Brent

And please let’s stick with Russel. He’s got areas to improve on but I love how he’s about the best scoring and rebpunding pg.

The other advantage it has is that because Cook is out there, Dallas will try to exploit him defensively, sometimes. This is great for us because anytime they are running plays for Shawn Marion is a time that they aren’t running a play for Nowitzki.

I am blaming Brooks, he’s got to make a temporary lineup change that gets Perkins out of the rotation and limits Sefolosha’s time, too. We spread the floor, get Chandler out of the lane and dominate with our speed and athleticism. By playing Perk and Sefolosha (to a lesser extent), we allow them to hide the age and lack of speed on the wings.

Check out the +/- of the Thunder players during this postseason.
http://on.nba.com/jYg0YA

The first comment that I made after the trade is here:
http://bit.ly/i9HwyH

“It is going to be an interesting trade but if our starting lineup is Durant, Westbrook, Perkins, Ibaka and Sefolosha then we are going to have trouble scoring against good defenses. We saw it tonight. If a team has a rim protecting center, then Westbrook becomes a lot less valuable because he lost two of his shooters that he could dish to.”

After the Perkins trade, Westbrook saw a sharp decrease in assists(-0.7), freethrow attempts (-1.0) and rebounds (-0.9) while showing an increase in 3pt attempts (+0.4).
Don’t forget, the Thunder played a very easy schedule after the trade, too, but his production still got worse. This decrease in productivity, as I predicted, is because it is more difficult for Westbrook to get in the lane now.

Does this mean that the trade was bad? No, we are better now, as a team, for sure.
I’m just saying that Westbrook looks worse now than he did with Krstic out there, despite being the same player.

I should have looked more to a positive example, such as the mindset the Lakers seem to have. Even though they are entering as the 2nd seed and have stumbled lately, they still possess an unshakable confidence that they can beat any other team whether they are at home or on the road. So please accept this as an official correction. I should have said that the great sports teams thrive in these moments of greatest struggle, and have no room in their minds for even a shadow of doubt or fear. I feel that tinkering with a team’s record at any point diminishes this kind of confidence.

Anyone see the Lakers-Spurs game?? Anyone think that the Spurs want to play the Lakers in the second round after that? Anyone think that Popovich knows a thing or two about basketball? Duncan, Parker and Ginobili combined for ZERO, I repeat, ZERO minutes. The Spurs, risking losing home court in the finals against the Bulls still chose to guarantee that they don’t meet the Lakers in the second round.

Finally, to prove that your perspective is completely hypocritical…Why do teams shorten their rotation in the playoffs? Clealy, it’s because the shorter rotation gives them a better chance to win the specific game at hand. So why play with a longer rotation in the regular season, when we agree that a shorter rotation will give you a better chance on this specific night? Because of the big picture. Clearly, you agree that you make in-game decisions that aren’t the best decision when it comes to winning the game at hand but rather it has to do with the bigger picture. Clearly, by not playing Westbrook 42 minutes last night, we had less chance of winning. Therefore, the number one factor in determining in game minutes is not winning the game at hand but rather what will allow us to win the most overall. It happens all the time in the NFL, no one complains about it. Benching our guys is the more correct decision in the big picture.

Hitler?? Are you kidding me? You are comparing the NBA playoff seeding to the holocaust?? I find that a little insulting.
And even sadder is how incorrect your analogy is. The US DID wait to enter WWII. At the time the US had an isolationist policy,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_non-interventionism#Isolationism_Between_the_Two_World_Wars

We didn’t join the war because we were the first ones in, we joined because of Pearl Harbor.

Guys, throw out March, we played 4 games against teams with winning records. We were going to win those games before the trade or after. Stats were going to be predictably inflated so when you say we have been trending offensively the same as before or slightly better, that’s not a good sign. Clearly, against good defensive teams, Westbrook doesn’t have nearly the operating room that he had before. You can comfort yourself with some meaningless stats but the plain truth is that our offense isn’t as good.

The good news is that our defense and toughness has DRAMATICALLY improved! Our offense is slightly worse but our D is smothering. IMHO, the Thunder are at the very least, in the top 5 in the league.

As for Perkins, I think he needs to tone it down. He claims that if he pushes a guy and doesn’t get pushed back, he’s won; I think that’s ridiculous. Tough does not equal smart. There are times where you have to stand up for yourself, and I’m glad there is someone besides KD to stand up against the fake tough guys of the league. Keep pushing players around but don’t mouth off to the refs. They’re not going to be intimidated. He also needs to work on his shot! We got a shot clock violation against the Nuggets because he missed on a wide open look from the top of the key. Any pro should be able to get rim from there.

Maybe I’ll publish some of these thoughts in an editorial. And I agree about the playoff seed, we win every game we can because “You play to win the game.” We’ll win because we’re winners, and that’s the bottom line.

The other added benefit of tanking is avoiding the Lakers in the 2nd round. Again, don’t care about records, the Lakers are the better team.

I hate to say it but I think the Mavs are trying to get the 4 seed. They are losing every game and we can’t let them take it from us. Let’s lose the rest on purpose.