Thunder Bounce Back to Winning Ways Against the 76ers, 89-74

if you want to count the over time loss to the mavs feel free. 4-1. You can not count the first game on NO practices…and even then it was the Lakers. i would not count his first or second game ever with the team on essentially no practices but that was still a very respectable showing. Proving it was no fluke they trounced the mavs a couple nights later.

Thabo Sefolosha is a (slighlty) poor man’s scottie pippen in the making if I’ve ever seen one…which puts him just above the doug christie level as a player if I’ve ever seen one. And I think its kinda cool for your franchise that Krause stole Pippen from you in a draft day deal for Polynice and now you guys totally ripped off Paxson by only giving up a lower first round draft pick to acquire a pippen clone. its no surprise to me that the Bulls began to really advice in the playoffs once Pippen and Grant arrived. I see similar climb in the standing and eventual playoff rounds for you guys. I am becoming a huge fan of this team because Thabo has been my favorite player for the last 3 years.

His only problem is he can shell up and get tentative and lose his confidence in almost a heart beat. What usually causes it is lack of touches is that he’s not selfish…to a fault he doesn’t need shots…but he needs touches. He loves to dish the ball for easy baskets (if your guys will cut to the hoop he will find them more than anyone on your team), rebound, pass. he gets after it on defense and is a first team defender in the making easily if he get 35 mpg (somehting I’ve been calling for as a Bulls fan for 2 years). And that’s something he needs to work on. and working on his set outside shot will almost solve all his confidence issues cuz if he gets kicked the ball on the wing and is wide open and can make that shot like Raja Bell can now like christie could do in his prime he will become “the force” John Paxson also predict he will become.

And when you bring durant back, your coach will need to temper his little butt down and teach him to play with Thabo as well as Westbrook who have gone 4-2 together overall…while durant could manage only 13 wins all season long with his 27 ppg and 42% 3 pt shooting.

 there is a whole lot more to basketball than scoring. I only hope for the sake of your franchise that Durant and your coaches can keep Westbrook and Thabo as dialed in to the game when durant returns Cuz thabo will take a complete back seat and almost turn into a ghost of the palyer you see right now if his teamates “freeze” him out as Gordon, Nocioni and especially Hinrich often did to thabo. And the reason was obvious. Thabo can do more than they can do. thabo is abetter than those guys. If you replaced Thabo on your team over the last 6 games with any of those players you would be 0-6 or maybe 1-5.

Thabo is one of the guys in the NBA that can win a game for you while only scoring 12-15 points.

Sam Presti is a genius fopr taking a flyer on him and most importantly your coach is too for playing Thabo 35-40 mpg.

Its even more amazing he is playing on an MCL sprain right now. He played through a severe groin pull last year. I would prefer he sat for a week or 2 but he wants to prove he belongs in this league. That’s the kind of player he is. Plays through pain and injury. You guys are soooooooo lucky to have. I wish he was still a Bull and Hinrich and deng would have been traded and Gorodn walks this summer. salmons, Rose, adn Thabo would have been good for us but not even close to the thunders future of Westbrook, Thabo, adn Durant. You guys should have kept Chandler and you prolly would have won 45-50 games next year.

But even without chandler, i always liked kristic and Collison. But neither are bangers.

before the trade deadline, youj guys were way under the cap…not sure how much youj are under the cap right now but if you have 10 million, throw every penny at paul milsap adn you guy will be the western conference powerhouse for the next decade, better than the blazers.

Speaking of the blazers, you guys should try to pry Pryzbilla (6 million) from them and defensively you will be the best team in the league…especially if durant ever learns to put forth as much effort on D and he does on O.

Wow! you guys are soooo set. I am going to check shamsports and see how much cap space you will have.

I’m a Thunder’s fan now because I’m a fan of Thabo. I have said repeatedly (since Thabo’s rookie yr) Thabo is a Pippen-like player.

I agree with most of things you said, except the part of that you accused Hinrich “freeze” Thabo. Ben Gordon is the one that "freeze" Thabo because he and Thabo play the same position and he was afraid of Thabo replaced him since Thabo is much better than him. In fact, Hinrich is the only one that passed the ball to Thabo. Playing next to the defenseless and very selfish BG for several years, Hinrich has to always exert so much energy on the defensive end to guard the opposing best offensive guards (often they are taller/stronger SGs), which has killed his offensive game and severely hindered his PG skill development.

Hinrich (PG) longs to play next to a tall SG like Thabo who can guard his man. Last year when Hinrich got to play next to Thabo during a brief period (due to injuring to BG), Hinrich and Thabo played well together. Hinrich did as much as he could to help Thabo and he even publicly praised Thabo by saying he played better when Thabo is his backcourtmate (which is not something Hinrich would normally say).

It’s the Bulls stupidest former and current coaches (Skiles and Vinny) and Gordon that kept Thabo on the bench and has hindered his development. I don’t know where you came up the idea – "especially" Hinrich "freeze" Thabo… It’s another way around – Hinrich "especially" like to have Thabo as his backcourtmate. Somehow we watched different Bulls games. I’m a big Thabo fan like you; I was probably the first person wrote the Bulls should start Thabo at the SG position (since his rookie year) if they have any chance to reach the next level. Bashing Hinrich for the things that is not his fault is unsounded. Anyway, this is the only time I’m commenting on this issue since I’m very busy; I’m just so sick of seeing some of Bulls fans blaming Hinrich for every Bulls problems. I couldn’t wait for Hinrich getting traded, he would be appreciated a lot of more by the fans of whichever team he would be traded to, just like Thabo.

One thing you are absolutely right, Thabo needs the "touches". When Durant comes back, the coach should still get Thabo involved in the offense in order to win consistently. Since Durant likes to hog the ball, it’s possible that Thabo gets ignored on the offensive end, which will not help your team win. That’s what happened with the Bulls; Gordon likes to hog the ball and Thabo is so unselfish and he got ignored (often BG took 20+ shots, while Thabo often got taking only 2-3 shots) and the Bulls coaches treated Thabo like he’s a one-dimensional defensive player; that’s why they are a mediocre team and will not get to the next level for years to come.