OKC Thunder Lightning Report: Film breakdown on why Patrick Patterson shouldn’t start

OKC Thunder big man Patrick Patterson has looked borderline-washed to start the 2018-19 season. So why is he still starting?

The OKC Thunder have had their fair share of players experience decline in the last few years. From Randy Foye in 2016 to Sebastian Telfair in 2014 to Carmelo Anthony just last season, they’ve had a number of guys who were clearly on their way out.

Like most forms of decline, the declines of those aforementioned players were largely due to the fact that they just didn’t physically have it enough to keep up anymore.

That really doesn’t seem to be the big issue with Patrick Patterson, however. It’s not necessarily that Patterson has completely lost the athleticism that made him a competent, versatile defender in the past.

Rather he seems to have lost the effort and will to make the right play upon which the majority of his value relies. We’re still in the infancy of the season and it’s possible that he’s saving himself for later in the year, but the malaise he appears to be in so far is borderline inexcusable.

Just watch him lazily close out on Danilo Gallinari only to get beat off the dribble and let up an open layup:

It would be more understandable if he were a rookie, instead of a ten-year veteran who has more than enough experience to know better.

A blown rotation or lazy close-out here and there isn’t the worst thing in the world, but the impact is especially magnified when it forces other guys to recover and they just don’t come through.

In that same LA Clippers game, watch how he makes the right play cutting off the drive but just hovers around the hoop instead of covering the wide open Patrick Beverley in the corner:

Beverley ended up missing the shot, but he was still far too open for a career 37.4 percent shooter from three. The most troubling part of this whole thing, however, is that even if he improves his effort later in the year, it might not make a huge difference.