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

[Balkman32]

Paul George's on/off stats for January are quite ridiculous:

PG13 on the court: 114.2 ORTG, 105.4 DRTG, 8.7 Net Rating

PG13 off the court: 98.9 ORTG, 124.8 DRTG, -26.0 Net Rating

This is an insane impact.

I think a lineup of Westbrook and Schroder w/o George has been a very bad lineup. Hopefully we see less and less of that line up.

WB's shooting efficiency numbers are magnitudes better with Schroder on the floor though.

I think the idea is if Westbrook and Schroder are on the floor together they need a wing that can shoot. It was only PG, no after Ferguson's January he might be another guy that we would need on the floor if we are playing those two together.

[Bergmaniac]

Paul George's on/off stats for January are quite ridiculous:

PG13 on the court: 114.2 ORTG, 105.4 DRTG, 8.7 Net Rating

PG13 off the court: 98.9 ORTG, 124.8 DRTG, -26.0 Net Rating

This is an insane impact.

I think a lineup of Westbrook and Schroder w/o George has been a very bad lineup. Hopefully we see less and less of that line up.

WB's shooting efficiency numbers are magnitudes better with Schroder on the floor though.

Not really, it's 49.8% TS% compared to 45.6%, which is somewhat significant, but nowhere near as much to compensate for the massive downgrade defensively.

Donovan should try Ferguson and Westbrook together more often when George is on the bench, it makes a lot more sense on paper that the Schroder-Westbrook duo.

[Balkman32]

Yes. you need a shooter or two on the floor in Westbrook - Schroder lineups w/o PG13.

[SecondTake]

I think a lineup of Westbrook and Schroder w/o George has been a very bad lineup. Hopefully we see less and less of that line up.

WB's shooting efficiency numbers are magnitudes better with Schroder on the floor though.

Not really, it's 49.8% TS% compared to 45.6%, which is somewhat significant, but nowhere near as much to compensate for the massive downgrade defensively.

Donovan should try Ferguson and Westbrook together more often when George is on the bench, it makes a lot more sense on paper that the Schroder-Westbrook duo.

I think Donovan has done a decent job of changing up rotations during the past 4 or 5 games. It still seems that we suck whenever PG is out, but at least we're not completely cratering. You could have Ferg out there with WB, but I think it's a good idea to throw Schroder in there as well. Both Schroder and WB seem to shoot significantly better when the other is on the floor, whatever the reason. Ferg can space the floor more and carry the defense.

[Balkman32]

Now we just need another wing. We can't go into this post season hoping to get Abrines and/or Roberson back for this playoff run.

Just like we cant play Kanter we cant play Nader in the playoffs.

[Pillendreher]

Paul George's on/off stats for January are quite ridiculous:

PG13 on the court: 114.2 ORTG, 105.4 DRTG, 8.7 Net Rating

PG13 off the court: 98.9 ORTG, 124.8 DRTG, -26.0 Net Rating

This is an insane impact.

A closer look:

George+starters: 556 possessions | 115.1 ORtG | 106.3 DRtG | +8.8 NetRtG
George without Westbrook: 162 possessions | 104.9 ORtG | 105.6 DRtG | -0.7 NetRtG
Westbrook without George: 147 possessions | 103.4 ORtG | 131.7 DRtG | -27.7 NetRtG
Westbrook without George minus Schröder: 41 possessions | 107.3 ORtG | 100.0 DRtG | +7.3 NetRtG

And since the staggering with George started (last 3 games):

George+starters: 144 possessions | 124.3 ORtG | 117.2 DRtG | +7.1 NetRtG
George without Westbrook: 73 possessions | 117.8 ORtG | 101.4 DRtG | +16.4 NetRtG
Westbrook without George: 65 possessions | 95.4 ORtG | 111.9 DRtG | -16.5 NetRtG

We really need another wing that we can play next to Westbrook. This focus on getting Schröder minutes next to him is just too much. We're 49 games into the season and Russ has played 152 possessions without both Schröder and George next to him. That's nothing. I know he's struggling mightily, but putting him in these weird lineups were one of them is always just standing around isn't going to help with that.

[Balkman32]

Paul George's on/off stats for January are quite ridiculous:

PG13 on the court: 114.2 ORTG, 105.4 DRTG, 8.7 Net Rating

PG13 off the court: 98.9 ORTG, 124.8 DRTG, -26.0 Net Rating

This is an insane impact.

A closer look:

George+starters: 556 possessions | 115.1 ORtG | 106.3 DRtG | +8.8 NetRtG
George without Westbrook: 162 possessions | 104.9 ORtG | 105.6 DRtG | -0.7 NetRtG
Westbrook without George: 147 possessions | 103.4 ORtG | 131.7 DRtG | -27.7 NetRtG
Westbrook without George minus Schröder: 41 possessions | 107.3 ORtG | 100.0 DRtG | +7.3 NetRtG

And since the staggering with George started (last 3 games):

George+starters: 144 possessions | 124.3 ORtG | 117.2 DRtG | +7.1 NetRtG
George without Westbrook: 73 possessions | 117.8 ORtG | 101.4 DRtG | +16.4 NetRtG
Westbrook without George: 65 possessions | 95.4 ORtG | 111.9 DRtG | -16.5 NetRtG

We really need another wing that we can play next to Westbrook. This focus on getting Schröder minutes next to him is just too much. We're 49 games into the season and Russ has played 152 possessions without both Schröder and George next to him. That's nothing. I know he's struggling mightily, but putting him in these weird lineups were one of them is always just standing around isn't going to help with that.

This is telling. Maybe that guy is Abrines. But, I think they need another wing. I just don't know how they get that Wing.

[Pillendreher]

http://dailythunder.com/for-russell-westbrook-3-point-shooting-is-an-overrated-issue/

Good stuff.

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They'll kill him for real this time if they show a video of him. Don't do it!

[Dn4sty]

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?s=21

So this conversation is about the window you have with AD type players, and then it dovetails to tanking.

If you assume 3 years till playoff ready and then 18 months till super max (current AD situation), then you’ve got a 2.5 year window to iron everything out.

The Pelicans made some bad personnel decisions yet they never really had a big chance to build out roster around AD.

PG was in a similar situation.

This is a scary side effect of tanking IMO. You tank only to develop players to be a feeder program for big markets

[Dn4sty]

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?s=21

I just want to pay myself on the back for this one

[Pillendreher]

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?s=19

[Pillendreher]

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[Pillendreher]

Going by each season, we're currently riding one of hell of an offensive streak. This is the biggest streak the Thunder have had of consecutive games with an above average ORtG per each season:

2010/11: 6 games straight
2011/12: 8 games straight
2012/13: 12 games straight
2013/14: 10 games straight
2014/15: 11 games straight
2015/16: 15 games straight
2016/17: 6 games straight
2017/18: 6 games straight

Our current streak is at 11. We've also made at least 40 % of our 3s in 10 out of the last 12 games. What a turnaround compared to the beginning of the season

[SecondTake]

Going by each season, we're currently riding one of hell of an offensive streak. This is the biggest streak the Thunder have had of consecutive games with an above average ORtG per each season:

2010/11: 6 games straight
2011/12: 8 games straight
2012/13: 12 games straight
2013/14: 10 games straight
2014/15: 11 games straight
2015/16: 15 games straight
2016/17: 6 games straight
2017/18: 6 games straight

Our current streak is at 11. We've also made at least 40 % of our 3s in 10 out of the last 12 games. What a turnaround compared to the beginning of the season

Yeah, but our defense has taken a nosedive. It's kind of ridiculous. We're really not any better than a month ago, because we traded mediocre offense for mediocre defense. I'm not sure it's going to get any better either, it's been a month now of this.

Can someone tell me what on earth happened to our defense?

We've also made at least 40 % of our 3s in 10 out of the last 12 games.

That's pretty crazy actually.

[ThunderBolt]

Anyone else ever wonder what this team would have been like if we had gotten George for Kanter, Ferguson and Sabonis or even Adams and Ferguson?

[spearsy23]

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2019/1/30/18202947/nba-transaction-trees


This is insane. Dennis Schroder is on this team because the supersonics drafted Jack Sikma in 1977.

[Old Man Game]

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2019/1/30/18202947/nba-transaction-trees


This is insane. Dennis Schroder is on this team because the supersonics drafted Jack Sikma in 1977.

That's amazing. You don't stop to think about it but it does make sense that teams just keep flipping assets and the cycle goes on, almost in perpetuity.

[Balkman32]

Anyone else ever wonder what this team would have been like if we had gotten George for Kanter, Ferguson and Sabonis or even Adams and Ferguson?

Would have loved to keep Dipo in that trade. But the only reason the Pacers did it was to bring Dipo back to Indiana.

[Pillendreher]

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I looked at the driving splits for this season and compared them to his previous seasons:



Russ' FTr has been climing since coming back from the injury and has been at his pre rule changes level in January. He's still not back FG% wise, but hell, it's a lot closer to his normal FG% than one might think. The biggest difference has been his passing in January: 3 out of 5 drives have ended in passes to teammates and every 5th drive has ended in an assist, ie almost every 3rd pass out of a drive has lead to a bucket in January.

Something to keep an eye on.

[Pillendreher]

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George is the new Westbrook.