Grades: Shorthanded Thunder fail to beat the lowly Brooklyn Nets

OKC Thunder Best Reserve

Hopefully you understand the level of sarcasm with this grade. In a normal game Raymond Felton would earn this award, but when Kyle Singler comes into a game and looks like a legitimate, semi-competent basketball player then he runs away with it. Singler was aggressive as soon as he got in the game, even attempting to poster three Nets players at once. He failed miserably, but the lack of inhibitions is something we haven’t seen from Kyle in quite some time. I should make this very clear though: there was no reason for Josh Huestis to receive a DNP, nor should Singler have gotten any playing time in the fourth quarter. But I digress.

(His true grade is a B)

Thursday night showed Thunder fans what a well-coached team looks like. Brooklyn had no business being on the same court as OKC based on talent, but because of their offensive system/true team play they were able to pull out a victory. Billy Donovan should take some notes – when starting guard Spencer Dinwiddie struggled he opted to play Caris Levert more minutes. Atkinson actually yelled at his players at points in order to light a fire under them. I haven;t seen Billy D do that all season.

More from Thunderous Intentions

• Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

It’s very telling how the Nets, a team with no hope for this season, has bought into Atkinson while the Thunder, a team with huge expectations, haven’t bought into Billy D whatsoever.

Final Thoughts

We’ll keep this short and sweet.

• Billy Donovan is one more garbage performance away from being fired. This team has lost to the Mavericks, Magic, Nets and Kings within the first 24 games. Any sign of progress gets negated by a game like this – if he can’t keep this team engaged he’s got to go soon.
• I’m at a loss right now. Every quote from this team contradicts what happens on the court. Nobody plays for each other, nobody plays with 100% effort for 100% of the game, nobody holds each other accountable.
• Remember when I said the Thunder finally had reason to be optimistic? That’s gone.

Hopefully something changes before Saturday’s contest against the Memphis Grizzlies. If not I’ll be stuck writing the same thing only with different statistics.