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OKC Thunder player review: Abdel Nader – the untapped in house talent

By Tamberlyn Richardson

Abdel Nader, OKC Thunder season review series. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
Abdel Nader, OKC Thunder season review series. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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Abdel Nader, OKC Thunder season review series (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Review of Abdel Nader’s seasonal statistics highlight his strengths and the areas where he could improve.

Regular Season Stats:

Per Game Table
Season G MP FGA FG% 3PA 3P% 2PA 2P% eFG% FTA FT% TRB AST STL PTS
2018-19 61 11.4 3.5 .423 1.6 .320 1.9 .513 .498 0.6 .750 1.9 0.3 0.3 4.0
Career 109 11.2 3.3 .387 1.5 .333 1.8 .432 .463 0.7 .667 1.7 0.4 0.3 3.6

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/21/2019.

Diving into Nader’s stats from the season there is noticeable shifts compared to his previous season. Although his 3-point shooting dipped from the previous season his overall efficiency improved from the field. This may speak more to there not being other reserves capable of hitting the 3-ball consistently than Nader’s shortcomings.

The real area of concern might be his assist and steal rate which for his size should be higher than he posted this campaign.

Advanced Stats:

Advanced Table
Season PER TS% 3PAr FTr ORB% DRB% TRB% AST% TOV% USG% OBPM DBPM BPM VORP
2018-19 8.8 .522 .465 .167 2.0 15.7 8.6 3.8 10.1 15.1 -4.2 -0.9 -5.1 -0.5
Career 7.2 .487 .453 .206 2.3 14.1 8.1 5.3 13.1 16.0 -4.9 -0.4 -5.3 -1.0

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/21/2019.

Examining Nader’s advanced stats again highlights growth in key areas but once again the assist percentage jumps off the page. Since he doesn’t tend to play beside Westbrook, rather as a reserve with Dennis Schroder this either speaks to Schroder occupying the ball primarily or Nader not recognizing open teammates. His overall effectiveness on the court is also concerning, but again these stats are reflective of who Nader spends time on the court with.

Playoff Stats:

Playoffs Per Game Table
Season G MP FGA FG% 3P% 2PA 2P% eFG% FTA FT% TRB AST STL BLK PTS
2017-18 11 3.0 1.4 .333 .000 1.0 .455 .333 0.4 .500 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.1 1.1
2018-19 3 1.7 0.7 .500 0.7 .500 .500 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.7
Career 14 2.7 1.2 .353 .000 0.9 .462 .353 0.3 .500 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 1.0

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/21/2019.

In this case, I elected to include last season’s stats as well since Nader actually got more run in the postseason with the Celtics than he did this year with the OKC Thunder. When he did hit the court it was primarily in garbage time.

So, the takeaway here is Nader needs to earn the trust of Donovan (or whoever is at the helm). Likewise, this speaks to the need for Nader to improve his playmaking this summer so when he returns to the team with an improved handle (among other things) it will reinforce the need to keep him on the court.

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