Thunder Summer League: a few thoughts

After watching all four of the Thunder's summer league "games" (and I use the word games loosely) I tried to come up with one word that would describe the style of play I was watching.  In the end, I had to settle on 2:  they suck.  Setting aside the one game that they won, the other three games were straight up blowouts.  I'll take a little deeper look at what's gone wrong so far below.

Honestly, I'm a little worried about how the Thunder are going to get back to the Western Conference Finals with this group coming off their bench.  Lamb is looking more and more like a chucker, a shooter who can’t shoot.  Adams is engaged but the Summer League isn’t a time for the big men to shine.  Defying this rule is Mitch McGary, who has looked at least like he belongs out there.  Even showed up with a double dip in the lone Thunder win so far.  Perry Jones has improved quite a few facets of his game, including his range and handle.  Most of all he just looks like he is a 2nd year player facing rookies and guys trying to get a shot (or another shot)  His ability as a supreme athlete was never in question.  

Without Reggie out there, the team that took the Summer League championship last year looks nothing of the sort this year.  Nolan Smith isn’t an NBA player.  Not even an NBA backup.  Semaj Christon is raw, and so far doesn’t really look much like a point guard.  He’s forcing things, calling his own number way too much, and generally looks out of control most times.  He’s got some talent and athletic ability, but he’s a few years and a lot of assists away from being a real NBA PG.  Roberson is a menace defensively, rebounds like a man possessed, but his shot looks like it's never going to go in.  Even his free throws are bad.  Huestis is a project in every sense of the word.  He’s a big, quick dude who is in the Roberson mold, and his shot doesn't look broken like Roberson’s, but he’s probably 3-4 years away from being a rotation regular (if ever, since again, Roberson is already on this team)

Collectively, they look terrible.  They resemble a bunch of guys who haven’t played together, ever.  Like those guys you pick up with on the playground to get some run in, and once you lose a quick game 11-4, you’re done.  They don’t have a real, good (or a real good) point guard to help get everyone into their sets and set the tempo and the tone.  Reggie did that here last year, and Russ even before him.  No one other than Perry and Lambo can get their own shot.  Players like Huestis, Roberson, and Adams may never be able to get their own shots.  And when Semaj and Nolan are calling their own number on dribble drives to the well guarded hoop, you get 4 other guys standing around basically doing nothing.  They may have good individual talent, but they surely are not together as a team at all.

I'll talk a little bit more about free agency, and the news today about Lebron going back to Cleveland in another article.  #ThunderNationRISE