Donovan’s Dishes: Will the real Thunder please put your hand up

If you ever needed a week to sum up the OKC Thunder, last week would be a pretty good indicator.

What a week to be an Oklahoma City Thunder fan. The Golden State Warriors came to town and the Thunder taught them a basketball lesson. Unfortunately the great start to the week did not end well.

The Detroit Pistons were up next and this years surprise packet in the NBA did the deed against the Thunder, winning by a single point. Next up for the Thunder were the Dallas Mavericks. Oklahoma City looked like they were playing on empty, going down to one of the worst teams in the NBA by double digits.

As usual, we look at some of coach Billy Donovan’s quotes from the week. Erik Horne is an OKC Thunder beat writer who has his finger on the very lively Thunder pulse. He tweeted out this statement from Donovan after the Warriors game.

As usual, Donovan talked about the focus of the players but for once did not have to excuse the lack of focus. Against the Warriors, the team showed us what they are truly capable of. We saw glimpses of this against the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers but it has not been evident enough in other games.

It seems the big three of the OKC Thunder need to have a personal focus or something to prove for it all to click. Lets hope they can start having this laser focus in non-statement games. If they can this team will be short a contender to win it all in June.

Consistently inconsistent.

As the inconsistency of the OKC Thunder snuck back into their game, Donovan was asked how the “getting to know you process” was manifesting itself on the court. As Fred Katz, another Thunder beat writer stated, Donovan takes the heat on himself.

Katz took the time to count how many words Donovan used to answer this simple question. I have not double checked his math but what I will say is every time I read something Donovan says there is hope. I’ve been in Camp Donovan since he was hired – here’s why.

Donovan could blame the fact his players are all used to being the go to player on their teams and are not sharing the ball effectively. He could come out and explode in the media saying the results are not good enough.

Instead of doing that, Donovan is taking the heat for his players. He is allowing them to learn how to play together without taking flack from the media. This is invaluable as Carmelo Anthony would have negative feelings about his last management. If you want a player to re-sign at the end of the year, you want them comfortable. Yes, you want to win, but chemistry is the issue here, not talent.

Seriously, the contested two’s

Oklahoma City is a team who is not getting the right looks at the moment. Russell Westbrook is a great shooter from the elbow. Carmelo Anthony is one of the greatest mid-range shooters of his generation and Paul George is not far behind.

Of the starting five, this only leaves Andre Roberson and Steven Adams as paint scorers, which is where most fouls get called. Neither of these guys are terrific at the line. Yes Westbrook does drive but he is not getting the calls from the refs.

The problem with the mid-range jumpers is there are very few times where a foul will be called on the shot. This means the Thunder are not getting the easy shots from the line. If more fouls were being called, starters from the opposition would be taking a seat in foul trouble. The more foul trouble, the easier it is to score against a second unit.

More from Thunderous Intentions

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• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

Also, when a team is not in foul trouble they can defend harder at the rim. The easy points from close to the bucket are now a lot harder to come by. The harder you have to work at the start of games, the more difficult the end of games can become.

Running out of legs

The OKC Thunder played three games in four nights. This is tough for any team, especially with the heavy emotion from the first game against the Warriors. We should have seen a letdown coming.

This is true for pretty much any team. Remember when the Warriors were having their record season and were 24-0? They traveled to Milwaukee on their fourth game in fifth nights and were humbled by the Bucks.

Well the Thunder were up for the first night and the victory against Golden State was sweet. The problem is, the adrenaline push for this night drained away and was not there against Detroit. Against Dallas, there were four tired starters out of five. As per usual Westbrook had his batteries replaced and was still Westbrook.

Donovan decided to use Terrence Ferguson for longer periods than usual against the Mavericks. While the rookie responded well, he was not yet up to the task of guarding Harrison Barnes. Give him a season of conditioning, he will get there.

Donovan decided to use Ferguson to give some of his more experienced players a rest – he still is trialing rotations to see how they work in various situations. This tells me Donovan has complete faith in his players. It also says OKC Thunder management have given Donovan their complete support.

Next: Billy Donovan needs to gain control of his team

This is important as it appears Donovan is on his second “championship or bust” season in his third year as the OKC Thunder head coach. Donovan is coaching this team for the future as well as the present – you never know what might happen this summer.

Stay tuned next week for more Donovan’s Dishes.