Oklahoma City Thunder Regular Season 2015-2016 Part 2

KD35Brah · Post #961 » by **KD35Brah** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 9:50 pm

Durant has him on the block.

Has the whole side open to himself.

Dribble out to the 3pt line.

Take a contested fadeaway 3.

Pillendreher · Post #962 » by **Pillendreher** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 9:51 pm

Morrow my man!

Pillendreher · Post #963 » by **Pillendreher** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 9:53 pm

At least no Waiters in the 4th

Pillendreher · Post #964 » by **Pillendreher** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 9:53 pm

Ibaka should spend that energy at going to the rim, not talking trash while being down 7

NaturalThunder · Post #965 » by **NaturalThunder** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 9:53 pm

So essentially this game was lost when we let the bulls start the game on an 11-0 run. We basically played them even the rest of the game. Can't believe we came out so flat and with so little energy, at home on Christmas day, and let a struggling Bulls team score the first 11 points of the game.

KD35Brah · Post #966 » by **KD35Brah** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 9:54 pm

It's like these guys don't even watch tape, how can a team be this dumb?

I'm questioning if the Sixers are even this dumb.

Pillendreher · Post #967 » by **Pillendreher** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 9:56 pm

Something has to be done. I thought we were 10 deep going into this season, but besides Kanter and Morrow there's not one bench player I want out there. That's laughable

NaturalThunder · Post #968 » by **NaturalThunder** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 9:59 pm

We're 6-8 against the East and a combined 1-5 against the Bulls, Cavs, Heat, and Hawks -- probably the four best teams in the East -- with our only win being a home win against the Hawks. We are pretty much the very definition of paper tigers. We're beating up on the lesser teams because we have two of the five best players in the world, but we can't consistently beat the good teams and we've been awful against the East.

This really sucks. I felt good about this game. We got a struggling Bulls team at home on Christmas day, we generally play really well on Christmas, and we get our tails whipped up and down the court the entire game. We ned to go back to playing on the road on Christmas because finally getting a home game on Christmas was a complete and utter failure. We came out with zero energy, fell behind 11-0, and had to play catch-up the final 40-42 minutes of the game.

KD35Brah · Post #969 » by **KD35Brah** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 10:28 pm

What a game to give the fans on Christmas, AT HOME.

Should be ashamed of themselves.

Pillendreher · Post #970 » by **Pillendreher** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 10:30 pm

Re the bench: And I thought Brooks was stubborn.

Post #971 » by **Dadouv47** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 10:42 pm

since when westbrook fears to drive and attack the rim? since billy asked him to move the ball in profit to this new splendid sistem where no one moves and even a passer like rondo couldnt find a good pass? Players are definitely not buying into donovan's sistem. Don't know who is guilty of what, but it's not working and there's no reason to believe it could work if there's no changes.

Post #972 » by **bondom34** » Fri Dec 25, 2015 10:51 pm

Odd, but I had more confidence in this team last year.

Post #973 » by **bondom34** » Sat Dec 26, 2015 12:15 am

Wait guys, Dion just needs more time in the system. He's great really, just needs time like any young player.

KD35Brah · Post #974 » by **KD35Brah** » Sat Dec 26, 2015 12:25 am

Look at how Livingston is crapping on people in the post.

Durant is taller than every perimeter player in the league, he would be near unstoppable with Livingston or Kobe's post game.

"I would still like to see him post more. Unstoppable on the block at his size."
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8vSPb19nBU[/youtube]

Team is going nowhere with him dancing on the perimeter

Post #975 » by **bondom34** » Sat Dec 26, 2015 12:30 am

I really have to stop taking these games seriously. I came into the year with actual expectations for this team to compete, and they just aren't good enough to. Its a lot of things, coaching, bench, random games where they don't focus, but they're not nearly where they'd need to be. Just hope in a season they're not tanking.

KD35Brah · Post #976 » by **KD35Brah** » Sat Dec 26, 2015 12:47 am

bondom34 wrote:I really have to stop taking these games seriously. I came into the year with actual expectations for this team to compete, and they just aren't good enough to. Its a lot of things, coaching, bench, random games where they don't focus, but they're not nearly where they'd need to be. Just hope in a season they're not tanking.

I just don't see why Donovan doesn't use Cam, Mitch, and Huestis a chance.

-Cam is most likely better than DJ or Dion.

-Mitch has to be better than Nick.

-Huestis CAN'T be worse than Singler WITH the starters. Better defender, longer, and probably a better shooter than 2016 Singler.

These guys staggered with Russ and Durant are much better than the options we have now, it really isn't up for debate.

getrichordie · Post #977 » by **getrichordie** » Sat Dec 26, 2015 1:31 am

Pillendreher wrote:Oh I completely disagree with the WTLC article. Things got to change with the bench. This isn't about winning by 30 instead of 20, it's about being able to compete throughout the whole game. You can't put yourself in the position of just holding on to dear life with the bench just because you stubbornly think that's the way to go.
Staggering minutes isn't about increasing Durant's and Westbrook's minutes to 44 a game. It's about making sure we have a more balanced attack lineup wise, which doesn't mean our superstars can't get any rest at all. It just means that the minute distribution has to be different. Why not bring Morrow in for a few minutes in the 1st quarter for Durant and let him anchor the 2nd unit at the start of the 2nd quarter? And this clearly doesn't mean he can't get rest the rest of the 2nd quarter.

Oh and another thing concerning this: We put way more responsibility on our superstars by not staggering their minutes. We put lineups out there that get outscored by at least 10 pp100. Who has to make up for that? Russell and Kevin. It would be so much easier for them if they didn't have to clean up the mess made by the bench every freaking game. How often have we seen a 5 point 1st quarter lead turn into a 5pt deficit within 5 minutes because the bench screwed up yet again?

I agree that increasing Durant's & Westbrook's minutes isn't the answer. In fact, if anything, we need to be resting them a tad bit more. I feel like we would have more of a balanced attack if we used the rotation as shown above. I think it is a good idea to let Durant anchor the 2nd unit. We should give it a shot, but my concern is losing so much defense and relying on Ibaka to hit shots and not having another creator on the 1st unit. Replacing Durant with Morrow in the 1st team line up makes the offense very vanilla and easy to defend. We need to find a way to balance some of the firepower and defensive prowess on our 1st unit with our 2nd unit. Donovan can't just throw the whole bench out there and expect fireworks. He has to mix and match more and find the right guys to mix and match. It really is as if Donovan doesn't know his personell.

Also, some other ideas I've been thinking about: Let Waiters be the back up PG if not Payne. Waiters cannot be worse than Augustin at defending the P'n'R or at running our second unit. But ideally, Payne definitely needs to be given a shot. Let Ibaka anchor the 2nd unit's defense and Payne feed and create for Kanter, Ibaka, Morrow, Robes on offense. I really think Payne and staggering Ibaka's minutes is the answer here.

EDIT:

Here's my take on the game tonight: the Thunder need to change their mental approach to games in a major way if they plan on winning a ring this season. You have to do the little things that great teams and organizations do. Come prepared to play, not only physically, but mentally. This falls back on leadership. It always comes back on leadership when a team comes out flat like that. I can't believe Durant said he "didn't know" why they came out flat. Are you kidding me?! Durant/Westbrook need to get this team's 'ish together. The Thunder just come off as completely lazy to me sometimes. Sometimes I question Durant's leadership qualities because it seems like guys like Ibaka, Waiters, Augustin are coming out so flat too often. Even Westbrook will get super lazy on defense. I like our high motor guys, though. Roberson, Collison, Westbrook, Adams, and even Singler come out and play with great effort every night and come to the game "locked in." I can't say the same for everyone else. Even going back to Brooks, there has never been any "fire" from our coach. I've never heard a coach get into the guys for low energy the way Rivers, Popovich, or Van Gundy, and other coaches would. It's like the coaches are just afraid to rip into guys. We hire "nice" coaches. We need to hire "fire" coaches.

Post #978 » by **bondom34** » Sat Dec 26, 2015 5:18 am

Fun tidbit:

Dion is 73 of 87 SGs in RPM. The only one worse playing more minutes is Wiggins. The next highest playing more minutes is Beal ranked 59th and Gary Harris at 53rd. He's playing more than either of the other SGs on the roster. Despite DJ's suckitude, he's still ahead of Dion in RPM. I'd take anything for either of them.

NaturalThunder · Post #979 » by **NaturalThunder** » Sat Dec 26, 2015 5:49 am

What makes D.J.'s and Dion's suckage even worse is that our incompetent head coach is relying on them as our primary ball-handlers and playmakers off the bench despite both being seemingly terrible at either of those things.

Post #980 » by **bondom34** » Sat Dec 26, 2015 5:55 am

I just posted a thread on the trade board to see if anyone will just take Dion. A Heat fan mentioned DJ and Dion for McBob and Udrih. I think I'd do it. And wait until Presti pays Waiters 10 mil this offseason, I may need a new team to follow lol.