This OKC Thunder squad had stretches this season of really pushing the pace. We dive into who covered the most distance and averaged the highest speeds.
The most unfortunate speed metric for this year’s OKC Thunder squad is how quickly the exited the playoffs *ba-dum, tss*. Too soon? Yes, definitely too soon.
Several seasons ago, the NBA started using multiple cameras to start tracking player movement. These cameras combine to determine speed and distance travelled, now in each NBA arena.
These statistics reveal unsurprising, though seldom-considered results; NBA players cover a lot of distance while playing. Three-point specialists are often the league-leaders, as they are frequently running to get open on offense.
Iso plays impact distance travelled, but a lot of OKC Thunder distance was covered on the defensive end this season – especially early.
As a team, the @OKCThunder dominate a lot of the hustle stats. The Thunder lead all teams in deflections per game (18.1), total deflections (761; they have 117 more deflections than the runner-up!) and loose balls recovered per game (9).
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) January 12, 2018
Minutes played of course has a large impact on total distance. Let’s try to break down some of the numbers for this season’s OKC Thunder squad.