Billy Donovan Must Manage Kevin Durant’s Minutes
By Evan Riggs
Apr 13, 2015; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) reacts after a play against the Portland Trail Blazers during the first quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
More Depth, More Rest
Thanks to general manager Sam Presti turning Reggie Jackson, Kendrick Perkins and Lance Thomas into Enes Kanter, Dion Waiters, D.J. Augustin, Kyle Singler and Steve Novak, the 2015-16 roster will be the deepest ever in the Thunder’s brief franchise history.
In years past, Oklahoma City hasn’t ever had players they can trust on their bench to take the burden off Durant. Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones have talent but were never consistent contributors. It’s not like the Thunder didn’t have other good bench options during Durant’s career. Jackson, Derek Fisher, and Caron Butler all made decent contributions as reserves during their time in OKC.
And, although he has become “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” in OKC, you can’t forget about James Harden either.
This year, however, the bench might not have any stars but is much stronger as a unit. Augustin is a legit backup guard that can knock down big shots and make plays for teammates. For the sake of this article, I’m going to say Andre Roberson will be the starting shooting guard. Waiters and Anthony Morrow have both proven they can play without Durant. With how ball dominant Waiters is, OKC would probably be best suited playing him without Durant most of the time.
Morrow, on the other hand, compliments Durant perfectly (as I wrote about here.) He proved last year he could be effective without Durant or Westbrook. With both superstars off the court, Morrow shot 43 percent from 3-point range and had a true shooting percentage of 59 percent.
Singler will be another guy that can give quality minutes in place of Durant. He struggled last season as a starter, but the 40 percent three-point shooter will have the benefit of playing against opposing benches.
With OKC’s loaded frontcourt, Durant won’t need to play many minutes at power forward during the regular season. Kanter, Nick Collison, Mitch McGary, Serge Ibaka and Steven Adams will win a lot of games for the Thunder even with Durant playing fewer minutes.
Conclusion
Durant’s health will determine if the Thunder barely sneak into the playoffs or compete for the NBA Championship. With depth that rivals last year’s Golden State Warriors, there’s no reason Durant should approach his career average of 38 minutes per game.
Instead, he should be closer to Golden State’s Steph Curry, who averaged 32.7 MPG last season. Judging by their championship, you could say that worked pretty well for the Warriors.