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Raymond Felton Season Review: Filling a longstanding void

By Austin Sternlicht

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - APRIL 18: Raymond Felton #2 of the Oklahoma City Thunder tries to keep the ball away from Dante Exum #11 of the Utah Jazz during the first half of game 2 of the Western Conference playoffs at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on April 18, 2018 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Raymond Felton; Dante Exum
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - APRIL 18: Raymond Felton #2 of the Oklahoma City Thunder tries to keep the ball away from Dante Exum #11 of the Utah Jazz during the first half of game 2 of the Western Conference playoffs at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on April 18, 2018 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Raymond Felton; Dante Exum /
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Raymond Felton
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – APRIL 23: Dante Exum #11 of the Utah Jazz drives around Raymond Felton #2 of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first half during Game Four of Round One of the 2018 NBA Playoffs at Vivint Smart Home Arena on April 23, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images) /

Highs and Lows:

Coincidentally, most of Felton’s best performances came in losses. On November 15th, Felton scored a season-high 15 points on 7-11 shooting in a 103-99 loss to Portland. Felton’s best plus/minus came the third game of the season, when he was a game-high +23 in a 115-113 loss to Minnesota.

In fact, three of Felton’s four highest box score plus/minuses came in losses. On the contrary, other than Felton’s season high scoring night against Portland, his next four highest scoring performances all came in wins.

Another clear trend from this past season was that the Thunder were more successful when Felton was racking up assists. Felton’s season-high ten assists came in the Thunder’s biggest blowout win of the season, a 37 point drumming of the Lakers in January.

When Felton recorded at least five assists, the Thunder were 10-1. For a bigger sample size, when he had at least four assists, the Thunder were still an impressive 18-5. On the other end, when Felton didn’t record an assist, the Thunder were 3-4.

In the playoffs, Felton naturally saw his role diminished. His minutes dropped from 16.6 a game to 13.2. He only played four minutes in the Thunder’s miraculous 25-point comeback win in-game five. Felton probably should have played more, especially down the stretch in lineups with Westbrook.

He was one of only a few players who wasn’t afraid to shoot the ball. In the series, he shot 7-14 from three-point range. Having him out more, would have helped spread the floor and prevented Westbrook from jacking up highly contested shots.

Community Involvement

Like all Thunder players, Felton was deeply involved in the local community. Here’s a video of him at a Thunder Holliday Assist Event.

https://twitter.com/okcthunder/status/937891249880817664

Felton also made an appearance at the OKC Zoo along with some of his teammates.

Steven Adams, Carmelo Anthony, Raymond Felton and Russell Westbrook spent their afternoon at the OKC Zoo.(Photo by Zach Beeker | OKC Thunder)
Steven Adams, Carmelo Anthony, Raymond Felton and Russell Westbrook spent their afternoon at the OKC Zoo.(Photo by Zach Beeker | OKC Thunder) /

All in all, Felton was a valuable member of this team, not just as a player, but as a veteran presence and mentor. For all we know, his halftime speech may have ignited the game five comeback.

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