The Thunder is over-playing a veteran over a more talented young player...Again

Sigh. What is it with you, Thunder?

First it was Derek Fisher playing more minutes than James Harden at times. Then it was more of the same with Caron Butler added to the mix, playing both Fish and Butler over guys like Jeremy Lamb and even Reggie Jackson from time to time.

And let's not forget that  this season, Mitch McGary has all but disappeared despite being better than Collison at this point in his career by just about every measure.

I can let that one slide, because Collison barely plays either. But what the Thunder is doing to Cameron Payne right now is criminal and could very well cost them a deep playoff run.

The Thunder, by all appearances, is headed to the postseason with Randy Foye as its backup point guard instead of Payne, who's had a very good rookie season.

Here's how Randy Foye has done over the last ten games as the Thunder' backup point guard. In each of these ten games, he played at least 14 minutes for a total of 195 minutes.

17 assists to 12 turnovers (not even good enough for a 2:1 ratio), 30 percent from three point range and 30 percent shooting overall.

To compare, I took a sample of the last ten games in which Payne played at least 14 minutes:

35 assists to 10 turnovers (better than a 3:1 ratio), 34 percent from three point range and 44 percent shooting overall.

Oh, and before you bring up defense... a quick comparison on Basketball-Reference will tell you that nearly every defensive stat--basic or advanced-- is either even or slightly in favor of Payne.

So who would you rather have as your backup point guard in the playoffs?

The only thing Foye has over Payne is experience. But isn't that curious when you consider that Payne has only been to the playoffs one time, and it was four years ago?

Isn't it also curious that they'll hold the experience thing against Payne, but not against Dion Waiters or Kyle Singler, each of which will be playing in the postseason for the first time? Even Sixth Man of the Year candidate Enes Kanter has only been to the playoffs once... a series sweep against the Spurs, in which he played ten minutes a game.

Yeah, but Payne isn't experienced enough. Okay.

People tend to get bent out of shape when I criticize the Thunder, but it's only because I want them to win so badly and I hate to see them hold themselves back with such obvious mistakes.

Let's at least hope that Westbrook plays upwards of 42 minutes per game in the playoffs to minimize the dysfunctional bench that defines the 2016 Thunder (aside from Kanter).