Billy Donovan: Should He be More Concerned with Offense or Defense?
By Tony Heim
Through two preseason games, coach Billy Donovan has reason to be concerned with both the offense and defense. But what’s more pressing?
Billy Donovan has his work cut out for him.
The Thunder gave up 142 points to Real Madrid. They only scored 92 points against FC Barcelona. The Thunder scored 137 points against Real Madrid. They gave up 87 points to FC Barcelona. WHAT IS THIS TEAM’S IDENTITY?!?!
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Defense
According to virtually every player interview, training camp was focused almost exclusively on defense. With natural defensive weapons in Steven Adams, Victor Oladipo and Andre Roberson the Thunder have the potential for something great on that end. Sadly teams require more than a starting lineup to win games.
The Oklahoma City bench is where the Thunder may lose a few games early in the season. Billy Donovan has the fun task of implementing at least three (Sabonis looks primed to start) new players into the bench rotation. The defensive communication is going to suffer; that’s exactly what happened against Madrid.
The first half, played almost entirely by starters and top bench players, ended with Real scoring 50 points. But as Donovan stretched deeper into his reserves, the defensive intensity faltered. It’s one thing for a team to simply make shots; Thunder reserves were literally gifting Real with open shots and layups.
If anything, intensity should increase when guys with less minutes enter the court. Semaj Christon has done a fantastic job of coming in and playing aggressive; Christon’s teammates need to respond to his effort.
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The performance against Barcelona was better, but there were still times where FC had their way with OKC. The biggest problem is still a lack of communication on defensive rotations. If something doesn’t change, teams will expose the Thunder from the three-point line.
Offense
On offense the story is not as clear. Players, especially Russell Westbrook, seem to be responding positively to Billy Donovan’s spread pick-and-roll system. Russ is still getting his iso plays from the top of the key and posting up on the block, but with much less frequency.
Domantas Sabonis seems to be the perfect fit at power forward; his counterpart in the Orlando trade is having a more difficult time. Oladipo’s numbers look great (because they are) but something doesn’t seem right. He’s shooting at a higher rate than Westbrook and maybe that’s Donovan’s call. Personally I think Oladipo should be focused on building chemistry in the pick-and-roll with his bigs.
Assuming Steven Adams will be back, Enes Kanter is going to be perfect for the second unit this season. Kanter is the lone true scorer on the bench; Abrines and Ersan Ilyasova are solid shooters but that’s about it.
The big key will be spacing. With five quality big men on the roster the Thunder will have a height advantage almost every night. If things get cluttered inside the paint than OKC will run into problems. They’ll have to work on finding the right connections to maximize the offensive potential, but the potential is there.
So which one is more worrisome?
The offensive concerns are a much easier fix. It makes sense that a virtual brand new team is having problems with spacing and turnovers. Honestly the defense is not a drastic concern…yet.
As great as the starting lineup’s defense will be, there are true concerns with the lack of defensive prowess on the bench. The best defender is probably Ilyasova, who is known for his gritty play and not as a shutdown defender. Kanter still looks like a liability down low and Kyle Singler is still Kyle Singler.
Tonight’s game should give us a better indicator of where both units are. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 central time.