherwise.

We were also expected to win a title over the last decade.

that hope evaporated once kevin durant left, you know that.

My point was that this franchise has a knack for underperforming what people expect of them. You don't get anything for "should have".

There is more than enough talent on this roster to win, especially since we're not playing world beaters.

we're playing a team that was better than us during the regular season, and they have home court advantage. yes, i think you are certainly overrating our talent. how many net positive players are even on our roster. four, to be generous? even without nurkic, how many does portland have? could be all their rotation players with the exception of turner and curry.

Give me a damn break already. Without Nurkic, they have a very good guard duo and then a bunch of bootleg Robersons and offensive minded players that couldn't even defend their own shadows. It's a damn disgrace that we let them get away with playing at best one good defender at times. Nate Duncan is right when he calls this sort of offensive performance a failure on an organizational level.

But since our Front Office ignores certain obvious holes in the roster and since our coaching staff has no idea how to play to our strengths and hide our weaknesses, we get treated to this turd every year.

every year? you mean what, the last two? did you forget when we made the western conference finals and beat a 10+ srs spurs team with the same coach and same philosophy?

Because we had the by far best duo in the league, not because our roster or coach was leading us to that performance. What's next - will you invoke the "Enes Kanter beat the Spurs" nonsense to try to deflect the obvious underperforming by this squad every season?

And furthermore, the main issue that is hurting this team, ie shooting, has been around for almost a decade. Kevin Martin left 6 years ago. We have had the same kind of doofus on the bench for 10 seasons. This isn't new.

our main problem is that the team lost kevin durant for nothing, and then lost andre roberson for nothing-- our roster has degraded over the last 4-5 seasons to this point. losing to the blazers in the first round is only disappointing to you because your expectations for the current roster were probably unrealistic.

We simply disagree on that.

[slick_watts]

My point was that this franchise has a knack for underperforming what people expect of them. You don't get anything for "should have".

does it? i don't think it does when you take injuries and kd's departure into account. we've only lost twice with hca right? to the heat in the finals and the one year when westbrook was hurt. if we're including roster building and management into the expectations then yeah they've underperformed given the resources they started out with. but on a season to season basis, i cannot agree.

Give me a damn break already. Without Nurkic, they have a very good guard duo and then a bunch of bootleg Robersons and offensive minded players that couldn't even defend their own shadows. It's a damn disgrace that we let them get away with playing at best one good defender at times.

portland has played well without nurkic. they had a point or more on us in srs for the season and that's including our november and december which appear to be outliers. so yeah, i dunno what you're talking about here. you have a habit in general of disparaging other teams when we lose, which is odd. portland's just better and has home court.

Nate Duncan is right when he calls this sort of offensive performance a failure on an organizational level.

sure but this seems more like a roster construction problem.

Because we had the by far best duo in the league, not because our roster or coach was leading us to that performance.

what's your evidence for this? our roster has certainly degraded for years, and when kevin durant left for no return it was pretty much curtains for us being a 5+ srs team again. but again i don't understand what you're complaining about. i agree with you for sure that the roster has degraded and management should be held accountable for that. but with this knowledge of roster degradation, why on earth are you coming into a 1st round series w/o hca and going mad about them losing the first two games? you're acknowledging the roster problems. what are the players and coaches supposed to do about that right now?

What's next - will you invoke the "Enes Kanter beat the Spurs" nonsense to try to deflect the obvious underperforming by this squad every season?

it's interesting you bring up the spurs win and underperform in the same sentence because that's still one of the biggest playoff upsets in nba history.

And furthermore, the main issue that is hurting this team, ie shooting, has been around for almost a decade. Kevin Martin left 6 years ago. We have had the same kind of doofus on the bench for 10 seasons. This isn't new.

sure, but if you know that why are you wigging out over the thunder being unable to shoot? this is why your issue is an issue of expectations. once alex abrines was out of the picture and ppat looked toast what were you expecting to happen? the offense sucked almost all year except a stretch where they made threes at an unsustainable rate.

[Balkman32]

Its not a series until the home team loses a game. Hopefully Grant re-surfaces...

[Kizz Fastfists]

Its not a series until the home team loses a game. Hopefully Grant re-surfaces...

So if the home team never loses does it count as OKC missing the playoffs? They wouldn't have played in a playoff series, right?