Breaking down reformulated OKC Thunder roster following trio of trades
The comeback?
The decline of Patrick Patterson has been bewildering. Patterson’s time in Toronto hasn’t transferred to Oklahoma. There is a variety of reasons which perhaps can be pointed to in dissecting why this is. Patterson began his first season with the Thunder dealing with an injury as he returned from surgery.
Last season Patterson began training camp believing he’d have an opportunity to claim the starting power forward role but Jerami Grant’s improvement quickly removed that possibility. Still, there was hope PPat would seize his moments coming off the bench to provide a stretch four option to pair with Nerlens Noel in a similar look to the starters Grant and Adams. But, Donovan backed away from that quickly with Patterson rarely getting consistent minutes.
That’s a difficult scenario for any player even veterans who are used to needing time to find their rhythm and flow on the floor.
Entering this season with Muscala now on the roster and youngsters knocking on the opportunity door it’s hard to know if Donovan will give Patterson additional minutes or relegate him to being a bench warmer yet again.
| Season | Tm | G | GS | MP | FGA | FG% | 3PA | 3P% | 2PA | 2P% | FTA | FT% | DRB | TRB | AST | BLK | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-14 | TOR | 48 | 7 | 23.3 | 7.6 | .477 | 2.3 | .411 | 5.3 | .506 | 1.1 | .745 | 3.3 | 5.1 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 9.1 |
| 2014-15 | TOR | 81 | 4 | 26.6 | 6.6 | .449 | 3.5 | .371 | 3.1 | .536 | 1.0 | .788 | 3.8 | 5.3 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 8.0 |
| 2015-16 | TOR | 79 | 0 | 25.6 | 6.2 | .414 | 3.7 | .362 | 2.5 | .490 | 0.4 | .853 | 3.4 | 4.3 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 6.9 |
| 2016-17 | TOR | 65 | 8 | 24.6 | 5.9 | .401 | 3.9 | .372 | 2.0 | .458 | 0.9 | .717 | 3.6 | 4.5 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 6.8 |
| 2017-18 | OKC | 82 | 3 | 15.5 | 3.2 | .398 | 2.1 | .386 | 1.2 | .421 | 0.6 | .870 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 3.9 |
| 2018-19 | OKC | 63 | 5 | 13.7 | 3.5 | .374 | 2.2 | .336 | 1.3 | .439 | 0.5 | .633 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 3.6 |
| Career | 622 | 81 | 21.8 | 6.1 | .450 | 2.3 | .367 | 3.8 | .500 | 0.8 | .749 | 2.9 | 4.1 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 6.9 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/23/2019.
A quick look at his regression from Toronto to his time in OKC can be gleaned from the above basketball reference chart. Clearly, his minutes have dropped off which offers support to the argument of Patterson needing more time to gain his rhythm.