In the game last night, there were a lot of examples of the team not giving good effort. I know they had a game the night before and had to fly out to play Milwaukee afterward, I guess that is an excuse, but I don’t really want to excuse it. To my mind, there really isn’t an excuse for not giving your best effort.

I think Brooks can be a pretty good coach, but he’s been riding the anti-PJ wave all year. Guys played his way (or what we assume is his way) because they were just happy not to be playing for PJ. As the year has worn on, we’ve seen more and more completely lackluster efforts where the players just play like they feel, as opposed to how they should. I think the charming-guy-who-isn’t-PJ feeling has left now, and Brooks doesn’t have the authority to instill anything else.

And yes, Westbrook’s defense is overrated. I would like to say that it has to do with him trying to defend NBA players like college players (which doesn’t work), something he’ll figure out after an offseason in the film room, so I will. I don’t know why people are jumping on the Green-defense wagon here in the first place. He generally plays a solid all-around game, but the reason most of us use the term “tweener” negatively with Green is because he’s been too small/soft to guard decent bigs all year. Durant’s defense is underrated because pundits have him playing D as bad as AI. He has some pretty terrible games, but in his case inconsistency with flashes of putting it all together is better than consistently sub-par outings from certain other players.

Lady Gee :LMAO…at Green and Westbrook being taken to task for their defense when Durant doesn’t attempt to play any D at all. You people are funny.

That’s one the worst B.S. I have seen… I would suggest, watch the game yourself before making comment like that.
Like Kev said KD’s defense is mediocre but at least he show up and he has been trying. Also he is much better than people gave him credit to. Better than Westbrook and Green. I actually think Westbrook got too much credit based on his PAC10 defensive player of the year. He is not that good in NBA level. Also, many of time KD actually left his opponent to cover his teammates…
I watched the Bobcat game too… If that’s not the worst than it is one of the worst games I have seen. There was no pride of a team at all, and the coach gave up on his players after the first half IMO. They had been behind for more than that before, but they fought through it. However, this game the coach decided to give up the game. That’s not a good idea for a young team, because they will think that “LOSING IS OK!” and become an habbit.
I like the Thunder because they used to and had to fight for everything and every game even they lost alot. However,I’ve seen the team is in a mood of giving up and no more fire lately… They are giving up on themselves for the team’s draf position, or they are giving up on the head coach? They are kind of playing the way they played before OKC Thunder fird PJ.
For me, Scotts shouldn’t be the head coach next year if they want to be a real good team next year and the years to come. He doesn’t have the ability to bring his team up and no direction at all.

I don’t need your spreadsheet, I know what I see from him defensively watching the games.

Durant is NOT a better defender than Westbrook and Green, you’re bugging. KD’s defense is brutal.

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Thabo is my favorite player, but he needs to seriously work on his shot in the offseason to hang on to the starter’s job. It’s on him. He’s a great defender, but he has to be able to hit that open shot when he is the recipient of a kick out. Right now, you can tell he doesn’t want to shoot it, and often he will pass it or force a drive inside.

The defensive effort could come next season when he is more comfortable with his knee. Having watched him in his Clippers days, he was always a player who wanted to play the right way, which also meant delivering on both ends.

How is Thabos offense and future with the club? I followed that guy since he entered the league, and I really like his game. I wish he could land a steady starter gig somewhere (now that he finally got out of Chicagos dead-lock).