2018-2019 OKC Thunder Regular Season Pt 1: A Renewed Hope

[thekaoswithin]

Interesting observation from last night:

We've always roasted Russ for taking the easy switch up top when he shouldn't. I assumed he was just lazy, I think many of us did. If you look at his many, many steals this season though, I'm starting to think it's schematic. He takes the corner so he can consistently pick off the pass from the top to the wing, he did that at least twice yesterday.

Is it necessarily wise? No, but I suppose there is a method to the madness.

[Pillendreher]

My sister hit it out of the park with her presents this year:



Bit by bit me and my family are chipping away at our luxury tax bill.

Merry Christmas guys!

[getrichordie]

merry christmas everyone. i won't be around for the rockets game but hopefully we'll be able to pull it out.

This is the best Christmas gift I’ve gotten in years

C’mon, bro. Where’s the Christmas spirit?


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[getrichordie]

I found this quite interesting.

—

Schroder + George on:

638 minutes played
110.8 ORtg / 98.3 DRtg
12.5 NetRtg

Westbrook + George on:

707 minutes played
114.0 ORtg / 102.6 DRtg
11.4 NetRtg

—

Schroder + George (Westbrook off):

362 minutes played
104.7 ORtg / 93.7 DRtg
11.0 NetRtg

Westbrook + George (Schroder off):

431 minutes played
109.9 ORtg / 99.1 DRtg
10.9 NetRtg

—

Westbrook on (Schroder + George off):

41 minutes played (small sample alert)
100 ORtg / 101.0 DRtg
-1.0 NetRtg

— notes: Westbrook posting 45.7 TS% here

—

Going back to last year’s data...

Westbrook on (George off):

585 minutes
103.4 ORtg / 100.8 DRtg
2.6 NetRtg

— notes: Westbrook posts a 50.1 TS% here.

....

It’s weird how Schroder and Westbrook are both posting similar NetRtgs with and without George. Not surprised that Westbrook has the slight edge overall as he’s the superior player to Schroder, but I think the similarities speaks to how the lack of a secondary creator is detrimental to offenses.


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[Pillendreher]

A wack stat that illustrates Westbrook's struggles since coming back from the ankle injury: The game vs the Timberwolves was the only the 4th game of the season in which Russ made at least four layups in a single quarter. The last time he managed to do that was the Clippers game on 10/30. Hell, it's the first time he made more than 3 layups in a game in more than two weeks.

[bondom34]

Read on Twitter

[getrichordie]

A wack stat that illustrates Westbrook's struggles since coming back from the ankle injury: The game vs the Timberwolves was the only the 4th game of the season in which Russ made at least four layups in a single quarter. The last time he managed to do that was the Clippers game on 10/30. Hell, it's the first time he made more than 3 layups in a game in more than two weeks.

Doesn’t surprise me. He’s definitely been passive as of recent. He’s not attacking the rim anymore like he used to. It’s almost as if he’s worried about landing wrong or something.


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[spearsy23]

Where on NBA.com do you go to watch specific plays?

[bondom34]

Where on NBA.com do you go to watch specific plays?

Only way I know is go to the box score and click the link for the stat (FGA, REB, etc).

[spearsy23]

Where on NBA.com do you go to watch specific plays?

Only way I know is go to the box score and click the link for the stat (FGA, REB, etc).

Can't get it to work, maybe it's a mobile problem.

[bondom34]

Where on NBA.com do you go to watch specific plays?

Only way I know is go to the box score and click the link for the stat (FGA, REB, etc).

Can't get it to work, maybe it's a mobile problem.

Just checked and it's not on desktop too. The links are dead. NBA.com just kinda sucks.

[ThunderBolt]

Where on NBA.com do you go to watch specific plays?

Only way I know is go to the box score and click the link for the stat (FGA, REB, etc).

Can't get it to work, maybe it's a mobile problem.

It works on my iPad. Do either of these work?

https://stats.nba.com/game/0021800493/?sort=PTS&dir=1

https://stats.nba.com/events/?flag=3&CFID=&CFPARAMS=&PlayerID=201566&TeamID=1610612760&GameID=0021800493&ContextMeasure=FGA&Season=2018-19&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&RangeType=0&StartPeriod=1&EndPeriod=10&StartRange=0&EndRange=28800&section=game&sct=plot

[spearsy23]

Only way I know is go to the box score and click the link for the stat (FGA, REB, etc).

Can't get it to work, maybe it's a mobile problem.

It works on my iPad. Do either of these work?

https://stats.nba.com/game/0021800493/?sort=PTS&dir=1

https://stats.nba.com/events/?flag=3&CFID=&CFPARAMS=&PlayerID=201566&TeamID=1610612760&GameID=0021800493&ContextMeasure=FGA&Season=2018-19&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&RangeType=0&StartPeriod=1&EndPeriod=10&StartRange=0&EndRange=28800&section=game&sct=plot

Thank you, I always forget stats.nba.com and NBA.com are basically separate entities.

[bondom34]

Can't get it to work, maybe it's a mobile problem.

It works on my iPad. Do either of these work?

https://stats.nba.com/game/0021800493/?sort=PTS&dir=1

https://stats.nba.com/events/?flag=3&CFID=&CFPARAMS=&PlayerID=201566&TeamID=1610612760&GameID=0021800493&ContextMeasure=FGA&Season=2018-19&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&RangeType=0&StartPeriod=1&EndPeriod=10&StartRange=0&EndRange=28800&section=game&sct=plot

Thank you, I always forget stats.nba.com and NBA.com are basically separate entities.

Still wont work for me

[Pillendreher]

RPM update 5 weeks into the stat:







George is now leading the league in RPM. Schröder has been plummeting, especially offensively. Russ hasn't taken the jump towards his usual numbers yet. Adam for whatever reason still gets underrated.

Speaking relative to the league, +0.01 is the league average in DRPM and -0.68 is the league average in ORPM while -0.66 is the league average in RPM. Most of our guys rate above average defensively save for TLC, Schröder, Ferguson (I think he's still getting killed by the boxscore and the priors used) and Diallo. Offensively though, we really need help, especially with the bench. Something needs to change.

[Pillendreher]

Read on Twitter

[Pillendreher]

I saw something interesting in the comments on WTLC's article on last night's game:

I don’t know if anyone heard okc dream team podcast with Brett Dawson and Jon Hamm. They said after Minny loss PG was completely gassed and spent an hour getting ice treatments for recovery.

Both PG and Adams are dropping off lately from the workload.
Its been reported that after games Adams looks like hes been playing in the NFL, just beat up and tired.

Normally I don't care for these "x games in y nights" excuses because the schedule is so much better in that regard in today's league, but I think there might be something to this regardless. Since the Detroit game, the Thunder have been in seven "clutch games", ie games with a scoring margin of five or less within the last five minutes. That's seven out of eleven games still up in the air at the end of the 4th quarter, which means we were still (heavily) relying on our starters to close the games.

Before the Detroit game, Russ+George+Adams combined for 47.6 % of all possible 4th quarter minutes. Over the last three weeks, they've played a combined 54.8 % of all possible 4th quarter minutes. But it's not just the minutes: The offensive ineptitude of our bench unit(s) makes it impossible to extend a lead or even keep things even and therefore grant the starters a sort of rest. Over the last three weeks, Schröder-Noel has scored 88.6 points per 100 possessions. That's ~ 20 points per 100 possessions worse than league average on a team level. So in addition to the increase in minutes, the load increases as well because they have to more per minute to win the game.

Something needs to be done. Flex Grant in there if you don't care for Patterson. Give Patterson some minutes with the starters. Run some plays that don't end in a Schröder isolation or a horrible lob pass to Noel. Do something. We can't keep relying on our starters to carry us in this fashion. To meet the league average ORtG as a team with the bench being this horrible, they'd have to score at an higher rate than any team currently does for the rest of the game. This is not feasible, especially with Russ not being able to put together good offensive performances.

[slick_watts]

paul george and adams have had to exert themselves tremendously on both sides for us to win. the super fast pace we tend to play with rw in is especially draining for adams, and then he has to switch and defend perimeter a lot. and of course george is taking more and more possessions offensively. adams is at a career high mpg.

[ThunderBolt]

Would giving Noel more minutes with the starters be a bad thing?

[Pillendreher]

Would giving Noel more minutes with the starters be a bad thing?

I wouldn't mind it.