OKC Thunder: 5 things to like and dislike surrounding big man Nerlens Noel

The Dennis Schroder Effect

Dennis Schroder has been excellent so far this season and has proven to be one of the biggest pick-ups of the off-season. The German is excellent in pick and roll sets, utilizing subtle changes in speed and a quick first step to breeze past opponents for lay-ups, floaters or mid-range jumpers.

The 25 year-old has two major flaws in his game:

• He prioritizes his own shot over finding his rolling big men
• A lack of awareness on mismatches down low

While these flaws are noticeable throughout any given game, it’s obvious when he and Noel share the court.

Schroder should be living off plays like this:

Instead, fans are seeing plenty of this:

The play above is a regular occurrence where Schroder is simply not looking. Noel has Yogi Ferrell draped on his back but he’s 5’11, 180 pounds. Give the ball up and let the man feast on BBQ Chicken. OKC score off a Noel offensive rebound after Jerami Grant misses an out of control drive to the cup but the basket was a lot harder than it needs to be.

Raymond “I Shall Not Pass” Felton

Since Russell Westbrook went out, Raymond Felton has re-entered the rotation and it absolutely destroyed the Thunder’s second unit. Since Felts took over, the Thunder are shooting 31.3 percent from the field (30th), 21.4 percent from three (26th) and average three assists per game (27th). To put these in perspective, OKC’s second unit was shooting 41.5 percent from the field (26th), 29 percent from three (25th) and averaging 6.8 assists per game (24th) when Felton played no minutes.

Noel has taken four shots in the last three games while attempting just two free throw attempts in 13 minutes per game. When Felton and Noel share the floor together, they are a negative-146.2 (net-negative in three of four line-ups) with Felton soaking up 26.6 percent of OKC’s possessions.

These are the shots Noel is seeing go up.

How to fix it

Oklahoma City needs to allocate Noel more time with the starters as he would flourish alongside Westbrook. Russ loves pick and roll lobs and Noel is a more athletic center than Adams (as hard as it may be to believe). Building Noel’s confidence is an excellent way to ensure he remains engaged as he’s shown in the past to disengage if he doesn’t see the floor with regularity.

Coach Billy Donovan needs to do a better job managing Adams minutes and play him less. Noel is no scrub, so stop treating him like one.