Power Rankings week 9: OKC Thunder suffer road woes

A tough week for the OKC Thunder who continued their road trip suffering losses to the Hawks, Grizzlies, and Cavaliers.  Their record is now 11-15.

The Thunder have fallen off in the offensive department ranking 22nd while they slightly improved to 17th on defense. Their net differential rating is 23rd and they run the fifth fastest pace.

Where National sites seed OKC Thunder in week 9 power rankings

OKC Thunder power ranking – NBA.com:

Leave it to the statsmaster to use analytical data and prose to simultaneously dish some shade and a compliment all in one.

The target is Josh Giddey who he notes could be playing YMCA pick-up then cites his creative dime-dishing brilliance. There’s also a segment on the third-quarter differential for the Thunder.

Schuhmann ranks the team 23rd this week with a portion of his OKC Thunder excerpt below and to see the full exerpt plus his full rankings click here.

"Giddey can be a little careless with the ball (he’s a candidate for the “Player who looks most like he’s playing pick-up at the YMCA” award), his turnover ratio (13.7 per 100 possessions used) is the seventh highest among 103 players with a usage rate of 20% or higher, he still doesn’t shoot very well in the paint (51.5%) or outside it (3-for-18 from mid-range, 30.1% from 3), and he probably needs to be more engaged defensively. But the flashes of offensive brilliance are there almost every night, and a 6-foot-8 guard who can pass like that (and who’s willing to rebound) can be a serious weapon once he cleans up the turnovers and becomes somewhat of a threat to shoot."

ESPN Panel:

Every year ESPN comprises a panel of writers who offer up the excerpts on the teams and vote on where the teams rank weekly. The panel this season is comprised of Kendra Andrews, Tim Bontemps, Jamal Collier, Nick Friedell, Andrew Lopez, and Kevin Pelton.

For the second time in as many weeks, the panel drops the OKC Thunder down one spot to 25th.

"Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has played in 25 games for the Thunder this season. He has been the leading scorer in 23 of them, including tying his career high with 42 points on Monday against Dallas. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 10.1 free throws per game, joining Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic as the only players averaging double-digit attempts. In his past 10 games, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging a whopping 13.5 attempts from the stripe, and he’s making 12.9 (95.6 FT%) a game. — Lopez"

For the full ESPN preseason listing, click here.

CBS Sports

In week nine the OKC Thunder take a hit from CBS writer Colin Ward-Heninger who drops them four spots to 27th based on the three losses and waning offense.

To view his entire week five power rankings, click here.

"OKC lost games to the Cavs, Mavs and Heat this week, as the recently potent offense took a bit of a dip. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaged over 30 points for the week, as usual, but he made only 29 percent of his 3-point attempts. Josh Giddey put up 16.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game, while rookie Jalen Williams seems to be hitting his stride, averaging 14 points this week on 62 percent shooting."

Bleacher Report

Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report addresses each team past the two-month mark. Per usual Bailey has great things to say about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and serves up a jaw-dropping stat while ranking the OKC Thunder 24th to this point in the season.

His excerpt follows and you can view the entire article by clicking here.

"A four-game losing streak has the Oklahoma City Thunder further below .500 than they’d been at any point this season, but nothing is slowing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander down on an individual level.After going for 27 points in Wednesday’s loss to the Miami Heat, Gilgeous-Alexander has now eclipsed 25 points in 21 of his 26 games. He’s got 20 or over on 24 occasions.And that remarkable consistency has SGA over 30 points per game while shooting over 50 percent from the field. Prior to this season, only 13 players in league history had eclipsed both marks over a full season."

Weekly Power Rankings:

For those that want to see how the OKC Thunder have progressed this season or to look back at a specific week, the following offers the links breaking down where the OKC Thunder ranked each week…

Week one: click here 

Week two: click here

Week three: click here

Week four: click here

Week five: click here

Week six: click here

Week seven: click here

Week eight: click here

Up next…

The road trip finishes at the start of week 10 and launches into a season-high seven-game home stand at Paycom Center. They’ll begin by hosting the Heat, Timberwolves, and Grizzlies next week and continue into the following week running right through the holidays.