Jeremy Lamb on ESPN

[UconnU]

You guys watching this? Looking good. Although I think he can work harder to get open...

 

[Horatio]

I

You guys watching this? Looking good. Although I think he can work harder to get open...

I watched the whole game and I agree with you. I think it's his first NBA start and his first game back. He , Jackson, Ibaka and Telfair will benefit from Durrant and Westbrooks absence. He looked good and hit a big three to tie.

 

[Rocktheworld]

7-9 from within 3. Very nice.

 

[Gurleyman]

7-9 from within 3. Very nice.

Plus he did it with Tony Allen on him for long stretches. That's a tough first game back to get Allen assigned to you.

There was a nice sequence at one point where Allen blocked his corner 3 out of bounds after recovering quickly. Next time Lamb got it in the same spot - maybe a minute later - he blew by him baseline and made a tough layup. Showed he wasn't afraid to keep attacking.

 

[BoatShow]

Fun game to watch. Lamb availed himself well but I share the sentiment he needs to work harder to get open, especially when he's a main scoring threat

 

[aceboon]

Fun game to watch. Lamb availed himself well but I share the sentiment he needs to work harder to get open, especially when he's a main scoring threat

When you see Lamb parked in the corners, its the offense. They did the same thing with Kevin Martin during his lone season with them. They involved him alot more early on and were doing pick and rolls with him just like Lamb got to do early last season, then it eventually became alot of ball watching as the season went on.

 

[superjohn]

It's just a bad situation in OKC, Scott Brooks is clueless and they aren't making the playoffs this year.

 

[aceboon]

Saying its a bad situation in OKC is nonsense, I wasn't a fan of the phasing out last year for Caron and their offense can leave a lot to be desired at times but too many young guys have flourished with OKC to call it a bad situation. If you got talent and you can play you'll be fine, Lamb just needs to continue to play well while Durant and Westrbook are out to earn his spot down the line. Things look bleak now but they've been right there in games with a shell of a squad, if they could just tread water when they get Jones, Roberson, and Morrow back they can position themselves to get a low seed by going on a tear once Durant and Westbrook back. Memphis did the same when Gasol and Conley missed time in the early going last year.

 

[superjohn]

Didn't mean it's a bad situation for Lamb I meant it's a bad situation overall in OKC. They consider themselves a title contender and their window has closed. They haven't done anything to improve the team as other teams are getting better and now with Durant and Westbrook out at least a month I just don't see them making the playoffs. In the West you need to win a minimum of 50 games and they are going to be way behind the eight ball. Scott Brooks has done this team a disservice by never cultivating other good pieces like Lamb, Jones etc. It's the same story with OKC every year, they depend solely on Durant and Westbrook and it's never good enough in the playoffs. I also expect Durant to leave when his free agency hits.

 

[tzznandrew]

Scott Brooks has done this team a disservice by never cultivating other good pieces like Lamb, Jones etc. It's the same story with OKC every year, they depend solely on Durant and Westbrook and it's never good enough in the playoffs.

This is the largely true, I think. He never runs any sort of offensive system that takes advantage of what appears to be some actual talent the two major stars have.

We'll see if Durant leaves...if he went to Washington (most likely destination), a team of Wall-Beal-Durant would be unreal.

 

[Tampahusky]

If a team has the 2nd and 3rd best players in the league not to mention a first team all defense big in Ibaka , you should be making the Finals every year. Their bench has a lot of really good pieces also in Reggie Jackson/Lamb. Scott Brooks is the problem here.

 

[aceboon]

If a team has the 2nd and 3rd best players in the league not to mention a first team all defense big in Ibaka , you should be making the Finals every year. Their bench has a lot of really good pieces also in Reggie Jackson/Lamb. Scott Brooks is the problem here.

OKC hasn't had 2 of those 3 components healthy the last 2 seasons...

 

[superjohn]

OKC hasn't had 2 of those 3 components healthy the last 2 seasons...

Great and they aren't healthy this year either, their window is closed.

 

[aceboon]

Great and they aren't healthy this year either, their window is closed.

...and that had absolutely nothing to do with the point, but the "hot take" is appreciated.

 

[Tampahusky]

OKC hasn't had 2 of those 3 components healthy the last 2 seasons...

Even with one of those guys healthy they should be better than what they are. Their offense is stagnant and there is no established go to guy down the stretch. The bench is underused also. He's going to get fired at the end of year.

 

[champs99and04]

If a team has the 2nd and 3rd best players in the league not to mention a first team all defense big in Ibaka , you should be making the Finals every year. Their bench has a lot of really good pieces also in Reggie Jackson/Lamb. Scott Brooks is the problem here.

San Antonio was a better team than Oklahoma City last year, even when they were healthy. I think you overstate their depth - they were virtually a three man team last season (I guess Jackson can count as half a player), and when you lose one of those guys, even for only two games, it can be devastating against a team like the Spurs. Granted, Brooks is at fault for not developing that depth throughout the season like Pop did, but that Spurs team last season was a freight train and I don't think they were losing regardless.

 

[superjohn]

It goes towards the point that Scotty Brooks stinks. It's the NBA, players are going to get hurt and you have to be more than a two man team. Other teams in the NBA are getting better, if anything the Thunder keep regressing.

 

[Tampahusky]

Scotty Brooks will not find another head coach job after the Thunder...guaranteed.

 

[aceboon]

Scotty Brooks will not find another head coach job after the Thunder...guaranteed.

Byron Scott has found 3 jobs after getting fired from the Nets and his performance has got worse after each stop. If he gets fired, and its not a guarantee he will since ya know, he's coaching without 2 top 10 players and also about 3-4 rotation players(just minor stuff on the boneyard), he'll get another job, the NBA and pro sports in general recycle head coaches on the regular.

 

[superjohn]

Byron Scott has found 3 jobs after getting getting fired from the Nets and his performance has got worse after each stop. If he gets fired, and its not a guarantee he will since ya know, he's coaching without 2 top 10 players and also about 3-4 rotation players(just minor stuff on the boneyard), he'll get another job, the NBA and pro sports in general recycle head coaches on the regular.

Curious, do you think Brooks is a good coach?

 

[tzznandrew]

Byron Scott has found 3 jobs after getting fired from the Nets and his performance has got worse after each stop. If he gets fired, and its not a guarantee he will since ya know, he's coaching without 2 top 10 players and also about 3-4 rotation players(just minor stuff on the boneyard), he'll get another job, the NBA and pro sports in general recycle head coaches on the regular.

He stinks as a coach. I think his main problem is that he's not a big-picture kind of guy. Think about the difference between him, and say Popovich. Pop rests his stars, plays them less, develops a system so that he has role players with confidence. Had the Thunder done that, they'd be in much better shape.

Also, if they weren't cheap, they'd have Westbrook-Durant-Harden-Ibaka. That team could win a title even with an injury.

But he will almost certainly get another job, largely because he's taken a team to the NBA Finals and nabbed a #1 seed here or there.

As for the Thunder's window: provided that Ibaka, Westbrook, and Durant are healthy, that window has some years left on it.

 

[aceboon]

Curious, do you think Brooks is a good coach?

Good defensively for the most part, but overall no, I don't think much of him as a coach, I stated that many times during the playoffs last year when Brook's inability to develop a rotation killed them during the playoffs. That is not the point tho, do you realize how many mediocre coaches have had multiple jobs? If Brooks does get canned, and its not a guarantee he will since he's had a shell of a team that could possibly bury them, he'll get another job.

 

[superjohn]

Good defensively for the most part, but overall no, I don't think much of him as a coach, I stated that many times during the playoffs last year when Brook's inability to develop a rotation killed them during the playoffs. That is not the point tho, do you realize how many mediocre coaches have had multiple jobs? If Brooks does get canned, and its not a guarantee he will since he's had a shell of a team that could possibly bury them, he'll get another job.

I would guarantee he gets another coaching job, the NBA just recycles coaches. People always used to bring up Bill Fitch when talking about how the NBA recycles coaches. He coached many different teams and had something like 1000 wins, the problem was he had more than 1000 losses.

 

[gtcam]

He had a really good game last night - he looks like he really belongs