Oklahoma City Thunder 2017-18

[king183]

I am stunned by what I just witnessed. My goodness.

[dankrutka]

Glad I drove up for the game... Wow!

[sooner88]

This was my first year with season tickets and by halftime our group was done. We showed no energy and that continued until halfway through the 3Q. The rest of the game was the most fun, aggressive, exciting Thunder I've seen all year. This is what we have been waiting for. If we can go into Game 6 with that attitude and aggression and force a Game 7... that may rival our first game vs the Lakers in our first playoffs in regards to crowd intensity. No one sat the entire 4th and I regained my full hearing 45 minutes after leaving.

We obviously can't count on ~80 from PG and RW, but we saw some positive rotations (i.e. no Melo on the 40-16 run).

[Anonymous.]

That was one for the ages. Game 6 is going to be lit. It took Billy being down 25 in the third quarter of an elimination game to realize Melo is hot garbage.

[warreng88]

That was one for the ages. Game 6 is going to be lit. It took Billy being down 25 in the third quarter of an elimination game to realize Melo is hot garbage.

Last night I yelled at the TV, "GET HIS @$$ ON THE BENCH!" in the first quarter, referring to Melo. If he can't make mid range or three point shots, he is a dumpster fire on defense, so there is no reason for him to be on the court. He was 2-6 in 25 minutes with seven points and five rebounds. I would much rather have Grant out there on both offense and defense, especially with Gobert on the floor. Melo can't rotate and cover him and PG is usually too far away from the paint to do it, so it is Adams and Gobert 1:1.

[Jersey Boss]

Helluva game, helluva performance by RW and PG, helluva comeback. Props to the winners last night.

[sgt. pepper]

Utah gave up the game so they can win the series at home.

[dankrutka]

Utah gave up the game so they can win the series at home.

Sounds like a good strategy. Maybe they'll change their mind and decide they want to win the series on the road and lose tonight's game.

[Laramie]

Time Out!



Was this commercial taped at the Cox Convention Center (Old Myriad)?

[Dustin]

Ugh

[Laramie]

We have some youth on the team with promise (Adams, Grant, Abrines, Ferguson & Huestis), hang on to these guys and move forward. Singler & Anthony will be off our books come 2019-20.

Presti is keen on talent recognition; it may take a few years to get these guys to develop full potential.

[PlaschkeSucks]

Lottery team for a while. ESPN loves to bash OKC. Anyone notice how disrespectful #$$$ Utah fans are. They make the Mavs/Rockets/Spurts/Warriors/Lakers/Idiots in Seattle look like choir boys.

[Anonymous.]

Carmelo's exit interview might have been about the best news for the Thunder organization all season. It sounds like to get him to opt-out, all they have to do is tell him he isn't a starter anymore.

The dude is really incredibly dense. He laughs @ the questions about coming off the bench and then blames his poor performance on the lack of "strategy" in the offense.

"I think the player that they wanted me to be and needed me to be was for the sake of this season," Anthony said. "Everything was just thrown together and it wasn't anything that was planned out. Wasn't no strategy to me being here, me being a part of the actual system and what type of player and things like that."

So what is it about bricking wide open threes is it that you feel doesn't fit? Dude is washed and needs to either play limited minutes against bench caliber players or mail it in.

[Laramie]

Best words we've heard come from Carmelo Anthony's mouth. Hold him to this threat he has made toward the Thunder organization.

Tell Melo up front; he's coming off the bench. If he doesn't like it, point him toward Syracuse and put him in cruise control. Let him opt out.

[dankrutka]

I really disagree with comments that Melo is "dense" or a "diva" as I've seen any other places. From all accounts, Melo is a tremendous teammates, a really nice and thoughtful person, and great citizen. Melo is a superstar whose skills are declining. Almost all superstars struggle with this transition because they're competitors. They don't just roll over and accept that they're not good anymore. It's tough and we know this because this happens over and over again to superstars. Melo changed his game for the team and it didn't work out... is it a surprise that he'd want to go back to a role in which he had more success? Having said all that, I completely agree that Melo needs a lesser role as a spot up shooter and the best thing for OKC is probably if he opts out and leaves. But I'm not here for bashing the guy.

[dankrutka]

As usual, Zach Lowe nails the Thunder's problems: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...ty-thunder-nba

These quotes are spot on:
"Put simply, Westbrook is an average jump shooter who takes too many contested jump shots worth two points."

"The obvious answer: Unleash Westbrook as the angriest, fastest, spread pick-and-roll point guard in NBA history. Turn those five ugly jumpers into lobs or 3s. There is no defense for a Westbrook-Adams pick-and-roll with three shooters surrounding it."

"This is why those who shrugged at Westbrook's 43 shots in Game 6, arguing he had to shoot so often because everyone else failed, missed the bigger picture. The point is not to cherry-pick one shooting binge and explain it away. The point is to look at that shooting binge, and at the specific shots George and Anthony missed, and wonder how it all might have unfolded had the Thunder ever installed a larger offensive infrastructure."

"The Thunder need other stars, and a coherent system that enables them -- an offense that persists beyond one desultory action. To find both, they need Westbrook to play a little differently. It doesn't have to be some sea change. It can be a bunch of little things -- starting with those five shots a game -- that add up to something larger."

[Urbanized]

Carmelo's exit interview might have been about the best news for the Thunder organization all season. It sounds like to get him to opt-out, all they have to do is tell him he isn't a starter anymore.

The dude is really incredibly dense. He laughs @ the questions about coming off the bench and then blames his poor performance on the lack of "strategy" in the offense.



So what is it about bricking wide open threes is it that you feel doesn't fit? Dude is washed and needs to either play limited minutes against bench caliber players or mail it in.

I took his comments regarding strategy to mean that they were all thrown together at the last minute without much thought to much more than the fact they were good players, and not about how their individual games might mesh, but with recognition that this was because of the last-minute nature. He is saying that now there must be a plan, and that is fair. I think he is also acknowledging that it is possible that the plan for the team and his own plans might not be able to accommodate his game (also fair).

According to Donovan and everyone with the team, and according to reports I've read online, he has been nothing short of an absolute professional in accepting his diminished role this year. This includes articles I've linked before, where he approached Donovan and asked "what do you need me to do?" According to everything I've seen and heard he has been an incredible lockeroom guy. I don't think he has been a cancer in any way this season; he has just had a difficult time adapting his game.

If anything, in these statements I see recognition on his part that he might never be a good fit to the system and that he needs to evaluate whether he should stick here or whether he needs to find a way to leave. That's also fair.

If he wants to leave, pretty sure he could opt out for a stretched contract that would be tradeable. Meaning if he is prioritizing going somewhere he can play his own style of play and make an impact with a contender, he does so for less money next year but with more long-term stability. Otherwise if he wants to stay he could do so either with an opt in or a stretch deal, but he would need to continue to adapt, which doesn't sound like what he wants. None of this is crappy or egotistical or whatever. People are calling him egotistical or difficult or washed up or whatever, and I don't really think that is a fair assessment. I just think he still believes he's an impact player and wants to be in a system where he is impactful. I don't think he's necessarily wrong. Everybody acts like he's SO old. He's 34. This year there were 25 players in the league older than him. But I will say this: he needs to go on the Vic Oladipo crossfit training regimen in the off-season, no matter where he lands. That would help him tons.

[Urbanized]

I really disagree with comments that Melo is "dense" or a "diva" as I've seen any other places. From all accounts, Melo is a tremendous teammates, a really nice and thoughtful person, and great citizen. Melo is a superstar whose skills are declining. Almost all superstars struggle with this transition because they're competitors. They don't just roll over and accept that they're not good anymore. It's tough and we know this because this happens over and over again to superstars. Melo changed his game for the team and it didn't work out... is it a surprise that he'd want to go back to a role in which he had more success? Having said all that, I completely agree that Melo needs a lesser role as a spot up shooter and the best thing for OKC is probably if he opts out and leaves. But I'm not here for bashing the guy.

Amen.

[Laramie]

This is where many of us disagree; it has nothing to do with bashing.

Does every Thunder player have the right to say whether or not he comes off the bench or when his number is called, if he wants to perform or contribute to the best of his ability?

Recall a game when Donovan attempted to send Anthony in to replace a tired Jerami Grant who had just knocked down a trey; Melo was insubordinate, he told Donovan that Jerami was fine; he wasn't going in to replace him. If we're going to allow well compensated players to decide their role on this team--why do you need a coach... ...think about it.

'Attitudes' by players--and I'll continue to call them divas; you're compensated by the Thunder organization; this gives the head coach & his staff the call (decision) to tweak this team for any situation that occurs. It's the coach's decision. It isn't about EGOS, be it Anthony, Westbrook or George.

If Anthony is allowed to decide whether or not he comes off the bench; then where does it stop... ...the organization needs to get a FIRM grip on players who dictate their role on the team.

The worst of Carmelo Anthony was suppose to be gone by now: https://nypost.com/2018/03/26/the-wo...e-gone-by-now/

[Anonymous.]

I am surprised my post was taken as bashing. If anything Anthony was bashing Sam and the organization. In what type of offensive strategy is a wide open shot not the goal? It isn't like Melo was having to work on his own to get shots. Russ and PG were finding him, but he was building brick houses. It doesn't matter what system you think you need to be in, 15 second long dribble jab-steps is the most outdated style of play in the NBA today. That is all Melo has ever known, if he can't be a knock down shooter (which was literally his only role we needed him for) then he has no business getting over 30 minutes a game. And when he isn't hitting his shots, he is still getting roasted on defense.

I love Melo and know he is a great locker room guy, as evidenced by the team praising him. But that absolutely does not mean we can't criticize his performance and attitude about it. This is like the Perkins situation all over again, the coach keeps playing the guy who has his feet in concrete and the rest of the league adapts.

Like Laramie said, either Billy needs to go - or he needs to sack up and actually dictate when and where players are to be in the rotation.


There is a post on the frontpage of r/nba right now showing Melo moved the least distance in the entire league this season, dude wasn't even tired and he was out there playing like he is gassed.

[dankrutka]

^^^
I don't think any posts after yours argued against any of this. I pretty much agree and was speaking more to the trashing of Melo as a person, which was broader than any single post here. I've seen it in numerous places. All that to say, we largely agree that Melo does not appear to be very good at basketball. If it wouldn't hurt the PG3 recruitment, I'd definitely let Melo know he's be coming off the bench to encourage him to opt out.

[Jake]

Melo's not a bad locker room guy.

Seemed like everybody on the team liked him. The local media have spoken highly of him as well. I'm glad he voiced his frustrations after the season ended like a professional and not during the season to make things worse. A lot of people have cited him as a cancer on WelcometoLoudCity, DailyThunder, r/thunder, etc but I've honestly been impressed with how he handled himself during an obviously difficult time of transition in his career.

That being said, the dude is mostly washed. He thinks he's capable of doing more offensively and that he's deserving of a bigger role. That may be true, but it's not going to be on a team that wants to win a title during the year 2018 and beyond. This team already has a ball-dominant, inefficent player in Westbrook. Adding a player that excels at shooting high-volume long 2s only harms the team further.

The way the team is constructed obviously doesn't work. Westbrook and Melo have both contributed to that. The difference is that Westbrook is the face of the franchise and gets to do whatever he wants without changing. Melo doesn't. So if he doesn't like it, he'll need to opt out.

It may be best for both parties that way.

[thunderupokc]

Well I was wrong about winning the series (as I was afraid I would be) but I will never ever blame Russ for doing what Russ does when PG and Melo are out to lunch

I’m also in the camp of wanting to see both PG and Melo back next season but—

I enjoy Zach Lowe’s deep dives but I disagree with him fundamentally on the “religion” of analytics—I am old school and I still believe the 3 point shot has ruined the game of basketball that I grew up playing

I believe an offense can still be effective by hitting the dreaded “non-paint 2” at a 50+% clip as long as the ball moves from side to side via the pass not the dribble

Once upon a time KD and Serge (and Carmelo and even His Airness for that matter) were absolutely automatic from 15-18 feet on the baseline—their length preventing effective close outs from that range (not to mention Russ and his deadly “cotton shot”)

But we got caught up with Warrior fever as did the rest of the league to the point where we print in the game programs that non-paint 2s are bad and corner 3s are most efficient

I firmly believe that the NBA 3 is just a step beyond most player’s natural rhythm shot—and most teams are willing to accept the risk/reward element of that extra point at a lower % because analytics say so (and 29 teams don’t have Steph and Klay and now KD to prove me wrong)

But games are played in 48 minutes—not 100 possessions—and ebbs and flows of the actual game at hand are never taken into account by the number crunchers

tldr version—I wish we would buck the trend and give a green light to a shooter in rhythm to shoot the midrange jumper at will and I think we would be rewarded with more victories

I’ll save defense for another day...

THUNDER UP 4LIFE RUSS REAL MVP

[emtefury]

I don’t see Melo opting out. No one else will pay him $27.9M next year. The only scenario I see is him taking less money somewhere else so he can play how he wants.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^^
But that’s NOT the only scenario. He could also opt out for a stretch deal, say 4/$40 guaranteed. Now, would the Thunder want to own that contract? Doubtful, especially in light of not wanting to even consider a bench role now that it’s obvious he doesn’t necessarily fit this team as a starter. But that’s a contract they could move. He knows that. And I think his comments may indicate he’s considering something like that so that he could land on a team where he’s a more obvious fit. Which would be great for everybody.

And Dan’s right; he’s been trashed all over the place on social media, blogs and elsewhere. He doesn’t deserve it. His game’s not a fit, I get it. But he’s been nothing but a pro, and even these post season comments in no way ,ean that he’s trying to dictate a his role to the Thunder. It just means he sees himself in a starting role where he contributes, which quite likely means someplace else.