As I’m watching this game unfold last night I’m thinking to myself, “Why did these guys buy out the last season of Scott Brooks’ contract, hire Donovan, and match the Portland Trailblazers’ offer to Enes Kanter this past summer? If you add all those together it’s somewhere around beyond $25 million for just this season. I know I double dipped on Brooks, but still. Are these guys running the Thunder just stupid?
Why? I don’t want to sound like Nancy Kerrigan, but why?
You could take that twenty something million and hopefully find a decent two way shooting guard and have some leftover to throw a mega James Harden yacht party on the Oklahoma River after winning the O’Brien Trophy.
Instead, Presti spent the money for the same thing we’ve seen since Harden left. Hero ball. Two guys trying to beat five guys and on a night when they were a collective 15-55.
I mean, there were things missed by Donovan which are just inexcusable.
Let’s be specific. Dallas went zone some. Durant and Westbrook were a combined 3-17 from beyond the arc. Hint to Billy Donovan, this is why you have Anthony Morrow on your roster as a three point zone busting specialist. Use him more than the 11 minutes you used him last night.
Enes Kanter. He’s an offensive rebounding savant. He gobbles up and swallows offensive rebounds like I east a handful of jelly beans. Here’s a unique thought, on a night when the Thunder were missing 61 of the 92 shots they took from the field, it could have been an offensive all you can eat buffett for Kanter, yet he didn’t play all that much even with the $17 million OKC pays him to be on the team. Think of it this way, an offensive rebound for Kanter is in essence like an assist played off the rim.
Russell Westbrook, please quit shooting threes. Period. Either get to the rim and finish, penetrate and dish, pick and roll with one of your bigs, pick and Pop with Serge or Kanter, or back down the other point guard trying to guard you and create a physical mismatch, BUT QUIT SHOOTING F–KING THREES! I understand under the current NBA collective bargaining agreement, only Popovich and Carlisle are allowed to talk to their players like this–so I’m doing this for Billy Donovan. Quit shooting so many threes. It should be your sixth offensive option.
Kevin Durant. Suck it up. If you want to be more than just a player who’s universally regarded as a great scorer who can’t lead a team to an NBA championship, then lead your team. When you have the smaller Raymond Felton in your hip pocket on a wing iso in the last five minutes, then back him down and finish the mismatch instead of doing your Dion Waiters imitation.
I’ve written this before and I’ll write it again, dumb teams are like dogs that play in the street, they don’t last long.
There’s no excuse for being a dumb basketball team. I know Billy Donovan can’t say this openly. I have a rogue blog. I don’t have to kiss Sam Presti’s ass for off the record access or any access for that matter.
Coaches coach your team. Stars lead by example. Role players do your niche jobs.
None of this is complex. Good lord.
Rant over.
the rant should be directed at Russ’s defense too. Felton completely beat his ass on the boards and was essentially unhindered defensively coming down the stretch. Donovan should have put Waiters on Felton and Westbrook on Matthews. Waiters stays attached to his man; Westbrook just wanders around.
I agree. Russell’s defense is atrocious at times. He actually gambled on a loose ball in the offensive zone in the fourth period which lead to an odd man break which led to a Mavs bucket. He doesn’t calibrate risk/reward at times. It’s almost like he and Kevin aren’t coached from a team standpoint. From a skills standpoint they’ve both improved every season in OKC. But from how they integrate their games into the whole team it’s lacking at times. I’ve always wondered how Pop, Carlisle, or Kerr would handle them.