OKC Thunder 2023-24 Regular Season Discussion

[Kizz Fastfists]

It is hard to win a game when you give up 15 offensive rebounds. Dallas getting 10 extra shots was the difference. In the first two games it looked like had a solution to their size issue. This game was won the way we were all expecting Dallas to beat OKC late in the season. Most of us knew what the problem the team needed to address was and that there were a lot of options out there at the deadline.

[Dadouv47]

main issue is those dumb turnovers. We knew the rebound was gonna be an issue anyway like it was during the RS but we are making some bad passes and that wasn't happening in the RS.

Credits to Mavs D too but JDub was a legit option 2 during the regular season and now he's pretty bad so it's all on Shai.

I don't like the odds for game 4 with a benged up JDub and Shai coming off two great games.

[Clav]

Yeah but this is what we have now Kizz. I was just about to post about DAL getting 10 more shots (OKC also shot more efficiently, but was -7 in total rebounding).

Sadly, the reality is OKC needs to be a lot more hungry for boards. We can deploy Biyombo in short stretches not that he's the answer but if we hacka-Lively, I'd honestly rather see him take those fouls.

Where is Kenrich ? Why can't he get 5 minutes of hustle ?

[Kizz Fastfists]

Where is Kenrich ? Why can't he get 5 minutes of hustle ?

Gotta give Hayward the minutes. That was Presti’s big deadline move if you keep him on the bench, where he belongs, people might realize Presti’s big deadline move was tanking.

[RingoKid]

All that barking but when it comes time to bite...Nada!

Gotta find that real dawg in OKC and let em out. This aint the puppy training academy. They in with the big dogs.

On a side note ; the noise from Steven Adams is he's feeling good, real good!

A vet player like that would go a long way to solving Thunders problems.

Coulda got him at the trade deadline and ramped him up for the playoffs but i guess Muscala, and Biz are ready as next man up and primed for the post season...lol

[RunOKC]

When the defense is sitting in the paint like that we have to be ready to shoot. Too many pointless passes on the perimeter leading to SGA having to force something against a stacked box. When it isn't completely open our shooters aren't ready to let it go.

[Kizz Fastfists]

On a side note ; the noise from Steven Adams is he's feeling good, real good!

The "noise" from Adams was that he finally set foot on a basketball court for the first time since he got shut down earlier this month. He is in the very begging stages of his rehab and while he expects to be ready to go for training camp it isn't guaranteed. If OKC wants a center similar to Adams they can trade up in the draft to take Clingan and get a significantly better player. They could take Eddy and get better production. OKC won't have interest in either as they don't want to change their offense to accommodate a traditional center. That is why they passed on Lively who is a better player today than Adams will ever be again.

What is your obsession with a player that will be 31 before potentially playing another game and has a surgically repaired knee which will reduce his mobility from what it previously was. Adams was a serviceable center in his prime. After the injury he'll be a backup at best and would get no minutes in OKC over Chet or Jaylin. A team with OKC's assets can do much better than a broken Adams. OKC requires their big men, that get playing time, to be able to shoot and knock down 3s. Adams is 1 for 15 from 3 in his career. His only role in OKC would be as a practice player for Chet to work on his interior game against and a cheerleader.

I'd love for OKC to realize they could give themselves a huge advantage over the rest of the league with the twin towers combo of Clingan and Chet. I just don't have any faith in Presti understanding that. Assuming the Houston pick conveys, I expect OKC to draft Cody Williams, Devon Carter, Filipowski, Tyler Smith or Tristan Da Silva.

[OE_Thunder]

Thunder just need to learn how to execute down the stretch. Shai was terrible in the 4th and 4th quarter Jdub didn't show up. The hack a lively thing was lame and it really bogged down our offense. I still think this goes 7, but if PJ Washington keeps hitting 3's at this rate, we may be screwed.

Also for those that say Steven Adams is the solution, please put the pipe down. Adams would just clog the lane even more and our half court offense would be even more stagnant then what it is now. Lauri is the real dream to go after in the offseason.

Sent from my SM-S928U using RealGM mobile app

[RingoKid]

On a side note ; the noise from Steven Adams is he's feeling good, real good!

The "noise" from Adams was that he finally set foot on a basketball court for the first time since he got shut down earlier this month. He is in the very begging stages of his rehab and while he expects to be ready to go for training camp it isn't guaranteed. If OKC wants a center similar to Adams they can trade up in the draft to take Clingan and get a significantly better player. They could take Eddy and get better production. OKC won't have interest in either as they don't want to change their offense to accommodate a traditional center. That is why they passed on Lively who is a better player today than Adams will ever be again.

What is your obsession with a player that will be 31 before potentially playing another game and has a surgically repaired knee which will reduce his mobility from what it previously was. Adams was a serviceable center in his prime. After the injury he'll be a backup at best and would get no minutes in OKC over Chet or Jaylin. A team with OKC's assets can do much better than a broken Adams. OKC requires their big men, that get playing time, to be able to shoot and knock down 3s. Adams is 1 for 15 from 3 in his career. His only role in OKC would be as a practice player for Chet to work on his interior game against and a cheerleader.

I'd love for OKC to realize they could give themselves a huge advantage over the rest of the league with the twin towers combo of Clingan and Chet. I just don't have any faith in Presti understanding that. Assuming the Houston pick conveys, I expect OKC to draft Cody Williams, Devon Carter, Filipowski, Tyler Smith or Tristan Da Silva.

I could write a novel on how wrong you are but it wouldn't make a difference.

The Funaki in this series would definitely make a difference.

[Kizz Fastfists]

I could write a novel on how wrong you are but it wouldn't make a difference.

The Funaki in this series would definitely make a difference.

You do realize that Adams tried to play in the pre-season, and actually appeared in a few games, before having to shut it back down and have knee surgery, right? He thought he had recovered once from the injury and the result was knee surgery. How can you have any confidence that he will ever play in a NBA game again?

[RingoKid]

I could write a novel on how wrong you are but it wouldn't make a difference.

The Funaki in this series would definitely make a difference.

You do realize that Adams tried to play in the pre-season, and actually appeared in a few games, before having to shut it back down and have knee surgery, right? He thought he had recovered once from the injury and the result was knee surgery. How can you have any confidence that he will ever play in a NBA game again?

Most importantly, he gave an update on his injured knee that’s kept him off the court. Earlier this week, he said it felt “really, really good” when playing a bitta practice and now said it just needs the ‘yeah g’ from the doc.

“It’s still there,” he said. “Everything is fine and the next step is to have the green light from the doctors because it's up to the surgeons who operated on me, and the medical staff who I trust to tell me.” - Steven Adams

https://www.maifm.co.nz/home/headlines/2024/03/steven-adams-gives-update-on-his-seasonending-knee-injury-in-first-interview-with-new-team.html

[slick_watts]

x-posting from general board-

i'm really disappointed in coach daigneault. the thunder have the horses to run this race but he is just pressing the wrong buttons over and over again. starting josh giddey is the obvious misstep, but continuing to play gordon hayward and isaiah joe only playing 19 minutes in this one is even more bizarre. at least there's a semi-justifiable excuse to stick with josh giddey. gordon hayward is a sunk cost. perhaps the most perplexing roster decision is not playing kenrich williams at all. williams is part of many of the thunder's best lineups the last two seasons, is an elite corner shooter, and is probably one of the few guys on the thunder who would be right at home in the prison rules playoffs era. but he can't even see the court.

worse than all of that combined was his decision to start fouling derrick lively in the fourth quarter. the mavs were just as miserable as the thunder were offensively when the game got choppy, and the thunder were forcing turnovers and at least had some hope of getting into transition. but that all goes away when you foul lively- even if he misses one or both, you're forced to play in the half court against the mavs set defense. a real bizarre decision, maybe one of the worst in-game choices i have witnessed from a thunder coach. okc had a top five defense, has chet, and we're doing prison rules- and you don't trust your guys to get stops in a one possession game?

lots has been made of the thunder players' youth and inexperience. i think that's overblown. but i haven't seen much said about the thunder coaching staff's youth and inexperience. mark daigneault has never coached in the playoffs, and nor have any of the thunder bench assistants (chip has, but he's not really a bench coach). okc could really use an experienced assistant who has seen a bit of everything on the staff. as it stands, imo, the thunder coaching staff's inexperience has harmed the thunder far more than the players' in this series so far.

[Devilanche]

On a side note ; the noise from Steven Adams is he's feeling good, real good!

I'd love for OKC to realize they could give themselves a huge advantage over the rest of the league with the twin towers combo of Clingan and Chet. I just don't have any faith in Presti understanding that. Assuming the Houston pick conveys, I expect OKC to draft Cody Williams, Devon Carter, Filipowski, Tyler Smith or Tristan Da Silva.

I could write a novel on how wrong you are but it wouldn't make a difference.

The Funaki in this series would definitely make a difference.

He would still be out injured.

[Devilanche]

x-posting from general board-

i'm really disappointed in coach daigneault. the thunder have the horses to run this race but he is just pressing the wrong buttons over and over again. starting josh giddey is the obvious misstep, but continuing to play gordon hayward and isaiah joe only playing 19 minutes in this one is even more bizarre. at least there's a semi-justifiable excuse to stick with josh giddey. gordon hayward is a sunk cost. perhaps the most perplexing roster decision is not playing kenrich williams at all. williams is part of many of the thunder's best lineups the last two seasons, is an elite corner shooter, and is probably one of the few guys on the thunder who would be right at home in the prison rules playoffs era. but he can't even see the court.

worse than all of that combined was his decision to start fouling derrick lively in the fourth quarter. the mavs were just as miserable as the thunder were offensively when the game got choppy, and the thunder were forcing turnovers and at least had some hope of getting into transition. but that all goes away when you foul lively- even if he misses one or both, you're forced to play in the half court against the mavs set defense. a real bizarre decision, maybe one of the worst in-game choices i have witnessed from a thunder coach. okc had a top five defense, has chet, and we're doing prison rules- and you don't trust your guys to get stops in a one possession game?

lots has been made of the thunder players' youth and inexperience. i think that's overblown. but i haven't seen much said about the thunder coaching staff's youth and inexperience. mark daigneault has never coached in the playoffs, and nor have any of the thunder bench assistants (chip has, but he's not really a bench coach). okc could really use an experienced assistant who has seen a bit of everything on the staff. as it stands, imo, the thunder coaching staff's inexperience has harmed the thunder far more than the players' in this series so far.

I don’t think we have any difference maker as coach / assistant coach. But they weren’t the reason we lost today.

The lack of another big option was it.
Gotta give credit to Jaylin though. He at least is doing what he can do.


We probably need replace giddey with wiggins in the next game to stand a chance of winning and replace Hayward limited minutes with more of Joe / Wiggins/Kenrich.

[Kizz Fastfists]

Most importantly, he gave an update on his injured knee that’s kept him off the court. Earlier this week, he said it felt “really, really good” when playing a bitta practice and now said it just needs the ‘yeah g’ from the doc.

“It’s still there,” he said. “Everything is fine and the next step is to have the green light from the doctors because it's up to the surgeons who operated on me, and the medical staff who I trust to tell me.” - Steven Adams

https://www.maifm.co.nz/home/headlines/2024/03/steven-adams-gives-update-on-his-seasonending-knee-injury-in-first-interview-with-new-team.html

You just said that the Thunder could have ramped up for the playoffs and had him playing. Now you are saying the doctors haven't cleared him. Which is it? First you blatantly lie and I call you out on it and then you post the quotes from Adams showing that you lied and me calling you out on it was because I was informed. Adams is as worthless as a cheerleader. Maybe he'll be on the court next year and maybe not. He would not be playing for the Thunder even if they had stupid enough to acquire him.

[bbms]

yeah the big problem with this hack-a-lively tactics is that we have a bunch of playmakers on defense that are denied the opportunity to create transition offense.

not that thunder looked stellar in transition this series (eyetest), but still thunder defense is productive.

unless they completely gave up defending kyrie.

[RingoKid]

Most importantly, he gave an update on his injured knee that’s kept him off the court. Earlier this week, he said it felt “really, really good” when playing a bitta practice and now said it just needs the ‘yeah g’ from the doc.

“It’s still there,” he said. “Everything is fine and the next step is to have the green light from the doctors because it's up to the surgeons who operated on me, and the medical staff who I trust to tell me.” - Steven Adams

https://www.maifm.co.nz/home/headlines/2024/03/steven-adams-gives-update-on-his-seasonending-knee-injury-in-first-interview-with-new-team.html

You just said that the Thunder could have ramped up for the playoffs and had him playing. Now you are saying the doctors haven't cleared him. Which is it? First you blatantly lie and I call you out on it and then you post the quotes from Adams showing that you lied and me calling you out on it was because I was informed. Adams is as worthless as a cheerleader. Maybe he'll be on the court next year and maybe not. He would not be playing for the Thunder even if they had stupid enough to acquire him.

Oh please. Enough with the gotcha lying accusations and get help with your anger issues!

There's simply no need for Adams to get medical clearance at the moment so there's no rush.

If Houston were in the playoffs now they'd have kicked his tyres, got clearance and ramped him up to do all the things OKC are crap at doing now : Boxing out, offensive rebounding and hard screens, while not taking up shots better used by others.

Joe, SuGA and J-Dub could all do with someone running interfernce for them, springing them for easy shots and cleaning up the boards for 2nd chance points.

Things Adams is elite at and skills which age well in veteran bigs.

Thunder is a Chet injury away from irrelevance and there's nothing to suggest he'll bulk up like Poku never did and even if he did he'd be susceptible to further injury like Porzingis.

[Devilanche]

Adams also will probably have issues being relatively healthy as he age. Would he still make a difference ? For sure but probably at reduced salary in future.

[Dadouv47]

We can blame Giddey, lack of frontcourt depth, coach D mistakes but let's be real: lack of experience is a real issue. This team is known for making little to no mistakes and they are struggling a lot those past few games and mostly in key moments. Game 2 after coming from -10 they started missing every pass and yesterday after taking a 10 pts lead they couldn't make a play anymore and were taking bad shots. Those are defining moments and the reason why it's 1-2 and not 2-1 or better.

[Zagor]

First of all, Mark needs to do better. It's time for some changes. Cut the rotation, insert Kenny in starting five instead of Giddey. Bench should be Joe, Cason, Wiggins and Jaylin.

J-Dub needs to shoot from the mid range, right now he is trying too much to attack the rim. Dallas is prepared for that.
We can't win this without 20+ points from J-Dub.

One thing I don't understand. Dallas plays with Gafford/Lively and with DJJ, they don't space the floor but somehow Mavericks are getting tons of good open shoots.
But we often play with 5 shooters and almost every shot is heavily contested.
Right now, our offense doesn't feel good, it's forced and our players are struggling to score.

In some way, this is on Presti to blame. There was need for stretch PF at trade deadline, or bigger wing.
He had assets for getting one experienced player who can help.