3 new things we learned about the 2019-20 OKC Thunder at media day

Expect a new offensive style:

A common reference cited during the player (and Coach Billy Donovan) interviews was the new offensive style the club will play this season. Some returning players pointed to the shift meaning there will be fewer isolation sets. Some noted the intention to utilize multiple point guard lineups. While others cited the exits of Russell Westbrook and Paul George opening up options.

Even other teams were discussing this point. Jerami Grant (now with the Denver Nuggets) mentioned he was excited to play in an offense that moves the ball.

For those who’ve been subsidiary players on the team in the past, this is great news for them as it means everyone will get touches. While that might not seem like a big deal I point you to last season and what happened in Boston.

Players like consistency and obviously everyone wants to contribute. Although many players can accept a role, it can be disheartening to be on a squad who runs everything through a couple of players as that equates to everyone else standing around and watching.

This might answer why we hardly saw player movement (or ball movement for that matter) in the past few seasons. Being a constant decoy can be exhausting and since the OKC Thunder is predicated on defense the players may have felt it was wasted energy.

Notably, Chris Paul is a top-notch passer but he’s also been referred to as someone who uses up the shot clock dribbling. Remember the infamous Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis “dribble, dribble, dribble” appearance on Colin Cowherd’s show?

Conversely, there are those who believe the conflict between James Harden and Chris Paul stemmed from the CP3’s desire to run set plays instead of the Harden’s preference for isolation.

The biggest news was Billy Donovan mentioning he may utilize all three point guards at once. Although this is likely to be something the team experiments with it’s more likely a situation we’ll see in small doses.

It was anticipated both Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would be in the starting lineup but these comments indicate the club’s intent to have more ball handlers on the court at any given time.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dennis Schroders discussed the three-guard lineup in their media sessions as well.

SGA:  3:33 of video

Schroder: 1:06 of video

Every team recognizes how important it is to have players who can create shots for others and this becomes even more pronounced on teams without top superstar talents.

Moving forward it’s likely the team will focus on adding players with this ability and Terrance Ferguson‘s comments regarding what he worked on this summer also point to the existing players working on this fundamental skill.

P.S.  Can we just focus on SGA’s wing-span in the above image for a moment — WOW!