2019-20 OKC Thunder Regular Season Thread

[ThunderBolt]

I am still very interested in the Thunder. My main interest is Presti and Donovan getting fired though. Different priorities, I guess.

Donovan likely is gone at some point. There is no way Presti is gone. I'm saying that with complete impartiality. I think it would take 4-5 year of being in the basement and even more for Bennet to consider making a change. I think Presti's place in the organization is the more secure than anyone else's, including Bennet's.

[ThunderBolt]

Read on Twitter

[Pillendreher]

Read on Twitter

His superstars were scheming to get the hell out of the town and this doofus really flew to Mike "Who?" Muscala's house even though the Thunder have needed wings for the last 50 years.

[spearsy23]

Even in a really off game last night I still like what SGA did to an extent last night. He just got stymied repeatedly by Whiteside. I think its one of those games he'll learn from.

I agree. It wasn't a good game by any means but not a discouraging one. I really hope Presti can get another decent young prospect in here this year to play alongside him. I know its a stretch but if Portland wants Gallo, I would really like for Presti to push for Simons and would be willing to add to a deal to get him. If we got a guy like him for Gallo, dumped dennis and fired billy, I would consider this season a massive success.

I just want some young prospects to be happy when they do well and not care too much when they struggle. A veteran tanking team isn't much fun, and feels like too much to pin on sga

[ThunderBolt]

Read on Twitter

His superstars were scheming to get the hell out of the town and this doofus really flew to Mike "Who?" Muscala's house even though the Thunder have needed wings for the last 50 years.

I was curious how bad he’s shooting. What’s funny isn’t that he Is shooting 6% from three but that on ESPNs bio page, the “highlight” they have of him is him getting his faced smashed by the ball in Atlanta.


http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=15465088

[Old Man Game]

Read on Twitter

His superstars were scheming to get the hell out of the town and this doofus really flew to Mike "Who?" Muscala's house even though the Thunder have needed wings for the last 50 years.

I was curious how bad he’s shooting. What’s funny isn’t that he Is shooting 6% from three but that on ESPNs bio page, the “highlight” they have of him is him getting his faced smashed by the ball in Atlanta.


http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=15465088

That's downright rude.

Muscala is bad but I think he really helps our tank quite a bit and he's at least passable enough as a vet that you don't look like you're openly tanking. (Not like if we started plowing tons of minutes into Patton for instance). That could be important to keep the fan base from checking out.

[ThunderBolt]

Horne's article on the athletic-

The Thunder announced Adams has a left knee contusion, but at shootaround Wednesday he was also testing his right leg, which was heavily wrapped around the thigh.

[spearsy23]

Horne's article on the athletic-

The Thunder announced Adams has a left knee contusion, but at shootaround Wednesday he was also testing his right leg, which was heavily wrapped around the thigh.

Tbh I'm not surprised if the medical staff just can't tell right from left.

[jambalaya]

What will the Thunder's record be after 20 games? 6-14? 3-17? 8-12? I dunno if it changes anything. Maybe at the extremes.

[jambalaya]

Before today's game:

Thunder, 7 of 10 most used lineups negative. 58 lineups used. 4 over 2 minutes per game. 31% positive.

[Pillendreher]

Before today's game:

Thunder, 7 of 10 most used lineups negative. 58 lineups used. 4 over 2 minutes per game. 31% positive.

Just 37 minutes played so far, but the 3 PG lineup has outperformed the opposition so far:

120.0 ORtG | 96.6 DRtG | +23.4 NetRtG

Not really usable as of right now though because the lack of data.

[jambalaya]

Diallo associated with positive team raw plus minus in most pairs. Best with Paul, Schroder. Meh with SGA and Bazley. Bazley negative with most so far but mildly. SGA pairs all over the range. Weak with Paul, good with Schroder and Adams. Muscala bad with most. Another Presti big man mistake.

[ThunderBolt]

I don’t expect the positive impact stats from Dennis to last but we’ll see.

[Pillendreher]

I don’t expect the positive impact stats from Dennis to last but we’ll see.

It's a 6 game sample, after all. Not the first time that Schröder goes on a sort of tear, playing well above his "normal level".

[ThunderBolt]

Read on Twitter

Anyone know what this is about? It look like its been taken down since it was posted.

[spearsy23]

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Anyone know what this is about? It look like its been taken down since it was posted.

I don't know, but Hazarding a guess, ferg dealing with flu like symptoms with an infant at home and being a new parent? ****'s tough the first time your kid gets sick for real. Hopefully it's just something like that.

[ThunderBolt]

Read on Twitter

[Osirus89]

His superstars were scheming to get the hell out of the town and this doofus really flew to Mike "Who?" Muscala's house even though the Thunder have needed wings for the last 50 years.

I was curious how bad he’s shooting. What’s funny isn’t that he Is shooting 6% from three but that on ESPNs bio page, the “highlight” they have of him is him getting his faced smashed by the ball in Atlanta.


http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=15465088

That's downright rude.

Muscala is bad but I think he really helps our tank quite a bit and he's at least passable enough as a vet that you don't look like you're openly tanking. (Not like if we started plowing tons of minutes into Patton for instance). That could be important to keep the fan base from checking out.

Things like this are worrisome when it comes to a GM like Presti. Either he gets guys that have been ok-ish shooters and they just forget how to shoot or he goes after guys that could never shoot to begin with.

I saw the story about Presti scouting the Israeli kid Deni Avdija. He can't shoot either.
https://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u20/2019/player/Deni-Avdija

Presti has screwed up any number of times with picks in the 20s, but you can survive those because your team has to be good to pick there. You can't screw up lottery picks and while the last lottery pick Presti picked was a nice player (Domantas), the one before that was Cameron Payne. At least he basically had SGA fall into his lap, but when he actually has to make the picks.... oh boy.

[ThunderBolt]

Spoiler:

I was curious how bad he’s shooting. What’s funny isn’t that he Is shooting 6% from three but that on ESPNs bio page, the “highlight” they have of him is him getting his faced smashed by the ball in Atlanta.


http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=15465088

That's downright rude.

Muscala is bad but I think he really helps our tank quite a bit and he's at least passable enough as a vet that you don't look like you're openly tanking. (Not like if we started plowing tons of minutes into Patton for instance). That could be important to keep the fan base from checking out.

Things like this are worrisome when it comes to a GM like Presti. Either he gets guys that have been ok-ish shooters and they just forget how to shoot or he goes after guys that could never shoot to begin with.

I saw the story about Presti scouting the Israeli kid Deni Avdija. He can't shoot either.
https://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u20/2019/player/Deni-Avdija

Presti has screwed up any number of times with picks in the 20s, but you can survive those because your team has to be good to pick there. You can't screw up lottery picks and while the last lottery pick Presti picked was a nice player (Domantas), the one before that was Cameron Payne. At least he basically had SGA fall into his lap, but when he actually has to make the picks.... oh boy.

It seems like Presti's philosophy works better for higher picks because their floor is higher. However it does look like both Bazley and Diallo have some potential to be rotation players.

[Pillendreher]

while the last lottery pick Presti picked was a nice player (Domantas)

He only became a nice player once he left the Thunder though. After his lights out game against Boston, the kid looked like he was in physical pain whenever he was on the floor because everything was too much and nothing was going right for him.