OKC Thunder Starters: Give Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot a shot
With Andre Roberson out for an additional two months, the OKC Thunder defensive identity is once again under threat. Should OKC take a harder look at off-season acquisition Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot?
The OKC Thunder title hopes took a small hit recently with Andre Roberson undergoing surgery to remove a suture causing irritation in his left knee. This has pushed his return back at least two more months.
Now what should the Thunder do?
With Dre initially targeting a November comeback, OKC were only expecting to apply a band aid at shooting guard til the end of December at the very latest. A rotation of Alex Abrines, Terrance Ferguson, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Hamidou Diallo was set to suffice, however those plans may need to change in the wake of Roberson’s updated status.
After Dre went down in January, Oklahoma City were not the same defensively and dropped from a top five defensive unit to 10th overall. As John Schuhmann of NBA.com points out, the Thunder were 11.2 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor (96.4) than off it (107.4). This was the largest on-off disparity in the NBA of players who played at least 1000 minutes.
More from Thunderous Intentions
- Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
- Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
- 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
This presents a massive problem for OKC moving forward. Fans are desperately clutching onto the improved defensive performance of Abrines in Game 5 of the last year’s NBA playoffs where he did an exceptional job guarding Utah Jazz rookie sensation Donovan Mitchell. However, Abrines’ whole body of work isn’t offset by one magical defensive performance.
Ferguson enters his aged 21 season still raw and showed in Summer league that he’s a year or two away from legitimately contributing. TFerg needs to put on some weight to his stick thin frame though did show flashes of defensive potential thanks in large to his athletic ability. Diallo is a 20 year old rookie taken in the second round and despite possessing some impressive physical tools (6’5 with a 6’11 wingspan), he needs time to grow.
This leaves TLC.
After being traded from the Philadelphia 76ers following an up and down two years in the City of Brotherly Love, he arrives to OKC to start a fresh. At 6’6 with a 6’11 wingspan, the Frenchman possesses similar physical attributes to Dre (Roberson is 6’7 with a 6’11 wingspan).
He moves well laterally and sticks with defensive assignments using his quickness. TLC posted a plus-0.7 net rating last season with Philly and while that isn’t impressive, is the best mark of the four candidates (Abrines plus-0.2, TFerg minus-6.5 and Diallo to be determined).
In spite of his physical gifts, TLC struggles playing the passing lanes. Despite being blessed with impressive length, his career 0.4 steals per game rate is on the low side and his activity on that end needs to improve. However, given his natural size, would be an ideal fit next to Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Patrick Patterson and Steven Adams.
Next. Offseason report card – Grading every Sam Presti move. dark
I am not saying TLC is Roberson because that is simply not true but he’s the closest thing to it. After watching Abrines for the past two seasons and TFerg last year, perhaps the OKC Thunder throw an audible and insert the Frenchman into the starting slot.