Oklahoma City Thunder 2021-22 season

[Mississippi Blues]

For-profit business prefers increasing revenue over financial stagnation and when they come up with a way to make more money, they try to entice people to spend their money on that product. Big news if true.

[Rover]

Bazley lost the game for us last night with some poor decision making in the last 4 minutes. His shooting was also atrocious. He missed the basket completely on at least 4 shots.

He was second leading scorer last night and did not cost them the game. Shot 5 of 12 with a respectable 3 of 8 (37.5%) from 3 . Oh, and SGA airballed 2 himself... guess his shooting was atrocious also. And you are exaggerating with 4 air-balls. His 15 points was tied for second best for the Thunder and he played at least 4 min less than Giddy, also at 15. Take your hater glasses off.

[king183]

Duplicate post

[king183]

He was second leading scorer last night and did not cost them the game. Shot 5 of 12 with a respectable 3 of 8 (37.5%) from 3 . Oh, and SGA airballed 2 himself... guess his shooting was atrocious also. And you are exaggerating with 4 air-balls. His 15 points was tied for second best for the Thunder and he played at least 4 min less than Giddy, also at 15. Take your hater glasses off.

Rover--do you intentionally try to be a dick in 75% of your posts on any topic or is being a smug ass just your normal disposition?

You must not have watched the 4th quarter. He cost them the game because he made poor decisions in the last few minutes of the game that directly led to us losing the lead. It doesn't matter if he was THE leading scorer--if he made the integral mistakes that led to the loss of our lead, he cost us the game. He also had, by far, the worst +/- of any of our players and 7 turnovers--4 more than anyone else. And, no, 4 airballs is not an exaggeration.

[okcoolcoolcool]

Darius Bazely is our new Jeff Green. On a good team, he's your 7th man. Make open shots, play defense, surprise teams with some ballhandling and athleticism, but stay in your lane. Right now, he's trying to be a 3rd star which is setting him up for failure because he's a tweener on defense and an inconsistent shooter. His handle is good for his size but the defense easily funnels him into help and he gets lost. He has flashes of brilliance and athleticism, but it's muddled in with lots of bad play. At this point he is, at best, a trade sweetener for this team's future.

[Bill Robertson]

Darius Bazely is our new Jeff Green. On a good team, he's your 7th man. Make open shots, play defense, surprise teams with some ballhandling and athleticism, but stay in your lane. Right now, he's trying to be a 3rd star which is setting him up for failure because he's a tweener on defense and an inconsistent shooter. His handle is good for his size but the defense easily funnels him into help and he gets lost. He has flashes of brilliance and athleticism, but it's muddled in with lots of bad play. At this point he is, at best, a trade sweetener for this team's future.

The last sentence is what scares me. I've admitted many times that I'm not a BB expert. But we're two years into this and no further along in the rebuilding process than we were two years ago. We have two players to build around and a bunch of future draft picks and hopefully trade sweeteners. This is really reminding me of the last 30 years of my Dolphins.

[WheelerD Guy]

The last sentence is what scares me. I've admitted many times that I'm not a BB expert. But we're two years into this and no further along in the rebuilding process than we were two years ago. We have two players to build around and a bunch of future draft picks and hopefully trade sweeteners. This is really reminding me of the last 30 years of my Dolphins.

We're one year into this
Only had one draft
That involved tanking

[Dob Hooligan]

The last sentence is what scares me. I've admitted many times that I'm not a BB expert. But we're two years into this and no further along in the rebuilding process than we were two years ago. We have two players to build around and a bunch of future draft picks and hopefully trade sweeteners. This is really reminding me of the last 30 years of my Dolphins.

Allow me to gently suggest that if it were easy, every team would do it.

[Rover]

Rover--do you intentionally try to be a dick in 75% of your posts on any topic or is being a smug ass just your normal disposition?

You must not have watched the 4th quarter. He cost them the game because he made poor decisions in the last few minutes of the game that directly led to us losing the lead. It doesn't matter if he was THE leading scorer--if he made the integral mistakes that led to the loss of our lead, he cost us the game. He also had, by far, the worst +/- of any of our players and 7 turnovers--4 more than anyone else. And, no, 4 airballs is not an exaggeration.

Guessing I hit a nerve. Lol. Sorry I just saw it differently than you. I don’t hate him. He’s not MJ, but serviceable.

[dankrutka]

Right now, Bazley is bad. He was bad last night. He had 7 turnovers, which is nearly impossible with his usage, including an inexplicable game deciding one late that was just a terrible decision. I disagree that he’s a serviceable NBA bench player. I hope he can develop. He’s still only 21… but I just don’t see that he has any definable NBA skill. I think it’s fine to give him opportunities because OKC has to make a decision on him soon.

And to Bill’s pessimism, I really don’t get it. It really looks like OKC hit on Giddey. If so, that’s huge. There’s a lot to look forward to. OKC is doing this rebuild right.

[clz46]

I'm wondering if anyone looks at the 2021-22 NBA Officiating Last Two Minutes Reports?

[Rover]

Right now, Bazley is bad. He was bad last night. He had 7 turnovers, which is nearly impossible with his usage, including an inexplicable game deciding one late that was just a terrible decision. I disagree that he’s a serviceable NBA bench player. I hope he can develop. He’s still only 21… but I just don’t see that he has any definable NBA skill. I think it’s fine to give him opportunities because OKC has to make a decision on him soon.

And to Bill’s pessimism, I really don’t get it. It really looks like OKC hit on Giddey. If so, that’s huge. There’s a lot to look forward to. OKC is doing this rebuild right.

Part of Bazley’s turn over issue was that he played a lot at the 3 instead of the 4 he usually plays. That puts the ball in his hands more. With Dort out it changed his responsibilities with the ball.

[catcherinthewry]

It looks to me like the Thunder have thrown Bazley into the ocean and said sink or swim. He is in his 3rd year and hasn't shown much improvement from his rookie season. I think Daigneault is going to give him plenty of opportunity to show if he can be a productive part of this team going forward. I hope he takes a step this year, but I think Poku is going to be the future at that position going forward and maybe Bazley can find a role as a backup.

[dankrutka]

The challenge the Thunder are going to run into is that every year they're going to add new draft picks who will need playing time. That's why they're likely trying to figure out Bazley's situation this season. He's so young (same age as JRE) that I would 100% be fine with re-signing Bazley if the price is low... but, will there be minutes for him? Would he cut into other player's development? At this point, I'd rather see minutes go to JRE, Mann, and Poku. While none of them are proven, they each have more definable NBA skills than Bazley. But, it would stink to see Bazley figure it out on another team like Cam Payne. This stuff isn't easy. If nothing else, Bazley is naturally contributing a lot to tanking.

[Laramie]

Thunder did take the Clippers all the way to the wire in a disappointing lost inside Staples Center.

Leonard (LA) and Lu Dort (OKC) were missing which obviously put more pressure on Gilgeous-Alexander, Blazley & Giddey to perform.

Exciting watching the growth of Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, Blazley & Giddey's development.

Let's stop the 'blame game' where a player (Blazley) is singled out for his performance. Thunder are positioned to do battle with NBA giants like the Lakers, Clippers, Mavericks and small market Bucks.

[Laramie]

.

NBA Small Markets (Under 2 million MSA population):

43 Memphis, TN - MSA 1,337,779 NBA Attendance & Record (14,406 - 78.3%) 5 - 3
40 Milwaukee, WI - MSA 1,574,731 NBA Attendance & Record (17,34 - 100.%) 4 - 4 [Shared MLB market]
46 New Orleans, LA - MSA 1,271,845 NBA Attendance & Record (15,402 - 80.7%) 1 - 8 [shared NFL market]
41 Oklahoma City, OK - MSA 1,425,695 NBA Attendance & Record (15,019 - 82.5%) 1 - 6
47 Salt Lake City, UT - MSA 1,257,936 NBA Attendance & Record (18,306 - 100.0%) 6 - 1

Above Alpha-listing.

It's early in the NBA season.

Remineder:

Thunder @ Los Angeles Lakers
Wednesday, November 4 @ 9:30 p.m.
Bally Sports, Oklahoma
Staples Center, Los Angeles

.

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[Laramie]

Joshua Giddey, love this young man's adaptation to the NBA game.

[Laramie]

Thunder 107 @ Los Angeles Lakers 104

Box score https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401359947

[WheelerD Guy]

This team is actually
Pretty good when it
Plays the LA Lakers

[Celebrator]

Fun, fun last half of the 4th quarter last night. These guys have heart, I have to give them that!

[dankrutka]

Shai looked like an absolute star last night. Really the first time I've started envisioning him as a possible top 10 player in the league. I also loved seeing more of Ty Jerome last night. I really like his game. Lastly, let me aplogize to Darius Bazley. He showed some nice decisiveness on his drives and finished with his off hand. It was great to see. I'm still worried about his shot and struggles with turnovers and missing shots around the rim. He strangely air balls a lot of layups. But, last night he showed some things. I hope he continues it.

Now I'm worried about winning too many games again. lol

[Laramie]

Good observation Dan,

Heard one of the ESPN commentators on Sports Center use the term, "Lakers are Thunderstruck..."

[Laramie]

San Antonio Spurs @ Thunder
Sunday, November 7, @ 6 p.m.
Bally Sports, Oklahoma
Paycom Center, OKC

[Laramie]

San Antonio Spurs 94 @ Thunder 99

Box score: https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401359968 Attendance: 12,972

[Laramie]

Give it up to Thunder Coach Mark Daigneault; he's a much younger version of Spurs' Gregg Popovich.

These young players with super charged energy are learning how to break opponents down; play as a team. Thunder have beaten two of the most high profile franchises in the NBA in its last two games.