While the OKC Thunder are at the forefront of new trends with an emphasis on positionless basketball there are other areas the team needs to improve.
Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti didn’t tip his toe in the water when he decided it was time for a rebuild. Rather he went full bore into this process.
Every veteran on the team was traded or allowed to walk. That meant trades for core producers Chris Paul, Steven Adams, Dennis Schroder, and Danilo Gallinari. It also meant waving goodbye to Andre Roberson, Nerlens Noel, Terrance Ferguson, and Nerlens Noel.
Some players who were parceled back in trades for the players noted above didn’t even get measured for jerseys as they were quickly packaged and jettisoned out in other trades.
All the moves were done with the primary view to add first-round draft picks. Also, young players who hadn’t stuck with their prior clubs were added with a view to giving them a second chance. Additionally, a trio of veterans (Al Horford, George Hill, Trevor Ariza) were part of deals presumably with the intention to trade them later and to have quality leadership voices in the room while they were in OKC.
Pondering the OKC Thunder perimeter problem
While the team grows in the new positionless system there is one specific area they are struggling with. That would be perimeter efficiency.
The concern here is they could get much worse in this area before they grow into being a strong 3-point shooting squad.
That’s because the two players leading the way as the most efficient on the squad are Al Horford and George Hill. They also happen to be the oldest (both 34) as well as the most likely to get traded at the deadline.
| Rk | Age | G | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% ▼ | PTS/G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Al Horford | 34 | 11 | 27.0 | 5.0 | 11.4 | .440 | 2.3 | 5.5 | .410 | 12.5 |
| 2 | George Hill | 34 | 14 | 26.4 | 4.4 | 8.6 | .508 | 1.6 | 4.1 | .386 | 11.8 |
| 3 | Luguentz Dort | 21 | 18 | 29.1 | 4.4 | 9.9 | .441 | 2.2 | 5.8 | .381 | 12.7 |
| 4 | Théo Maledon | 19 | 18 | 21.2 | 2.7 | 6.6 | .412 | 1.4 | 3.8 | .377 | 7.3 |
| 5 | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 22 | 18 | 33.6 | 7.6 | 14.9 | .511 | 1.7 | 4.6 | .373 | 21.9 |
| 6 | Mike Muscala | 29 | 17 | 17.9 | 3.2 | 7.3 | .435 | 2.1 | 5.5 | .372 | 9.1 |
| 7 | Isaiah Roby | 22 | 15 | 19.8 | 3.3 | 6.1 | .543 | 0.5 | 1.6 | .333 | 8.5 |
| 8 | Kenrich Williams | 26 | 18 | 12.1 | 1.3 | 2.8 | .451 | 0.3 | 0.8 | .333 | 3.3 |
| 9 | Hamidou Diallo | 22 | 18 | 20.3 | 4.3 | 8.3 | .523 | 0.3 | 1.1 | .300 | 11.5 |
| 10 | Darius Bazley | 20 | 18 | 29.6 | 4.1 | 10.3 | .400 | 1.4 | 5.1 | .286 | 10.9 |
| 11 | Darius Miller | 30 | 3 | 4.7 | 0.3 | 1.7 | .200 | 0.3 | 1.7 | .200 | 1.0 |
| 12 | Aleksej Pokusevski | 19 | 16 | 17.3 | 1.4 | 5.6 | .247 | 0.6 | 3.4 | .185 | 3.4 |
| 13 | Justin Jackson | 25 | 8 | 11.5 | 1.8 | 4.3 | .412 | 0.4 | 2.3 | .167 | 4.9 |
| 14 | Josh Hall | 20 | 6 | 7.3 | 0.7 | 3.0 | .222 | 0.2 | 1.3 | .125 | 2.0 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/30/2021.
The good part of the equation is the trio of youngsters directly behind these vets are Luguentz Dort, Theo Maledon, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
That’s significant for multiple reasons. Last season in the playoffs the Rockets figured out Dort hadn’t mastered his 3-point shot yet and began sagging off him to use the second defender to provide double coverage on players like SGA, Chris Paul, or Gallinari.
Not surprisingly the same way Dort takes to defending he took to improve his shot from deep and for much of this early season actually sat atop the list for best 3-point percentage on the team.
The significance of his growth in this area isn’t just tied to the 38.1 percent efficiency. Rather, it’s also in the number of attempts he takes. Last season Dort shot 29.7 percent on 2.8 attempts per game. This season he’s taking 5.8 shots from deep per game.
That the rookie Maledon is performing so well is a bonus at this stage. We’ll see how he’s affected once opponents game plan for him. The fact he played with pro’s in the Euro League probably doesn’t shift his numbers much.
His goal should be to push for a starting role once George Hill is inevitably traded. This week he got the nod with Hill out and made the best of those minutes. He started in three games improving in each outing and the Thunder won two of those matches.
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His point total increased in each outing with six, 11, and 24 points versus the Blazers, Suns, and Nets respectively. In those same games, he shot 2 of 5, 3 of 6, and 6 of 6 from deep. The latter being a bit of an indictment on the Nets’ porous defense but the rookie still had to hit the shots.
The other positive is Gilgeous-Alexander who has improved from 34.7 percent on 3.6 attempts last season to 37.3 percent on 4.6 attempts this season. SGA’s brilliance lies in his ability to drive the ball and get to the line. However, that part of his game only becomes more difficult to guard if he improves his 3-point shooting.
The issue of course for the Thunder is they are not a good perimeter shooting team. These five Thunder players (plus Mike Muscala) are the only players shooting about the desired efficiency mark of 36 percent.
The Thunder ranks 27th in the league and if Hill and or Horford are traded it’s conceivable they’ll fall even further down the list.
In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t mean much other than Presti will eventually need to add some prospects or young assets who can shoot. In a positionless offense, the benefit will be having players who all can hit from deep or drive the paint.
In the interim, we’ll just have to put up with some of those air-balled 3-pointers as the youngsters on the team expand their game. The other very real option is to hook up all the players struggling to hit from distance with whoever Lu Dort used this offseason.
While that’s a bit of a jest, it wouldn’t hurt the club to add a shooting coach to the team so the young players can perfect their form and mindset as they look to become better perimeter shooters.