What the hell is up with OKC...

[Beastmode88]

:biggums: :biggums:

[Lebronxrings]

too much stagnant offense.

[!@#$%Vectors!@#]

ISO Game:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[Relinquish]

What's happening is Durant is counting the days until he's playing for DC.

[LONGTIME]

Turnovers, bad offensive execution and piss poor defense. Also questionable rotations.

[Monta Ellis MVP]

Even though I am a Pacers fan I am also a fan of OKC. Durant's regression has been very tough to watch. He has had the perfect opportunity in OKC with another top 5 player and a good supporting cast but he has not had the fortitude to take it to the next level. Big time bummer.

[Natureland]

Adjusting, Durant getting back to form, disturbingly bad defense, and uhh terrible late game execution. Oh yeah, Singler.

[imnew09]

I think the closing line up should be

GoatBrook
KD
Adams
DJ
Ibaka

[LoneyROY7]

Same old iso ball.

[disel]

Getting exposed after playin 3 real teams Durant needs to getout of that shithole.......

[Heatles201]

People gave Scott Brooks hell for the ISO offense that KD/Russ ran in a lot of 4th quarter games ( Especially a lot of OKC fans).

I Have yet to see the high powered offense that Donovan is going to turn OKC into

[Beastmode88]

The front office build a team around westbrook and durant but they still play iso? Everyone thought Scotty was the problem but iso is still happening? Are these 2 uncoachable or something? 2 of the top 5 talents in the league and they can't gel with the rest of the team? All they do is play pick and roll with ibaka.

[derb2k2]

Westbrook is the best player on the Thunder.

[Rocketswin2013]

Terrible defense. And an explosive, albeit insanely unstable offense that scores 10 points in 5 mins and 5 points in 10.

They have no structure on offense so they'll just run their iso-ball offense down the stretch and hope they can get hot like against Orlando or SA. Lately, they've gone through cold stretches in the 4th.

[GIF REACTION]

The NBA is constantly evolving

They are still playing the same style from the 2011-2012 days

The league has passed them by... First it was Miami team ball with the Lebron drive and kick style... Then the Spurs with the spread pick and roll equal opportunity offense in 2013 and 2014... Then GSW with space and pace, every player on the court is accountable...

They need to evolve... I thought they were going that way in 2013-2014... But that was a long time ago, and lots of things have happened since then.

[Milbuck]

Westbrook is the best player on the Thunder.
He's really not, he's just the guy with the keys to the offense. Durant might not be 100% rust-free but at the top of his game he is clearly a better player.

[PsychoBe]

same problem every year that i'm tired of other people addressing and making excuses for.

it's durant and westbrook's fault. that's all there is to it.

they only have vision for each other (and ibaka on occasion) but you notice that once the other is gone that they wrack up assists and move the ball a lot more. they just can't play together, bottom line. you can't have a ball-dominant point guard play side-by-side with a ball-dominant 4 time scoring mvp caliber superstar. you just can't do it.

one of them has to go and idc which.

[DMAVS41]

Donovan looks horrid so far. There is nothing innovative at all about this offense and even worse...his late game strategy was amateur at best.

Actually, let me correct that....nobody that follows the game would make those mistakes.

Really worried about this Thunder team under him after watching this start and the late game coaching from Donovan. Just really hard to get behind someone that makes those kind of mistakes. It's like certain NFL coaches that kick fg's and or punt when it basically gives you no chance to win.

I'm sure he'll improve, but ugh...terrible start

[GIF REACTION]

same problem every year that i'm tired of other people addressing and making excuses for.

it's durant and westbrook's fault. that's all there is to it.

they only have vision for each other (and ibaka on occasion) but you notice that once the other is gone that they wrack up assists and move the ball a lot more. they just can't play together, bottom line. you can't have a ball-dominant point guard play side-by-side with a ball-dominant 4 time scoring mvp caliber superstar. you just can't do it.

one of them has to go and idc which.
It really is just that

The competition has gotten better

OKC is still stuck playing basketball on one side of the court

The best teams today are just so good at using the whole court on offense

Talent will get OKC far, but not over the hump of the likes of LAC/GSW/SAS

[DMAVS41]

same problem every year that i'm tired of other people addressing and making excuses for.

it's durant and westbrook's fault. that's all there is to it.

they only have vision for each other (and ibaka on occasion) but you notice that once the other is gone that they wrack up assists and move the ball a lot more. they just can't play together, bottom line. you can't have a ball-dominant point guard play side-by-side with a ball-dominant 4 time scoring mvp caliber superstar. you just can't do it.

one of them has to go and idc which.

Donovan was awful tonight. That crunch time stretch and not managing the game at all was pathetic.

I agree that Durant and WB have to get more heat for this stuff, but Donovan was really really really bad tonight.

[Foster5k]

One word: Coaching

OKC has all the talent in the world, however they're a high powered sports car in the hands of a 3rd grader. Meaning, even though they have all this talent, it's not efficiently being put to use.

Remember how the Warriors looked like crap under Mark Jackson? Under Jackson, they had the same players that Steve Kerr took and won a championship.

OKC is pretty much screwed. It's either two things are happening....

1. They hired a guy, Billy Donovan, who doesn't have a clue how to run a offense around KD/Westbrook. They can't fire him, because they just paid him and there's pretty much no other good option available.

OR

2. Westbrook and KD cannot co-exist. Westbrook might be another Rajon Rondo headcase that refuses to listen to the head coach.

As I said before, with either two scenarios OKC is screwed. Maybe, just maybe someone can pry deep into that worm hole, which is Westbrook's mind, and make him listen to the coach. However, that may prove to be nearly impossible.

Looks like the Warriors have another golden path to the Finals.

[SpecialQue]

We're pretending that the Bulls are a bad team now?

[Lebronxrings]

durant needs to leave. Love + a 1st round pick for durant?

Kyrie
shump
durant
bron
moz


Westbrook
waiters
roberson
love
ibaka


This helps both teams.

[Foster5k]

durant needs to leave. Love + a 1st round pick for durant?

Kyrie
shump
durant
bron
moz


Westbrook
waiters
roberson
love
ibaka


This helps both teams.
:oldlol:

[DaSeba5]

Too much iso... again. So much wasted talent in OKC with these coaches.

[Spurs5Rings2014]

Looks like the Warriors have another golden path to the Finals.

Looks like you're forgetting someone.

:oldlol:

[sportjames23]

We're pretending that the Bulls are a bad team now?


Beat me to it.

[KendrickPerkins]

Durant needs more help

Point blank

[bdreason]

Sometimes their offense reminds me of when you go play a game of pick-up ball, and two of the guys on your team are buddies, and somehow they always end up passing the ball to one another.

[buddha]

The NBA is constantly evolving

They are still playing the same style from the 2011-2012 days

The league has passed them by... First it was Miami team ball with the Lebron drive and kick style... Then the Spurs with the spread pick and roll equal opportunity offense in 2013 and 2014... Then GSW with space and pace, every player on the court is accountable...

They need to evolve... I thought they were going that way in 2013-2014... But that was a long time ago, and lots of things have happened since then.

dumbest post i've ever read. all you're doing is naming the type of offense the championsihp team ran that year.

[KendrickPerkins]

Sometimes their offense reminds me of when you go play a game of pick-up ball, and two of the guys on your team are buddies, and somehow they always end up passing the ball to one another.
Maybe that's because Ibaka is terrible with the ball in his hands, or Waiters is a black hole, or Adams can't create offense to save his life....

Of course the balls gonna be in your best two players hands you ****ing idiot. Not everyone is Golden State with play-making shot-makers at every position

[Monta Ellis MVP]

dumbest post i've ever read. all you're doing is naming the type of offense the championsihp team ran that year.

:roll:

[bdreason]

We're pretending that the Bulls are a bad team now?


It's not that they lost the game, it's the way they're performing down the stretch. If you're getting good shots, and they don't go down, you can live with that. Thunder are just relying on talent, and hoping that either Durant or Westbrook will make their contested shots.

[Monta Ellis MVP]

Maybe that's because Ibaka is terrible with the ball in his hands, or Waiters is a black hole, or Adams can't create offense to save his life....

Of course the balls gonna be in your best two players hands you ****ing idiot. Not everyone is Golden State with play-making shot-makers at every position

They need to make it work or deal Durant or Westbrook for someone who can. No excuses.

[GIF REACTION]

dumbest post i've ever read. all you're doing is naming the type of offense the championsihp team ran that year.
Explain your logic here

I can post a dozen articles with quotes from players/coaches/analysts showing what I just said

I'm waiting

[KendrickPerkins]

They need to make it work or deal Durant or Westbrook for someone who can. No excuses.
Of course there aren't any excuses

If they don't win it all then **** em

Who's saying otherwise? Did you people forget it's November? God damn

[kamil]

Getting exposed after playin 3 real teams Durant needs to getout of that shithole.......

Is he good? Can the Cavs get him?

[Spurs m8]

What's happening is Durant is counting the days until he's playing for DC.

Nah, KD said if he leaves he's chasing success...something the Wizards can't provide tbh

[Monta Ellis MVP]

I'm new here but is GIF REACTION and ArbitraryWater the same poster? They are both LeBron fans and never have a real take of their own on a subject, they just copy/paste stuff from other people.

[J Shuttlesworth]

They're always having trouble closing the game. Attempting hero shots late in the game isn't working out for them.

[GIF REACTION]

For him, too. Which seems strange. Because he, however inadvertently, started this. His absence during the 2012 playoffs forced Spoelstra to experiment, inserting 6-foot-8 wing Shane Battier as a stretch “power” forward, and then leaving him there when Bosh returned. Bosh excelled at center. Small-ball prevailed. Copycats bred all over the NBA.

“Now it’s like, we got to stay ahead of the curve,” Bosh said. “We got to kind of perfect the total. You’ve got to give it to Golden State. They can go small, they can go big, they can go medium. They can go everything. That’s kind of the next evolution, to be able to do it all. And to have big guys who can move and guard.”


While the Association long ago earned its reputation as a copycat league...


Early offense, floor-spacing, weak-side action and ball reversal -- all the hallmarks of the modern offensive juggernaut in the NBA. As if you needed any more evidence that this is a copycat league, look at the other contending team that made controversial coaching changes this summer and tell me what's different.

"Better spacing overall, more freedom to operate, more outside shots for now," the Bulls' Pau Gasol said after the game. ... As long as we don't forget the defensive end, we should be fine."


Allen said he wants Memphis to have the same effect on the league after this season the same way Golden State has influence teams.

“We’re going to end up winning the ring and make the league turn right back around,” he said. “It’s a copycat league. Everybody is linking onto going small. The way we play, we have counters to even up with that.”


Those franchises were already the most historically successful, and as Thorn said, “this has always been a copycat league.”

He added that after Golden State won the championship in June, led by Stephen Curry’s single-season record barrage of 3-pointers and with a high-voltage pace that had N.B.A. advocates in full-throated cheer, we should expect the game to continue trending in the direction that credentialed old-school folks like Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich generally loathe.

But to cling stubbornly to the past is to fade away with it. In an effort to eradicate the image of them as so 1990s, the Knicks say they are planning to play a faster version of Jackson’s beloved triangle offense this season.

Popovich years ago recalibrated his once-plodding offense to feature the pace-pushing skills of Tony Parker. In winning the 2014 finals over Miami, the Spurs launched more 3-pointers (averaging 23.6 per game) than any title-winning team in history — until Curry and the Warriors fired them up at a clip of 31 a game in disposing of James and his Cleveland Cavaliers last June.

“We all know if you don’t shoot the 3, you’re probably not going to win,” Popovich said last spring. “Everybody in the league shoots the 3-point shot well and knows the importance. I still hate it.”


Many teams will try to copy the Warriors’ style. That’s what happens: One team innovates, others try to duplicate. But it will be a tall order, considering that the league has not seen a talent for ballhandling and shooting like Curry’s.

So, the copycats will have a hard time matching the model. But the innovators — see Popovich, Gregg, S.A. Spurs — spent the summer working on the Warriors’ antidote. San Antonio signed forwards LaMarcus Aldridge and David West to see if their new bigs can slow the Warriors’ smalls.

We’ll see which style prevails over the long haul. But whichever way it unfolds, one can’t help but appreciate the Warriors’ approach. The flow and spark coming from Golden State’s championship run in 2014-15 provided a stylistic masterpiece.


Hoiberg doesn't have the NBA rings that lend gravity to, and demand respect for, the coaching acumen of another 3-point specialist, Golden State's Steve Kerr. But in this copycat league, maybe it's another trend that Chicago wants to adopt on their sideline: the two Finals teams are chasing a championship with rookie head coaches, Kerr and Cleveland's David Blatt.


SI.com: There are a ton of teams starting to fully embrace this small ball strategy. Did you ever anticipate this would become so widespread, where teams like the Indiana Pacers essentially just banished Roy Hibbert because they didn’t want to play with traditional big guys anymore?


D’Antoni: Well, the league has always been a copycat league. I’m sure somebody is going to come up with something else and it will then go some place else. It’s just the game has changed. The rules have changed and the ability of players to be able to shoot threes and space the floor and be a power forward and be able to space all the way out to the three-point line—even centers can go out and shoot threes—it’s changed and people have to follow that. You give it enough time and I just think that it was kind of going that way anyway. And then what Golden State did, I just think it put everybody on notice and in order to beat them, you’re going to have to play that way. I think it’s a great thing. Obviously, I like that type of basketball. I like watching it. I think it’s exciting and I think fans love it. You’re trying to win and entertain and I think the Golden State Warriors accomplished both.

SI.com: I read about the presentation you gave during the Las Vegas Summer League and, essentially, you said to build a team’s offensive attack around a post player playing with his back to the basket is wasting an opportunity offensively. Why do you think that?

D’Antoni: If you look at the stats around the league, a post-up is not a very good shot. [Laughs] It just isn’t. Now again, in our business and leagues, a lot of times you say something and people take that as 100%: You’re always going to have post-ups and you’re always going to have 15-foot shots. They have not become the best shots. The best shots are layups and foul shots and three-point shots. So you try to gear your offense to where you can exploit those three things. And then, other teams are smart: They run you off the three so you have to shoot a 15-footer, or you can get a mismatch inside where you can post-up, and when you get a mismatch, you have to exploit that. But to go down and put your best offensive player on the block against their best defensive player, it’s just not a great option anymore. It just isn’t.


They say the NBA is a copycat league. And after the San Antonio Spurs won the 2014 Finals with radical resting strategies, it seems the league is frantically trying to Xerox the Spurs' blueprint.

To back it up a bit, the 2013-14 Spurs made history by becoming the first team to finish the season without a player averaging more than 30 minutes per game. Not one on the roster. Granted, if the Spurs weren't any good, that feat alone might not have created even a ripple.

But the Spurs were not just good, they won a championship over the Miami Heat in breathtaking fashion while employing coach Gregg Popovich's aggressive rest strategies.


And so the Xeroxing began. Case in point: Look at how the minutes leaderboard has transformed. Last season, 33 players averaged more than 35 minutes per game -- or about one per team. This season after the Spurs won it all? That total is 17, sliced nearly in half. How about the number of players who play more than 30 minutes per game? A total of 84 players this season, down from 99 last season and 120 as recently as 2008-09.

What's happening here? After seeing the above numbers, one longtime general manager responded bluntly:

"The Spurs Effect."
..

[Lakers Legend#32]

The Curse of the Sonics

[knicksman]

durant quits after seeing hes again 2nd in the league coz that who he is. A quitter

[Bosnian Sajo]

Even though I am a Pacers fan I am also a fan of OKC. Durant's regression has been very tough to watch. He has had the perfect opportunity in OKC with another top 5 player and a good supporting cast but he has not had the fortitude to take it to the next level. Big time bummer.

Yo enough with these posts man, made the same post yesterday except you were also a fan of the Cavs in that post.



Get outtttttttt.

[Relinquish]

Nah, KD said if he leaves he's chasing success...something the Wizards can't provide tbh

Of course they can.

Someone's still a bit salty about the other night. :lol

Enjoy Aldridge :roll:

[Mrofir]

Terrible defense. And an explosive, albeit insanely unstable offense that scores 10 points in 5 mins and 5 points in 10.

They have no structure on offense so they'll just run their iso-ball offense down the stretch and hope they can get hot like against Orlando or SA. Lately, they've gone through cold stretches in the 4th.

10 points in 5 minutes!?

That's insanely explosive!

That's like, 24 points in a quarter!

[I<3NBA]

just because Scott Brooks was replaced doesn't mean they replaced him with a better coach :facepalm

all those assuming it's Westbrook and Durant's fault are making a fallacious assumption

it could just be that Donovan is actually worse than Scoot Brooks (yes, that is possible)

how many are betting here that if Pop coached this team they'd win the championship?

[BlakFrankWhite]

Durant is the best in the world.

You haters need to deal with it

[Rocketswin2013]

10 points in 5 minutes!?

That's insanely explosive!

That's like, 24 points in a quarter!
eh you have to watch it.

They go long stretches with and without scoring much

[dunksby]

They have a new coach after long time of playing under another, need time to figure shit out.

[Lebron23]

They should have hire a Coach with NBA Experience.

[All Net]

They still play the same terrible offense

A system that won't win a title

[I<3NBA]

They should have hire a Coach with NBA Experience.
nba experience does not equal being a good coach
however, coming from Europe is better than coming from US college ball
college coaches just suck.
they don't teach fundamentals, they emphasize isos, and they just basically depend on a kid's athleticism to win them games.

[swagga]

couple ibaka's regression with enes kanter's "defense" and you get a free trip to the rim. Chicago had SO many open layups and dunks. Can't win like that.

[imdaman99]

They are 6 games in. Rings ain't won in November, and while they may be lost this early, OKC has plenty of time to adjust to the coach and his system. 76 games more to go. Now let's hope a system is in the works :oldlol:

[BlakFrankWhite]

Kevin Durant is the best player in the world

[imdaman99]

Kevin Durant is the best player in the world
That's what my main man Westbrook says. Now he has to get him the ball in 4th quarters...

[Spurs5Rings2014]

I missing something? People talm 'bout Westbreezy and Durant isoing down the stretch being the reason they ain't win the game, but that's EXACTLY what Rose did for the bulls.

:lol

That's the whole point of having a superstar on your team. They can take over down the stretch and put the game away. OKC has not one, but TWO guys who can do that and people are complaining? Unreal.

:oldlol:

[swagga]

They are 6 games in. Rings ain't won in November, and while they may be lost this early, OKC has plenty of time to adjust to the coach and his system. 76 games more to go. Now let's hope a system is in the works :oldlol:

their low IQ and leadership is obvious.

Durant has all the skill but zero leadership.
Westbrook has the IQ of a rapid dog. He is the heart of the team but he is too much of a hothead to be a leader.
Dion waiters make swaggy p look like nash.
Ibaka bites on every pump fake.

NO LEADERSHIP => iso ball when shit gets rough => Ls in the playoffs.

[imdaman99]

their low IQ and leadership is obvious.

Durant has all the skill but zero leadership.
Westbrook has the IQ of a rapid dog. He is the heart of the team but he is too much of a hothead to be a leader.
Dion waiters make swaggy p look like nash.
Ibaka bites on every pump fake.

NO LEADERSHIP => iso ball when shit gets rough => Ls in the playoffs.
When healthy, they have only lost to the team that won the title since 2010. There is a strong case for them being the 2nd best team in at least 2 of those years. Which championship team SHOULD they have beaten? Lakers in 2010? Mavs in 2011? Heat in 2012? Spurs in 2014? Which ones? It's not as if they are some playoff underachievers or something.

[swagga]

When healthy, they have only lost to the team that won the title since 2010. There is a strong case for them being the 2nd best team in at least 2 of those years. Which championship team SHOULD they have beaten? Lakers in 2010? Mavs in 2011? Heat in 2012? Spurs in 2014? Which ones? It's not as if they are some playoff underachievers or something.

2 top 5 players and a solid cast (ibaka/green/harden/perkins/reggie jackson/lamb/k. martin/etc) should net you more than what they got in the last 6 years. That's how I see it.

[jrong]

They're really just a two-man team, at least offensively. The return of KD following Westbrook's explosion last year and their opening night win over the Spurs caused people to over-hype them.

But, really, a good team can let them both get their points and still be fine as long as it makes at least one of the two (usually Westbrook) be a volume shooter to get them.

[Lebronxrings]

durant needs to leave that shiet hole of a team. Join the cavs, hell we'll even give u love.

[Thunder_Up]

From what I've seen so far the Thunder are struggling to get used to sharing the ball on offense. I have seen so many turnovers these past 6 games from bad/dropped/lazy passes it's almost infuriating. It makes me wonder if they've ever practiced passing sometimes.

The part that gives me hope is when the second unit comes out and passes the ball around 4-5 times with nice off the ball movement and get an easy shot. Maybe it's because those guys are younger or have been in better systems before coming to OKC. Currently getting around 22 assists per game so I'm hoping they continue to progress and can cut out the turnovers.

Our defense currently seems to be sink or swim. We lead the league in blocks which much of the time results in transition points but if we don't make a block or steal teams have been getting into the paint too easy, especially in the 4th.

Sum up

Good:
More assists, better off-ball movement, less dependent on ISO, shot blocking

Bad :
Way too many turnovers, revert back to ISO in crunch time, can't protect the paint

[r0drig0lac]

They lost to
Raptors (undefeated yet)
Rockets (stacked)
Bulls (stacked)

nothing wrong with that, but they play the same way as in recent seasons (iso iso iso)