Brooks butchered Lambs development

Joest2003 · Post #1 » by **Joest2003** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 2:40 pm

Was I the only one pulling my hair out last year wondering why Lamb got close to no time last season? I kept hearing OKC fans say "Hes not ready" and "he needs time". More like OKC just wasn't willing to deal with the growing pains of playing rookies like every other team and the league and now look at us, were going into the season chasing a championship with only 2 guys that can score the ball. Im not saying Lamb cant score because he can and will, but this is basically going to be his rookie season because Brooks was to stupid to play his LOTTERY PICK. If this was his REAL second season and he had gained VALUABLE experience his rookie season he would be lethal by now. but now we have to wait ANOTHER year to possibly win because lets face it, we didnt win with KD, Russ and Harden we wont win with KD, Russ, and a Lamb with absolutely no NBA experience... Great plan Brooks!

and its time to face it, we couldnt afford to lock up Harden and Lamb is now what we have and we should be happy because he has HUGE potential, I didnt see Olidapo, Waiters, or Mclemore or anyone for that matter have a 32 point summer league game shooting 10-14.

eyeontheprize · Post #2 » by **eyeontheprize** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 3:16 pm

Joest2003 wrote:Was I the only one pulling my hair out last year wondering why Lamb got close to no time last season? I kept hearing OKC fans say "Hes not ready" and "he needs time". More like OKC just wasn't willing to deal with the growing pains of playing rookies like every other team and the league and now look at us, were going into the season chasing a championship with only 2 guys that can score the ball. Im not saying Lamb cant score because he can and will, but this is basically going to be his rookie season because Brooks was to stupid to play his LOTTERY PICK. If this was his REAL second season and he had gained VALUABLE experience his rookie season he would be lethal by now. but now we have to wait ANOTHER year to possibly win because lets face it, we didnt win with KD, Russ and Harden we wont win with KD, Russ, and a Lamb with absolutely no NBA experience... Great plan Brooks!

and its time to face it, we couldnt afford to lock up Harden and Lamb is now what we have and we should be happy because he has HUGE potential, I didnt see Olidapo, Waiters, or Mclemore or anyone for that matter have a 32 point summer league game shooting 10-14.

it's too stupid, not to stupid, stupid.

Joest2003 · Post #3 » by **Joest2003** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 4:50 pm

Watch out the grammar police are out, I like the Thunder not their coach. Can you tell me how we now benefited from Lamb collecting dust on the bench ALL last year? we now have a second year player who is still on a rookie level when it comes to experience. Thats not a great plan when hes expected to be the 6th man this year and were trying to win a title. please correct me if im wrong

Post #4 » by **wizkid27** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:47 pm

Joest2003 wrote:Watch out the grammar police are out, I like the Thunder not their coach. Can you tell me how we now benefited from Lamb collecting dust on the bench ALL last year? we now have a second year player who is still on a rookie level when it comes to experience. Thats not a great plan when hes expected to be the 6th man this year and were trying to win a title. please correct me if im wrong

Although I agree with your overall point (as does seemingly everyone else on this forum), you can't completely discount a whole year of nba practice and d-league experience

Podirk · Post #5 » by **Podirk** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 12:29 am

Last year wasn't about Lamb development, it was about trying to get back to the Finals. A silly injury cost them the possibility of knowing how far they could go.

The team seems confident in Lamb and Reggie as the second unit guards..

Joest2003 · Post #6 » by **Joest2003** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:00 am

Podirk wrote:Last year wasn't about Lamb development, it was about trying to get back to the Finals. A silly injury cost them the possibility of knowing how far they could go.

The team seems confident in Lamb and Reggie as the second unit guards..

With that logic your only worried about the moment not tomorrow and that doesnt get a franchise anywhere just take a look at the nets in 5 years. OKC had PLENTY of time for Lamb to get experience last year.

Podirk · Post #7 » by **Podirk** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:05 am

Apparently the folks who get paid to make those decisions thought he would be better served getting consistent big minutes in Tulsa opposed to a few minutes here and there. Looks like they wanted to have him work on leading Tulsa like he will be leading the second team this year. No, Thunder are always around the top in Future Power rankings, the decision was to do what's best for the franchise...not a rookie who needs some seasoning..hard to argue with that.

spearsy23 · Post #8 » by **spearsy23** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:13 am

Obviously a rookie needs extensive playing time on a championship team to get better. That's why reggie sucked last year. Oh, wait...

Joest2003 · Post #9 » by **Joest2003** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:37 am

spearsy23 wrote:Obviously a rookie needs extensive playing time on a championship team to get better. That's why reggie sucked last year. Oh, wait...

Who said he needed extensive playing time? and Reggie was not a lottery pick. OKC is the only team who would send a healthy lottery pick to the D league and than the next year expect him to be the 6th man. well see how it works out next year but I would feel a lot better about it if Lamb had experience. Im not sure how you can argue that.

Podirk · Post #10 » by **Podirk** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:43 am

Joest2003 wrote:
spearsy23 wrote:Obviously a rookie needs extensive playing time on a championship team to get better. That's why reggie sucked last year. Oh, wait...

Who said he needed extensive playing time? and Reggie was not a lottery pick. OKC is the only team who would send a healthy lottery pick to the D league and than the next year expect him to be the 6th man. well see how it works out next year but I would feel a lot better about it if Lamb had experience. Im not sure how you can argue that.

Why would Jeremy Lamb be the 6th man? He will be behind Jackson and probably Collison in the rotation. No one is argueing Lamb wouldn't be better in the NBA if he had minutes, that is pretty clear. It just wasn't a priority, as high a priority, as winning a championship. Lamb still grew in the d league.

Joest2003 · Post #11 » by **Joest2003** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 2:03 am

Reggie is to short to play SG hes a PG and we have Russ who will play around 35 minutes a game its hard to be a 6th man behind a 35 minute per game guy.

Podirk · Post #12 » by **Podirk** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 2:10 am

Reggie has a ridiculous wingspan, he will play with Westbrook switching ball handling duties. Reggie will play backup Pg and SG in small ball lineups.

Joest2003 · Post #13 » by **Joest2003** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 2:16 am

They will be fine with the Reggie/Lamb combo thats a lot better than most benches in the NBA.

comingbacktousa · Post #14 » by **comingbacktousa** » Fri Aug 2, 2013 4:20 pm

It is extremely early to say he butchered his development. His development has followed Jackson's so far and Jackson played well last season. If Lamb puts up similar numbers to Jackson next year, I'd say he is development is on track. One of the biggest knocks on Lamb is creating is own shot. Keeping him in the d-league allows for him to be the focal point on every position as opposed to being a spot up shooter had he played 10 minutes a game next to Westbrook and Durant.

The only problem with Jackson and Lamb combo is that Jackson is better off the ball than being a true point guard, but for 6th man it isn't that big of an issue.

I think the rotation is going to be closer to 2011-12 season than last season with Jackson playing Harden's minutes 24-28 minutes and Lamb playing Fisher/Cook's minutes of 15-20.

theokie · Post #15 » by **theokie** » Mon Aug 5, 2013 12:06 am

Has anyone ever said that staying in college an extra season has ever butchered a players development? Comparatively, I don't see how practicing on an NBA team, playing about as many games against better talent in the d-league and summer league, and being on the road occasionally getting minutes in NBA games could be bad for a players development.

Durins Baynes · Post #16 » by **Durins Baynes** » Mon Aug 5, 2013 2:48 am

People said the same about R.Jax not long ago. How's that looking for the critics now? Lamb will be fine I expect. I'm more excited about Adams to be honest, but I dispute the idea that seasoning in the D-League has hurt his development (it sure didn't hurt R.Jax).

Joest2003 · Post #17 » by **Joest2003** » Mon Aug 5, 2013 2:03 pm

Durins Baynes wrote:People said the same about R.Jax not long ago. How's that looking for the critics now? Lamb will be fine I expect. I'm more excited about Adams to be honest, but I dispute the idea that seasoning in the D-League has hurt his development (it sure didn't hurt R.Jax).

Did Reggie win a Big East and National Championship his freshman season as the second leading scorer? WAKE UP PEOPLE, Reggie Jackson is a BACKUP pointguard, Lamb is a potential All Star. When I say Brooks is messing up Lambs development Reggie Jackson's name should NEVER come up no offense to Reggie but hes already like 23 years old and is playing behind Russ. Lamb is a lot younger, more potential, and plays a position that OKC needs to fill now and for the future. call me crazy but that seems like a guy we would want to get all the experience he can get before were in the playoffs trying to make a run...

Podirk · Post #18 » by **Podirk** » Mon Aug 5, 2013 2:07 pm

Joest2003 wrote:Did Reggie win a Big East and National Championship his freshman season as the second leading scorer? WAKE UP PEOPLE, Reggie Jackson is a BACKUP pointguard, Lamb is a potential All Star. When I say Brooks is messing up Lambs development Reggie Jackson's name should NEVER come up no offense to Reggie but hes already like 23 years old and is playing behind Russ. Lamb is a lot younger, more potential, and plays a position that OKC needs to fill now and for the future. call me crazy but that seems like a guy we would want to get all the experience he can get before were in the playoffs trying to make a run...

Potential All Star??!?? How bout Lamb focuses on beating out Deandre Liggins before he is crowned an all star..

Lamb SHOULD be a good backup this year if he works on his defense this summer.

Joest2003 · Post #19 » by **Joest2003** » Mon Aug 5, 2013 2:37 pm

Do you know anything or do you just talk a lot? Liggins is like 5 years older than him and cant even score 15 in the D league....Nice try though. that was actually pretty funny lol

Post #20 » by **wizkid27** » Mon Aug 5, 2013 3:07 pm

I'm with Podirk on this one... He lost all minutes last season to Liggins, who was also a newcomer and therefore presumably not in the Scott Brooks "I will play you regardless of matchups or talent" club yet. Sure, he was (is?) super talented and has lots of potential. But IMO, thinking that he should get more minutes just because of where he was drafted and that comparing him to someone that has really come along as a valuable piece of our team (Jackson) is crazy because Lamb is just on a whole different level seems kind of twisted.

Jackson and Lamb looked equally lost in their respective rookie seasons. I think hoping that Lamb can make a similar gain to what Reggie did last season is about as good as we should be hoping for.