- Jan 11, 2009
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When asked today on the local radio station "Why is P Jones not playing, is there something we should know?"
Dean Blevins responds: "He's a defensive liability"
Now this is what I don't understand, with the Thunder @ 100% , they've given up over 100pts to the worst teams, even with Ibaka in the lineup. The 3/4 times that OKC beat Spurs this year, Spurs still put up 100+pts even with Ibaka averaging 4blks per game.
When will we learn that, leaving an offensive player out of the lineup because he is a liability on defense is just something that you shouldn't do.
Thunder wins by outscoring their opponents, plain and simple. If you constantly say Russ and KD need help offensively, this is why, the players that can score off the bench get no run because they are a liability on defense.
if you can't tell, IM A BIT SALTY TODAY, but I'm done complaining.
AND...Anyone that doesn't think the Thunder can still win in 5 games, ask the 2012 Playoffs when they swept the spurs 4 games after being down 2 games
Not defending the move at all but giving up 100 points isn't a barometer for anything. Literally only depends on pace. The fastest teams can play elite defense and still give up around 100. The slowest teams can play terrible defense and never give up over 95.
If you throw out someone who gets lost on defense, misses rotations, helps too much or not enough against the Spurs, the team is going to pick you apart. It's not about him guarding Leonard or Splitter straight up. It's about him not helping properly on Parker-Duncan PnRs or getting beat on back cuts or getting flustered by SA's constant screening and motion. The real issue is that PJ3 isn't a great offensive player either - so he doesn't really offset his inexperience defensively. This is big, big trouble against the Spurs. They pick apart liabilities better than any team in the league.
But I'm not completely disagreeing with you. This is exactly why you develop guys like Lamb/PJ3 during the season, so during the playoffs, you don't have to play guys like Fisher/Perk/etc. heavy minutes.