OKC Thunder: tale of the tape in preseason opener

OKC Thunder try to play team defense in preseason game number one

The Oklahoma City Thunder are projected to finish last in the Western Conference, and one of the worst teams in the entire National Basketball Association. A lot of that is due to the fact the team has one of the youngest rosters we have ever seen.

Young NBA players struggle to play defense, their bodies are not mature enough, they are not skilled enough, they do not understand the tips and tricks yet, to stop high-level grown men in this league. That problem gets compounded as the OKC Thunder want to play small-ball being undersized on the floor and young can result in more than a few busted coverages and fouls.

The first thing about this takeaway is, I am trying to analyze the defense without knowing how much effort OKC Thunder players are truly giving in a preseason game, and also just using my basketball knowledge to guess at who has which assignment.

Mark Daigneault has been a stellar defensive coach at each stop, a year ago you saw him raise the defensive level on every player on the OKC Thunder roster. He understands the small-ball faults and is trying to counter them by playing team defense.

Isaiah Roby in the starting group mainly played drop coverage as the Hornets ran a ton of pick-and-roll actions for LaMelo. The problem is the Hornets are playing a five-out offense, leaving no one in the paint as the action starts.

Melo takes the screen and begins to drive. Ball is a fancy ball handler, elite passer, and a nice finisher, so as Roby plays drop coverage (not hedging on the screen and running Ball off the three-point line, but rather setting back in the paint)  and is staring down the barrel of a one-on-on scenario with Ball coming downhill, Darius Bazley begins to rotate down behind Roby toward the restricted area, leaving a corner shooter open.

With SGA on his hip, Roby in front, and Bazley sinking off the corner, Ball goes into the air prematurely, Bazley understands Ball has taken off at the Elbow and does not have a shot with Roby in front of him so he races back to the corner and intercepts a no-look LaMelo Ball pass. That sparks a 3-on-1 fastbreak Bazley-to-Roby-Roby-to-Giddey for a Layup.

That is the picture-perfect example of the benefit of having a small, but extremely long and athletic lineup. Everyone else stayed home, Bazley is the only one to sag off so he knows the pass is coming his way, and he almost baited Ball into this mistake like a safety baiting a quarterback in football.

The Hornets come back down the floor, starting with LaMelo Ball off-ball they run a meaningless pick-and-pop and a dribble handoff gets the ball back to Ball who immediately gets a screen while receiving the ball freeing LaMelo from the Thunder’s top defender, Lu Dort.

Ball turns the corner and again has a one-on-one matchup in the paint with Isaiah Roby. Giddey, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Darius Bazley had to stay home on their men, so they are in no man’s land giving Ball a lane to challenge Roby at the cup and he finishes high off the glass.

If OKC was playing drop coverage with a more traditional center and not a 6’8 wing, would Ball still finish this heavily contested look? Who knows. The beautiful thing about Roby is he will at least stay in front and contest shots. Even against Nikola Jokic last year, while Jokic continued to score over him, with each shot Roby got a hand in his face to disrupt it.

Sure, it might end in a bucket, but sometimes it is a monstrous block by Roby a few plays later on LaMelo Ball.

At times the team concept lead to easy buckets, and the young players looked lost. However, putting lineups on the floor that allows you to switch everything, like when Bazley is at the five, and relying on the team’s length and speed is one of their few advantages on that end of the floor. Trying to bait highly skilled NBA players is a dangerous game, but so is playing a 6’8 center without any other wrinkles. The team even played zone for portions of this game which will be a regular sight this season.

Roby’s replacement, a 6’9 small-ball five, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl entered the game and you could tell was shocked by the pace of the game at first. That led to four quick fouls before the rookie settled in. After getting those fouls out of the way, JRE was great defensively in his debut, hopefully, Sunday of course, it does not take four fouls for him to settle in.

At times this will be fun, fast, aggressive defense. In some games, the OKC Thunder will be noticeably small, lost on rotations, and be scored on at will. It is all part of the process and development of young players. Playing drop coverage was the plan against the Hornets and not just LaMelo Ball. That will likely be the plan against the Bucks as well when Giannis has the ball (if he makes his preseason debut on Sunday in front of the home faithful, after his first practice on Wednesday, the Bucks play on Friday as well, but on the road against the Nets).