5 Ways Oklahoma City Thunder Will Have to Adjust Without Kevin Durant
The fact that Kevin Durant was just named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player suggests that the Oklahoma City Thunder are in for a rough patch during his two-month-or-so absence. But OKC is fortunate enough to have Russell Westbrook waiting in the wings to lead the team as well as a strong defense anchored by Serge Ibaka’s elite rim protection.
Of course, it’s going to be a major challenge for the team and the coaching staff, but there is enough talent on the roster to tread water until Durant gets back. It’s just a matter of making the right adjustments while he’s out.
Roles are going to change, and this will be head coach Scott Brooks’ toughest challenge to date. He needs to be flexible and willing to make changes on the fly—something that has been a weakness of his in the past. But he's not alone in this voyage. To help him and the Thunder stay afloat, here are five of the biggest adjustments OKC has to make to survive without Kevin Durant.
Start Steven Adams Instead of Kendrick Perkins
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This adjustment may have been coming prior to Durant’s Jones fracture anyway, but Coach Brooks made a point of calling the center spot an open competition at Thunder media day, according to Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman.
If it was actually open at that point, the terrific preseason play of Steven Adams gave him a strong advantage, and Durant’s injury has ended the debate.
With Durant carrying an otherworldly offensive load, there was at least some value in starting Kendrick Perkins to maintain continuity, set a physical tone and let Adams' energy abound off the bench. But the Thunder have to make up for Durant’s scoring brilliance, and they can no longer afford to start an offensive non-factor at center (see: Perkins, Kendrick).
Even in his rookie year, Adams showed far more awareness and skill than Perkins as an offensive player. His athleticism helped him keep up with OKC’s athletes in transition, and he had a soft touch around the hoop.
But Adams has made strides offensively over the offseason. The New Zealander has averaged 12.7 points per game in the preseason on 68 percent shooting, and those improvements have not gone unnoticed by his teammates.
Russell Westbrook talked to The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater about Adams’ growth and its importance to the OKC offense:
"I thought he made a leap last year in the playoffs. I think that’s when the leap started. If you kind of watch the games and see the different things he was doing in the playoffs, you could tell it was going to lead into the summertime and now into the preseason and now to the regular season.
Two bigs that can score inside and out is very important, I think, for any team. That's a great thing that we have going for ourselves right now.
"
Adams is the better center anyway, but his offensive production makes the starting decision an easy one for Coach Brooks.
Russell Westbrook Needs to Grow
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In his first media appearance since undergoing surgery, Durant made it clear that he didn’t want Russell Westbrook to alter his playing style, via Royce Young of ESPN.com: "Nothing has to change. Just stay who he is and continue to play the way he plays, and everybody is going to follow. He's going to do a great job. I'm not worried about Russ."
That’s a tremendously nice thing to say, and in some respects he’s correct. Westbrook needs to maintain his unrivaled aggressiveness and keep playing with the confidence and emotion that has brought him this far.
But he also needs to make some significant changes. He doesn’t have Kevin Durant by his side right now. He can’t have too many of those 4-for-19 shooting nights. As the best shot-creator (both for himself and for others) on the team, he needs to get others involved in the offense. The ball can’t stick in his hands for 15 seconds at a time.
This isn’t about Westbrook conforming to the historical conception of what a point guard “should be.” We’ve already established that Westbrook is a point guard only by title. He’s a ball player, and he’s one of the best this league has to offer. But he’s also “The Guy” on a Thunder team that will live and die by his performances.
For the first time in his career, defenses will be completely focused on stopping him without having to worry about also containing the best scorer in the NBA. He needs to find more efficient ways to score the ball (like attacking the rim, getting to the foul line and increasing his workload in the low post whenever it’s favorable).
Westbrook’s stat lines have always been ridiculous, but his critics have always pointed to his relative inefficiency and turnovers as the major holes in his game. As the leading man, this is his chance to prove those critics wrong.
Anthony Morrow Needs Big Minutes
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It’s bad enough that OKC is missing its best scorer, but the team has also lost its best returning three-point shooter. The Thunder needed more shooting last year anyway (which led to the signing of Anthony Morrow), but Durant’s injury exacerbates the problem.
Now, Morrow will need to play a bigger role than originally imagined. Reggie Jackson is a capable perimeter shooter, and we’ve seen flashes of long-range streakiness from Westbrook, Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones, but none of them frighten opposing defenses.
It would be far more preferable to give them three-point looks than it would be to let Westbrook get to the basket, so it’s an easy choice for defenses to pack the paint and let other shooters beat them.
Thankfully, Morrow’s prolific shooting (43 percent three-point shooter for his career) changes things. He has more gravity on the basketball court, sucking defenders toward him and freeing up space for the rest of his teammates.
Morrow’s presence will be critical to lighten the load on Westbrook and Jackson, which is why he’ll need to be hovering around the 30-minute mark while Durant is out. He brings nothing to the table defensively, but his offensive contributions will be invaluable, and he’s the type of shooter who can blow games wide open when he gets in the zone.
Use Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison as Extra Three-Point Shooters
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Morrow was a nice addition, but more shooting is still needed without Durant. Improvement from Reggie Jackson and/or consistency from Jeremy Lamb could do the trick, but OKC needs to take advantage of the continuously expanding range of Serge Ibaka if possible.
Ibaka connected on 38 percent of his threes last year—a solid mark for any position. He only took 60 of them, and I’m not calling for a dramatic, Chris Bosh-like increase in his long-range attempts. But he looked comfortable shooting them, and OKC needs to manufacture spacing and easy points using every weapon at its disposal.
Likewise, Coach Brooks can’t be afraid to let Nick Collison take a few threes here and there when they’re available. Collison has never been an outside shooter (he’s only hit eight of them for his career), but he’s shown extended range in the preseason, and any “stretch” that he could contribute would be a huge bonus.
It’s not something the Thunder should be relying on or overusing by any means, but it will be problematic for some defenses (defending on the matchup) and will add another level of versatility and unpredictability to the OKC offense.
Late-Game Offense
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The more cynical/sarcastic Thunder fans will look at that title and say “what late-game offense?” They’re not wrong. Finding late buckets in close games has always been a problem for the Thunder. That’s a ridiculous sentence when you consider that they have two of the league’s top 10 scorers.
Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much in the way of schemes or set plays to make things easier for the superstars, and it’s going to be significantly worse without Durant.
But this is an opportunity for Coach Brooks to mature as a coach. The addition of Morrow gives him a legitimate knockdown shooter to draw plays for off screens. It would also be nice to see some inbounds plays that are designed to create shots instead of merely getting the ball in.
It’s unreasonable to expect Brooks to suddenly craft a beautiful offense, but any improvement in this area would be very welcome. More importantly, it will be an absolute necessity with Durant in street clothes.
