Four Takeaways from the first quarter of the Oklahoma City Thunder's season
The Thunder have started brightly and are top of the Western Conference
The Thunder are in an excellent position at the first quarter mark but it has not been an easy ride. It has been much harder than I think many anticipated and a large part of difficulty relates to injuries. OKC started the season with Isaiah Hartenstein in street clothes.
Chet Holmgren was like a house on fire and played with such an energy that Hartenstein’s absence was not keenly felt. Then Chet suffered an hip fracture against the Warriors in the middle of November and the Thunder appeared to be in deep trouble.
At that point in time, OKC only had Chet in the front-court. IHart, J-Will and Kenny Hustle were all unavailable to play due to various ailments. As we have seen previously, it is difficult to win basketball games without having a center on the floor. You lose so much in the way of rebounding and screening that the team is constantly fighting an uphill battle.
Jalen Williams stepped into the void and played manfully. Williams is just 6’6 and played the majority of his minutes as a two-guard in his first two seasons in the league. It seemed like one hell of a leap to play Jalen at the 5 against the likes of Ivica Zubac, Jusuf Nurkic and Dereck Lively II.
Williams stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park. J-Dub raised the level of his game and kept the Thunder’s head above water for the nine day period before Isaiah Hartenstein came back from injury.
The positive of these difficulties is that the Thunder have had to dig deep and learn how to grind out wins from disadvantaged positions. The other huge positive is that Chet’s injury is not season-ending and he should be backed in the New Year, probably around March time.
The only negative is that Daigneault has not been able to play Hartenstein, Holmgren, Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander as a unit during the regular season. I am certain the coaching staff would have appreciated time to work on building chemistry between the four best players on the roster.
Here are four takeaways from the first stanza of the season.
The Kids are All Right
The Thunder drafted Nikola Topic, Dillon Jones and Ajay Mitchell in the 2024 NBA Draft and the rookies were expected to play sparingly in their first season in the league. Mitchell and Jones were to be back of the bench guys who could play spot minute here and there but not nightly regulars in Daigneault’s rotation.
Due to injuries, Mitchell and Jones have been relied on by Daigneault to provide meaningful minutes and both have contributed well. Mitchell has been a table-setter for the bench unit and has looked surprisingly comfortable in managing the offense.
It is clear that Mitchell’s three years at UC Santa Barbara have aided him in developing a feel for the game. I have been impressed with how Mitchell is nailing his threes, Ajay is currently shooting 44% on non-corner threes as per Cleaning the Glass. For a player who was a streaky shooter at the collegiate level, his proficiency is encouraging.
Dillon Jones’ rookie experience has been more typical and he has struggled with the league’s speed. His shooting numbers are pretty woeful and he is getting out-muscled on the boards consistently but despite this, there are positive aspects of his play.
Jones has flashed a good touch for passing his teammates open and is now starting to make more consistent reads.
The Master of Reinvention
Aaron Wiggins is often referred to man who saved basketball for the Thunder for his ability to come up with big moments in tight games but I would argue that his yearly development of himself has gone under the radar. Year upon year, Wiggins has added layers to his game and this season has been different.
Aaron Wiggins has found a bit of bounce off the dribble and has turned himself into being a reliable creator when driving to the basket. The fundamentals were always there for Wiggins; I remember distinctly in his rookie season that he would love to take two dribbles and finish a jumper in the mid-range area.
These attempts were good opportunism by Aaron, an attempt to punish poor defense. Now, Wiggins is driving the ball more frequently and collapsing defenses.
The statistics bear this out. In the 2023-24 season, Wiggins averaged 3.0 drives per game. He is now averaging 4.2 drives per game and the Thunder have badly needed his ability to touch the paint.
Last season, the Thunder had at least three players on the court at any one time who could attack the basket off the dribble. With the departure of Josh Giddey and Luguentz Dort being much more selective with his dribbles, Coach Daigneault has less driving options available to him. Fortunately, Wiggins has stepped up and filled a gap.
Kenny Hustle’s Welcome Return
Kenrich Williams had surgery in the offseason to deal with an injured knee and it seemed that season would start in the same way as it did last year. In the 2023-24 season, Williams missed preseason due to a back injury and only returned midway through the season when Daigneault had sketched out a nightly rotation.
This season has been a different story, Kenny has slotted back into the rotation as an option at center and is playing at the same levels that he displayed two or three years ago when he was arguably the most valuable contract in the league.
Williams’ value to the team stems from his maturity. It is easy to forget but the Thunder are one of the youngest teams in the league and young teams can be prone to lapses in game management.
He knocked down two huge threes in the second quarter against the Mavericks on Tuesday night that seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things but were important in slowing Dallas’ momentum.
His timely shot-making protected the Thunder’s slender lead and did not allow the Mavericks to take the lead for the last five minutes of the quarter.
The Pit bulls
When the Thunder acquired Alex Caruso in the summer, it was universally praised as an excellent trade by the front office. Oklahoma City moved Josh Giddey, a player who did not fit neatly on the roster, and picked up a veteran in Caruso renowned for his defense.
Caruso’s performances have been a mixed bag but having him on the roster allows Coach Daigneault to be so aggressive at the point of attack. Luguentz Dort, Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso have all been like pit bulls in how they have harried and swarmed ball-handlers.
Each player has brought something different to the party. Cason’s quick hands and quicker feet have allowed him to turn over the opposition. There’s two possessions against Atlanta from about six weeks ago which typify Wallace’s precise, proactive activity.
In a close game where every possession counts, Cason gets two stops on one of the most creative guards in the Eastern Conference and puts the Thunder in a good position to secure the victory.
If you watch him carefully on defense, you will notice that Cason always keep one of his arms low when he is in a defensive stance. His arm is always primed to poke the ball away from the opposition and get the Thunder out in transition.
The other thing that I loved about watching Cason at the moment is that he’s able to bait the opposing team into making a pass and then swiping the ball away using his long arms.
https://thehighlow.io/video/ids?ids=25IWJ5
In this possession, John Collins is in a triple threat on the right wing with Jalen Williams as the primary defender. Sexton jogs over the weak-side of the floor to set a pin-down screen on Gilgeous-Alexander and Cason is happy to let Collin go.
Wallace does not go with his man and plays the odds, he knows that it would be a low percentage pass for Collins to swing to the weak-side. Wallace keeps the 3v2 on the strong-side but slides down to the nail. His position means that Cason is well-placed to help Dort if Markkanen cuts to the basket or if Johnny Juzang curls to the top of the three-point line.
Markkanen wrong foots Dort and charges to the basket. It should be an easy catch and finish for Lauri but watch Cason Wallace’s head movement. His head moves once to track the cut of Sexton and then snaps back onto Markkanen once Lauri is past Luguentz Dort.
Wallace jumps from the nail into the middle of paint and deflects the pass away from Markkanen’s grasp. Isaiah Hartenstein blocks Lauri off and Cason is able to pick up the loose change.
In contrast, Caruso has done his best work in the passing lanes. Nearly every single game, you will see Caruso drift into open space like a holding midfielder and pick off errant passes. To build on that analogy, Caruso is like a Moussa Dembele-type in his understanding of spatial awareness.
This play against the Pelicans does a good job in highlighting Caruso’s reading of the game.
The steal in this scenario appears to be a low percentage opportunity at first glance. CJ McCollum passing the ball to Dejounte Murray at half-court should be one of the safest passes in basketball.
McCollum’s body position is the trigger for Caruso to go and hunt the ball. McCollum crosses half-court and turns his body ninety degrees. McCollum is now not facing the basket and is staring directly into the eyes of his teammate.
Dejounte’s body position is not much better. Murray’s feet are narrow and he is standing square, also at a right angle. He is positioned to catch the ball, take a few dribbles and get into the flow of the offense. Caruso does not give Dejounte the luxury and springs into action.
Caruso goes from standing still to full tilt fast and puts himself into the play. The pass is soft, slow and ripe for picking off. Alex shoots the gap and rips the ball out of the air. He finishes the possession with an easy dunk in transition.
The last piece of the puzzle is Luguentz Dort. Dort has always been a plus defender for the Thunder, even in his rookie season, but the physicality has been dialled up to another level. Luguentz is barging over screens and not allowing his match-up a moment to breathe.
His smothering, consuming style of defense is reminiscent of a Dagestani mixed martial arts fighter. The fighter will constantly chain grapples together and disorientate their match-up until the legs tire and the win is there for the taking. Dort’s activity and willingness to guard at such close distance does something similar and his match-up is not allowed to process the game.
The Thunder have three excellent perimeter defenders to choose from and all three bring something different to the table. Daigneault can go with Wallace’s speed, Caruso’s anticipation or Dort’s physicality for whatever the match-up needs.
Coach Daigneault has regularly rolled out lineups with at least two of Dort, Caruso and Wallace on the floor and these lineups have generally been quite successful.
Lineups with Dort and Wallace on the court are +10.2 per 100 possessions in a sample size of 515 possessions as per Cleaning the Glass. Wallace/Caruso lineups are +2.2 per 100 possessions in a sample size of 335 possessions as per Cleaning the Glass.