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 5th 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. Laimbeer:Laimbeer built a nice team, but I think we have some advantages here. Mainly, I think our big advantages are size, rebounding, scoring at the rim, and defense.
When we are on offense, there is not a really a ton of resistance to our attacks. Like last game, I think if you are facing Westbrook/Durant with Klay spacing and you don’t have good rim protection, you are in serious trouble. Laimbeer’s team is lacking in this area – Perkins is a big body but by age 33 he had slowed down and was blocking a grand 0.5 shots per game. He is also pretty overstretched here, forced to play 36 mpg (vs. the 29 mpg he played in reality).
There are also no guards on Laimbeer’s team I really trust to stay in front of Westbrook. By ‘08 Billups was not really an elite defender in my recollection, and even in his prime he often preferred to use his strength to guard up and have Rip defend quicker guards. George and Kawhi I would think are not suited to the task, being more used to guarding wings.
Laimbeer does of course have good wing defenders in George and Kawhi (though both somewhat past their defensive peaks) but I think there is only so much they can do without size behind them. Even in real life, neither of them ever had much success against KD:
Durant vs. Kawhi (career, 37 games): 27 ppg on 61 TS%
Durant vs. George (career, 18 games): 30 ppg on 65 TS%
Lastly, as with last game, I want to point out that we are going to feast on the offensive glass against Laimbeer’s smaller squad.
On the other end, our size and athleticism makes things tough. Odom, Ibaka, and Durant at various times with their size will do a good job taking away Kawhi’s bully ball game, turning him into more of a jump-shooter (where he is still good, just not quite as dangerous). Certainly Klay and Sefolosha can also get time on him in our big switchy perimeter. Durant, Klay, Sefolosha can all take turns on George as needed, with Westbrook or Klay able to guard Billups or Bane as needed.
Overall, Laimbeer’s team (like the 20’s Clippers) is very dependent on guys setting up jumpers for themselves off the dribble. There’s not a lot of rim pressure or high-level passing. The shooters are good, but I think it makes them a little easier to guard than our more forceful attack.
