Thunder Offseason Thread

[Kizz Fastfists]

He was quoting his buddy who lives under the a bridge downtown.

[Dadouv47]

Despite having a terrible shooting season, if you give Westbrook some shooters, his lack of shooting won't have such a bad impact.

I disagree with this. If you add a few better shooters then there are more made shots on his passes. However, he will still be taking 20 shots a game while shooting 40% and 5 three point shots a game shooting 28%. Also, keep in mind that the Thunder only have to improve 2% to be in the top 5 in 3pt shooting. That is 2 more makes per 100 shots. At 30 a game that means less than 1 more made 3 per game.

You could put the best 3pt shooter at every position around Russ and he is still going to take his shots. If it was about getting the team the best shot he would have been doing that this year with 3 players in the starting lineup that shot over 36% from 3! More shooting would be nice, but we need to stop pretending that Russ didn't play the majority of his minutes with capable 3pt shooters and he STILL took as many stupid shots as he felt like.

if opponents have to defend against good shooters it would open the space for Westbrook to attack the paint easily and to take better jump shots. He wasn't able to take his few relatively high percentage mid range shots because Portland defended that zone and let Grant/Ferguson open.

[acheema0]

Despite having a terrible shooting season, if you give Westbrook some shooters, his lack of shooting won't have such a bad impact.

I disagree with this. If you add a few better shooters then there are more made shots on his passes. However, he will still be taking 20 shots a game while shooting 40% and 5 three point shots a game shooting 28%. Also, keep in mind that the Thunder only have to improve 2% to be in the top 5 in 3pt shooting. That is 2 more makes per 100 shots. At 30 a game that means less than 1 more made 3 per game.

You could put the best 3pt shooter at every position around Russ and he is still going to take his shots. If it was about getting the team the best shot he would have been doing that this year with 3 players in the starting lineup that shot over 36% from 3! More shooting would be nice, but we need to stop pretending that Russ didn't play the majority of his minutes with capable 3pt shooters and he STILL took as many stupid shots as he felt like.

if opponents have to defend against good shooters it would open the space for Westbrook to attack the paint easily and to take better jump shots. He wasn't able to take his few relatively high percentage mid range shots because Portland defended that zone and let Grant/Ferguson open.

That's the problem. He shot 35% from the midrange this year. It is no longer relatively high percentage. Hence his shot being broken.

[Dn4sty]

What would Pricen's role be on this team? He's a Small Forward. We already feature one of those very prominently.

I think George is versatile enough to make a lineup with Prince work

[Dn4sty]

Guess we will still try to go after Tyreke Evans but not sure it's worth it since he will want to have a big salary.

Tyreke had a rough year in Indy. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him settle on a multi year Tax MLE deal this summer

[ThunderBolt]

What would Pricen's role be on this team? He's a Small Forward. We already feature one of those very prominently.

I think George is versatile enough to make a lineup with Prince work

I’m not trying to be negative but even if we got Prince for free, there is so many things broken that need to be fixed I don’t tbink the ceiling is raised that much. We have to run an actual offense and Russ has to not suck. Everything else is secondary.

[Dn4sty]

What would Pricen's role be on this team? He's a Small Forward. We already feature one of those very prominently.

I think George is versatile enough to make a lineup with Prince work

I’m not trying to be negative but even if we got Prince for free, there is so many things broken that need to be fixed I don’t tbink the ceiling is raised that much. We have to run an actual offense and Russ has to not suck. Everything else is secondary.

Everyone knows the problems with Russ, the offense, etc..., but that doesn’t change the need for upgrades elsewhere. Further this is all speculation based. I also enjoy most of the discussion. But if every response is met with Russ sucks and Donovan sucks it’s going to be a real long summer on this board.

[ThunderBolt]

I think George is versatile enough to make a lineup with Prince work

I’m not trying to be negative but even if we got Prince for free, there is so many things broken that need to be fixed I don’t tbink the ceiling is raised that much. We have to run an actual offense and Russ has to not suck. Everything else is secondary.

Everyone knows the problems with Russ, the offense, etc..., but that doesn’t change the need for upgrades elsewhere. Further this is all speculation based. I also enjoy most of the discussion. But if every response is met with Russ sucks and Donovan sucks it’s going to be a real long summer on this board.

I’m not going to harp on it also summer but I’m admittedly not interested in tinting the windows on a 2008 Kia.

[Pillendreher]

But if every response is met with Russ sucks and Donovan sucks it’s going to be a real long summer on this board.

Right now, I can't even bring myself to discuss any roster related moves because I can't shake the feeling that it just wouldn't matter anyway. It's like we're stuck in a loop where we're forced to watch the same thing happen over and over and over again and nothing changes.

[Dn4sty]

But if every response is met with Russ sucks and Donovan sucks it’s going to be a real long summer on this board.

Right now, I can't even bring myself to discuss any roster related moves because I can't shake the feeling that it just wouldn't matter anyway. It's like we're stuck in a loop where we're forced to watch the same thing happen over and over and over again and nothing changes.

Totally fair. I have every player contact/salary almost committed to memory, so I can’t help it

[RalphSampsonJr]

But if every response is met with Russ sucks and Donovan sucks it’s going to be a real long summer on this board.

Right now, I can't even bring myself to discuss any roster related moves because I can't shake the feeling that it just wouldn't matter anyway. It's like we're stuck in a loop where we're forced to watch the same thing happen over and over and over again and nothing changes.

Yea i feel the same way. Its like they could get another all star and Billy would figure out how to make him nothing more than a lil above average role player.

I have to laugh at this lets get a stretch big and all okcs problems go away idea..

OKC havent had enough shooting since what 2012?! Tferg shots better than robes, grant now shoots better than okcs ibaka from 3 and PG is the gravity pulling star that KD was.

But now Russ isnt performing because Adams cant shoot? Teams have figured out that because Russ is so bad at shooting from anywhere now and so pig headed that they can just let him shoot OKC out of the game.

But yea lets get a stretch big.. lets not worry that Grant or 2Pat cant rebound at all. Lets not worry that Russ would still not give the big who shoots better than him enough shots..

Billy needs to go. I have been watching these playoffs alot and the difference in other teams offense compared to okcs is staggering

[Kizz Fastfists]

There are two paths to fixing OKC. Both are equally unlikely to happen. The first is that Presti's brain comes on and he fires Donovan and gets rid of Russ and finds a PG that run an effective offense for the new coach. This becomes a transition for OKC from being Russ' team to PG's team. It fits Presti's desire to remain a low ceiling playoff team and infuriates those who expect more.

The second is for Presti to get fired and the new GM replaces Donovan and goes into a rebuild. This means Presti, Donovan, Russ and PG are gone and the new GM builds from scratch.

[ThunderBolt]

You know what would be a bit of a moral victory for me this offseason? Rebrand our looney toons logo.

[Pillendreher]

The Denver Nuggets have won as many games in their first playoff series with this current group as we have won over the last 3 postseasons combined.

[Pillendreher]

But if every response is met with Russ sucks and Donovan sucks it’s going to be a real long summer on this board.

Right now, I can't even bring myself to discuss any roster related moves because I can't shake the feeling that it just wouldn't matter anyway. It's like we're stuck in a loop where we're forced to watch the same thing happen over and over and over again and nothing changes.

Yea i feel the same way. Its like they could get another all star and Billy would figure out how to make him nothing more than a lil above average role player.

I have to laugh at this lets get a stretch big and all okcs problems go away idea..

OKC havent had enough shooting since what 2012?! Tferg shots better than robes, grant now shoots better than okcs ibaka from 3 and PG is the gravity pulling star that KD was.

But now Russ isnt performing because Adams cant shoot? Teams have figured out that because Russ is so bad at shooting from anywhere now and so pig headed that they can just let him shoot OKC out of the game.

But yea lets get a stretch big.. lets not worry that Grant or 2Pat cant rebound at all. Lets not worry that Russ would still not give the big who shoots better than him enough shots..

Billy needs to go. I have been watching these playoffs alot and the difference in other teams offense compared to okcs is staggering

I saw something yesterday that kinda floored me. Remember how we talked about this season's team being (vastly) better than last year's team (especially in the first half of the season)? Well, per basketball-reference.com, we were actually worse with Westbrook on the floor than last season:



And another thing: Just 1pp100p better than in the Westbrook MVP against the world season? That is sad and pathetic at the same time. You get massive roster upgrades at multiple positions and all we get out of that is this? I know Russ has been worse, Roberson hasn't played, etc., but at some point somebody has to take responsibility for this.

[Dadouv47]

There are two paths to fixing OKC. Both are equally unlikely to happen. The first is that Presti's brain comes on and he fires Donovan and gets rid of Russ and finds a PG that run an effective offense for the new coach. This becomes a transition for OKC from being Russ' team to PG's team. It fits Presti's desire to remain a low ceiling playoff team and infuriates those who expect more.

The second is for Presti to get fired and the new GM replaces Donovan and goes into a rebuild. This means Presti, Donovan, Russ and PG are gone and the new GM builds from scratch.

The first option is stupid because PG13 is there because of Russ. If you trade Russ first (with terrible value in return) you start a big crisis in our team and you would have to trade PG13 for less value after that. Second option is good though

[wco81]

The Denver Nuggets have won as many games in their first playoff series with this current group as we have won over the last 3 postseasons combined.

They have a lot of talent on the team.

Second rounders like Jokic becomes All NBA or a good rotation player in the case of Morris.

Beasley didn't do anything before this year but took a big step up.

[slick_watts]

And another thing: Just 1pp100p better than in the Westbrook MVP against the world season? That is sad and pathetic at the same time. You get massive roster upgrades at multiple positions and all we get out of that is this? I know Russ has been worse, Roberson hasn't played, etc., but at some point somebody has to take responsibility for this.

the gap between andre roberson last year and terrance ferguson this year might be close to or even larger than the gap between 2018 westbrook and 2019 westbrook.

[Pillendreher]

And another thing: Just 1pp100p better than in the Westbrook MVP against the world season? That is sad and pathetic at the same time. You get massive roster upgrades at multiple positions and all we get out of that is this? I know Russ has been worse, Roberson hasn't played, etc., but at some point somebody has to take responsibility for this.

the gap between andre roberson last year and terrance ferguson this year might be close to or even larger than the gap between 2018 westbrook and 2019 westbrook.

The defensive development after the team's "peak" at the end of 2018 was very concerning imo.



At the beginning of January they were more than 10pp100p below league average defensively with Ferguson on the floor. At the end of the postseason, that was down to ~4pp100p, due to being at league average for the 2nd half of the season. The Thunder can't survive that kind of defensive output by their main units unless they do a complete 180 offensively.

[RunOKC]

Billy will be back most likely

Presti "anticipates it"
I don't think Billy is a terrible coach but he's not the coach for this team