The Official Oklahoma City Thunder (sucks) Thread

OK, so the OKC Thunder REALLY sucks. 1-7 so far in this young season, and it seems like they're only getting worse.

Hopefully, they can grow and improve some over this season, but if a team ever needed a real Point-Guard, the Thunder is it. Westbrook just doesn't have the experience, or skill-set to do it properly.

It'll be a long season it appears, but thankfully, the community is behind the team, and is just looking for a reason to cheer them on.

Best case scenario, is that we get an awesome draft pick for next year, and ownership figures out that PJ Carlesimo is a hack, and hires a different coach.

It's going to be a little rough before Westbrook can start and go 40 minutes a night, NTL...and even at that point Collison and Wilcox are nothing but inside roll players. Jeff Green is a decent three, but they definitely need a big man. Hopefully, there will be a big man in the draft for them next year, and they don't get completely screwed by the lottery.

Westbrook and Durant are for real, they just need a big man so Green's stats aren't so glaring.

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Originally Posted by MissouriBronc

It's going to be a little rough before Westbrook can start and go 40 minutes a night, NTL...and even at that point Collison and Wilcox are nothing but inside roll players. Jeff Green is a decent three, but they definitely need a big man. Hopefully, there will be a big man in the draft for them next year, and they don't get completely screwed by the lottery.

Westbrook and Durant are for real, they just need a big man so Green's stats aren't so glaring.

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Watching Westbrook, I'm wondering if he'll ever really develop into a top-notch PG. I think he can be a capable PG, but I don't know about top-notch.

We definitely need an inside presence. Petro likes to play more away from the bucket, instead of being that big back-to-the-basket kind of guy. Maybe Smith will develop into that presence for the Thunder, but he has spent more time on the bench with injuries than he's played in his short career.

I guess it will be fun to watch the build pretty much from the ground up.

Westbrook can be a top notch DEFENSIVE PG. He has the skills to be a very good perimeter defender. Unfortunately, I don't ever see him being able to be a threat on the offensive end. I think Westbrook should try and be a Rajon Rondo type player. Rondo IMO is a very valuable PG, simply because he so good defensively.

I think Jeff Green will become a good SF/PF. It depends on where they want to play him. I think it's a matter of time before he develops into a very good player.

As for their big men, what do I say? :tsk:

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Originally Posted by NightTrainLayne

OK, so the OKC Thunder REALLY sucks. 1-7 so far in this young season, and it seems like they're only getting worse.

Hopefully, they can grow and improve some over this season, but if a team ever needed a real Point-Guard, the Thunder is it. Westbrook just doesn't have the experience, or skill-set to do it properly.

It'll be a long season it appears, but thankfully, the community is behind the team, and is just looking for a reason to cheer them on.

Best case scenario, is that we get an awesome draft pick for next year, and ownership figures out that PJ Carlesimo is a hack, and hires a different coach.

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If they didn't suck, they'd probably still be in Seattle.

Well, I thought it was just a matter of time, but P.J. Carlesimo is out just a few weeks into this young season. . .They can't play any worse. The only direction to go is up.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/s...=ESPNHeadlines

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The Oklahoma City Thunder, off to a league-worst 1-12 start in their new home town, have fired coach P.J. Carlesimo.



Assistant coach Scott Brooks has been named interim coach.


The Thunder dropped their 10th straight game on Friday night, a 105-80 home loss to the New Orleans Hornets. Sources told ESPN.com that Carlesimo was fired before the team boarded a flight to New Orleans for Saturday's game against the Hornets.


Brooks was told of his promotion after the flight took off. Carlesimo did not make the trip.


"This was a very difficult decision to make," team executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti said in a prepared statement announcing the move. "It is one that I felt was necessary at this time. I am very appreciative of the hard work and effort that P.J. gave to this team and we wish him the best in his future endeavors."

The team said it also relieved Paul Westhead of his duties as assistant coach. Definitely Not OK
The Thunder, who fired coach P.J. Carlesimo on Friday, rank at the bottom of the 30-team NBA by any number of measurements.

Category OKC NBA rank
Wins 1 Last
PPG 88.9 29th
PPG diff. -12.3 Last
FG pct. 40.4 Last
Turnovers PG 17 Last

Carlesimo accompanied the Thunder when they moved to Oklahoma City from Seattle before this season. He was 21-74 in 95 games as the team's coach.

There had been word in NBA coaching circles that Carlesimo was in trouble, despite low expectations, because the young Thunder had not been competitive. The sight of a double-digit lead turning into a 20-point loss to the struggling Clippers on Wednesday prompted Oklahoma City's famously loyal fans to briefly boo their new team, which never happened when the Hornets were in town for two seasons.


In eight seasons as an NBA coach with Portland, Golden State, Seattle and Oklahoma City, Carlesimo has a career record of 204-296 in 500 regular-season games.



Brooks played on the Houston Rockets' 1994 NBA championship team during his 11-year career. He bounced around with seven teams before becoming a Denver Nuggets assistant in 2003. Brooks also worked for the Sacramento Kings before coming to Seattle last season on Carlesimo's staff.

This marks the second time Carlesimo has been fired early in a season. He took the Trail Blazers to three straight playoff appearances in the 1990s before moving to Golden State. His time there was marked by the Latrell Sprewell choking episode during his first season with the team. He was fired after a 6-21 start in 2000, his third season.

He got another chance after serving as an assistant on three NBA championship teams with the San Antonio Spurs, whom Thunder owner Clay Bennett once represented on the Board of Governors.

In Oklahoma City, this was expected to be another season of rebuilding around Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant and fellow All-Rookie Team selection Jeff Green. Veterans Desmond Mason and Joe Smith were brought in to provide leadership, and salary flexibility following this season, and the team added No. 4 overall pick Russell Westbrook as another potential building block.

But the result was an even slower start than last season, when the SuperSonics lost their first eight games before winning two straight. That season, which featured all the wrangling about a potential move to Oklahoma City, ended with a franchise-worst 20 wins.


ESPN.com senior writer Chris Sheridan covers the NBA. ESPN.com senior NBA writer Marc Stein and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Maybe Robert Swift can be the answer in the middle? :whoknows:

http://www.yardbarker.com/m/1799/xl/Robert_Swift_2.jpg

Seriously though, I think the Thunder have some good pieces to build around. Durant is still only 20 years old, Green looks like he will be a player, and I think Westbrook will be a good PG...although I don't ever see him being on the level of Paul, Williams, Rose, etc. You are right that they need to find a legit big man, because their scrub rotation of Collison, Petro, and Wilcox isn't gonna get it done...and Joe Smith is old. The first step towards improvement is getting Earl Watson off the court...he should not be starting for anyone in this league.

The good thing for them though, is that they are the only professional team in OK so the fans won't be quick to abandon them. I suspect that once they start winning they will have a rabid fan base just like the Jazz, Packers, Bills, etc. have.

The thing that makes the Thunder suck so badly is their team name....the THUNDER?!?! are you serious? I still can't believe they named the team that.

Well with two games under new Head Coach Scott Brooks the Thunder are taking big steps in the right direction.

I was amazed at the effort, and the enthusiasm from the team in last nights game against the Suns. It was fun to watch, and I could see a marked improvement over the Carlesimo-coached team. . .it seemed like a completely different team. A big part of that is Brooks moved Durant back to SF from SG. Durant just isn't a Guard no matter how you try and slice it.

This team had the entire stadium up and standing for large portions of the game, and held a lead of 15-17 points for quite a while.

As young teams do, they let the lead slowly get gobbled up in the 4th quarter, and lost the game by a heart-breaking 1 point in the final 20 seconds.

However, the fans stood and cheered the team as they left the court. The players heads were down, but the entire Ford Center appreciated the effort, and the heart that they showed, and applauded them as though they had won the game.

The last 4-5 games under Carlessimo were just dreadful. . .it felt like watching a JV High school team at times. This team last night looked like it belonged in the NBA and played to their abilities. Some more experience and this one would have been a win. . .they'll learn to close out this type of game going forward.

Hey, the thunder are 4-4! Yippee! :D

They seem to have the team moving in the right direction. I'm not sure that we make the playoffs this season, but steady improvement is the way to go. Thabo Sefalosha is my new adopted Thunder player. Dude is amazing on the defensive end, and brings it every game.

Durant should lead the league in scoring...

I'm assuming that Kobe and Melo will come back to the pack a little during the meat of the season, because there are more proven scorers around them, and they will have the luxury of taking a few nights off here and there. Kevin Martin might not be able to, but I just think he'll come back to the pack, because he's just not the elite scorer that Durant, Kobe, Melo, Wade, Bosh and LeBron are. Whereas, Durant HAS to score. He has to score a bunch, and he's wholly capable of it, too.

Before the season started I was worried because the Thunder's schedule front-loaded a ton of road games in the first half of the season. . .but so far they're 4-2 on the road, against some pretty good teams, beating San Antonio in SA, and they put a whipping on Miami last night.

OKC looks solid this year, NTL. I like their team a lot and I really like KD...he doesn't seem like a douche like most NBA stars. I've been rooting for them casually since they moved to OKC since I have ties there and am glad to see them doing well. I even bought an Thunder t-shirt while I was in Norman.

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Originally Posted by honz

OKC looks solid this year, NTL. I like their team a lot and I really like KD...he doesn't seem like a douche like most NBA stars. I've been rooting for them casually since they moved to OKC since I have ties there and am glad to see them doing well. I even bought an Thunder t-shirt while I was in Norman.

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There's really not anyone on the team that I dislike. KD is great, and a lot of fun to watch. They got their asses kicked tonight, but their still young. If they can play .500 ball this year and improve consistently, then next season we'll have a team that can make some noise.

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Originally Posted by NightTrainLayne

There's really not anyone on the team that I dislike. KD is great, and a lot of fun to watch. They got their asses kicked tonight, but their still young. If they can play .500 ball this year and improve consistently, then next season we'll have a team that can make some noise.

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Congrats on your team NTL - they are doing well this year. Is their coach still the coach who was an assistant coach with the Nuggets? I can't remember his name.