Game 33: Dallas Mavericks (21-11) @ Oklahoma City Thunder (17-15) - 8:00 PM ET

[Old Man Game]

That's a really solid win right there. Great job by the guys sticking it out to come back late in that fourth quarter. Big props to Chris Paul in that.

And Luka Doncic my Lord. I honestly can't remember seeing a guy at that age not named LeBron James who had that sort of feel for the game.

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[spearsy23]

How good would this team be with a Joe ingles or even justice Winslow starting at sf

How good would this team be with Iggy? Unlike those other two you mentioned the Thunder have the assets to make it happen without disrupting their core. Go get him.

Iguadola is making over 17 million dollars and is not good. You'd have to trade roberson, fergusonz and bazley just to make it work and would still be taking on salary plus adding tax.

[Atomic Punk]

How good would this team be with a Joe ingles or even justice Winslow starting at sf

How good would this team be with Iggy? Unlike those other two you mentioned the Thunder have the assets to make it happen without disrupting their core. Go get him.

Iguadola is making over 17 million dollars and is not good. You'd have to trade roberson, fergusonz and bazley just to make it work and would still be taking on salary plus adding tax.

Roberson, Burton, and Nader would work too. You wouldn’t do that trade? Iggy still has something left in the tank. And if Ferguson had to go, so be it.

[spearsy23]

How good would this team be with Iggy? Unlike those other two you mentioned the Thunder have the assets to make it happen without disrupting their core. Go get him.

Iguadola is making over 17 million dollars and is not good. You'd have to trade roberson, fergusonz and bazley just to make it work and would still be taking on salary plus adding tax.

Roberson, Burton, and Nader would work too. You wouldn’t do that trade? Iggy still has something left in the tank. And if Ferguson had to go, so be it.

Roberson/nader/burton doesn't send out enough salary. And even if it did, and Memphis thought that was enticing for since reason, no I wouldn't pay something like 30 million in salary plus tax for iguadola.

[Revived]

This Thunder team is better than any of the Thunder teams since KD left.

[spearsy23]

This Thunder team is better than any of the Thunder teams since KD left.

Lol

[Old Man Game]

I'm not sure if this is true or not but I will say this, I find them really easy to watch and root for. There's a lot of fun personalities on this team and they seem to try hard every night.

The RussPG Thunder teams just complained about every call by every official and it got really grating after a while.

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[Atomic Punk]

This Thunder team is better than any of the Thunder teams since KD left.

Lol

It’s not?

[Atomic Punk]

Iguadola is making over 17 million dollars and is not good. You'd have to trade roberson, fergusonz and bazley just to make it work and would still be taking on salary plus adding tax.

Roberson, Burton, and Nader would work too. You wouldn’t do that trade? Iggy still has something left in the tank. And if Ferguson had to go, so be it.

Roberson/nader/burton doesn't send out enough salary. And even if it did, and Memphis thought that was enticing for since reason, no I wouldn't pay something like 30 million in salary plus tax for iguadola.

So throw in Muscalla and Ferguson. It still makes them better this year and gets them in the playoffs. A competitive first round out is far more valuable for this franchise this year than missing out on the playoffs altogether.

[Old Man Game]

Whatever happens with Terrance, please for the love of God, let him hit restricted free agency if he's still here. Let the market set value. No reason to bargain against yourself in this instance.

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[1bigfan13]

Whatever happens with Terrance, please for the love of God, let him hit restricted free agency if he's still here. Let the market set value. No reason to bargain against yourself in this instance.

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I'd go a step further. Just let him walk and don't even attempt to re-sign him.

We don't need players like him anymore. You can't win in today's game with a starting wing who gives you damn near nothing on the offensive end on a nightly basis. That formula does not work.

[Dn4sty]

Roberson, Burton, and Nader would work too. You wouldn’t do that trade? Iggy still has something left in the tank. And if Ferguson had to go, so be it.

Roberson/nader/burton doesn't send out enough salary. And even if it did, and Memphis thought that was enticing for since reason, no I wouldn't pay something like 30 million in salary plus tax for iguadola.

So throw in Muscalla and Ferguson. It still makes them better this year and gets them in the playoffs. A competitive first round out is far more valuable for this franchise this year than missing out on the playoffs altogether.

You can’t do a 5 for 1 trade at the deadline. Roster spots would kill it. This trade doesn’t make sense at all

[NaturalThunder]

Terrence Ferguson's last 10 games (MIN, PTS, FGA/FGM, 3PA/3PM, FTA/FTM, +/-)

at NOP: 30 min, 3 pts, 1/5 FG, 1/5 3P, 0/0 FT
vs. IND: 32 min, 8 pts, 3/7 FG, 2/6 3P, 0/0 FT
vs. CHI: 29 min, 12 pts, 4/7 FG, 4/7 3P, 0/0 FT
vs. MEM: 26 min, 3 pts, 1/3 FG, 1/3 3P, 0/0 FT
vs. PHX: 19, min, 3 pts, 1/2 FG, 1/2 3P, 0/0 FT
vs. LAC: 29 min, 0 pts, 0/4 FG, 0/4 3P, 0/0 FT
vs. MEM: 35 min, 6 pts, 2/6 FG, 2/6 3P, 0/0 FT
at CHA: 29 min, 0 pts, 0/3 FG, 0/3 3P, 0/0 FT
at TOR: 36 min, 0 pts, 0/5 FG, 0/5 3P, 0/0 FT
vs. DAL: 18 min, 0 pts, 0/3 FG, 0/3 3P, 0/0 FT

AVERAGES: 28.3 MPG, 3.5 PPG, 26.7% FG (12/45), 25% 3P (11/44), 0% FT (0/0)


If you really look at and think about those numbers over the last 10 games for Ferguson, it truly is mind-boggling. He playing nearly 30 minutes per bleeping game and he hasn't stepped to the FT line since November! He's attempted 45 FGs in this 10 game stretch, and only one of them has been a 2-point field-goal attempt! That'd be great if he was a good to great 3P shooter, but he's shooting a TERRIBLE 25% from three over the last 10 games and 31.6% for the season...clearly he's a terrible 3P shooter!

Now, I'll admit I haven't watched enough games this year, or paid close enough attention to advanced stats to know....but is his defense really good? I can't think of a reason at this point why he deserves to even sniff the floor, never mind playing 28 minutes per game.

We use to complain about Thabo and Roberson, and how bad they were offensively, but Ferguson is nowhere near as good as Thabo or Robes.

[QPR]

This Thunder team is better than any of the Thunder teams since KD left.

Lol

It’s not?

I feel like you're confusing "better" with "more enjoyable".

[Pillendreher]

Yeah, Ferguson is awful. At this point I've about decided it'd be a major accomplishment if he ever becomes a semi-serviceable NBA player. He sure as hell shouldn't be starting for an NBA team.

It's incredible that they have started him 112 times already and nobody cares at all that he's just not even close to NBA starter level. It's like "He's from Tulsa" is enough.

[QPR]

The Presti blueprint always involves at least one "defensive specialist" starting and playing 30 minutes, despite contributing nothing offensively.

Tends to work better when you also have two of Durant/Westbrook/George in your starting five though.

[spearsy23]

This Thunder team is better than any of the Thunder teams since KD left.

Lol

It’s not?

The fact that we're all ecstatic about an 18-15 record speaks volumes. It's the worst team we've had since 2009, and that includes the Westbrook do what I want year

[ThunderBolt]

The Presti blueprint always involves at least one "defensive specialist" starting and playing 30 minutes, despite contributing nothing offensively.

Tends to work better when you also have two of Durant/Westbrook/George in your starting five though.

And if your defensive specialist is you know, good at defense.

[sleestak33]

It looks like people are finally starting to figure out what I've been saying for several years now about Ferguson...he's simply not an NBA caliber starter and Sam Presti needs to completely blow up this model that he brought from San Antonio for the starting wing player that's good on defense but sucks on offense. I've watched it for a decade now and it simply doesn't work, especially in today's NBA which puts a premium on shooting and scoring, specifically from your starting SG and SF. I frankly don't know that Ferguson is a legit NBA player who will remain in the league at this point because he's so inept offensively and they're fricking starting him and playing him almost 30 minutes. I have to say I really enjoy watching this team play other than having to suffer through watching Ferguson muck things up because they really play team ball and CP and SGA are as good a starting backcourt as there is in the league. I hate to say it but it's kind of an indictment on Russ when you watch how much better the team operates with CP and how much better he is at closing games out with better decision making. It's just a much better brand of basketball we're watching now and Donovan is proving that he's actually a really good schematic coach when guys follow his gameplan.

[slick_watts]

Lol

It’s not?

The fact that we're all ecstatic about an 18-15 record speaks volumes. It's the worst team we've had since 2009, and that includes the Westbrook do what I want year

we're 18-15, about 1.3 SRS with chris paul not missing any games. most of the low/mid 30 wins projections anticipated trades and gallinari / paul playing 3/4 of a season. we've had relatively great health from them so far.

the team is fun because expectations are gone. and of course most thunder fans prefer being plucky underdogs. the opportunity to construct an us v. them narrative has been taken and exploited. this team isn't playing any better than i expected given the health of cp3 and gallinari. i hope that this groundswell of support for making the playoffs or whatever (or, god forbid, being buyers at the deadline) doesn't get in the way of extracting value from our veterans at the deadline if possible.