****Official 2012/2013 Oklahoma City Thunder Basketball Thread****

[SoonerBoy18]

Put a rookie in the most intense basketball environment he'll ever compete in, when OKC needs solid, consistent, intelligent play?

There's a reason Lamb hasn't even dressed for the playoffs...

Nothing works for us, so you got to try other options.

[dankrutka]

Nothing works for us, so you got to try other options.

You don't just desperately try out random options. Lamb is the worst defensive player on the team and got totally lost when he played in the regular season. That ship sailed months ago. This is not a realistic option. Moving on..

[dankrutka]

Heartbreaking loss. I think our season ends on Wednesday. Somewhere in some dingy bar in Houston, Patrick Beverly and Satan are toasting right now.

If it makes anyone feel better, IMO I think the Spurs are in trouble and will probably lose in 7. Then Golden State and Memphis can duel it out in the who-gets-slaughtered-by-Miami series.

I expect a great series between the Spurs and Grizzlies (if/when we lose).

Those are the two toughest match ups for the Heat in the NBA. It'll be a good Finals with either of those teams from the West.

[Jake]

Westbrook is missed.

[Dustin]

LOLOLOL. Another butthurt Seattle fan.

Macklemore not happy with OKC Thunder using his song - Local News - Seattle, WA | NBC News

[SoonerBoy18]

LOLOLOL. Another butthurt Seattle fan.

Macklemore not happy with OKC Thunder using his song - Local News - Seattle, WA | NBC News

They just keep on coming. Why would Thunder do that in the first place though. Lol

[SoonerBoy18]

You don't just desperately try out random options. Lamb is the worst defensive player on the team and got totally lost when he played in the regular season. That ship sailed months ago. This is not a realistic option. Moving on..

Oh so instead we can desperately do the Ha..... UGH I'M NOT GOING THERE WITH NON OF YALL!!

[MonkeesFan]

So any chance the Thunder will fire Brooks? He is a overrated coach

[sgt. pepper]

So any chance the Thunder will fire Brooks? He is a overrated coach

You must be an OU fan. I predicted OKC would loose in the first round...I was almost right.

[SoonerDave]

Guys, I admit I'm mostly a lurker in this thread, but at this point we're a one-horse team. We knew our bench wasn't the strongest (to be generous), and all Russ' injury did was expose this quite plainly to, well, the rest of humanity. We had a third scorer, but he's gone, and Fisher was never intended to replace RW's points. The team has been architected around RW and KD, and with RW gone, it's like a three-legged stool with one of the legs broken. RJ has played well, but Serge and KMart pulling their disappearing act is, well, crushing.

Granted, we shouldn't have put out some of the horrible ball we've seen in this series, but it is what it is. We should have been better than we've shown, but we haven't been. All we can do is write this season off to terrible luck, take our wounds, amnesty Perk, get RW healed and rehabbed, get a third scorer on our bench, and try again next year.

What happened to RW sucks, but that's sports.

[warreng88]

So any chance the Thunder will fire Brooks? He is a overrated coach

He won 60 games in the regular season... Should the Spurs fire Pop? Should Denver fire George Karl? It would make sense because they both have worse records in the regular season than the Thunder.

[Anonymous.]

Last night was pretty much everything you could ask for from our guys. Everyone mostly firing on all cylinders and we end up losing in crunch time.

Late game execution was embarassing to say the least, getting defensive rebounds at the end was pretty much impossible for our guys. Not to complain about officiating, but it was pretty blatant KD was fouled in the second-to-last posession on his shot. Should have been two free throws and put us up and forced Grizzlies to tie instead of us. Oh well, this is no excuse for failing miserably in overtime.



Winning the next 3 in a row is a super long shot, but at least we get to see the team Wednesday night at home. We will be giving standing ovation, win or lose.

[betts]

If anyone on this forum has played in or coached in college or the NBA, I will value their opinion about Brooks or any player on the Thunder. If you got cut from your high school basketball team and/or don't have the credentials to coach anything but your kid's YMCA basketball team, please outline your specific complaints with Coach Brooks, followed by the highest level you played or coached basketball.

[BoulderSooner]

If anyone on this forum has played in or coached in college or the NBA, I will value their opinion about Brooks or any player on the Thunder. If you got cut from your high school basketball team and/or don't have the credentials to coach anything but your kid's YMCA basketball team, please outline your specific complaints with Coach Brooks, followed by the highest level you played or coached basketball.

Brooks is a good NBA coach (great in some areas, getting effort/D/Hustle/motivation and i think player development)

but the Thunder's system on O seriously breaks down in crunch time. (this was less of a problem with Russ because he can break down the D)

in the final 6 min and in over time we go to iso basketball (this works ok against bad defensive teams) with KD getting the ball at either the top of the key or on the elbow (foul line extended ) against Memphis which has 2 great man defenders (allen and prince) this is makes things very difficult. the D gets to set and help can come against durant from either direction. also with our relative lack of tall 3 point shooters (much easier to close out on fisher and jackson) memphis can pack in the D and force durant to shoot off balance shots. will he normally make more than 2-13 of course he will because he is a great player. however this is not putting him in a good position to succeed when you do it 15 possessions in a row.

having durant come off screens to catch and shoot and letting him be an off the ball threat at least some of the time (as we did the other 42 min of the game) is a much better way to play. Reggie Jackson had 8 ast and he is capable of running the O ..

played highschool/AAU and have coached AAU basketball and of course college inter-murals

[jedicurt]

He won 60 games in the regular season... Should the Spurs fire Pop? Should Denver fire George Karl? It would make sense because they both have worse records in the regular season than the Thunder.

I don't think Brooks is overrated as a coach... i am just curious if he has taken this team as far as he can... which is to say he has done a lot. we have gone from that 3-29 to a consistent playoff contender. Sometimes in sports it is time for a change in the locker room to spur new motivation and just shake things up. Is it time for that in OKC? and if it is, we should be selective. Scott Brooks is better than 90% of the coaches we could replace him with. So it is a matter of 1) is it time to change up the locker room and 2) who could we get to make that next jump?

[dankrutka]

I am very critical of Brooks sometimes, but asking if Brooks has reached his ceiling without Westbrook playing is ridiculous.

[warreng88]

The Thunder signed Brooks for a four year, $16 million extension beginning this season. He will be here for three more seasons and if he continues to coach a team that makes it to the playoffs and past the first round consistently, he might be here for longer. The people who think Brooks should be fired are the same people who probably think Bob Stoops should be fired for ONLY having a 10 win season.

[MonkeesFan]

You must be an OU fan. I predicted OKC would loose in the first round...I was almost right.

What does a OU fan have to do with it?

[MonkeesFan]

He won 60 games in the regular season... Should the Spurs fire Pop? Should Denver fire George Karl? It would make sense because they both have worse records in the regular season than the Thunder.

As for Spurs, no since he won 4 championships, as for the Nuggets since George is a overated coach just like Brooks is

[jedicurt]

I am very critical of Brooks sometimes, but asking if Brooks has reached his ceiling without Westbrook playing is ridiculous.

for the record, i was making this statement back during the regular season when i saw us making the same mistakes that we were making 3 years ago. Things like bad clock management at the end of games (while he is mostly good, i think there are times that he doesn't maximize usage of the clock. Things like our team randomly deciding to stop playing any offense at all and just dribbling down, holding onto the ball for 20 seconds and then chunking up a last second 3 to avoid the shot clock expiring (something that you thought would have been coached out of them by now). Things like crazy substitution patterns in which players that aren't producing on a given night are given way more playing time than those that are or sticking to the substitution patterns like they are in stone regardless of who the other team has on the court.


This is not something new that i have only been saying since Westbrook went down. Yes, if i had only come to this conclusion in the past 5 or so games, then you are right, that is ridiculous... but this is not.

and as for the comment that was made about Brooks being on a four year deal... if the NBA has proved anything, it is that Coaches Contracts are just a minor inconvenience when it comes to the decision of changes coaches.

[td25er]

You don't just desperately try out random options. Lamb is the worst defensive player on the team and got totally lost when he played in the regular season. That ship sailed months ago. This is not a realistic option. Moving on..

LOL, Fisher says hi.

[td25er]

If anyone on this forum has played in or coached in college or the NBA, I will value their opinion about Brooks or any player on the Thunder. If you got cut from your high school basketball team and/or don't have the credentials to coach anything but your kid's YMCA basketball team, please outline your specific complaints with Coach Brooks, followed by the highest level you played or coached basketball.

I value Dez Bryant's opinion more than Mike Leach's because he played in the NFL and Leach hasn't coached above college (or even played in college).

[td25er]

The Thunder signed Brooks for a four year, $16 million extension beginning this season. He will be here for three more seasons and if he continues to coach a team that makes it to the playoffs and past the first round consistently, he might be here for longer. The people who think Brooks should be fired are the same people who probably think Bob Stoops should be fired for ONLY having a 10 win season.

Stoops is not winning another National Championship. Not going to happen. Some people are content with contending year after year for league titles. Some want more. Brooks is a good coach. The players love him and he's a good motivator. He's limited, though. He doesn't know how to maximize Durant and WB. He should win 65 games with those 2.

[Bill Robertson]

I value Dez Bryant's opinion more than Mike Leach's because he played in the NFL and Leach hasn't coached above college (or even played in college).

Stoops is not winning another National Championship. Not going to happen. Some people are content with contending year after year for league titles. Some want more. Brooks is a good coach. The players love him and he's a good motivator. He's limited, though. He doesn't know how to maximize Durant and WB. He should win 65 games with those 2.

Well, we know where your college affiliation lies, don't we! LOL

[dankrutka]

Stoops is not winning another National Championship. Not going to happen.

I wonder if Nebraska fans thought Osborne was going to ever beat OU or win a national championship? It took him like 30 years to win titles. People like you would have fired him before he won the program 3 titles. I'm sure you would have wanted Swizer fired right before the 1985 title too.

Stoops may not win another title, but declaring that there is zero chance that he will considering he has led maybe the most consistently high level program in college football over the last 14 years is asinine. Just make your case, don't overstate it.