Throughout of the offseason, I will take a look at teams that most people will think are contenders and look at an area where they struggle.  I will then offer up my opinion on how their weakness can be improved on so they can take the next step…today, we are going to look at the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Last year, the Thunder were the NBA’s surprise team.  Their front office did a fantastic job of gathering young talent, but they weren’t expected to seriously compete for a playoff spot.  The Thunder were able to sneak up on a lot of people.  This year is going to be different, because teams are going to taking the Thunder seriously from the start.

To get where they want to be, the Thunder are going to need to improve on the offensive end.  Using SynergySports you see that the Thunder’s weakest offensive option is the pick and roll.  According to Synergy, the Thunder only had .80 points per possession on possession considered “Pick and Roll Ball – Handler,” which was good for 22nd in the league.  As for possession considered “Pick and Roll – Roll Man,” the Thunder only scored .97 points per possession, ranking them 24th in the NBA.

Why Wasn’t It Successful?

Poor Shooting Ball Handler

Russell Westbrook is a fantastic point guard when he is getting to the rim, however he isn’t the best shooter.  From 10-15 feet Westbrook shot just 33.9%, and from 16-23 feet Westbrook shot 37%.  Those areas on the court are important during this discussion because that is where most point guards get their shots in the pick and roll, and Westbrook was the Thunder’s primary ball handler in the pick and roll (he had 513 of team’s 1049 PNR ball handler possessions).

During the season, teams got smart when defending Westbrook and the pick and roll:

Teams would just go under the screen when Westbrook was handling the ball, preventing the drive to the lane and basically begging him to shoot.  More often than not Westbrook would comply, and miss.

Lack Of A Scoring Threat On The Roll

In my opinion, Nick Collison is the Thunder’s best screen setter.  The problem is that when he gets the basketball on the roll, he is undersized as a power forward and that prevents him from finishing at the rim effectively, with bigs defending the rim:

On this specific instance, Eric Maynor does a fantastic job getting to the rim off the screen and forcing the defense to commit to him.  He then finds Nick Collison, but it is hard for him to finish because of the larger defender at the rim.

How The Thunder Can Improve

Russell Westbrook Needs To Let The Roll Develop

One of Russell Westbrook’s biggest problem when playing the screen and roll is that he plays right into the defense’s hands.  Instead of letting the PNR develop and trying to find the open roll man, he seems to rush jumpers:

We already talked about how poor of a shooter Westbrook is. He makes it worse when he takes a rushed off-balanced jumper. On this possession, Westbrook doesn’t even wait to see if the roll man is open before rushing the jumper. The result here is an airball.

If Westbrook waits and lets the roll develop, at the very least he forces the defense to rotate and that opens things up for the Thunder.

Use Kevin Durant More

Kevin Durant was the league’s scoring leader, and next year teams are going to be loading up on him.  Using Durant in the pick and roll will not only help the Thunder improve their PNR offense, but it will help Durant get more good looks at the basket:

Durant is a good enough shooter where teams will have to load up on him when he comes off of the screen.  He is also tall enough to find the open roll man when teams overload to defend him.

A Better Screen Man

This is where I think Cole Aldrich is going to come in and help the Thunder right away.  He is a guy who knows how to set a screen, and he is big and strong enough to finish at the rim, even with defenders in the area.  A true threat on the roll will open up dribbling lanes and shooting areas for the ball handler on the pick and roll.