Sounds of Thunder: Oklahoma City Thunder, Stop the Madness, Free Anthony Morrow!

The Oklahoma City Thunder convincingly beat a San Antonio Spurs team that sat five of its regular rotation players by 17 points and Anthony Morrow never broke a sweat. WHY? Because other than shootaround, you would not know he was on the roster because he never got in the game!

That's right, I'm back on the rail!

"FREE ANTHONY MORROW!! FREE ANTHONY MORROW!! FREE ANTHONY MORROW!!"

After seven minutes, the Thunder led the Spurs by five and Billy Donovan went to his bench, but rather than bringing in Morrow, Donovan opted for Kyle Singler instead. After missing the Thunder's three previous games with a sore back, games in which the Thunder bench outscored their counterparts 137 to 98, Singler's 3:59 on the floor produced a seven-point swing and killed the Thunder's lead and momentum. Then for the cherry on top, Donovan brought Singler back in during mop up time so he could drop another 2 points on the plus/minus chart.

I have been one of Billy Donovan's most ardent supporters, but this is getting ridiculous. In a recent article at NewOK.com, Erik Horne's headline reads, "Thunder: Has Kyle Singler's injury put him outside of the OKC rotation?" to which Donovan responds:

"It's not gonna be that big of a challenge to keep him in the rotation or get him minutes. Because of his flexibility, it gives us some different options that I feel like he'll be able to contribute in a lot of different ways."

Contribute to what? Blowing leads and torpedoing the bench rotation?

Here is a clip of Singler on his road to recovery:

More movement from Kyle Singler today. Some 1-on-1 work with Anthony Grant. pic.twitter.com/NMCsQeyK1W

— Erik Horne (@ErikHorneOK) March 25, 2016

Looks pretty good against 50 year old Thunder assistant Anthony Grant but I will give Singler this; in his lone shot against the Spurs he did hit the backboard from 3 point range on a wide open shot.....

Royce Young from Daily Thunder said it short and sweet:

There's no doubt about it, Kyle Singler's introduction to the game killed OKC's rhythm.

Did he ever. Just like dumping sewer water on a charcoal grill... it will put the fire out, ruins the steaks, and stinks up the joint all at the same time.

From PopcornMachine.net game flow:

FYI, anytime the line on the flow chart is going away from the Thunder stat box... that's bad.

Morrow is almost the antithesis of Singler:

OKC Thunder vs Indiana Pacers, March 19th

Anytime the line on the flow chart is moving toward the Thunder stat box.... that's good.

OKC Thunder vs Houston Rockets, March 22nd

OKC Thunder vs Utah Jazz, March 24th

Singler is a momentum killer. The go-to guy when you want to shoot yourself in the foot.

OKC vs Boston Celtics, March 16th

See the flow chart in the fourth quarter when Singler was in the game? .....that's bad. See the chart after he leaves the game? ....that's good. It is the "Singler Effect" :

It takes hard work to finish with a -3 in the plus/minus column in a 21 point blowout. Randy Foye finished -6, but the time he spent on the floor during Singler's -12 fourth quarter helped a lot. Every time Singler entered the Celtic game the flow chart ebbs and in that final stanza the Thunder ship was sinking and heading toward yet another 4th quarter meltdown until Donovan finally pulled the plug on Singler with 4:04 remaining in the game.

Hey Coach, here's the best way for Singler to contribute... never take off the warm-up suit.

I just don't get it. I can't find any evidence to support Singler's inclusion in the rotation other than rebounding.

Advanced team stats from nba.com:

Singler has the worst net rating of any rotational player other than rookie Cameron Payne, his defensive rating is only 0.2 better than Morrow's, and his offensive rating is THE worst of any rotational player on the team. Singler's TS% is abysmal and history tells us that Morrow's will improve with regular minutes. Finally, the team turns the ball over 2 1/2 times more often when Singler is on the floor, 11.0, than when Morrow, 4.0, is getting minutes.

Oh man just now seeing this Thunder fan from last night: https://t.co/S4RePDFQGV

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) March 23, 2016

GOOD GRIEF! Even the fat, bald-headed, old guy in the front row handles the ball better than Kyle " The Momentum Killer" Singler  and that is a big reason why he finishes 21 and 17 point blow outs on the wrong side of the plus/minus break even line..... and brings the entire bench down with him.

STOP THE MADNESS!!

#FreeAnthonyMorrow

"NOW!!...  NOW!! ...NOW!! ...NOW!! ...NOW!!"