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

Dennis Schroder, OKC Thunder (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images)

Schroder’s shot selection:

Here’s the short blurb – hate on Dennis Schroder‘s shooting splits all you want, his shot selection has actually been fantastic for the Thunder.

Schroder is a career 33% shooter from the corners, lower than even the likes of Felton, who has shot 45% since moving to OKC. Still, with Schroder, I think what matters is not so much how he’s shot the ball, but where he’s shot the ball.

Compare Westbrook, Schroder and Felton’s shot charts.

Schroder profiles as the Thunder’s closest copy to Westbrook. Both use dribble penetration as their weapon of attack. Compare that to Felton, who’s way less successful getting into the paint.

Looking at the Thunder possession-by-possession, it’s easy to cringe at Schroder hoisting ugly floaters around four static players. But in a wider sense, that’s kind of what the Thunder needs.

Because Schroder plays so similarly to Westbrook, that helps smooth the transition between the starters and the main role players. Across the board, everyone knows that regardless of who’s running the point, it’s the same kind of offense – flare screens, hard rolls, offensive boards.

With Felton, the offense sputters. Even if Felton somehow became a better distributor, it would still over-complicate the Thunder’s offense, because the role players would need to learn how to play with both Westbrook and Schroder.

I like the Schroder experiment. Two months ago, if you had asked me to choose between Schroder and someone like Khris Middleton, I would have said it’s a no-brainer. Now, I’m not so sure about that anymore.