OKC Thunder solid play has quietly flown under radar at quarter mark – progress report

Un-coding the brilliant defense:

First!

That’s where the Thunder ranks in terms of Defensive Rating.

It’s almost as during the offseason, Sam Presti figured out the world was going to ramp up the pace and go three-crazy, but then decided to subvert the whole narrative by all-in the team’s length and defense.

OKC has always been a defense-first team, but this year has been a garbled litany of flying limbs and help-side defense. No one in the league has been able to figure a way around the Thunder’s perimeter defense.

Here are some other stats: first in steals, second in turnovers forced, fourth in opponent field goals made and fifth in points allowed.

Digging deeper, the team actually ranks distinctively average in other areas that make up Defensive Rating stats, such as defensive rebounding and blocked shots. Instead, they thrive at front-line defense, swarming ballhandlers to force a turnover.

This comes down to how stretchy and switchable the Thunder are. I tried doing a rough chart of how switchable the team really is.

Based on my estimates, the average Thunder player can defend 2.7 positions. This number is obviously a gauge, but it seems congruent with what we see on the court today.

Which, by the way, will likely get better. Getting Andre Roberson back unlocks what I call the ‘Suicide Squad‘, such that PG can revert to defending off-the-ball where his length and instincts are most lethal. Meanwhile, Nerlens Noel still has gambling instincts to hone, and Hamidou Diallo is starting to look like quite a steal.

Roster construction aside, there’s also one more low-key reason for the defensive success – Russell freaking Westbrook. Look at this play here. Westbrook rotates perfectly, stays disciplined and times his challenge perfectly.

I’ve always said Westbrook has the potential to be an elite defender if only his offensive burden was freed up. I’d hate to jinx it, but he’s starting to make me hopeful.

One word of caution though. The Thunder definitely benefits from other teams experimenting with a faster pace and looser turnovers. I imagine we’ll see a natural filter set in as teams not built to run get weeded out. When that happens, it will be much harder to rack up steals and forced turnovers like they do today.