This isn’t all that complicated. If the Thunder had simply taken care of business as they should have and beaten Minnesota twice at home, Washington at home, LA at home without LeBron, and beaten the woeful Hawks in Atlanta those five wins would have the Thunder at 34 wins and battling the Warriors for first place in the West. Instead, they went through intermittent periods of indifference and some little league like coaching rotations from Billy Donovan.
I didn’t watch the Knicks game so that doesn’t hold any merit with me. But in the wins against Philly and Portland… Billy Donovan finally tightened his rotational minutes and was more careful how he staggered his lineup combinations when he brought his bench players into the game. The emergence of Terrence Ferguson has made that an easy decision and one which should continue. Only nine players saw the floor against Portland. The starters played heavy minutes with all five scoring in double figures. Then Schroder got his twenty minutes or so. Diallo didn’t see the floor in this game. That doesn’t need to be the norm every night, but on this night it was smart. Noels, Patterson, and Nader played, but not heavy minutes. I like the way Donovan distributed his minutes. It had the look of grownups being coached by a pro coach instead of a teenagers being coached by a college coach.
I have no idea what the Abrines story is, but he was dressed and never got into the game—which I think is good. Save him as emergency luxury, but don’t put yourself in a position to depend on him. He should be a folk singer in Spain. I bet he has a beautiful voice. The team finally has shown something in these two nice wins so why mess with it. Go with nine guys and ten if you use Diallo on given nights.
Paul George and Westbrook were both excellent and spearheaded a Thunder defense which accounted for sixteen steals on the night. The Chesapeake Energy crowd was doing the Paul George MVP chant and that’s fine, but he won’t be a serious MVP contender unless Westbrook can consistently be the point guard he needs to be for this team to win fifty plus games. Let’s be clear…Paul George regardless of how well he plays isn’t winning the MVP on a 47-48 win team. So while we appreciate the play of Paul George it will ultimately be Russell Westbrook who either does or doesn’t take this team to where they want to go.
Again, I have no idea why this is so complicated. If the Thunder play with focus and some smarts they can be a relevant team, if they don’t do these things they’ll be another first round exit. The West isn’t that good. All the hype is misguided. Other than Golden State, the Thunder have on paper the second best roster in the West with the highest payroll and with Houston’s injuries should be the second best team in the conference.
It’s time for Billy Donovan to exert his will as a coach. Time for Westbrook to define his legacy. Time for Paul George to have a career year. Time for Adams, Grant, and Ferguson to continue trending upward. Time for Schroder to not be a defensive liability, or at least as much. Time for Nerlens Noel to get more minutes. Time for Patterson, Nader, and Diallo to fill their roles given the opponent and the night. Time for Little Nick Gallo and Low Energy Royce Young to write like adults covering an NBA team with the league’s highest payroll.
It’s time for Oklahoma City as an NBA market to grow up a bit.
The Thunder host Anthony Davis and the Pels tomorrow night in what should be an intriguing game at the Peake.
The Terrance Ferguson Story
You can breathe life into any topic! Bravo!