Team SquareRosterG
Russell Westbrook '16:
24/8/10/2, +8 BPM,
All-NBA 1stG
Klay Thompson '15:
22/3/3, 46/44/88 shooting, 3.1 3PM/G, +4 BPM,
All-NBA 3rd, NBA champG/F
Brent Barry '06: 12/5/4/1 per 36,
40% 3P% on 6 3PA/36, +3 BPM G/F
Thabo Sefolosha '12: 8/5/2/2/1 per 36,
44% 3P%, 2nd in NBA in DRAPMF
Kevin Durant '16:
28/8/5/1/1, 51/39/90 shooting, +10 BPM,
All-NBA 2ndF
Lamar Odom '09: 11/8/3, 32% 3P%,
2nd in NBA in RAPM (1st in playoffs),
NBA champF/C
Serge Ibaka '16: 13/7,
2 BPG, 33% 3P% on 2.4 3PA/G. Playoffs: +4 BPM
C
Steven Adams '16: 8/7, 1 BPG, 62 TS%
(Playoffs: 10/10 on +2 BPM), 5th in NBA in DRAPMPicks and FGA:Rotation:G Westbrook 38 / Barry 10
G Klay 38 / Barry 6 / Sefolosha 4
F Durant 38 / Sefolosha 10
F Ibaka 16 / Odom 32
C Adams 30 / Ibaka 18
About Team Square:The '16 Thunder were built around size, athleticism, and two MVP-level players in their primes. In the playoffs, they overwhelmed the '16 Spurs -- one of the best regular season teams of all time (+11.3 net rating!) featuring peak Kawhi -- and came damn close to knocking off the 73-win Warriors.
What they lacked most was consistent outside shooting. Their non-KD wings were Dion Waiters, Andre Roberson, and Randy Foye. (Ugh.)
Now they have one of the greatest movement shooters of all-time in their old nemesis Klay Thompson. In Odom, we enhance their size and athleticism with a versatile big who can handle, rebound, shoot, defend, and was 2nd in the whole damn league in RAPM. Barry and Sefolosha add more shooting, ball-handling, and wing defense.
Offensively, Westbrook is impossible to keep out of the paint, and with Klay, Durant, and floor-spacers at the 4 the offense is going to be tough to stop. I also want to emphasize our offensive rebounding, which is going to be a major advantage with our size up front and the athleticism of Westbrook and KD.
Defensively, Ibaka, Odom, and Adams are all fearsome. (Adams in fact was 2nd in the NBA in DRAPM.) With KD at the 3 and our ultra-athletic perimeter of Westbrook/Klay/Sefolosha, we are long with tons of rim protection. Gonna be hard to score on that.
The ‘16 Thunder were already awesome, and I don’t think it would take much to push them over the top. We’ve given them enough.
vs. Larry_Russell:I really enjoyed those early 2000s Kings teams and I’m glad they got taken. That said, I think this is a tough matchup for them. I think the tl;dr here is that
we are just at a huge advantage in terms of top-end talent, size, and athleticism.Larry’s team has zero rim protection, which is just horrible news going against Westbrook and KD with space to operate.
Bibby has no chance of staying in front of Westbrook, and there are no shot-blockers at the rim. Allen is not a disciplined enough defender to stick with Klay, and even Larry’s one good defender in Christie is not a great matchup against Durant with the size mismatch. Peja and Webber are going be totally lost in the pick and rolls with Westbrook. Adams/Ibaka/Odom are just going to play volleyball on the glass against Peja, Webber, and Ingles. I don’t see any shot he has of containing us on offense.
On the other hand, he certainly has some potent shooters, but I think we are much better equipped to handle him. Larry really needs Webber to pop to have a chance in this series, but he’s going against Ibaka/Adams all night and was never the most efficient scorer, especially in the playoffs. I think Ibaka/Odom will do fine on Peja (who also tended to struggle in the playoffs) though if needed we have plenty of options to switch things around or go small.
(Let’s keep in mind that Peja shot 39% from the field and 31% from 3 in the ‘02 playoffs before getting hurt, and Christie’s 3p% cratered to 27% in the playoffs.)
Westbrook on Bibby, Klay on Ray are fine matchups for us. Durant on Christie lets him roam and be a weak-side shot-blocker. Sefolosha gives us another option on Allen, Bibby, or Peja.
Overall, I just think we are too big, too fast, and we have the two best players on the floor with the right pieces around them. Good luck Larry.