OKC Thunder: Growing pains of positionless strategy tied to containing big men

As the OKC Thunder continue to adapt and develop their positionless strategy the initial issue is containing opponent big men.

Considering this iteration of the OKC Thunder are focused on postionless basketball it seems reasonable to expect slippage defensively. If we look at the roster of some of the teams who’ve blown out the Thunder or won by a sizeable margin they each feature big men who the Thunder had trouble containing.

Even in games where bigs didn’t exactly feast offensively they still offered their team advantages because of how much attention they required. In fact, every game the Thunder has lost there is significant production from the center or untraditional big man.

As the Thunder adapts to a positionless system this is something they’ll need to address. Presumably, Sam Presti will be scouring upcoming draft classes with a view to finding power forwards and centers who fit the same template of Adebayo and Davis.

Growing pains of OKC Thunder positionless strategy

Specifically, players who are equally adept at guarding across lineups defending guards as well as centers with equal aplomb. They’ll also ideally be adept at shooting efficiently from the perimeter and possess the ability to create shots for themselves and their teammates.

There will be growing pains as the Thunder develop and grow into this new system. Case in point, every loss the Thunder has occurred features big men who were difficult to contain. Rudy Gobert was an outlier in this regard based more on his defensive ability and rebounding. But in each of the other five losses the opponent big men feasted with most producing double-double efforts or coming close.

Let’s dive into those results:

Jazz – Rudy Gobert:

Stat line: 12 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, steal, 4 blocks.

Gobert as noted is a bit of an outlier because his scoring wasn’t the issue as much as his defensive effort. His ability to block the paint and rebound affected the Thunder ability to score in the paint

Magic – Nikola Vucevic:

Stat line: 28 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists shooting 75 percent from deep

Vucevic like many on this list produced a double-double and was a difficult defensive cover, especially given his ability to stretch the court as he shot 75 percent from deep. Although the Magic have lost core contributors as long as they have a player of Vucevic’s ilk who can stretch the floor and run the offense they’ll be a dangerous club.

Pelicans – Steven Adams:

Stat line: 14 points, 10 rebounds (six on offensive glass), 2 assists, steal, block.

Adams’ ability to control the offensive glass became an issue for the Thunder as the Pelicans got repeated second-chance scoring opportunities. Although the Thunder won the second meeting between the clubs Adams registered his first career triple-double effort with 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.

This again punctuates how opponent bigs with playmaking ability cause issues for the Thunder. In this latter situation, it worked to the benefit of the Thunder because undoubtedly the preference was to have Adams running the offense as opposed to Brandon Ingram.

Heat – Bam Adebayo and Kelly Olynyk:

Stat line (Adebayo):  20 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists

Stat line (Olynyk): 19 points, 8 rebounds, and five 3-pointers.

The Heat served up the double whammy with Adebayo doing it all as per typical but factoring in Canadian Olynyk created major issues for OKC.

Olynyk was initially a point guard when he got into playing basketball so his ability to run the offense while also stretching the floor is an added bonus for Miami. While his growth spurt in high school moved him up to the frontcourt he retained his guard abilities. In this loss,  the Thunder witnessed Olynyk literally take over the game. Miami went on a 20-0 run in this match with Olynyk scoring 11 points in a five minute In a three minute stretch of this scoring outburst including thee 3-pointers.

Spurs – LaMarcus Aldridge:

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Stat line: 13 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists. steal 2 blocks

While Aldridge isn’t the “typical” new era big man his abilities are no less impressive because of his ability to be the playmaker for the Spurs as his six assists highlight.

Lakers – Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Montrezl Harrell:

Stat line:  18 points, 7 rebounds

It wasn’t a career-setting night for AD but the size of the Lakers was an issue across the board with LeBron James scoring 26 along with six rebounds and seven assists. Factor in Montrezl Harrell also feasted with 21 points off the bench.

This situation is a little different than the other teams given their overall size causes issues. James is the defacto point guard but looks more like an NFL tight end but his abilities are no less difficult to contend with.

As the team prepares to play the Denver Nuggets this evening they face arguably the most unique of all the centers – Nikola Jokic. The moral of this situation moving forward is the OKC Thunder have made the right decision to focus on a strategy of positionless ball. Yet, for the team to be successful in the future the hope is Darius Bazley, Isaiah Roby, and Aleksej Pokusevski will grow and develop into two-way talents.

And, perhaps more notably, that Sam Presti will utilize some of the potential 18 first-round picks to bolster the OKC Thunder frontcourt.