Oklahoma City Thunder 2017-18

[Jake]

The offense is garbage. The Nuggets are one of the worst defensive teams in the league and they may not even get to 100.

[Sirsteve]

The offense is garbage. The Nuggets are one of the worst defensive teams in the league and they may not even get to 100.

We are a bunch of All-stars but no team. This could have the makings for a very long and disappointing season.

[OKC_on_mines]

^^^^^say it ain't so

**sigh**

[Thomas Vu]

Bench scoring, not great again. On the plus side, it was somebody else who scored the majority this time.

[dcsooner]

We traded several very promising players and are left with no reliable 2d unit and no team identity or cohesion. But it's only 10 games. ��

[Jake]

The team always seems to start out well, but completely forgets how to play the longer the game goes on. Is that on the coach? Players? Both?

[Easy180]

Well on the bright side this is making George’s decision to stay or go much easier

[Roger S]

I decided before the season I would give them until the All Star break to start complaining.... I'm sticking too that plan..... Well that and Jayhawk basketball starts tonight... So I won't be watching as much pro ball until April.

[Anonymous.]

Our crunchtime offense is really bad. Billy and Russell are still figuring out how to get a flow going. There was one possession either late third or early fourth where we ran an actual play that had the ball passed like 6 times before getting to an open Melo who knocked down the three.

We need more plays. We are for sure stuck in a "you, then you, then me" type of ISO offense.

Andre needs to cut more, he will randomly do that sometimes and we are deadly, then he will just camp on the 3 line and of course not even be guarded.

[chuck5815]

I decided before the season I would give them until the All Star break to start complaining.... I'm sticking too that plan..... Well that and Jayhawk basketball starts tonight... So I won't be watching as much pro ball until April.

i'm a bit worried about KU's ability to penetrate on offense. Malik Newman looks clumsy as hell when he drives, and Graham has always been more of a spot up guy. I'm not saying the offense will be bad, just that it seems like the team will miss Jackson's and Mason's ability to create off the dribble.

[Thomas Vu]

Andre needs to cut more, he will randomly do that sometimes and we are deadly, then he will just camp on the 3 line and of course not even be guarded.

I noticed the random movement as well and it paid off a lot more than the camping in the corner. Having said that Denver seemed to dedicate a person to him more than other teams have so far.

[Roger S]

i'm a bit worried about KU's ability to penetrate on offense. Malik Newman looks clumsy as hell when he drives, and Graham has always been more of a spot up guy. I'm not saying the offense will be bad, just that it seems like the team will miss Jackson's and Mason's ability to create off the dribble.

I'm more worried about the defense this year than the offense and our lack of depth in the front court.... No way Fort Hays should have hung with us as long as they did, especially without a player taller than 6'-7", but I think Vick's going to have a breakout year and he can play the 4 like Jackson did.

Will get a good look at what the D can do next Friday against SDSU because they have a kid that can flat out score..... I'll actually be at that game.... And then the next day I get to suffer through a beating with my OU friend at the football game but we're going to have fun making a weekend of it.

[Anonymous.]

OKC and Russ are getting murdered in the (social) media today. Melo even taking some heat.

We badly need a win tonight against the Clippers to just boost team morale. I feel bad for Russ, but he is in his own head right now. He needs to get back to dancing and having a good time. I think he is trying too hard to get the other guys involved and it is creating a weird funk. He needs to just flow and find the open shooters regardless of who they are. The possessions when he dribbles top of the key and passes to a guarded Melo @ 10 seconds to shoot is the KD iso play we are all used to seeing. But Melo obviously isn't KD.

OKC need more movement off ball. The current schemes are way too easy to guard.

[Roger S]

OKC need more movement off ball. The current schemes are way too easy to guard.

That's unfortunately been the problem for years.... Probably my most frustrating Thunder issue is watching another team go down and run offense and then watch us come back up the court and jack up a contested shot only making one pass or less at best.... Was really hoping the problem would go away when Donovan was hired but starting to think it's not just a coaching problem...... Maybe Presti can really pull off a huge one and get Pop to come up here and teach this team to run an offense..... Well I can dream at least.

[OKC_on_mines]

Defense is suffocating tonight!

[OKC_on_mines]

Russ has to do better with finishing at the basket!

[Jake]

Another game with a blown lead that led to a loss. The offense simply implodes after awhile almost every game. It's still early, but it's something that definitely needs to be fixed.

Either the players ignore Donovan's offensive gameplan or he doesn't have one. Either answer isn't good.

[Laramie]

Free throws are our Achilles heel:

Thunder 14-21 = 66.7%
Spurs 22-29 = 75.9%

Box score: http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400974974

[sooner88]

If this keeps up to All-Star Break, there's a solid chance Billy is gone. He has not shown any ability to coach a talented team of individuals in clutch situations and our ownership knows it's now or never. Knowing that our ownership has paid above and beyond what they could / should have to put us in the position that we are in now, I wouldn't be surprised if our next aggressive move is replacing Donovan. It has been a relatively short time, but we are in do or die scenario right now.

My friends and I have discussed this in depth (and while obviously not experts), we don't foresee what other move Presti has in his pocket for this year. 4 out of 5 starters are not moveable, and this year determines if PG / Melo stays going forward. We have recently shown some uncharacteristically aggressiveness on the free agent / trade side this summer for the purpose of locking Russ down and I envision us continuing that aggressive approach throughout this season to ensure we resign at least PG or Melo. We have the talent there, I just don't think we have the leadership (whether it's Billy / RW / PG / Melo). Someone will step up soon or there will be a move in hopes to rectify that.

[Thomas Vu]

I'd insist that defending the corners/wings was an issue too.

[Anonymous.]

Holy crap another game where we torch them and get ahead by 20+. Lose the lead by the end of the third, then play catchup to only fall short by less than 10 at the end.

This has been like basically every single loss this season.


Am I crazy to say that Donovan's job could be on the line by AllStar break?

[dankrutka]

Here's the thing no one wants to talk about: Russell has been really bad this season. He's shooting terribly and just straight up not trying on defense. Andrew Schlecht of Down to Dunk had a series of tweets today detailing how few shots Russ has contested this season and it's pretty stunning. While there are other reasons (e.g., Abrines is giving nothing, Patterson started slow, late game isos), Russ better figure it out because he's the primary reason this team isn't reaching its potential right now.

[Easy180]

With the state of this team I don’t think i can watch tomorrow night. Just don’t think I can stomach KD and Curry’s mouthpiece in a Warriors blow out right now. Risking missing a great win for the Thunder but it’s a train wreck out there.

[chuck5815]

With the state of this team I don’t think i can watch tomorrow night. Just don’t think I can stomach KD and Curry’s mouthpiece in a Warriors blow out right now. Risking missing a great win for the Thunder but it’s a train wreck out there.

i don't see us having much of a chance tomorrow. the offense is just a complete disaster. it's way too obvious where all of our shots are coming from and who is going to shoot them. Adams goes 7 of 9 from the field last night. He obviously needs more touches, but instead we would prefer for our Big Three to shoot 40% on almost 60 attempts. That's insane.

[Jersey Boss]

Andre Robertson, still shooting less than 40% from the foul line and 23% from 3 point. I don't want to hear how hard he is trying to correct his stats. I don't want to hear how he tried to shoot underhanded. I want to see some improvement, irrespective of his stellar defense.