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10 things we learned about the OKC Thunder during the scrimmage games

By Tamberlyn Richardson

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander #2 and Darius Bazley #7 of OKC Thunder share a conversation during a game vs. Dallas Mavericks on October 8, 2019 at BOK Center. (Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander #2 and Darius Bazley #7 of OKC Thunder share a conversation during a game vs. Dallas Mavericks on October 8, 2019 at BOK Center. (Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Danilo Gallinari of the OKC Thunder celebrates Gallinari’s fourth quarter three point basket. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

Two key growth areas:

I’ll caution three games is an extremely small sample size and therefore excitement over improvements and shifts should be tempered.

Teams are still seeking to find shooting rhythm and defenses are affected by a lack of conditioning. That said, there were a few areas where the OKC Thunder made palpable improvements that show how focused the team is in terms of improving and being ready for the eight seeding games.

Likewise, there are a few areas of concern that require tweaking.

Assists:

For example, on the season the OKC Thunder isn’t a team that garners a ton of assists ranking 28th with 21.9 assists per game, but in the scrimmages, the Thunder focused on ball movement and made a huge increase averaging 25.3 assists per game.

Perimeter shooting improvement:

Likewise, the Thunder rank 28th on the season for perimeter shooting (35.5%) but during the scrimmages, they improved each game finishing with a robust 40.1 percent.

While many teams are struggling to find their shot a Thunder who wasn’t known for perimeter snipers is suddenly hitting and it’s not just one or two guys getting hot. In fact, some of OKC’s best snipers through 64 games weren’t the ones connecting from deep.

The following notes the 64 game 3-point percentage versus the three scrimmage game percentage. Players who don’t take at least one 3-pointer each game or average five minutes playing time per game are not included. The players are listed in order of the best efficiency through 64 games followed by their production through the three scrimmages.

Notes: RS = through 64 games, SG = scrimmage games, % = percent

  • Danilo Gallinari: RS: 40.9% | SG: 4 of 12 for 33.3%
  • Dennis Schroder: RS: 38.1% | SG: 1 of 10 for 10.0%
  • Abdel Nader: RS: 37.1% | SG: 4 of 9 for 44.4%
  • Chris Paul: RS: 36.2%  | SG: 0 of 3 for 0.0%
  • Mike Muscala: RS: 35.8% | SG:  5 of 11 for 45.4%
  • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: RS: 35.1% |  SG:  3 of 11 for 27.2%
  • Luguentz Dort: RS: 30.1% |  SG: 6 of 13 for 46.1%
  • Darius Bazley: RS: 30.0% |  SG: 6 of 14 for 42.8%
  • Hamidou Diallo: RS: 20.0% | SG: 1 of 2 for 50.0%
  • Andre Roberson: n/a (22.2% in 2017-18)  | SG: 4 of 6 for 66.6%

The main takeaway from the 3-point field goal percentage is the primary scorers haven’t found their shooting rhythm yet. Additionally, it’s obvious the youngsters worked on their shot (as well as Roberson) during the hiatus as they represent the majority of the players who made big improvements.

This could be an outlier but if Dort, Bazley, and Roberson can shoot near league average which they are currently well above it gives the Thunder so much more offensive versatility.

While it’s necessary to temper these statistics with the knowledge, not all teams have rediscovered rhythm and a lack of full conditioning effects defense there are still palpable gains to point to.

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