2015-16 OKC Thunder

[dankrutka]

This is factual, but too many do not want t to deal in facts

Thanks for the basketball facts, Zach Lowe. Lol.

Evrryone understands that the Thunder may very well lose to what is possibly the best team of all time in the playoffs. But coming on here and forecasting it after OKC played them tough speaks far more to your constant OKC negativity than your basketball knowledge.

[dankrutka]

Obviously, Golden State is a beast, but OKC was may have been the first team all season to make them go away from the Steph/Draymond pick and roll. That was encouraging. Also, there are some line up adjustments Donovan can make the next time we play them. For example, the double big lineup was absolutely torched in the first half. But that's what regular-season games are for... to experiment and see what works. Golden State is still the prohibitive favorite to win the title, but at least OKC showed that they can cause some problems. Here's a good read on some of the matchups from the game: The Pattern of Basketball: Warriors vs. Thunder

[hfry]

Great points dankrutka. The most encouraging thing to me is the defensive in the second half, how many 50-50 balls we lost, and how bad Serge was. He has been the most inconsistent Thurber player this year. When he has games like this a loss normal happens, but he can easily play better which could turn the tides of the game. I've been under the thinking if the thunder make a major trade then serge is our best asset to bring value and consistentcy back. I think we can easily hang with and take to 6-7 games a golden state with little changes.
And I don't remember who said it unthread but this team has made great strides defensively. Now they haven't put it together in a full game yet but for instance, Kanter is normally torched on pick and rolls so the team has been fighting over screens and dropping Kanter harder more recently. It forces a big to hit a long jumper which statistically is in our advantage compared to a guard shooting or getting a layup. Little changes like this don't show up on the box score but it's a long season so you have to address one problem at a time.

[dcsooner]

This year's Finals will be a remtach of last year's finals only LeBron won't let Curry off the hook and is hellbent on getting Cleveland a title and making sure Kevin Love stays in Cleveland. As for OKC, first round exit or swept by San Antonio in the second round is looking like their chances and Durant will leave as that is what the national media want.

Houston will make a run at KD, how ironic would that be. OKC would be known as the Development Franchise where players start and leave (Jackson, Harden, KD?, RW? Others. Presto doesn't seem so.smart.anymore.

[Urbanized]

Wow. You're a genius. Pretty much every team in the league will be making a run at KD. Of course, considering the fact that they will only be able to offer exactly what OKC has to offer, the only ones that will have a chance will be the ones that offer a similar or better chance to win. If Russ stays, OKC will be just as compelling for him as many, and more than most.

Besides, considering the near-certainty that he will be taking his one year player option this year, you're about a year early on this discussion. Unless you're trolling, which of course you are.

[Laramie]

.
Let not your heart be troubled...

Our next meeting with the Warriors will be Saturday, February 27 inside the Peake. We were without a starter, Andre Roberson (DRE)--good defense & scrappy under the goal; yet we were tied with less than 5 minutes to go inside the Oracle.

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Golden State Warriors - Box Score - February 06, 2016 - ESPN

OKC is transitioning under Donovan; we'll see the fruits of this labor throughout the remaining games.

Confident that Thunder will beat Golden State Warriors the next two games.

[bradh]

What blew my mind last night was we didn't make GS defend our bigs when they went small. Kanter was lights out and with Adams' developing post game they hardly touched the ball when Green was playing the 5. Big mistake. Then with Ibaka doing his typical disappearing act and being too busy to develop a back to the basket game (Adams has developed one in much shorter time), we were screwed.

[Thomas Vu]

I'm glad somebody else noticed Ibaka not coming up.

KD leaving for the Rockets would be funny in that if he thought OKC had no def, the Rockets are routinely on Vine and YouTube for the lack of defense.

[Laramie]

Our bench continues to be our Achilles heel. We had only 9 men in the rotation (4 bench players). Hope Andre Roberson returns healthy.

Thunder did a good job running Curry (26 pts) & Thompson (18 pts) off the three point line . GSW reserve strength stepped up to the plate; they outscored our bench 42-17, only two Thunder bench players of 4 scored (Kanter 14 & Morrow 3); that was the Warriors' X-factor. Could have used a Vet like Collison.

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Golden State Warriors - Box Score - February 06, 2016 - ESPN

Note: Ibaka hasn't been the same since his 2014 playoff injury.

[Bellaboo]

I see a trade coming at the deadline for a 2 way wing player. We have a couple or three that could go for a contributing player.

[Anonymous.]

My View From Super Bowl 50 | The Players' Tribune

[dankrutka]

Note: Ibaka hasn't been the same since his 2014 playoff injury.

Ibaka isn't having his best season, but I think he looks fine athletically. This is from last week:



I think he's struggling more mentally with finding his role in the offense...

[bradh]

I would trade Serge Ibaka for Khris Middleton in some sort of package deal.

It's going to take losing a guy like that to get a quality two way guard in return.

[dankrutka]

I would trade Serge Ibaka for Khris Middleton in some sort of package deal.

It's going to take losing a guy like that to get a quality two way guard in return.

Who are you then rolling with at power forward in traditional lineups then? KD obviously can play more minutes there, but I don't think the Thunder want to rely on him as the primary four, right? Collison is great, but I really don't think he should see too many minutes at this point in his career, and McGary's defense is a pretty big liability. The Thunder's biggest problem is on the defensive end and I think trading Serge for Middleton makes us slightly worse defensively. We also then trade a gaping hole on the roster at shooting guard for a gaping hole at power forward. The only advantage being that KD can play four in small ball line ups.

However, I really do love Middleton. He's really good. And that's why I seriously doubt he's available. He's really underrated and Milwaukee should build around him and their other young players. The problem with all the trade chatter is that it takes two to tango and 9/10 times, Khris Middleton isn't available. It's a pretty intriguing idea though.

[bradh]

Yeah it leaves a hole, that's why I said it'd have to be a package and not straight up.

Let's discuss McGary for a second, will he ever have a home on this team? Who in the league would take on an offensively skilled but oft injured and defensively lacking PF?

[Bellaboo]

This year's Finals will be a remtach of last year's finals only LeBron won't let Curry off the hook and is hellbent on getting Cleveland a title and making sure Kevin Love stays in Cleveland. As for OKC, first round exit or swept by San Antonio in the second round is looking like their chances and Durant will leave as that is what the national media want.

Your crystal ball is broke, you might want to go troll somewhere else...lol

[Laramie]

.

Oklahoma City Thunder 122 - Phoenix Suns 106

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Phoenix Suns - Box Score - February 08, 2016 - ESPN

[dankrutka]

Let's discuss McGary for a second, will he ever have a home on this team? Who in the league would take on an offensively skilled but oft injured and defensively lacking PF?

All good questions. My question is, why are the Thunder drafting so many young guys when there's no room for them? McGary might be a useful player. Who knows? He doesn't get chances. It turns out that Jeremy Lamb can be at least be a solid role player when given the opportunity, which he never got consistently in OKC. I think McGary's similar to Lamb and would do well with consistent minutes and a clear role. But, who knows? Maybe he'll get dealt so OKC can find a shooting guard... as good as Jeremy Lamb. 😜

[bradh]

Maybe he'll get dealt so OKC can find a shooting guard... as good as Jeremy Lamb. ��

Oh come on, you don't really mean that?

[Thomas Vu]

Oddly enough Jlamb's effective FG% is nearly the same, his 3 point % is lower, and his FT% lowered.

[Urbanized]

Lambo could always shoot pretty well, but his D was abysmal. Big liability on a team already short on good defense.

[Bellaboo]

Houston will make a run at KD, how ironic would that be. OKC would be known as the Development Franchise where players start and leave (Jackson, Harden, KD?, RW? Others. Presto doesn't seem so.smart.anymore.

As long as Dwight Howard is at Houston and the cancer he is, KD would never consider the Rockets. Also, KD has said more than once he doesn't care to live in large market cities.

[Bellaboo]

I'm curious as to who you find are worse? I thought OKC was bad too.

I like SA, NY, ATL, GSW, and CHA.

Hate to bring this back up, but I watched the Marquee Matchup on NBA TV the other day when Boston hit the shot at the buzzer to be the Cavs. Now those guys, especially the color commentator are the absolute worst in the league. They kept saying how the Celtics could get away with it but if the Cavs were doing it they'd get called.

[Laramie]

All good questions. My question is, why are the Thunder drafting so many young guys when there's no room for them? McGary might be a useful player. Who knows? He doesn't get chances. It turns out that Jeremy Lamb can be at least be a solid role player when given the opportunity, which he never got consistently in OKC. I think McGary's similar to Lamb and would do well with consistent minutes and a clear role. But, who knows? Maybe he'll get dealt so OKC can find a shooting guard... as good as Jeremy Lamb. 

My concern with Lamb; it took him three teams to finally bloom. Most NBA teams will see some signs of progress within a 3 year span for individual player development. He along with Kevin Martin IIRC were packaged as apart of the Harden trade?

Lamb had a few games where it looked as though he was going to 'break out,' that never occurred in Houston or Oklahoma City.

[dankrutka]

Also, KD has said more than once he doesn't care to live in large market cities.

When did KD say this? I never remember hearing that.