Thunder 30th on assists out of the center spot, 16th from SF, 9th from SG, 11th from PG. A bit more from inside would help- if they had bigger 3 point shooters to finish the play.

Crow :justin, block rate when shown as .022 for example is per possession faced; block % is % of total opponent 2 point shots a guy blocked in a game.

thanks for the correction Crow . . .

Durant got to the line a lot more without Green out there but he also shot noticeably worse .

There was a clearer case that Swift and Petro and even Collison clogged and harmed Durant’s stats.

So maybe the KD-NK issue is more about defense or the impact on the rest of the offense.

Steve H :
@Vince
KD is going to get a max contract along the lines of what CP3 is earning, but we should be able to retain Green and Westbrook for considerably less than that. I don’t think our small market team can afford to add max contract guys like Bosh or Amare, but adding a contract the size of Okafor’s doesn’t put us anywhere near the 70-70 mill you project.

KD’s going to get ~$15M. Westbrook and Green in the neighborhood of $10M each (if we assume they develop enough that we’re looking for the “Missing piece”). Thabo’s getting $4M. If you add, say Okafor, to that, you’re looking at $50M for those 5 with 8-10 players left. Harden is worth at least $5M after his rookie deal, and big men don’t come cheap. It’s almost impossible to keep the total number at $60M if you’ve committed $50M to 5 players.

Krstic as mid-range shooter could “clog” the path to the basket in a way- if he is set up on the ball side when Durant or Westbrook drive But does he do that much or does he use the other side? maybe still clogs a biteven if he is on the other side- not too far to move to get in the path of the driver, unless he sets up really wide.

Bigs that camp right on the baseline clog the basket but often guys still get to the basket and get the shot off or get fouled. If the defender can sluff off a big in the mid-range zone they may prevent the driver from getting anywhere near the basket and at only the risk of giving up a mid-range shot by their man instead of a point blank shot when they leave their guy camped near the basket.

Thabo-JG, what is the problem? Maybe the combo of Thabo’s offense and Green’s defense overpowers the opposites? Or maybe it is just early bad luck / chance.

Durant-Krstic might be too much long jump shooting or too much non- strength on defense. Other combos may cover for these guys better one at a time.