Oklahoma City Thunder 2017-18

[Jake]

Can we go ahead and rule out Mark Jackson? Lol. He was such a bad coach for the Warriors. Their growth after he was fired was almost unprecedented.

Agreed. Mark Jackson held the Warriors back tremendously.

[Jersey Boss]

Coach Donovan last night in the post was discussing the team needs to move the ball around a lot more on offense and yet I just did not see it. Coach is apparently being ignored, so in my opinion it is on the players. The team seems to have a swagger about them that is totally unearned at this point. Additionally the Thunder bench is worthless outside of Grant. Now I also know it is easier to fire the coach than the players but it is also just as easy to consider a new GM. If a new coach is what the team decides, Jeff Van Gundy is out there.

[StuckInTheCapitol825]

What's with the Mark Jackson hate?

[Thomas Vu]

Jeff Van Gundy is out there.

Ah. Definitely meant JVG, not M haha

As for the the Mark Jackson hate, *shrug*. I don't think anybody remembers the Warriors before him, nor would I expect anybody to.

2009: Curry gets drafted
2009-10 season : 13th in the West
Coach: Don Nelson

2010-11 season : 12th in the West
2011: Klay gets drafted
Coach : Keith Smart

2012: Draymond gets drafted
2011-12 season : 13th in the West
2012-13 season : 6th in the West, WCF semi finals
2013-14 season : 6th in the West, 1 and done in game 7 vs Clippers
Coach : Mark Jackson

and we know the rest with Kerr.

Questionable practices aside for Jackson (never trusting any of his assistants, making Ezeli cry, etc), he's often credited for their defense.

[Roger S]

No need to fire or trade anyone.... Easy answer to the problem.... Melo needs to be coming off the bench. He would be more effective with the second squad and Patterson or Grant would work better with the other starters.

[dankrutka]

The Warriors were bad before Mark Jackson because he had terrible or really young players. By the time Jackson took over, they had really good players and those players immediately were far more successful the second Kerr took over. And, most of the changes were being called for by pretty much everyone. He was super stubborn ioffensively. I like him as an analyst, but he just is a really poor Xs and Os guy as he completely misused his team's talent and stubbornly resisted the changing game. In other words, Mark Jackson is basically another Scott Brooks at best.

If OKC went a different direction I'd take Jeff Van Gundy first and Fizdale second.

[dankrutka]

No need to fire or trade anyone.... Easy answer to the problem.... Melo needs to be coming off the bench. He would be more effective with the second squad and Patterson or Grant would work better with the other starters.

In my opinion, the problem is with how the big 3 are playing, not who they're playing with. Melo has already been playing a lot of minutes with bench lineups and it hasn't resulted in a lot of success.

[Roger S]

In my opinion, the problem is with how the big 3 are playing, not who they're playing with. Melo has already been playing a lot of minutes with bench lineups and it hasn't resulted in a lot of success.

Changing the lineup changes how they play..... Patterson or Grant in the starting lineup would improve spacing and slightly improve the first squads defensive capability.

Moving Melo to the second squad lets him take advantage of getting iso on players way below his caliber on a more regular basis.

[StuckInTheCapitol825]

I'll agree that Jackson wasn't as smart offensively as Kerr is, and for that reason alone, the change had to be made.

But the Warriors kept getting better on defense with Jackson.
Something that the opposite could be said of Scott Brooks (remember all those ISOs! that are still around).

[dankrutka]

Changing the lineup changes how they play..... Patterson or Grant in the starting lineup would improve spacing and slightly improve the first squads defensive capability.

Moving Melo to the second squad lets him take advantage of getting iso on players way below his caliber on a more regular basis.

First, Melo provides far better spacing than Patterson or Grant, right? Players respect Melo's shot, but they completely ignore Grant and only kind of care about Patterson. Second, that's actually been a problem for Melo, PG, and Russ is that they keep thinking they have to take advantage, but they do so my isoing and taking an inefficient shot. Melo is pretty much best as a three point spot-up shooter at this point in his career and that works better when he's playing with Russ or PG3 IMHO.

[Roger S]

First, Melo provides far better spacing than Patterson or Grant, right? Players respect Melo's shot, but they completely ignore Grant and only kind of care about Patterson. Second, that's actually been a problem for Melo, PG, and Russ is that they keep thinking they have to take advantage, but they do so my isoing and taking an inefficient shot. Melo is pretty much best as a three point spot-up shooter at this point in his career and that works better when he's playing with Russ or PG3 IMHO.

Yes wrong.... Spacing has and is still an issue and Melo is taking too many contested 2pt shots because of it. He can still get his spot-up 3pt shots coming off the bench and once again against inferior players which should improve his potential to score..... The most pertinent point I am making here is that Melo coming off the bench puts him consistently on lesser talent and maximizes his ability to take advantage of that..... Did you see what he did in the Olympics coming off the bench?

[HangryHippo]

Moving Melo to the second squad lets him take advantage of getting iso on players way below his caliber on a more regular basis.

This.

[Jake]

Melo laughed when someone asked him if he was willing to come off the bench during media day at the start of the season.

He's not coming off the bench.

[dankrutka]

Yes wrong.... Spacing has and is still an issue and Melo is taking too many contested 2pt shots because of it. He can still get his spot-up 3pt shots coming off the bench and once again against inferior players which should improve his potential to score..... The most pertinent point I am making here is that Melo coming off the bench puts him consistently on lesser talent and maximizes his ability to take advantage of that..... Did you see what he did in the Olympics coming off the bench?

Honestly, if you reverse everything in this post then it is accurate.

[dankrutka]

It was late last night so let me explain. Melo and the other big three have been duped into taking lots of inefficient shots because they’re taking advantage of “lesser” players and mismatches. “Olympic Melo” was effective because he played with lots of other stars and thus reduced his game to being a spot up three point shooter and cutting out his isolation offense that consists of lots of bad shots. That’s what he needs to do... just be a spot up shooter and quit trying to take on mismatches. I actually think Melo is the worst one to play with the second unit because then he tries to take over, which is really bad at.

[Roger S]

It was late last night so let me explain.

Glad you cleared that up... I generally respect your thoughts on the game but that comment last night had me sitting on the fence about that respect.

[Anonymous.]

It was late last night so let me explain. Melo and the other big three have been duped into taking lots of inefficient shots because they’re taking advantage of “lesser” players and mismatches. “Olympic Melo” was effective because he played with lots of other stars and thus reduced his game to being a spot up three point shooter and cutting out his isolation offense that consists of lots of bad shots. That’s what he needs to do... just be a spot up shooter and quit trying to take on mismatches. I actually think Melo is the worst one to play with the second unit because then he tries to take over, which is really bad at.

I agree with this. Honestly if Russ just played exactly like last season, it would be way better. Because instead of Russ kicking out to wide open Roberson or Oladipo, he will be kicking out to Melo and PG. The awkward feed to Melo from Russ for an ISO pullup is so cringe. Russ/KD got away with it so often because well.... it is KD.

[dankrutka]

Glad you cleared that up... I generally respect your thoughts on the game but that comment last night had me sitting on the fence about that respect.

Yeah, my bad. I actually typed a long response on my phone, I accidentally deleted it, and that snarky response is all I could muster before falling asleep. I respect you and enjoy the discussion so I apologize for the snarky comment. I try not to do that online because that's what turns discussions south quickly.

[Anonymous.]

Ugly win against an injury plagued Spurs. But I must say that we had probably the best ball movement I have seen all season. Guys just couldn't knock down their open shots.

[Roger S]

Ugly win against an injury plagued Spurs. But I must say that we had probably the best ball movement I have seen all season. Guys just couldn't knock down their open shots.

They will need time to adjust to taking open shots.... They're too accustomed to taking contested ones.

[G.Walker]

They have a pretty easy schedule this month, save the Christmas date against the Rockets, but other than that, they should have a winning record this month.

[Anonymous.]

Jazz tonight coming here on a 7 game win streak. Going to be tough. Adams being successful will be a huge part of this game.

[Laramie]

Jazz tonight coming here on a 7 game win streak. Going to be tough. Adams being successful will be a huge part of this game.

Let's hope this provides an incentive to accept the challenge.

[Laramie]

Thunder played with a sense of urgency; especially when they are behind on the scoreboard. Great come-from-behind win; superb defense by Dre and an energized Westbrook who saps the energy from opponents.

Thunder 100
Jazz 94

Box score: http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400975102

[Easy180]

Jazz tonight coming here on a 7 game win streak. Going to be tough. Adams being successful will be a huge part of this game.

Good call on the Adams thing ����