If only it were as simple as that night at Billy Donovan’s house.
Carmelo Anthony was the new guy in town, having been traded from the New York Knicks to the Oklahoma City Thunder just days before. So Donovan, the Thunder coach who overhauled his playbook after the late-June Paul George trade and was more than happy to do it again when they landed Anthony just two days before the start of training camp in late September, decided it was time to discuss it all over dinner.
The ingredients of the Italian dish came together beautifully, with Billy’s wife, Christine, playing the culinary role of Russell Westbrook as she ran point. The conversation flowed with Anthony, just as it had when George accepted the same invite before him. It was a win-win-win in every way.
But basketball isn’t played at the dining room table. And with a month of the regular season already behind them, and with George’s free agency future looming this summer as they attempt to become the NBA’s latest Super Team, Oklahoma City (7-9) has a bad taste in its mouth heading into Wednesday’s showdown against the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
Not only are the Thunder struggling to mesh early on, but this team full of would-be closers can’t seem to figure out how to close. They have blown leads of 10 points or more in six of their nine losses, including a lead of 23 against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday and 19 against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday. Yet even through this early season in which they can’t seem to find the right recipe, and even with the spoonfuls of skepticism that are coming their way, this much remains true about this group that has so much potential: They’re taking the long view.
This dish, in other words, needs more time to marinate.
“After the first 20 games is when things really start to kick in,” Anthony said recently.
As shifts in style go, it doesn’t get much more drastic than this attempt to transform three ball-dominant players into one three-headed alpha-male monster. Westbrook, who set a league record for usage rate during his do-it-all MVP campaign (41.65, per Basketball-Reference.com), is now yielding to his co-stars (usage rate of 31.6) while sacrificing shots along the way (from a career-high 24 shots per game last season to 17.8). There have been only minor reductions in offensive chances for George (career-high 18 shots per game while with Indiana last season to 17.6 this season) and Anthony (18.8 per while with the Knicks to 16.6), but the problems with rhythm and flow continue.
“I'm just thinking a little bit too much,” George said.
Meanwhile, Donovan continues to work his way through a list of lineup possibilities that has been, well, hot and cold.
The good news for the Thunder, in addition to the fact that they have the league’s third-best defense after finishing 10th last season? Their starting five of Westbrook, Andre Roberson, Anthony, George and Steven Adams is just fine, with a net rating of plus-6.5. But a lack of bench consistency appears to be leading to an overreliance on that lineup, as it’s one of just seven across the NBA that have played at least 180 combined minutes together.
“I think they all understand that they can't do it by themselves, and I think they all realize that from the situations they're coming from, that now, ‘How do we figure out how to do it together?' ” Donovan said. “In order to compete at the highest level, you've got to have several really good players on your team. And there may be some truth to that, but I think people think that all of a sudden you take a collection of talent and just throw it together (and it works). … I didn't think it was going to be like, (snaps his fingers), and we're off and running.”
The following is perspective on this process, as told by Anthony, George and Donovan to USA TODAY Sports earlier this month ...
MELO’S MUSINGS
“I'm pretty sure (the early adjustment process) was more challenging for coach, because it all happened so quickly. Literally, overnight it happened. And I'm pretty sure that he already had kind of what he wanted to do (with his gameplan) going into training camp, what he wanted to implement as far as a system and what we were going to run.
“The game is only going to get simpler and simpler. I don't want to say (it’ll be) easy — easy is not the word. But the simplicity of the game will be (there) a couple of months from now. ...We'll look back, and be like, 'Man, that was hard.' Like, what we're doing now is hard.
“(The late-game approach is) a feel thing. … There's no pecking order when it comes to us, and we won't even allow that. That's something we do talk about. We won't even allow that to come creeping into the locker room, because that's just a mental game that we don't want to play, that we don't want to be a part of. (We discussed that concept) at the very, very beginning, before we even got on the court. … I mean, 'Russ, this is your team. You've been here the longest. You established this. You created this. We came here for you.' But there's no — there's no pecking order.
We're all on the same page. We all want the same thing.”
PAUL’S PERSPECTIVE
“Getting lost in the game completely and letting the instincts take over (is the goal). I've been thinking about where I should be, where I should attack, instead of just playing. You've got a lineup with Russ and Melo out there, and all you've got to do is just play.
“(The coaching staff has) been great, honestly. I think with ourselves being out there, we're so used to — like in Indiana, the whole playbook, I knew where guys were going to be, I knew where my shots were going to come from, I knew where double teams were coming from. I just knew everywhere and everybody on the floor. Now, it's different being in a new system, having to figure out where guys are coming from, where double teams are coming, where's the help rotating at, how are the bigs going to guard me now that they can't really help off of anybody? I'm so used to catching the ball and coming off screens, and it's two (defenders) to the ball. It hasn't been the case here.
“So a lot of stuff is, I think, just trial and error. As we get into the hunt and the grind, we'll start to adjust. We'll start to know our niche, and I think that's when our talent will take over. But as far as the coaching staff, man, they've been great. They're doing their job and coaching us. That's one thing all three of us asked from Day One was, 'Just coach us. We like to be coached. Get on us for anything. Call us out for everything. Just coach us. Don't worry.'
“We're embracing this challenge of ultimately trying to get this team going upward and winning a championship. We're having a great time with this journey.
The chemistry is unbelievable here. There's a real brotherhood here.”
THE COACH’S CORNER
“It's an adjustment for everybody. You're out there playing, and you're trying to figure out in a very unselfish way — 'OK, how do I fit in and make the group better?' But if we can get to a point where we're playing to a level and a standard that we want to play to, with the understanding that it's going to take time for all these guys to jell and mesh, (we'll be happy).
“Our chemistry is really, really good. ... Carmelo is a really, really personable guy. He's been really good with Russell. Paul is a great guy. (Free agent addition, forward) Patrick (Patterson), I knew (because I recruited him while at Florida). …
But we've got to become more consistent. I think part of the reason we're not consistent enough is because we haven't played with each other enough. And on top of that, they're all coming from different experiences.
“I mean here's Russell, where all of a sudden he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders last year, and he's carrying the team. ... All of my questions (from reporters), every time, (were about) his usage rate, his usage rate. Well, no one has asked about his usage rate yet. And I think what happens is it speaks to the adjustment that he's trying to make as a player.
“One of the things I wanted to try to do (going into the season) is to find ways to help Russell be more efficient. The ball was in his hands so much last year, so how can we move him around in some ways to take advantage of some different things? Raymond (Felton) was there at the time (when we prepared our playbook before training camp), and we've got Patrick, different kind of shooting, and we're looking at different guys. And then here you've got one of the greatest scorers in NBA history (in Anthony) now comes on our team, and how do you implement him into the group in terms of what we're doing?
But I give him a lot of credit. The first thing that he said to me, was he said, 'Coach, whatever you're going to do, whatever you're going to run,' he says, 'I'll adjust and fit into the offensive system. I can do that.' … He's been great from Day One. But that was a little bit different, just a day before training camp trying to figure that whole piece of it out. ... It was new.”
Re: Oklahoma City Thunder 2017-18
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Originally Posted by sooner88
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