With the season a quarter of the way through the OKC Thunder and their peers are hitting the part of the schedule called the dog days of winter. From now until the All-Star break teams are just trying to keep up their spirits and stay healthy.
The latter becomes even more relevant as news hit this week that Bam Adebayo will undergo surgery on his thumb and miss four to six weeks.
Others are likely dealing with the short turnaround and the effects that have on their bodies such as Damian Lillard who’ll be out another 10 days once again because of the abdominal strain he suffered this past summer.
Devin Booker went down with a hamstring injury in the big match Tuesday between the Suns and Warriors. Ja Morant began the season on a tear and he’ll miss at least two weeks with a sprained knee.
Injuries are part and parcel of the NBA, but with the truncated offseason teams have to be even more diligent this year. Coaches, trainers, and medical staffs have to ensure players are getting treatment, rest, and not over taxed with playing time especially in back-to-back sets or three games in four nights.
The coronavirus pandemic is more under control but not completely gone particularly with the new omicron variant looming. Teams are still dealing with players contracting the virus with the biggest name being LeBron James who’ll be out 10 days unless he is able to provide two negative tests.
And of course, there is the common cold and flu which a few OKC Thunder players are currently out with (Josh Giddey, Derrick Favors).
Where OKC Thunder December schedule ranks versus peers
With all that in mind, John Schuhmann of NBA.com dove into each team’s December itinerary to determine the strength of schedule for each team by conference. Items considered are:
- Total number of games
- Road versus home games
- Number of back-to-back sets
- Rest advantage (over opponent)
- Rest disadvantage (playing the second game of back-to-back)
- Number of games versus teams over .500 (this from the 19 teams who were at the time of his report)
- Opponent win percentage (cumulative)
- Opponent offensive efficiency rating*
- Opponent defensive efficiency rating*
*The latter two categories were broken down by the top 10 and bottom 10 (the middle 10 teams are excluded). For example, under Opp O (opponent offense) for the OKC Thunder, 2-6 is noted meaning they’ll face two teams with a top 10 offense and six with a bottom 10 offense in the month of December.
First up his excerpt detailing the OKC Thunder month of December is:
"The Thunder are the only Western Conference team that hasn’t had a rest-advantage game this season. Their first two (of nine total) will be Dec. 10 vs. the Lakers and Dec. 20 at Memphis. The Thunder will also visit Phoenix twice in a seven-day span. We have two-game series now, but a homestand that includes two separate visits from the same team? That’s the case when the Thunder open and close the Suns’ four-game homestand on Dec. 23 and 29."
As for how the OKC Thunder stack up versus the competition they play 15 games in the month with eight at home and seven on the road. OKC plays three back-to-back sets and will have the rest advantage twice, but the disadvantage on three occasions.
Their opponent win percentage is 46.7 percent which is the second easiest of the teams in the Western Conference. OKC will face eight teams who currently have a record above .500 starting tonight with the Grizzlies who they will play twice this month. The other above games versus teams above .500 include two versus the Suns plus the Lakers, Clippers, Mavericks and Knicks.
Finally, they will play two games versus teams with top-10 offenses (Suns x2), three versus top-10 defenses (Suns x2 and Knicks).
On the opposite end of that spectrum, the Thunder play six bottom-10 offenses (Rockets, Pistons, Lakers, Clippers, Pelicans x2) and eight bottom-10 defenses (Pistons, Raptors, Mavericks, Kings, Grizz x2, Pels x 2).
Only the Pelicans have an easier December schedule which is interesting given they play OKC twice. That’s not necessarily the best thing for the Thunder who are vying for mediocrity as they pursue a prime position in the draft lottery.