The OKC Thunder look VERY different...

The Oklahoma City Thunder just had a very frustrating last two days. Traveling up to Portland, dropping both games of a back-to-back by a combined 30 points, and it serves as a sobering reminder for this team. Five and four in your last nine since the catastrophic injuries of J-Dub and Kason Wallace. No Chet Holmgren in that span either. The injuries piling up, and inherently, despite the willpower, despite the togetherness, despite having the back-to-back MVP, Shea Gildas-Alexander, The traits surrounding. Thunder basketball have changed this season and it's been a polarizing topic in our comment section in our live chats on our watch alongs lately which have been completely popping off thanks to you guys and all your support but it's been a polarizing discussion as to why the Thunder have changed as much as they have why Shea is looking different this season and I went into some deep analytics here that I'm going to provide for you guys today into just how all these injuries I have changed the mindset of the Thunder and how they are struggling and how they are getting beat over these last nine games. Welcome into Thunder Digest and today, another interesting topic of discussion for the Thunder They've had all, obviously their season expectations changed very drastically. Now, am I going to sit here and say that this team no longer has a chance to accomplish the things that it wants to? No, I am not. But what I am saying is that the question that is circulating around the NBA right now of is OKC in trouble? I understand the question, we're going to address it here today, the new reality that did present itself yet again for OKC. You look at the Thunder in their last nine games since they lost J-Dub and Kason, and they have changed, obviously. So how have they changed exactly? It starts with the man at the front of everything, Shea Gildas Alexander, who has actually changed his game quite significantly this season, and to go into some of that talk of... What is he doing differently? Well, I'm going to start right now by telling you that he's getting away from his bread and butter so far this year. His efficiency numbers are way down when you compare them to last season. You look at him as one of the best percentage, best efficiency players the NBA has ever seen last year off the charts as such a high volume shooter. He was just absolutely ridiculous. But then this year you see the middle column, a true shooting percentage. All of the efficiencies, you're going to see just how much they have changed this year. He's having his least efficient year of his career. Let's dive into why, but first, here's a word from our sponsor, Anson Belt and Buckle. Being a Thunder fan, this season especially is stressful enough. The last thing that you need is an uncomfortable belt to make things worse. Thankfully, today's sponsor, Anson Belt and Buckle, has got you covered with a belt that adjusts perfectly through every game day moment. Instead of holes, Anson's going to use a micro-adjustable track system that will adjust in quarter-inch increments to fit you perfectly, just like mine do, every single time. And once you experience that kind of fit and that kind of comfort, trust me, you'll never want to go back to a regular belt ever again. I've been wearing mine non-stop with every outfit for every occasion, and it's the best set of belts that I've ever owned. I will never go back to any other belt other than Anson ever again. And if you're wondering why you should trust them, it's a company that is still family-owned and operated to this day with over 40,000 five-star reviews, just like this one right here. They stand behind every product that they make, and once you get one, you will see exactly why. And since Anson is sponsoring today's video, when you click the link in the description or down in the comments, or if you use this QR code right here on screen, you'll get two bonus pieces, a buckle and a strap completely for free. That's three total buckles. So the narrative that's circulating throughout the Thunder community is that Shea is playing way too much off-ball when he has such little ball-handling help around him. Especially with A.J. Mitchell also being out alongside Case and alongside J-Dub, alongside Chet, who can be a ball-handling big when you need him to be. Well, percentage-wise, his on-ball percentage in terms of share of team possession time with the ball is pretty much on par for what it has always been. But the way that he is keeping the ball in his hands... is so dramatically different than it's ever been before. We're seeing much more off-the-catch shooting. We're seeing much more perimeter shooting this year. You see that he's averaging 6.73s a game this season, and he's shooting them at a 33% clip. That is simultaneously the most three-point attempts that he's averaged per game in a season in his career, and his lowest three-point shooting efficiency that he's ever had in his career as well. And to kind of go along with that as well, He's getting away from the things that have been routine for him so far in his dominant career. You look at his attempts from inside the paint, getting to the rim, which is within one to three feet of the basket, and Shea was a guy that would feast on five and a half to six rim touches, shot attempts per game. This year, it's nearly cut in half. He's at 3.8 shot attempts at the rim this season, and you also see that his percentages on his short mid-range game. has gone down as well. Shea, a guy that has typically shot between 50-60% at the rim and in the short midrange, which is from 4-10 feet out, well he's only at 64% at the rim, which is down from his 71% last year, and he's at 43.2% from the short midrange this year, that's down 10% from the year before as well. What he's settling for is the long threes, but then also the long twos, which you would say that in this current age of the game, one of the more inefficient shots you can take in terms of difficulty and payoff. And Shea, in that 10 to 22 foot range, he is taking 5.6 deep mid-range shots per game, which is up nearly two attempts a game, and his percentage on them is down nearly 7%. So simply, when Shea is touching the basketball, He is doing it and getting to spots that have been far less efficient for him in his career. And even when he does get to the spots that he wants to, he's not making the looks nearly as often. So why is that the case? Well, you're seeing a cause and effect here of teams understanding that the Thunder are inherently different. You have Shea seeing playoff-esque double teams in the regular season now because teams... Well, A, you look at the scout... Of what teams did in the playoffs against the Thunder last year that helped kind of keep Shea out of a rhythm and took him out of games. And teams are able to do that night in and night out now. A, if you have good enough defense like the Trailblazers do. And B, understanding the Thunder don't have much help to relieve Shea when it comes to just double teaming him and taking him out. Typically, the cause and effect of that would be if we're going to double team Shea, we're going to leave one of the Thunder's other terrific... On-ball players or off-ball shooters open, and that's going to kill us. Well, the Thunder don't have a lot of those reinforcements right now, so sending that second defender or even that third defender is so much less of a threat now than it ever has been before for OKC, and you get Shea out of rhythm, and that's what gets him to these slow starts. That's what helps him have these bad quarters. For other teams to be able to kind of run away with these games like they did up in Portland. So Shea, simply to put, he must attack the rim more often. Even if it is a path of most resistance, Shea has to get downhill. There is no ifs, ands, or buts about it. And he also can't be seen as a late possession shot clock bailout either, where he's camping out off ball, he gets a touch, and immediately he goes into a step back three. He goes into contested mid-range. That's not what he's supposed to do. Shea is a maestro in space. And he has not been able to be used that way. Really, at all so far this season, both schematically and mentality-wise for himself, and when he does get doubled, the Thunder role players around him must help him out. So, that's part one of what the Thunder have going on differently so far this year as opposed to last year, and the three-point shooting absolutely swings the results for OKC. There is no question at all about it. The Thunder are, I mean, it is so drastic when you look at what they've done well, when they have won the games. And what they have done poorly in the games that they have lost. Three-point shooting has been pretty much hand-in-hand along with that. You look at the Thunder's three-point shooting. In wins this season, they're shooting 37%. And in losses this season, they're shooting 27.9%. So obviously, in the games that you lose, it's because simply your role players did not show up that night. And they did not help you be able to stretch out and stress a defense that is clamping down on Shea Gildas-Alexander. And that's exactly what Portland was able to do to OKC. And the Thunder shot 8 of 22 in Game 1 and 11 of 36 in Game 3. Volume and accuracy, obviously they don't go hand-in-hand necessarily. And if you do one well but not the other... You may have a tough night against a Trailblazers team especially who absolutely cooked you from distance and that goes into the final part of this video here today. The Thunder and their defensive mentality of not guarding the three-point line quite as strictly it is coming back to bite them here this season. A team that has been at the top at the absolute precipice. Of team defense and analytics throughout the course of the season, their defensive rating is the fourth best in the NBA when it has been far and away the first best throughout each of the last three years. And a lot of what teams are doing is just completely overwhelming them from the three-point line where you understand Case and Walker, your best on-ball perimeter defender, is out. A.J. Mitchell, who is another fantastic perimeter on-ball defender, he's not playing. J-Dub, a big, versatile, athletic, Fantastic defender, also not playing. The Thunder are defending the most three-point attempts per game this season, and they're actually getting pretty lucky. Teams on wide-open looks and on three-point attempts, just whether it be contested or uncontested, are in the sub-25s in terms of their efficiency ratings, so it could be worse for OKC. If teams were knocking down even a league average amount of three-pointers, the Thunder may have an extra one or two losses so far this season. Instead of being eight and four, you'd be looking at like a seven and five or, you know, hopefully, God forbid, a six and six. So the defensive rating is down. Your steals per game is down. The opposing field goal percentage is still the best in the league because of those misses on the open looks, but it's been now to a point where I question whether the Thunder can continue their philosophy defensively. Mark Dagnall obviously saying, we're going to trust our athleticism to close out on the perimeter. The Thunder have not been able to do that this season because of the limited personnel that you have. So I would say being this vulnerable from distance, not having your Your full set of reinforcements. Do you consider maybe temporarily adapting your schematics to try to figure out how to keep teams from doing what they're doing to you? And I actually lied. I do have one more chapter in this video, and it's a quick one as we wrap this thing up. How do the Thunder survive the injury stretch? Well, this is obviously the most obscure, ridiculous injury report that any NBA teams happen to deal with. In this set of players that are out alone, You have what seems to be a destined all-star in A.J. Mitchell this year. You have a first-team all-defensive player in Cason Wallace, who led the league in steals last year. You have a reigning all-NBA-er in Chet Holmgren. And you have another all-NBA-er in J-Dub, who scored 40 points in a Finals game literally a season and a half ago. So this lineup right here, like a Thunder all-injured team, Would be like a top two seed in the Western Conference. So the Thunder having to heavily rely on A.J. Mitchell when he is healthy to help Shea Gildas-Alexander. But when he is out now, I mean, you just are so limited in the offensive capacity. And Isaiah Hartenstein was a really, really good counter. against Portland last night, giving you his best game of the year, 20 points, 11 rebounds, six assists. You're gonna need Isaiah Hartenstein to continue to step up in these roles. You have to have your role players hit open looks. You gotta close out on the perimeter, and the Thunder, with this limited set of players available, you must win the hustle stats every single game. Closing out rebounds, getting steals and takeaways, getting offensive boards. You're going to have to maximize all the things along with Shea getting back to his roots, getting closer to the basket, regardless of if it's going to be harder to do it. So let me know down below in the comments your first fix if you are in charge of the Thunder. Is it to beat the pressure on Shea in terms of having guys try to make their open looks or kind of scheme it to where he even maybe is more off ball? Do you tell him to just go attack the rim and go from there? In terms of defensive stuff, is that kind of your biggest priority right now? Let me know your thoughts. Isaiah Hartenstein said this earlier today. We have a lot of guys out. We don't want to make excuses. I think it's not an excuse. I think it's just reality when you really consider what's going on with this team. Our comment spotlight for today's video, we have two of them that I want to read as we get out of here. This one coming from Hypersports Today. Move the ball and find the shooters. Last night was the worst ball movement so far this year. Portland is way better finding the open guys. Dagenholtz should make plays for Sturtz and McCain. So, there you go. That could be one potential fix. That comes from HyperSports. Let me know if you agree with him down below. And then our second comment of the day comes from Kdub6898. I like this channel, Thunder Up. I like what Presti is doing, getting Peavy and Clifford to help on the wing. Try to cover up in the minutes that you have absent right now. Appreciate you guys so much for watching today's video. Let me know how intriguing you found all of this stuff that I presented to you guys here today. Thunder are gonna have a very unique season on their hands and the schedule certainly does get more favorable. We are gonna have more watch-alongs here on this channel going forward. So if you have not subscribed, Yet to Thunder Digest, go do so right now. And we did hit our 11K subscriber goal last night. So thank you guys so much for helping us hit that goal. Let's keep shooting it to the moon. We'll have some giveaways going forward. So be on the lookout for those as we continue to grow. And we'll see you guys next time here on Thunder Digest.