There are twenty games left in this regular season and I’m not sure what I feel about the Thunder currently. Obviously, I don’t feel they’re a viable championship contender, but it goes beyond that in many ways.
OKC has lost six of its last eight games and has looked lost in doing so. It’s a team which looks unfocused, mentally lazy, and quite frankly appears to be lacking leadership from its two superstar players. But the human side of me wants to give them a break because of what has happened of late with Monty Williams and Aubrey McClendon. I mean, basketball players are human just like us. I know that doesn’t fit into advanced metric stats, but players are still human.
But starting this afternoon in Milwaukee, OKC needs to pull its head out of the collective fog and start playing some basketball. The Clippers lost yesterday to Atlanta, so with a win OKC could build its lead back to two games over LA for third place in the West.
In these last eight games OKC has been horrific from a mental standpoint of just making sound basketball decisions. Any high school coach worth a grain of salt would blush if this were his team doing these things. It appears Billy Donovan has no ability to reign Durant and Westbrook in when they loaf on defense, take bad shots, or make a low percentage pass opportunity at just the wrong minute in a fourth quarter situation.
I suppose this explains the Thunder’s addition of vet journeyman Nazr Mohommad as the fifteenth player on the roster. No, he won’t play because he’s too old, but I guess what Presti’s admitting is that maybe hiring a first year NBA coach in Billy Donovan has provided some drawbacks. Nazr Mohommad as a bench/locker room superstar whisperer isn’t doing a lot for me, but it’s really none of my business.
Tramel maintains Perk filled this role previously along with Derek Fisher back in that NBA Finals year of 2012 and beyond. Probably so, but my take is Durant and Westbrook are now in their ninth and eighth years in the NBA respectively. Plus, I thought this was the role Nick Collison would fill given the generous two year contract extension he was given last summer. Can’t Nick simply tell them to “Grow up.”
So–I’m kind of lost here, is there no one in the Thunder organization who can simply say to Durant and Westbrook–“Pull your heads out of your ass and play like you’re capable.” I guess not. I guess that’s not allowed in the current NBA collective bargaining agreement and this is precisely why so many coaches aren’t needed on an NBA bench non-withstanding Greg Popovich or Phil Jackson.
Regardless of what city/cities Durant and Westbrook find themselves playing in during the coming years, take some professional pride in the mental aspect of your games. When the collective analysts at TNT and ESPN are laughing at you–it’s time to take some notice for your own sake.
Milwaukee isn’t a playoff caliber team, but they have some nice young players in Parker, Middleton and The Greek—so OKC better be ready for a basketball game this afternoon in Milwaukee.
One other thing, I have no idea why Billy Donovan has gone so totally on board with Randy Foye and benched Cam Payne because it’s not like this shored up OKC’s defense. Maybe getting another capable point guard/hybrid guard along with Westbrook would help with some of the decision making.
Either way–OKC needs a win in Milwaukee today in a very bad way.