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Thunder fan Brad Rogers is frustrated with the criticism being lobbed constantly at the Thunder. So he emailed this in.
It’s pretty obvious that if you’re not from the state of Oklahoma or one of it’s neighboring states (excluding Texas of course) you like to point out the so-called “flaws” of the young squad. No matter the margin of victory or how it’s won, the critics always make their voices heard. Whether it’s Charles Barkley saying OKC’s half-court offense is “turrible” or hometown hater Skip Bayless’ questionable hatred for Russy (really Skip? Russell taking one more shot than KD makes THAT big of a difference?) There is always someone saying some THING is the reason why the Thunder will not win an NBA championship this year.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they are a shoe-in (turnovers continue to make me cringe), but I’m also not counting them out for the same reason the “experts” are either. The reality is that this team is unlike any the NBA has ever seen…and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Let’s face it, the dynamic of the point guard in the NBA is changing (Steve Nash may be the exception in this argument). In the past 2 nights, I’ve seen Russell Westbrook drop 71 points, Derek Rose 25, and Deron Williams 66. Here’s the kicker, not one of them had 10 assists. While Derrick Rose continues to be praised as well as Deron Williams, Westbrook for some reason continues to catch flak. My biggest question is why? Why does the guy on a 25-7 team continue to be scrutinized for his efforts on the court while other score-first point guards are heralded?
And don’t give me the whole “But he plays with Kevin Durant, arguably the best player in the league.” Yes I’m talking to you Skip. And you’re right, but guess what… KD is still getting his numbers. Chants of MVP continue to rain down from the rafters at Chesapeake Energy Arena. He’s averaging 27.6 PPG and many think his game has elevated by becoming more of an all-around player. He’s not looking for bigger numbers, he’s looking for more W’s. Sorry Chuck, the league is changing and not every point guard is going to be averaging 15 assists like they did in your hey-day.
Another argument that has been surfacing is “Well they only have 2-3 scorers.” Hmm last time I checked another team in South Beach only has 2-3 scorers…unless you’re counting Mario Chalmers or Shane Batti… sorry I almost can’t get the second name out. Granted Miami is far more gifted than OKC on the defensive end, they aren’t nearly as deep. This is always something people seem to overlook. OKC is at least 2 players deep at every position. They may not all be scorers, but they most certainly won’t lose the game for you. I feel like the more #freecole tweets put out, the more his game will develop and Royal has gone from cheerleader to a decent 3 point shooter (and those are the back-ups back-ups). As for the half-court offense comments…the Thunder 25-7; they may live by the jump shot, but they’ve rarely died by it.
We’re only half way through the season and as an avid fan remembering the days of 3-29 records, I feel extremely content with how the Thunder are playing ball right now. They are fast, they are relentless, and they are emotional. You can’t honestly say that about many teams in the NBA. Do they let their emotions get the best of them sometimes, namely Perk and Russell, sure, but would you rather have a ho-hum group of players who don’t care about a play regardless of how minuscule it might be? If so, change the channel.
Actually, there is a "truly scary, near perfect team." That is the Miami Heat. No mercy. Just straight up dump-trucking whoever they play. (8 wins in a row. all by double digits.)
I am not familiar enough with your posts to include you in this group (so essentially I am not talking about you) - but there are posters who while being graciously dubbed: "acknowledgers of flaws" - are posters who will post 4 negative/complaining posts to every 1 celebratory post. And with a record of 25-7, raising such a ruckus about our flaws gets really old, really quick.
Nothing wrong with critiquing with a soundly articulated solution to a problem. The bullsh*t critics are people who run around posting: "There is a fire! There is a fire! all the time sounding the alarm without ever bringing to the table how to put it out.
And Thunder fans who dont like Russell Westbrook might as well just go pull for the Milwaukee Bucks (pg Brandon Jennings 39% shooting or go root for the Rockets, pg Kyle Lowry shooting at 41%) Russ shooting 47% is totally legit. that speaks for himself. We will sure be glad to have him in the playoffs when Durant has an off night.
There are players you can go to war with in the playoffs, and russ is absolutely one of them. In the current NBA landscape I'd rather have russ in the playoffs than any other pg (with the possible exception of cp3) because when the best perimeter defenders in the world are making it their mission to stop KD, he's fully capable of destroying the best defenses in the league singlehandedly (and for an entire game). There's only one other team in the league that can say the same thing about their #2 scoring option, which is why I'm convinced the Larry O'Brien trophy will reside in either OKC or Miami come season's end.
"It’s pretty obvious that if you’re not from the state of Oklahoma or one of it’s neighboring states (excluding Texas of course) you like to point out the so-called “flaws” of the young squad.'
Born and raised in Oklahoma. Living in OKC. Go to the games.
What people miss when posters critique the Thunder's issues is that we are all aware that every team in the NBA has issues right now, and many of the "contenders" have issues as big or bigger than ours. There is no truly scary, near perfect team like there has been in the past. And that includes the Thunder. Acknowledging that doesn't make us haters. It's makes us cognizant of the landscape of the league right now. Nor does acknowledging it make us less of a fan.
Thanks.
Mario Chalmers averages 11.2 pts/game so yea i would count him as a scorer for miami
@bmuelle22 Chalmers is #2 in the league on eFG% and TS% amongst players who play 20+ minutes.
The thing that upsets me about the Westbrook comments is that everyone seems to have blinders on other player's mistakes. Westbrook has 4 bad possessions in a game, and he all of a sudden is a "ball hog". KD gets the ball in isolation and dribbles it off his foot, or trys to do a cross-over and completely misses his off-hand resulting in a layup, yet his mistakes aren't questioned. In fact, Skippy boy even says that all of KD's mistakes are because Durant is "forcing" a shot because he doesn't think he'll see the ball again for multiple possessions.
And the whole KD and RW hate eachother...that rumor has GOT to die.
@alvarex although it has nothing to do with him forcing shots because he doesn't think he'll see the ball again he does tend to settle a to much still for long outside jumpers or 3's
@alvarex the good of RW far outweighs the bad
@alvarex and the thing is KD actually goes to the foul line alot more then westbrook.
If the playoffs started today: OKC vs DEN, SAS vs MEM, DAL vs HOU, and LAC vs LAL.
@ThunderChick2010 i would like if denver and houston switched spots, as i think denver can beat dallas.
That could probably be arranged. . . . :)
@ThunderChick2010 I REALLY like those match-ups!
@ThunderChick2010 Yes please!
Skip Bayless grew up during an era of Sooner perfection. Like my family and I, we want the Sooners to be perfect. Negative yard for the other team. No points scored on us. And the Sooners must score whenever they touch the ball. Yes I know this is perfection but it is something to strive for because the Sooners won for so long. Now, sadly, it is partially being seen with OSU on offense. So when the Okie state received The Oklahoma City Thunder, I feel that our transference of striving for perfection. No matter how unrealistic it is, we want them to do better. We want them, as fans, to play the perfect game. --- IMO
Kevin Durant surpassed LeBron in Points Per Game today. KD: 27.7, LBJ: 27.6
While Skip Bayless exaggerates many times, I think some of his criticism is justified. Let's think about this : it took OKC 51 from KD, 40 from Westbrook and a triple-double from Ibaka to get past Denver. Credit to the Nuggets who are a good team, but it took special individual performances to win this match. Had KD not been on fire, who knows?Now, he's the back-to-back scoring champion and one of the best shooters in the game. You expect him to have the ball in crunch time and you expect him to shoot more than your secondary offensive weapon (Westbrook). Apart from decision making, the main difference between Rose and Wesbrook is that D-Rose is Chicago's pivotal offensive weapon, while Westbrook is the second in OKC. He should defer to KD and keep evolving his PG play. Because at the moment, it looks like Westbrook has either an amazing individual performance or a subpar one. And the lack of consistency DOES come back to haunt you in the post-season.Let's hope OKC can prevail though...
@Sergio Santos This is not the Denver team we'll see later in the season. When Nene is playing, the narrative will shift to "Nene vs Perk". They were playing with an oddball line-up...we won in an unconventional manner. Move on! Any attempt to draw conclusions from this game is very, very weak.
@TaoMaas No conclusions mate, just trying to say that some of the criticism is justified. Partially because Russ has such high upside, partially because OKC have KD but partially because he could also be more efficient.
@Sergio Santos So after teams start double team or zone durant what is westbrook suppose to do?
@Lost Ones I know what he's supposed NOT to do: jack up shots and hog the ball. There are more people to involve (Harden, Ibaka, Cook...) OKC are young and deep enough to attack the title, but sometimes Russ gives me this feeling that something is missing. Hopefully, he will prove me wrong...
@f5alcon Cheers mate, thanks for providing the link and the info. I still think he takes too many shots in some games, but hopefully in the playoffs he'll know when to attack the rim and when to dish out...
@Sergio Santos
They were even once
Durant outshot Westbrook by 1 five times
Durant outshot westbrook by 2 four times
by three twice
by 4 three times
by 5 once
by 6 twice
by 8 once
by 9 once
@Sergio Santos I will have to look at the other 20 games, but here is a good dissection of it, durant gets fouled more and those dont count as FGA. http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/2012/02/21/some-perspective-on-russell-westbrook-shooting-more-than-kevin-durant/
@f5alcon This is nothing against Russ....it is just with his talent, athleticism and young age, his ceiling is quite high and I feel he could produce more. Dish out more, shoot less, simple. And just out of curiosity, of the 20 games where he shoot less, how close were the shots taken by by them?As someone said, Nash would shoot as much as Russ and that is true...but he is an elite shooter, that's the difference. And he leads in assists too...
@Sergio Santos He has out shot durant in 12 of 32 games, out of those 12, 3 games were 1 shot more, 2 games were 2 more shots and 3 games were 3 more shots, so 7/12 times that he shot more it was 3 shots or less more.
@Lost Ones@Sergio Santos Nash shoots a ton. Rondo can't shoot at all. Curry would shoot every time if he could.
@Sergio Santos@Lost Ones Part of what makes KD such an efficient scorer is having the threat of Westbrook next to him. Also, typically more usage leads to lower efficiency; I would argue that if we had Rondo or whoever, KD's increased usage rate would lower his efficiency - pretty much making it a moot trade off. I'll keep Russ, thanks.
@Sergio Santos Outside of Kd he has no guaranteed options besides harden.Westbrook is shooting 47.5 percent how isn't that efficient ill like to hear you explain this one.? Stephen Curry IS NOT A PG he is a SG that is playing the roll of a pg DONT even bring him up.
@Lost Ones So what you're saying is that Russ has no option but to do things on his own? It's a fact that in many games, not 1 or 2, he takes more shots than KD and it is also a fact that is not nearly as efficient. Of course his athleticism brings his play to another level, but it just makes you think what OKC could do with a pass-first PG, such as Rondo, Nash or even a healthy Curry...
@Sergio Santos Ibaka Suppose to score? LMAO!!! Cook has been on a cold streak for a month now once again that leaves harden who doesn't insert himself in the offense.
@Sergio Santos The problem in the Denver game was defense, not offense. There is no world in which Russ' offensive production from that game is detrimental to winning. He does have games/possessions where he kills the offense, but in net, his play is helpful to the ball club, not harmful.
One of you guys brought up opponent PER yesterday. Where can I find those?
@diddoff 82 games has it. I'd be very wary of using it to try to evaluate individual defenders, but it can give you a pretty good idea of what positions generally a team is weak against.
@SammyThunderer Thanks!
IF Russ can keep his FG% or make it better,what will Skip Bayless say?
@shiki That we should trade for pure point guard
@ThunderWins@shiki His biggest argument is that we SHOULD'VE traded Russ for CP3 straight up. This is dumb. Who's to say that a) New Orleans/David Stern would've accepted that trade, b) CP3 would agree to be here longterm and c) their salaries don't match up so we couldn't have done it anyway.
I don't see how Bayless can make an argument about a hypothetical trade that he made up in his own mind. We can only deal with the here and now, and the here and now has the Thunder at 25-7 with the best record in the West and two Top 5 NBA scorers. Bayless needs to shup the hell up about Westbrook already.
@Daniel Hawaii@ThunderWins@shiki skip admitted today he hated westbrook cause he likes CP3 better and we SHOULD OF TRADED! also he wants KD being fed CONSTANTLY and dropping like 60+ a game. im sorry but thats NOT team basketball. ID LOOOOOVE to see Presti or KD get on there and rip him apart lol. Skip bayless is all shock value man. hes the bill o'reily of sports :P
True Story: i'm playing nba 2k12 my player mode...IVE NEVER UPDATED THE ROSTERS or anything like that, i'm in year 2015 my player is a PG 99 overall MVP, and i just got torched by Jeremy Lin playing for the suns in the western conference finals, who is a 70 overall
LOVE this. Very well said.
LET me just say, I am from no where near OKC, but I still support the team and don't harp on petty flaws.... that lead was a turn off....
@RRRWHOAAAA Yeah I didn't get the point of that either.
@RRRWHOAAAA Nah. I live in Hawaii but I didn't take that lead to mean that I was against the Thunder or anything. I think you're reading a little too much into it.
this article made it seem like bad half-court offense and poor ball movement were petty flaws
@RRRWHOAAAA well for the most part it's probably true. i'm glad you see the light :P
@loplopol The whole DMV region pretty much love the Thunder
@loplopol@RRRWHOAAAA There are tons of people all over the world the love the Thunder!
@RRRWHOAAAA yea I definitely understand that. I bet there are also a bunch in Seattle that still root for the Thunder
Barkley is right about our half court offense...it's our bad half court offense (stagnant, to many iso plays, settling for shots) that is leading to almost all of our turnovers. Turnovers will be our downfall in the playoffs if they aren't fixed. With a slower pace that the playoffs usually bring that means less possessions so we need to value possessions more.