Kyle Thomas any coach with a system could. Billy Donovan has no system. He literally just sits there and does nothing. Can’t believe he hasn’t been fired yet
Billy has no spine. You need someone to yell at russ not be his bitch. yes russ playstyle was a problem from time to time no doubt. But lack of shooting and poor coaching were clearly BIGGER factors to anyone who is truly Playing attention. And id say watching about 75 games a year is paying attention. Russ has his problems no doubt, but if he was in a solid system with shooters, which is why I think the rockets will find a way to be really really good in the regular season next year. Playoffs we’ll see.
I didn’t mean that Donovan is 100% responsible, I’m just not sure how he manages to skirt most criticism. The chumps on ESPN talk about him like he’s a top 10 coach and I have no idea why.
Erik Lerström Westbrook is a player, his authority is UNDER the coach, he answers to the coach, is it a coincidence that Scott Brooks still isn’t successful whatsoever after OKC?
Billy Donovan should get more blame than he does. He's the one that continually enabled Westbrick's toxic playstyle and can't stand up to his own players. Case in point, not having the balls to bench Melo when he should have.
Matt S yeah, fans demanded a show? Coach and wb gives them. Everybody happy ticket sales high. Most of the times its the fans that created awkward situation for players and their teams... Especially in okc case.
You cant blane the coach for that. Superstar players have huge egos and they go beyond the coach. If Russ wanted Donovan gone hed be gone, so Donovan had to pander to Russ
That would be funny but LeBron would surely be a lot less productive at that point and really I don't want him to be playing until he's useless I want him to retire a king even if he's not the best in the nba
Bro I've been tryna tell these niggas Zion gonna do the exact same thing AD did to the Pelicans which will be in about 2025-2026, and in that timespan the Thunder are gonna have 15 1ST ROUND PICKS. You know they'll flip a lot of those for big time superstar players, and Zion will be the free agent signing that cements it. OKC 2026-27 NBA Champions
Love your content man, everything is always so well researched and well presented, you know how to have a sense of humor while still being concise and precise with your points. Been here since 40k, hope you get a mili one day
I think okc’s roster was not as talented as we think and built their roster like a early 2000 team based on defense and not on shooting and flexibility
@@yourboyjustin2065 we can't act like the thunder shouldn't have made at least the conference finals they realistically had the best chance of beating the warriors even though it really wouldn't have happened
Imo although the front office wasn’t the best(frankly they barely tried to get shooting for Westbrook), idk if Westbrook himself can be a championship PG. He’s insanely talented but lacks the decision making and overall basketball IQ to get to that level. I’m sure many have said these things before. But I don’t think Houston is gonna work out, and Westbrook’s career might basically be over after these last prime years. Truly saddening that he didn’t reach his true prime (not talent wise but with the whole IQ and Championship PG thing I mentioned).
2019 Westbrook and George 2018 Westbrook, George, Melo 2017 Westbrook, Oladipo Only won 40-something games each season. Never passed the 1st round. But 2010-2016, passed the 1st round every season except one when Durant was injured.
The thunder will actually be a decent team who will probably win 35-40 games Chris Paul SGA Roberson Gallo Adams Schroder T Ferg Noel That’s a good team tbh and have 50,000 1st rounders in the future and whoever else they get when they trade CP3 and probably Schroder and Adams
Im surprised you didn't point out coaching staff: Billy Donovan is for me the main reason of the poor shoot selection of Westbrook. I feel like he didn't have any really capable coaching (at least offensively) staff the time he was in OKC and that aggravated the already crazy playstyle he has. Guess we're going to find it out next season with a more capable offensive coach in MDA.
Sam Presti is essentially imperfect when it comes to obtaining and keeping talent on the team. Billy Donovan is just an inconsistent coach. Damian Lillard ended the OKC just to get swept by a KD-less Warriors...
good point on the outperforming your contract. Golden state had just about every player outperform their salary and Toronto had 3 guys outperform their salary. Kawhi might not have outperfomed his salary but he was worth it.
Son: I heard about this team called the thunder and they used to play in Ocklahoma, why aren’t they there anymore Dad: let me tell you about a man named Damian Lillerd
Pierre Lalanne not really. Most of the time lebron played with actual trash, so it’s not really the same comparison. Give Lebron KD and you’ve got championships on championships lol
I'm not a huge LeBron fan, but that is kind of an unfair assessment. LeBron has quite the track record of actually making most the role players around him better - and he is a much better facilitator than Westbrook (who is often inflating his assists with a hilarious "only I am allowed to make the final pass"-playstyle).
I said this back in 2015 or 2014 okc should've gave harden the money he asked for thus you would've had a championship team for years. Or at least get some decent players to put with westbrook when kd left but the owner didn't want to do that as he was real cheap.
MDJ-Westbrook and PG were good but Melo was bad on and off the court. Me- Wonders what would happen if those two were minimalized as a spot up shooter on a team with two more ball dominant players.
I think the thunder have a great chance at rebuilding quick they have a shot ton of first rounders and let’s not forget how they drafted three MVPs and an NBA champion so the drafting and development is there
The only coaching that affected Westbrook was playing for Coach K on that FIBA team. He was the most lethal off the bench sixth man you've ever seen (like Charles Barkley in international competition). Donovan and Brooks didn't relate any b-ball iq or maybe Westbrook wasn't receptive.
I love your videos and I watch everyone! Just one question, why you or anybody do not talk about coaching in OKC? They did not have a good coach in Brooks or Donovan, all they played was heroball basketball. Would Westbrook be a better player if he had a good coach? Please answer me I would love to hear your opinion!
I said it before, I’ll say it again - it all started to fall apart when they traded Harden. I’m not all that high on Harden, spectacular against scrub teams but very inefficient in playoff time. However, I believed back then that they should’ve traded Westbrook and slotted in Harden as the main ball handler. They would’ve got major pieces for Westbrook as he was seen as a star/superstar whereas Harden was still coming off the bench for them. I know it’s only hypothetical but I believe with Harden at PG/SG Durant doesn’t leave and if they got some serious defensive pieces for Westbrook they could’ve been championship challengers for years.
It's crazy to think that at some point in the past they had 3 future MVPs.. But to be fair, would those 3 players be the MVP in the future if they stay together in OKC?
Trash coaching doesn't help either. Scott Brooks and Billy Donovan were both "backseat spectators" to that whole fiasco. You need a Brad Stevens or Greg Pop to home control of a hardheaded squad
Mdj, you need to move russ playstyle to 3rd. The #1 reason is without a doubt shooting. The #2 reason is without a doubt horrible coaching. Then it’s russ playstyle.
Not firing Billy Donovan Not bringing in shooters/getting a good bench They had Norris Cole and Semaj Christon (or however you spell it) as the backup in year 1 then had Raymond Felton who’s ok but nothing special Trading for trash ass Melo when you need Doug McDermott and Kanter was a lot better and would of been more useful in that Utah series than Melo Injuries: Andre Roberson goes down and is basically out for 2 season and would of been extremely useful in the playoffs despite shooting troubles Paul George injured both shoulders last season Russ shooting troubles and bad iq also didn’t help
The 2017 thunder had a deep well rounded roster but the fans and media kept complaining about Westbrook's lack of help. Kanter, Oladipo, Sabonis, Taj Gibson, Steven Adams, and Roberson decent to good players. Harden's supporting cast was much worse and he carried them to a 3rd seed. If you replace westbrook with another star like KD, Kawhi, and Lillard and that team is a title contender. Westbrook does a poor job at utilizing his teammates and not maximizing their potential due to his stat padding style of play. He is more worried about fishing for assists than moving the ball around to get his teammates open.
Oladipo was not the player he is on the pacers compared to okc him getting traded said the move along with westbrook leadership is what inspired him to completely work on his game Adams and Gibson are solid on rebounding and defense but the okc team is a team that desperately needed shooters as they were the worse shooting team in the league harden supporting cast had a 6th man of the year in Eric gordon(who became finally healthy and not injury prone as before) and even got Lou will close to the deadline who was contending as 6th man of the year as well Ariza a solid 3&D player Ryan Anderson who at the time was a good stretch 4 A rising defensive center in capela and in the end a system with one of the best coaches in the nba Unlike okc this roster was filled with shooting and an actual coach in D’antoni who utilizes the offensive capabilities of his players like he’s usually done in the past while still having Patrick Beverly who’s a great defender for pgs and capable shooter so no the rockets did not have a worst roster than okc and in games when harden sat on the bench compared to okc the rockets still played solid enough to maintain their lead or catch up to their deficit unlike okc
