Darnell Mayberry: “If you’re like me, you’re wondering why the Thunder showed up like that. It could have been something simple, such as the Thunder knowing Josh Smith was back in Atlanta with a sprained ankle. Or it could have been something a tad more complex, something I’m sure nobody wants to hear and even fewer people will want to believe — such as the Thunder came back content and complacent following last year’s trip to the Finals. Perhaps these players feel they’ve arrived. Feel they can just show up and stomp on a starless club. If it’s the latter, it’d be the second worst thing that can happen to this Thunder season.”
Scoop Jackson of ESPN.com on storylines: “2. The Story: James Harden scores 37 points and has 12 assists in his Houston debut, and OKC should have never traded him. The Real But Selectively Forgotten Truth: Harden did an A-Rod in the 2012 NBA Finals, and it was the wrong time for him to go into contract negotiations for an extension looking for a max deal. Harden picked a bad time to play the worst basketball of his career. OKC had no other option but to do what they did. They offered him $55 million over four years, a fair offer without knowing if what happened in the Finals was an anomaly or if was he the type of player that would continually fold under the Finals lights. When you are a team that is trying to win a championship and are in the mix to do so for the next few years, you can’t take a financial gamble or make a five-year, $80 million investment on/in a guy that didn’t come through when you needed him the most. And at the same time, it is stupid and incompetent business if you let him go without getting anything of substance in return. Clayton Bennett is not trying to be Dan Gilbert.”
James Harden is burning through his $80 million, one dollar at a time.
Berry Tramel: “The Harden trade messed with the Thunder’s chemistry, no doubt. Foreman Scotty still is mixing and matching, trying to figure out how to play his revamped second unit. But maybe the trade messed with the Thunder psyche even more. Despite Perk’s proclamation, maybe the Boomers have been like the rest of us. So focused on how Martin will replace Harden, they’ve forgotten what made them great in the first place.”
Anyone want Kenyon Martin? I don’t think you can have two K-Mart’s. It would be like having two T-Bones.
At CBSSports.com, it’s clear the Thunder have to rely what’s already been established.
Eddie Johnson of HoopsHype on Westbrook: “I watched him this summer concentrate on defense. If he wanted, he could make the All-Defensive 1st Team with ease. He showed during the Finals he can dominate offensively and quieted those who constantly want him to acquiesce to the talents of Durant.”
Marc Stein of ESPN.com: “Thank you, Thunder. Thank you, Rockets. OKC residents increasingly freaked out about how good James Harden has looked since he left town are exempt here, but the majority of you have to concede that the speedier-than-expected conclusion to the Harden Saga should do a lot for our collective sanity. Instead of months’ worth of suffocating trade speculation had the Thunder kept Harden without extending his contract, like what happened the last two seasons from Day 1 of training camp up through the trading deadline courtesy of the Melodrama and then the Dwightmare, OKC and Houston swiftly consummated their megadeal before the first ball was tossed up for real. Mercifully.”
John Schuhmann of NBA.com: The Thunder are struggling a bit offensively to start the season, but James Harden’s departure doesn’t have much to do with it. The starting lineup has been the biggest problem, scoring just 90.5 points per 100 possessions in 49 minutes so far. OKC has actually been pretty potent offensively (106.9) with Kevin Martin, who is 12-for-17 from 3-point range, on the floor.
Here’s KD getting dunked on last night.
Tom Ziller of SB Nation: “Okay, so no one predicted Harden would be averaging 35 points per game. And he won’t all season long. But he’s an easy 20-ppg scorer, and my suggestion he could challenge old friend Kevin Durant for the scoring title is looking less like a lark. He’s a scoring machine. The funny thing is that he was a scoring machine when he was backing up Thabo Sefolosha in Oklahoma City. He just played fewer minutes than other scoring machines, and thus saw his total per-game scoring numbers sit lower than players he was clearly better than.”
Little something: I’m doing a weekly one hour radio show on The Spy FM/KOSU. It’s live here at 1 PM and will re-broadcast on KOSU at 7 PM.
Hmmm....what if Darnell is right? What if some of our guys do feel like they've arrived and all they have to do is show up to win games? Would the cure be to play more of our new guys who haven't been to a championship yet? After all, the two biggest surprises in our rotations have been Martin and Thabeet, so maybe Darnell is on to something. Why not play Lamb and Jones along with Martin, Thabeet, and Collison for half a quarter or so and see what happens? If they do well, it might light a fire under the starters.
we're only 3 games in and this roster is barely one week old. everybody calm the hell down.
you always know how this team is doing judging by the number of "new people" that are posting on here. IDK about anybody else but it seems like "new people" start posting more to "cope" with the team not dong well lol
@bmuelle21 How many points do you have to have to graduate out of the "new people" class?
@The Sports Oprah @bmuelle21 If your post count is still in single digits/point count still in single digits, you're still a "new person".
That, and your point total, at least by my computer's reconning, is pretty leet. :D
@ou_sas @The Sports Oprah i would even include double digits lol
@Mr_F click on your name and view your profile
@ou_sas @The Sports Oprah @bmuelle21 How do you see your post count/points? I can't find it on the livefyre account page. I'm just curious, because I've been following the comments (mostly lurking) for almost a year, but my post count is very likely still in "new" range.
@The Sports Oprah @bmuelle21 http://imgur.com/uYHpV
T-BONE JOKE FTW
@OBoy Jones III Seinfeld
@OBoy Jones III I guess I won our Fantasy Basketball Matchup? Wish I knew what the hell...then I could trash talk.
All I can do is say "Both Teams Played Hard" ::Rasheed Wallace voice::
@Scott Brookz @OBoy Jones III yes you won, 7-4, whoever has more categories at the end of the week wins
this
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/41935/a-tale-of-two-offenses-the-surprising-knicks-and-the-slumping-thunder
Maynor definitely should have been in the game when Westbrook was going Hero Mode.
@OkcBaby no thanks.
@OBoy Jones III LOL you took the words out my mouth.
@OkcBaby Guys can you give me the quarter or time you think Russ was in hero mode? I watched the game last night and didnt see that part i guess.
@The Sports Oprah @OkcBaby Tric.. when we were up by 6 or 7, there was a couple of possesions when Russ dribbled down, didn't set any play, and then jacked something up, bricking both times. Hawks came back down and got a couple buckets putting them right back in it. If we would have run our sets it *may* have not been so bad.
(although I don't advocate putting in Maynor)
@Tronchaser @The Sports Oprah @OkcBaby there is a difference between hero mode and just selfish got to get my shots mode.
Everyone talked about Harden as the 3rd banana but really it's becoming apparent that he was the 2nd. WB was actually the 3rd. But Brooks' rotation hid this. See the situation with WB is very similar to that of Jeff Green back then. Jeff was a good player, drafted high by Presti and whom Brooks felt obligated to play a lot at the 4 position because KD already was at the 3. Problem was Jeff wasn't a real 4, and was a poor defender.. but Brooks kept playing him at the 4 even though most people realized Ibaka was the better starter 4. Now again we have a dysfunctional situation because WB is more of a 2 than a point guard but Brooks in his ever incomprehensible hardheaded way keeps playing him at the 1. Move WB to the 2 spot, put Maynor at the point and you instantly get a smoother and more balanced offense.
Not enough data yet for Westbrook at SG to judge that soundly for him or team.
@Crow @fireBrooks I don't know about bananas, but I think it is apparent that Rus and KD benefited from having Harden on the floor more than the reverse (as many people seemed to think). I think Hollinger said something about this last week.
@solutionz777 @Mr_F @Crow @fireBrooks That & the same lineup with lamb instead of PJ. At least a few minutes here & there... I understand that cats think they not ready to be on the floor- but we have lineups that result in frequent empty possessions already, so how could it hurt to evaluate the options!?...
@Mr_F @Crow @fireBrooks can we see a pj3, kd, ibaka, westbrook and martin lineup at any point? and see what lamb has? Don't think that kid is lacking for confidence.
@fireBrooks apparent after 2 games we loss on the defense end really?
@fireBrooks Maynor is highly overrated around here. I like him. He's no starter though
@Mundane35 @fireBrooks Maynor is good enough to run plays and dish to KD, WB, IBaka or score if he's open. He's also a descent defender.
@fireBrooks maynor has looked bad this year though
I dont know who our new defensive coach but work with me her DT.... Defense was to Ron Adams as ???????? was to offense (moe cheeks?)
I like Scott Brooks, but not as a coach.
he is butt as a coach, but solid motivator and player developer
itms funny now with k mart there is even more pressure on russ to get the ball to kevin and rightfully so. as good as harden is i rarely felt like he was the guy who should be doing the scoring with kd out there also. but now, especially the way he played last night i thought martin was an equally good option to kd and russ calling his own number was far down the list.
@Old Man Game it's starting to look more and more like Harden is a better all around player than WB. Supposedly WB is a better defender but he doesn't bring it. Harden is more consistent offensively and makes his teammates better. WB doesn't run the team and takes everyone else hostage.
@fireBrooks @Old Man Game Was on this under a different name aussie something two years ago. couldnt be on last year due to work, but had two facebook forums. always said needed two guard front of harden and westbrook with westbrook giving up pretense of being pg and lettting harden make the decisions. Harden strong enough and big enough with good enough handle not to be bothered by pg's or sg's. and ibaka at center with small ball against miami. Convention.. and PErk... was not working...
@fireBrooks @Old Man Game Harden ain't here
@fireBrooks I really hate the "what if" game. it's not constructive.
@fireBrooks @walkerdog @Old Man Game disagree with you. There is something special about Russ. He will explode one day...
@walkerdog @Old Man Game Just wondering what would have been if Presti had made the same traden but with WB instead of Harden
@Old Man Game Harden did something better though...He got the ball to durant and westbrook and his style of play let westbrook and Durant play their games..now westbrook and durant have to be counted as facilitators every night..something neither of them is that good at especially durant
@kennygee90 @Old Man Game Durant seems better at it than Westbrook. He at least has the iq to know when & how to get a player the ball.. It's no reason RW doesn't pass to KD when he's posting Lou Williams. He tries for maybe 4 seconds & if he feels he can't make the pass he calls his own #
@kennygee90 @Old Man Game Harden rarely handled the ball with them oddly enough
@kennygee90 @Old Man Game it never handled it enough with westbrook and durant usually was regulated to standing in the corner.
@Lost Ones @Old Man Game it looked like it alot to me.. his timely threes used to annoy me ...he used to take our bench players to school also
@kennygee90 @Old Man Game
i think durant is pretty good at it. he just is looking for that happy medium the TOs should decrease.
@PerkPunt @Old Man Game .idk if he's good but his decent but he forces it..It was hell trying to guard durant, harden and westbrook at the same time..the main reason some of the Laker games were close is cause Kobe shuts down guards like harden who like to handle the ball..
One thing is clear for me .... either Reggie or Maynor. If Brooks wants maynor the play then Reggie shouldn't see the court. The 1/2 man rotation is loco. Idealy Brooks should sit out Maynor he clearly hasn't won the back-up point guard postition yet.
I think best case ithe to play PJ3 instead of Thabeet and Lamb gets that 3-5 mins reggie has earned.
I don't play rookies significant minutes. ~Scott Brooks
Kendrick Perkins, Scott Brooks, and sometimes Westbrook get on my damn nerves! Be honest yall feel the same way too.
@DooDooBrooks I'm a Perk fan but at this point he actually bring nothing but he is physical. Brooks is terrible again its nothing new from my veiw point
@9th Wonderous All you would need to do is read the comments during a game and you'll see 98% of DT agreed with you.