Why do you think OKC is so bad...

[Watchman]

They've got three "superstars" and a very good center.  Why do you think they aren't winning?

[benhillboy]

Never seen anything out of Donovan to make me think he’s cut out for the NBA.  He’s not the late game tactician you need.  

It’s no secret guys don’t like playing with Westbrook and it’s my personal opinion his feel for the game is poor.  Presti drafts like a champ but has a bad feel for fits.  You have to know all three of your”Big” trio are prima donnas and the team chemistry would suffer.  Where has he been?

Westbrook should’ve always been a 2 guard focused on dominating defensively.  I think he’d have a ring by now if he had.  It’s no coincidence Oladipo went from looking like a bust to an AS starter in one summer.  

I used to be a George fan but he has one foot in LA already.  Deplorable body language on the floor.

I’ve always thought Carmelo was a complete bum outside of isolation scoring and rebounding.  His team IQ is as low as it can get.  His laziness in all other aspects of the game is infectious.  He and Dwight were always the big targets on this board and for the life of me I never knew why. 

As a Steven Adams fan his impact would be so much better served on a real team who doesn’t hate passing the ball or playing for each other off it.  His win shares per 48 are a whopping .78 points better than the next best in George.  I feel sorry for him but he’s a consummate team guy and will never say anything.

Edited December 12, 2017 by benhillboy

[capstone21]

Bad coaching ... lack of chemistry and really bad shot taking ... they play excellent D but on the offense its a whole different story ... Melo sucks , Westbrook is trying to do too much and taking bad shots (he went 1 - 12 from three a couple nights ago) and George hasn't figured out his role. 

Chemistry is the most important part of bball if you ask me ... our 60 win team was not close to the most talented team in the league that year ... they were a bunch of castoffs along with Horford who was an above average role playing center but they had excellent chemistry and people understood their roles and played them to a T.

[benhillboy]

In fairness to the starters that bench won’t make you write home to mom.

[AHF]

I think the Melo trade is going to haunt them.  Took away depth and he adds nothing to the table while he and Westbrook push George to the side.  Team would be better as Batman and Robin than a 3some.

I do totally second the criticism of Billy D.  He has been a drag on the team's offensive identity for years and isn't helping matters now.

[MaceCase]

Starts with Billy Donovan.  I can't discern any actual offensive scheme they run outside of roll the ball out there and let the big names take turns.  Chemistry is an issue,  Westbrook should know how to play off ball better plus has reverted to his do-it-all-himself role, George should be no worse than the 2nd banana but his ego is the 3rd biggest, Melo should be run off more screens and only used in iso in the closing minutes of the 4th.  The bench is bad but with that much fire power Donovan should have been able to stagger his stars minutes to offset that.  I think D'Antoni figured out to play Paul and Harden only 12 minutes together so as to not overlap their skillsets too much,  Donovan should look to having a similar philosophy by looking to get one or two guys out and in at set intervals in quarters.

[AHF]

51 minutes ago, MaceCase said:

Starts with Billy Donovan.  I can't discern any actual offensive scheme they run outside of roll the ball out there and let the big names take turns.  Chemistry is an issue,  Westbrook should know how to play off ball better plus has reverted to his do-it-all-himself role, George should be no worse than the 2nd banana but his ego is the 3rd biggest, Melo should be run off more screens and only used in iso in the closing minutes of the 4th.  The bench is bad but with that much fire power Donovan should have been able to stagger his stars minutes to offset that.  I think D'Antoni figured out to play Paul and Harden only 12 minutes together so as to not overlap their skillsets too much,  Donovan should look to having a similar philosophy by looking to get one or two guys out and in at set intervals in quarters.

Donovan is a great recruiter but a bad coach.  My single biggest knock against Presti is hiring and retaining him.

[Diesel]

I think it's Westbrook.

Much like a guy around here who shall not be mentioned, Westbrook doesn't seem to make players better.   I like his toughness and his desire but he's not making guys better with his decision makers.   Here's the point.

KD = Left became a NBA Champion.

Harden = Left, became a league MVP finalist. 

Oladipo = Left... looks much better now than before. 

Sabonis = Left... Looks much better now than before. 

Kanter = Left .. FG% looks much better now than before. 

There's a great difference when you have a guy that is a PG who gets everybody involved organically vs. a PG who moves people around to make his shot better.  You can't throw the ball to guys as a last resort.  They will not be at their best. 

How do they fix it?

Either Bench Carmelo and let him lead the reserves... or trade George.  I would probably trade George anyway.  See if Cleveland will give you Love for George.

 

[MaceCase]

49 minutes ago, AHF said:

Donovan is a great recruiter but a bad coach.  My single biggest knock against Presti is hiring and retaining him.

It's the issue with college coaches that try to make the jump.  You can get away with good recruiting and serving as an authority figure to amateurs at the collegiate level but at the professional level you better bring some Xs and Os with you.

Presti and I'll point out Clay Bennett especially run that organization on the cheap, I sincerely doubt they want to pay Donovan to go home and pay for any significant replacement at the same time.  Then the George and Melo trade are also incredibly disingenuous, those guys were brought in to get Westbrook to re-sign and keep the stands packed.  I sincerely doubt that they ever had any intention of retaining Melo and George once they hit free agency so there's no real hope of establishing continuity.

[NBASupes]

 

[benhillboy]

On 12/12/2017 at 8:35 PM, NBASupes said:

 

Love that dudes videos.  Basically all the same  sh@t I was saying ;)

Melo’s phantom screens and Westbrook’s fade off the ball into oblivion best illustrate their very limited understandings of team play.  Always been that way and will never change.  And Russell makes as many Bazian plays as The Man Himself.

How freakin funny is Lance Stephenson?  I never seen a player do as much silly sh$t as him and still have the play end well.

My boy VO stunk it up until late when Carmelo of all people designated himself a Screen trapper in a time-out (WTF).  All Steven Adams does is make winning plays so a career high in points is just a premium.  As erratic as Westbrook is obviously his crazy raw stats pay huge dividends.

When Thaddeus Young become a decent defender?

Someone tell Myles Turner to stop stretching so damn far out and ain’t GR3 still on they squad?  Hell he at?

Edited December 14, 2017 by benhillboy

[aali34]

One thing Ive always disliked about Westbrook( and the video above shows this) is that he would barely ever cut baseline from the head of the key if another player held the ball. Dennis used to do it alot last season and it got on my nerves. This season he's eased up. But I'm wondering why a player that has been in the NBA as long as Westbrook has not made the change to his game, especially when having a ball handler as good as Paul George on his team.

Another thing that bothers me is that he doesn't take many catch n' shoot three's. 

Edited December 14, 2017 by aali34

[NBASupes]

On 12/14/2017 at 8:32 AM, benhillboy said:

Love that dudes videos.  Basically all the same  sh@t I was saying ;)

Melo’s phantom screens and Westbrook’s fade off the ball into oblivion best illustrate their very limited understandings of team play.  Always been that way and will never change.  And Russell makes as many Bazian plays as The Man Himself.

How freakin funny is Lance Stephenson?  I never seen a player do as much silly sh$t as him and still have the play end well.

My boy VO stunk it up until late when Carmelo of all people designated himself a Screen trapper in a time-out (WTF).  All Steven Adams does is make winning plays so a career high in points is just a premium.  As erratic as Westbrook is obviously his crazy raw stats pay huge dividends.

When Thaddeus Young become a decent defender?

Someone tell Myles Turner to stop stretching so damn far out and ain’t GR3 still on they squad?  Hell he at?

Excellent post. 

[benhillboy]

On 12/15/2017 at 1:18 PM, NBASupes said:

Excellent post. 

Preciate it.  Another damning article on Russ.  One of the most overrated players in history:

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2017/12/13/16770062/victor-oladipo-russell-westbrook-okc-effect

Saw they lost in NY and was kinda surprised seeing how Porzingis was out.  Then I saw Adams sat too and it all made sense.  They’re awful and will be forced to accept crap for George.

Edited December 17, 2017 by benhillboy

[AHF]

On 12/17/2017 at 7:11 AM, benhillboy said:

will be forced to accept crap for George.

That will be interesting.  It will depend less on OKC (we know they won't drive up leverage on their own) and more on demand for George.  Any team acquiring George will be doing so at least in large part to bolster their playoff run this year so there is a big incentive to get the deal done yourself and not let one of your rivals get him if you think he is the difference between contender status and not.  I could see a competition developing for him where Cleveland is pressured to give up their top pick next year or something like that to avoid another playoff team from being the one that gets him.  It will be interesting for sure.

Carmelo, on the other hand, is in a Dwight Howard situation where I'm not sure any team will want to touch him.  He at least had the excuse of New York being toxic to rely on to get teams to believe in him but now I can't imagine any team wanting to bring him on board so he can launch subpar jumpers and degrade your defense.

[hazer]

1) 'Melo is on the team

2) college coach

3) too many SFs................

[benhillboy]

Damn, even we can beat the Mavs.  Seems they can only beat bad teams and/or bad coaches.  By my count that’s about half the league.  Their talent level should easily have them at 10 games above .500.  Questionable fits, roles, and IQs have them at only 2.

Edited January 1, 2018 by benhillboy

[benhillboy]

They got a soft stretch coming up, interesting to see how many more bad losses they incur.

[benhillboy]

Russell regularly leaving the court before the buzzer sounds now.  That guy is priceless.