[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 Westbrook had a legendary season and just getting the thunder to the playoffs was a huge accomplishment in itself. However, just relying on Westbrook to do everything is clearly not a formula for sustained success. Westbrook will not be able to continue to shoulder such an enormous load as he ages and this is a roster in dire need of some major upgrades if they want to truly contend.

So where does okc go from here? Blake Griffin is an obvious name out there if he opts for free agency. Do you go all in attempting to land him? He is from Oklahoma and may be intrigued by the idea of playing with Westbrook. Paul Millsap and Gordon Hayward could be other options in free agency. Jimmy butler, Paul George and even Carmelo could be available via trade but all would come with risks and none would be cheap. 

If your okc do you go all out this summer to try to acquire another star to put next to Westbrook or do you take the cheaper option and just look for role players to put around Westbrook and hope that will be enough?

 

 

 

 

[BasterdInABasketParticipant]

 Does any star free agent actually WANT to play with RW? KD didn’t and watching him this year it’s easy to see why. Their offense is rather embarrassing and predictable.

4 of the top 5 options for their offense are RW shooting the ball. Getting someone else involved either means him getting them the ball for a quick easy look or else it’s panic and try to force it back to him. It’s not like they are devoid of talent and as "legendary" as his season has been has anybody else’s games elevated playing around him?? 

I don’t and I don’t think anyone does question his toughness and effort (except on d) and they do need another playmaker but it’s ugly basketball to watch when playoff intensity ramps up and teams start playing D. Where do they go from here? Hopefully for them getting a solid playmaker alongside him and  installing A system where you don’t rely on one guy to beat 5 and not hold him accountable for bad threes, turnovers and no defense.

I probably sound like a big RW hater but that was some UGLY fourth quarter basketball to watch all series.

 

 

[SpartanGloryParticipant]

 Agreed. My all time favorite player is AI who obviously was as ball dominant as they come, but watching Westbrook play is just confusing. It’s literally 2 plays of "oh my god he just did that" followed by 3 plays of "wtf are you doing??" I can’t honestly say that RW is someone I’d love to play with if I were a free agent.

[SubZeroParticipant]

As a Thunder fan I honestly don’t know what’s best for us to do from here, but it’s amazing to see people criticize the team and talk about this and that, when we had just lost the 2nd best player in the world. Going into the season, Sam Presti expected to have KD and Horford with Oladipo coming off the bench. If a couple decisions were made differently (which were out of the Thunder’s control), we’d be the Finals favorite for sure. Most teams bottom out after that kind of loss, a 6 seed was probably the ceiling for this team. Russ just had one of the best seasons ever, and people still expect more. Just shows how great he is, to have raised all these people’s expectations like this. We were one of the youngest teams in the league, so hopefully guys like Oladipo and Adams can keep developing and take the next step

That said, I know all of Russ’s shortcomings, and I know the 4th quarter was awful this series. I watched every second. Throughout the season, we were always a killer first half team (we were neck and neck with Golden State in all 4 games at halftime), then blew up in the 2nd half. I don’t know what the deal is, but hopefully Presti and Donovan have the answers

[Russell0WestbrookParticipant]

 Im a huge thunder fan and you’re right they were neck and neck with most of the elite teams during the first half and the biggest issue is Billy Donovan doesn’t make many adjustments he just prays Westbrook will somehow will Thisbe team to wins. Never adjusts his lineups and they have no identity on either end of the court.

This guy either isn’t any better than Brooks as a coach or someone’s upstairs is telling them who to play and how to play because it’s ridiculous how easy this team has been to defend with KD and without him. I’m now understanding why he left a group of guys he truly loved

 

[SubZeroParticipant]

Yeah, this is how all those games went.

First quarter, the ball moves around, Roberson makes cuts and finishes at the rim, Taj makes a couple midrange shots and layups, Adams gets a couple, Oladipo makes a few nice plays

Second quarter, bench screws everything up, Russ comes back in playing with Dougie and Abrines and they fix things

Third quarter, guys start missing shots and playing bad D. Bench comes in at the end and gives up 20 points in 2 minutes

Fourth quarter, Russ realizes he can’t trust anyone and tries to do way too much. Sometimes it works (Denver, Orlando), sometimes it doesn’t (Houston series)

[Russell0WestbrookParticipant]

 You acquire players that can shoot and play defense. Billy Donovan has to do a better job of bringing in some sort of system and start utilizing his players better and not just give Westbrook the ball and hope he single handedly wins games. DO NOT resign Roberson under any circumstance. I don’t understand how you can play this guy so much because he hustles on defense but gives the team nothing on offense and he shoots freethrows worse than Shaq from the wing position. 

[jerb2011Participant]

 Put Russ on a team like Houston, with legit shooters to dish to everytime he drives hard to the rim in PnR play with the bigs, everything changes. The paint opens up more for Taj, Steven, Enes, and Russ. Also they have the outside scoring to keep up with a Houston or Golden State. They don’t need a big name superstar, just scorers. Otto Porter (probably not), Wilson Chandler, Bogdanovic would be nice, Danilo possibly. I’d bring back Ersan too as a stretch 4. 

Let Nick Collison walk (retire)

Let Roberson walk if he wants too much (Huestis is ready)

Enes has to be moved for cap room

Try to give Kyle Singler away

 Sign Kelly Olynyk, and a back up PG like Sergio Rodrigu

Maybe bring back Taj for the right price

 

 

 

 

[SmooveKRYPTParticipant]

They’re capped out unless they find a taker for Kanter’s contract. Even if they move him, they’re nowhere close to having a max slot, so Blake Griffin isn’t going to be an option. I’m not sure why they didn’t shelf Oladipo’s extension until after the season…giving a guy $21 mil a year before he’s ever played a game for you is pretty bold. They now probably realize he’s not a great fit next to their star and he’s probably not effective enough to warrant a contract that big.

[Sewok15Participant]

 Get some shooters to put around Russ. If you can’t get a top notch shooter like Reddick go for someone like CJ Miles…Luke Babbitt or Omri Casspi could fit well with this team as too. 

I doubt they can land a star free agent one because it is OKC and two because Russ is so ball dominant. 

 

[HitsterParticipant]

If the Thunder couldn’t win with KD and Russ, then I cannot see how they can get over the line with the current line up. Adams and Oladipo may have upside, Gibson was a good trade and gives them the veteran enforcer on court as Nick Collinson doesn’t play much these days.

But with Adams, Oladipo’s new contracts kicking in they are stuffed cap wise especially if they want to retain Taj. The team isn’t near enough winning to attract a veteran title chaser or two so unless they could land a veteran who already has a title, I cannot see a way to get Russ the help he needs.

I’d argue that the Thunder has a good a rotation and certainly more depth than Houston who beat them 4-1 but Houston has enviable veteran bench quality who Thunder don’t have.

The Thunder moved Ersan for a cap dump earlier this season and his performances for Philly and Hawks since certainly merited keeping him.

With them owing protected first rounders in 2018 and 2020, they don’t have flexibility to try and trade for a proven guy in exchange for Kanter and picks.

So I wonder if we are back at where we were when KD moved on and they perhaps start looking to see what offers they could get for Russell and even asking him if he does want to move on, who his preferred destinations might be. Russ would command a big trade bounty, he could get to team of choice get mega deal with them and Thunder get a nice package back.

Harden they didn’t really get value for, KD walked for nothing, so I don’t see them wanting to risk Russ doing likewise.

[vulture711Participant]

 About Ilysova.  All the comments above about needing someone who can shoot and play D – and he does both those well…..and was shipped out for a non-shooter in Grant.  Reminds me of the 76ers years ago who sent Korver away for a bag of peanuts then spent 10 years complaining they need a shooter

[SubZeroParticipant]

To be fair, it took the best 3 point shooting playoff game of all time for us to lose to Golden State last year. And the years before we looked like the favorites a couple times until injuries derailed our season. So when people say we couldn’t win with Russ and KD, that’s not true. We just had insanely bad luck, and I think (barring anymore bad luck) this year would’ve been the year

[MatosParticipant]

 Is it worth it to try playing Russ at the 2 and maybe finding a point guard who can shoot and lockdown on defense? Switching Harden to the point position seemed like a weird idea at first but dude blossomed. 

[Author]

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