wonder where OKC goes from here (hint: amnesty Perk)

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/62345/mom-did-not-make-pizza-rolls-when-did-the-thunder-get-so-depressing

OK, let's acknowledge this up front: When Russell Westbrook got hurt, everyone agreed it almost certainly killed OKC's title chances. They probably wouldn't even make it to the conference finals, we thought. Fast-forward two weeks, they go down in the Western semis, and suddenly people are criticizing Kevin Durant, second-guessing Sam Presti, and calling for Scott Brooks's job. It's ridiculous, yes.

And yet ... Even if the title window isn't closing as long as Durant and Westbrook are there, shouldn't it matter that the best young team we've seen since the Kobe-Shaq Lakers blew the doors off the West and went to the NBA Finals last year, and then came back and got worse? That happened, right? Even with Westbrook, this Grizzlies team would've given Oklahoma City problems, ditto for the Spurs, and the Heat would've destroyed them if they had gotten that far. Their regular-season numbers were great, but I tend to be on Team Marc Stein here: "The regular season didn't expose OKC but the playoffs would have."

As an outsider who's been rooting for them to take over the league for the past three years, this is pretty depressing. Because it was all happening. Everything clicked in last year's playoffs. They were so good and so much fun that you could sit down any sports fan, make him watch the Thunder, and have him walk away obsessed. By the end of the Western Conference finals, we'd Photoshopped Russell Westbrook onto a fucking unicorn, and I swear it made sense at the time.

Everyone was eating pizza rolls, and it was great.

Then the Finals happened, the Thunder lost, the front office decided James Harden was worth $54 million but not $60 million, decided Scott Brooks and Kendrick Perkins were both worth keeping (not in that order), and ... here we are. I will hate what happened to the Thunder for at least the next 10 years.

Some of the decisions the front office made were more defensible than others, but none of it matters. It's all ended with a team that's not as great as it should be.

It was painful watching Durant get swallowed up by Memphis last night, but it was even worse seeing his lifeless teammates and then thinking back to the Grizzlies-Thunder series in 2011. Compare the box score from that series-ending loss in 2011 to the box score from last night, and just look at the Thunder roster. In three years the Thunder bench has swapped Eric Maynor, Daequan Cook, and James Harden for Hasheem Thabeet, Kevin Martin, and Reggie Jackson. From three perfect young role players to ... something not quite as great. Meanwhile, their starting center would be amnestied tomorrow if OKC had any other backup plan, and the coach hasn't gotten any better or more creative since 2010.

Big picture? They've got Durant, Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka. Everything else is more underwhelming than anyone would've thought possible two years ago.

Even bigger picture? This team left Seattle and set off a chain reaction in two cities that still isn't resolved. We overlooked it because they turned into the most exciting, addictive roster in the NBA. Since then, the owner who moved them has refused to pay the luxury tax because he doesn't want to risk profits, even as his team's value has almost certainly appreciated by hundreds of millions of dollars. And so a team that seemed too good to be true 12 months ago has been stripped to its bare essentials.

If anything, Westbrook's injury has distracted people from OKC issues that are depressing with or without Russ. Harden wouldn't have saved OKC this year, no, but that's not the point. With or without Harden, the team's supporting cast has gotten worse and it's not clear how they're going to get better. They could amnesty Perkins, but it'd be one summer too late. They already traded the best shooting guard in the NBA for what might really, unbelievably, turn out to be nothing. Beyond that, the role players were all badly outplayed by Memphis's supporting cast, and even Houston's to some degree, and their coach isn't the right fit anymore (this was obvious even in last year's Finals).

The Thunder will be title contenders as long as Westbrook and Durant are around, but the pressure's only going to get worse from here; both will be asked to do more and more with less. In two years Sam Presti and the OKC management have taken what seemed like an endless reservoir of potential and drained it away to leave us with something cheaper, not as good as it should be, and nowhere near as fun. All while Clay Bennett continues to make ungodly annual profits on a team that was bought for $350 million and could probably sell for at least $500 million tomorrow. This is what I couldn't stop thinking about while OKC's season faded to black Wednesday.

Biggest picture? Last year, the Thunder were the team you could point to if you wanted to make someone fall in love with the NBA.

This year, the Thunder turned into a team that embodies everything that should make someone cynical about loving the NBA.

<--- Big Baller World Order

I mean, for all of the things that you can bash Sam Presti and Clay Bennett about, you're really going to whine about Eric Maynor and Daequan Cook? Really?! A guy who lost his spot to Reggie Jackson and Cook, who is completely replaceable and currently played himself to the pine in Chicago? This article also conveniently leaves out the existence of Jeremy Lamb and the #12 pick who could serve as supporting cast or ways to improve the roster.

Also, whether anyone likes it or not, there are two realities for up-and-coming teams. A) They can't keep their supporting cast together if they are any good and B) after the first taste of playoff success, they aren't going to give a shit about the regular season. They all become less fun to watch during the season. If he wanted to point out an issue, call out Durant for becoming more of a prima donna this season and whining too much about calls.

The Thunder will never have a third wheel as good as Harden but to act like they are somehow doomed from here on in and can't improve from this season is kind of ridiculous.

----
NBA MOCK DRAFT #1 - https://thecourierclass.com/whole-shebang/2017/5/18/2017-nba-mock-draft-1-just-lotto-and-lotta-trades

Stroke it man. Enjoy.

that's heads and tails locked into the second place spot. And if the Thunder can address the center position, they won't be that much behind the Heat.

And obviously they need a new coach. Someone that will tell them to get into the paint and to the line instead of jacking up jumpshots. Ibaka needs to turn his sights on developing a post game instead of that 3 point shot. It's good to have a jumper, but with his athleticism, he should be in the paint.

At the end of the day, the Heat have a lot of old ass players and a broken 2 guard that can go at any minute. So their legacy sure as shit ain't secure. They're gonna have to make changes too. Just depends on who makes the better choices from here on out.

https://banafrit.com/
http://middlebrainmedia.com/

This "he's not the right fit" stuff is laughable

He's terrible, has zero input

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Scottie Brooks sucks. a former scrub PG who cant make in game adjustnments/call plays
and has made zero improvement on his own star PG

-------------------------
“The other dude after me didn’t help my case. It was just like…crazy nigga factory going on.”
Dre makes no apologies for his own eccentricities. “I was young, and searching, trying to find myself,” he says. “Never did.”-- Andre B

And most of them are terrible

Skiles
Rambis
Del Negro (who was actually pretty decent)
Brooks

All of them are horrible. Terrible

The racist idea is that to survive in the NBA, these white players
had to use their wits and understanding of the game MORE THAN
their black colleagues

The irony is that the four listed above are the most CLUELESS of all
NBA coaches. Del Negro has NO idea. Brooks has NO idea. And Rambis?


Bwahhaha. Its a metaphor for how shit is in the real world. White males
are ALWAYS given the benefit of the doubt, benefit from an unspoken
affirmative action in their favor. Have forever. Continue to.

Oh, and Mark Madsen now coaches the Lakers D-League team.

Precisely what has he done to make you think he'd be a good
pro? Be white, from Stanford and an NBA bum? Oh. Affrimative
Action.

Meanwhile, Mark Jackson outcoached George Karl. Jackson
is probably a tier under the hall of fame.

Doc Rivers has outcoached everybody for years.

I remember RACIST ass George Karl talking shit about Doc getting
a coaching job, talking about how these guys are "beinga annoited
the next African-American coach." Bwahahahahah @ him being
OUTCOACHED by a BLACK FORMER STAR who NEVER spent time
on an sideline

bwhahahahahahahahaahhaha

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

<---https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DL9AVTQ

Kudos.

And you will know MY JACKET IS GOLD when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

________________________________________
"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H5K-BUMS0

he got talent, but he don't want it bad enough. i hated watching him play for Baylor.

<--- Big Baller World Order

it wants to be a harden article but it knows that a harden article would be ridiculous, so it flails about without a point.

perk sucks, scott is mehverage, they missed westbrook, and they need a draft pick to step up. everyone knows this.

fish also was a terrible investment....even if he kept them in games it's keeping them from developing young role players.

they don't want to make the same mistakes the lakers have, because they can't pay like the lakers.

you look at teams like memphis and san antonio and EVERYBODY plays. even with miami, WE KNOW that chalmers, cole, battier, miller, birdman, haslem, etc aren't afraid to step up. they're imperfect players but they're tough PLAYOFF players.

indiana basically plays only those kinds of players these days, without much starpower, and they still might make it further than okc.

okc has to make sure that happens to their roster even when durant and westbrook are getting 40 minutes. otherwise they won't be shit in the playoffs.

Whenever there's criticism of the Thunder, he seems to be completely absent. What's the point of starting a #2 guard that can't shoot and isn't really all that exceptional at defense? He's Perkins' minime. You aren't going to win a championship with Perkins as your center AND Sef as your #2 - if the stars align just right you might be able to win with one of those, but not both at the same time.

thabo gives you ten points a game on a fantastic 62% TS, while shooting over 40% from 3PT. solid defense, boards a bit, almost never turns the ball over. for someone who makes under $4M a season, he's a great complement to durant/westbrook.

but if you're looking for a more dynamic SG, the best one in the league is in houston.

in general, the takeaway for the thunder is that guys like ibaka and thabo are fantastically efficient when westbrook is drawing attention, but limited otherwise. i don't think OKC has to retool too much over the offseason, but the damage from the harden trade has already been done.

thabo and ibaka are assisted on about 75% of their baskets.

He usually shoots well because he faces zero-teams while
in the lineup with 2 of the 8 best players in the league.

He's good at not being a terrible shooter when wide open
and having enough energy to harass wing scorers on defense,
which is because he doesn't expend any energy on offense, which
is because he plays with 2 of the 8 best offensive players in
the league.

Replace him with Landry Fields and about a zillion other
players and OKC doesn't miss a beat.

excellent wing defenders who can knock down threes at a 40% clip are more rare than you might think. dudes like kawhi and shump are great commodities.

good article on this exact topic, if you're interested:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9225802/players-shane-battier-harder-find-conventional-wisdom-suggests

>excellent wing defenders who can knock down threes at a 40%
>clip are more rare than you might think. dudes like kawhi and
>shump are great commodities.

a) Even rare-er is the luxury of playing with offensive
players as talented as Russy and Durant at the same time.

b) Battier is nothing like Thabo, because unlike the
Thabo, Battier's goodness has been spread across multiple
situations and contexts, his 3 point shooting has *always*
been good regardless of who he was playing with. He was good
when he needed to produce, he was good when his job was to
stand around and shoot. OKC needed Thabo's production this
postseason and he was dreadful, which doesn't surprise anyone
who has ever watched him play.

c) Kawhi is nothing like Thabo, because Kawhi is a combo forward
who can hit the three, can slash, rebound and get garbage
points too, which Thabo can't do.

d) Shump, pre-knee injury, was a hyper athletic slasher-stopper
in the young Eddie Jones mold. He did a hell of a lot more
than stand around and shoot zero-team jumpshots. And he's not
in the same caliber a shooter as Battier is, which means the
players you grouped to compare Thabo to aren't even alike.


So, no, actually.


>
>good article on this exact topic, if you're interested:
>
>http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9225802/players-shane-battier-harder-find-conventional-wisdom-suggests

No, thank you.

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

so every wing defender who can also make threes isn't identical in every way?

REVELATORY.

the point remains that thabo is excellent at precisely what OKC asks him to do and makes $3.5M a season. if you have kd and russy, he's a great, cheap piece to have. other than dudes on a rookie contract, i'm not sure how many guys provide that skill-set at that price.

FYI landry makes $7M a year and shot 14% from three last season.

He can't create a shot, and he seems afraid to shoot even when he gets set up for a wide open one. I don't even like Battier, but Battier is capable of getting hot on wide open 3s which I don't even think Sefalosha is capable of. Furthermore, Battier's defense is a few notches above Sefalosha's as well.

I don't watch the regular season. I've watched the Thunder the last 3 years in the playoffs wondering why exactly Sefalosha is such a key role player for them. He doesn't provide anything on offense, and as far as I can tell he's a competent defender but not somebody that the other team's star players are even worried about.

and he's become an exceptionally efficient scorer--although he doesn't shoot much--who is capable of knocking down open threes at a high clip. he does what's asked of him really well and at a bargain price. again, he costs $3.5M, about the same as lavoy fucking allen.

i'm not sure why you care about thabo creating his own shots when he plays with durant and westbrook. that's not his job on the thunder.

I'm not sure I care all that much that he can knock down open 3s in the regular season. He is a sub 40% shooter in the playoffs over his career, and sub 30% from downtown. He is not a shooter - he's a try-hard with no real offensive talent that gets exposed during the playoffs. You can't have both him & Perk in your starting lineup if you expect to compete offensively in the playoffs.

For a guy whose offense is as sorry as it is, his defense is not even close to what it needs to be.

Again, I'm not saying they're blowing the bank on him or anything. But he's getting way more tick than his skillset should command. A more consistent spot-up 3 point shooter would be an upgrade over him, even if it meant a drop off defensively.

The guy doesn't shoot unless he's wide, wide open. He doesn't force the defense to bend in any significant way, and even with Westbrook out he was still taking the same 4-5 shots a game. A minimal closeout makes him holster it, and he's not really creating any extra operating space for the rest of their offense. Pretty much everyone else in that article is taking 8, 9, 10 shots a game (in similar minutes), and stretching the D enough where they can occasionally make plays off the bounce too.

Thabo is still a good value at 3 million but I do think his lack of offensive aggressiveness hampers the Thunder O, even if his efficiency numbers are strong.

i guess it could be better, but thabo's reluctance can't be hampering them too badly (that would be perk!). obviously his limitations are accentuated without westbrook in there to set him up -- as i said before, both he and ibaka are assisted on 3/4 of their baskets.

I don't really think there's anything "wrong" with the Thunder per se, and not too many teams would survive the loss of their 2nd best (really 1B) player. At this stage for the Thunder though, they're pretty much gonna be measured by their success against the Miami's and Memphis' of the world, who can force you out of your best stuff and make Thabo or Ibaka be the one to beat you.

Would they really be better if they swapped Thabo for say, Jared Dudley (better, more aggressive shooter, avg defender at best)? They'd probably be about even overall, maybe better equipped to attack elite D teams, obviously worse on D. Perk is the real problem though and I'm not totally sure who they can get to upgrade for him.

they had the best offense and the fourth-best defense this season. they're a very good team and will continue to be for the immediate future, despite presti shitting the bed with the harden deal. i wonder if they'll amnesty perk or bring martin back.