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The narrative now seems to be that OKC has its deepest team ever, the deepest in the league some people like Barkley even (incorrectly) say. And I've heard a lot about how they're actually excellent right now with certain 5-man combinations, and how their problems are fixable if Billy Donovan could just get them to run better plays (or any plays at all in many instances). But IMO the fatal flaw here is NOT fixable by either coach or players, it's in how the team has been put together is: the most important members of the supporting cast are ONE-WAY PLAYERS. They play 4 on 5 at one end when Roberson is playing, and at the other end Kanter and Waiters can't guard anyone at all. Why would anyone think that approach could lead to a championship?? (Btw, this is why I think OKC's best hope may be rolling with Adams and Cam Payne).
I really don't understand why drafting KD, Russ, and Serge automatically means Presti has a lifetime pass. He never was fried adequately for one of the dumbest trades in league history. He stuck with Scott Brooks for years when it was blindingly obvious Brooks was adding little tactical value, and in fact holding the team back (took him years to develop any offensive sets, made the team play with one hand tied behind its back and basically gave away the 2012 Finals by stubbornly starting Perk, etc). And now he's getting praise for having supposedly built a deep, young team around KD, Russ, and Ibaka that gives them a chance to contend for years and should get the stars to re-up in FA -- when in fact common sense says no matter how good Durant and Westbrook are you can't beat GSW or SA when your starting SG is ignored by opposing defenses and your max-money post player is one of the worst defenders in the entire league.
This is an example of one reason (beyond the latent racism of the pro-analytics dialogue) why overall I'm more sympathetic to "anti-analytics" opinionators than "pro-analytics" ones. Both sides, ingenuously or not, construct strawmen of each other. And obviously getting better data on what's happening on the floor can help coaches make better lineup decisions, GMs make better player evaluations, and players get a better understanding of their own and opponents' strengths and weaknesses. But this stuff is really on the margins. When we're talking about the things that matter most to their' ultimate success, we have a lot of evidence by this point that analytics is not helping teams make the correct decisions.
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