Biggest Adjustments OKC Thunder Must Make This Coming Season
The Oklahoma City Thunder have made some under-the-radar personnel moves this offseason, but they must look within to get back to the NBA’s biggest stage.
That OKC was so close to the NBA Finals last year is more indicative of the unnatural talent of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook;there are many things that can be improved. The three most important possible adjustments are explored here.
It starts with finding ways to be more efficient from beyond the arc, but fielding more lineup flexibility and getting rest for the stars are also atop the “to do list” of head coach Scott Brooks.
Get Better From the Three-Point Line
The Thunder were a middle-of-the-pack team from beyond the arc last year, knocking down 36.1 percent of their threes—a mark that was good for 14th-best in the NBA. The lack of outside shooting was a noticeable problem in the playoffs, and it limited the efficiency of the OKC offense.
More significantly, OKC was the third-worst team in the league when it came to the corner three according to the NBA.com stats page.
General manager Sam Presti has already taken a big step to improving that category by signing sharpshooter Anthony Morrow. But the change needs to extend beyond that one roster move. The other players on the roster must become better perimeter shooters.
For Russell Westbrook, that means taking fewer than the 4.7 threes per game he attempted last season. For Jeremy Lamb, it means becoming more consistent as opposed to what we saw over the course of last year:
For Kevin Durant, improvement must come in the form of drawing up easier shots. It’s on Coach Brooks to scheme ways to free the game’s best scorer for open threes.
OKC needs to take some pressure off their dynamic duo, and improving from downtown is a great way to do that.
More Lineup Flexibility
Coach Brooks’ stubbornness when it comes to his lineups and rotation has been a source of criticism over the years. To his credit, Brooks showed growth in that regard last season, but there is still room for more lineup flexibility.
For example, he can toy with Kendrick Perkins’ minutes depending on the opponent. Perkins has been a lightning rod for criticism, but the reality is that he is still a very valuable role player…against the right team. Against those with legitimate post-up big men (like Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard, etc.), Perkins’ defense and toughness are invaluable.
Against most other teams, however, Perkins slows down the offense and his skills are wasted on defense without any dangerous big men to guard. We saw Brook start to sit Perkins against the Miami Heat, but he needs to expand those experiments to maximize the Thunder’s chance of winning more games and to give the younger backup big men (Steven Adams and Mitch McGary) some valuable playing time.
Along the same lines, Brooks needs to give some of the younger players more opportunities in meaningful situations, even if it means a few more losses. OKC needs Jeremy Lamb to be a reliable bench option at the very least for a finals run, but Lamb will never be ready if he doesn’t get the necessary minutes in the regular season.
Brooks showed growth in 2013-14, but he needs to continue to develop as a coach and test different lineup combinations and rotation patterns so they’re not a surprise for the Thunder if they pop up in the playoffs.
Rest Durant and Westbrook
This is another case where the “What Would Pop Do?” mantra leads you to the correct answer. No Spurs player averaged more than 30 minutes per game last year, and all of their key players were fresher as a result.
Obviously, Brooks can’t slash the pair’s minutes to that extent, but strategic rest would go a long way for this team.
Russell Westbrook has dealt with injuries in each of the last two seasons, and making sure he stays healthy is of primary importance for OKC this year.
With Westbrook missing so much time last year, Durant had to take on an ungodly workload. Of course, he put together an MVP season, but there were multiple instances in the playoffs where he looked tired. Durant is one of only four players (with Blake Griffin narrowly missing the cut) to play more than 11,000 minutes over the last four seasons:
| Kevin Durant | 11,825 | |
| Monta Ellis | 11,446 | |
| LeBron James | 11,168 | |
| DeMar DeRozan | 11,087 |
Adding in playoff and international minutes puts Durant and LeBron James clearly ahead of the rest of the league in terms of minutes played. It’s no coincidence that both faded down the stretch. It’s also no coincidence that Durant pulled out of representing Team USA, citing physical and mental exhaustion:
As was discussed previously, resting the stars will give the younger depth on the roster more chances to develop over the regular season, but that’s merely an added bonus. This team will go as far as Durant and Westbrook can carry it, and both players need to be fully healthy and well-rested by the time the playoffs roll around.
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