Roughly a quarter into the season, the Oklahoma City Thunder sits atop the Western Conference. It’s gotten cozy there despite missing one of its best players for half the season, and seeing its injury report read like a roster sheet.
Injuries aside, OKC has impressed. It’s kept the best qualities of its hopeful core glued together, enough to make real noise through 20 games.
So, here are three observations through the first quarter of the Thunder’s season:
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Thunder defense holding tight despite injuries to Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso
The work is done. It always will be. The Thunder defense, as Isaiah Hartenstein made possible somewhere with the snap of his fingers, is inevitable.
Even without Chet Holmgren, the Thunder’s 22-year-old boy wonder of a defensive anchor, who’s now missed half of the season to this point with a hip injury that has him on crutches.
Or without Alex Caruso, still sidelined with his own hip injury. He’s now gone two separate stints of three or more missed games.
Together, as arguably the team’s two most impactful defenders, often committed premeditated suffocation. The team’s defensive rating under their reign was in a galaxy far, far away. But as of Monday, OKC remains the NBA’s top-rated defense with a 103.6 defensive rating.
Not only has the team remained afloat. It’s thrived.
Since Holmgren’s injury, OKC has had the third-best defense league-wide, behind the Rockets and Magic at 107. In the four games since Caruso’s injury, OKC has held up with the league’s fourth-ranked defense, just a hair behind at 107.1.
Through five games of the Hartenstein experience, he has a 99.4 defensive rating. He’s more grounded than Holmgren, but obviously sturdy. His contests hold the same weight in these dire times, and his on-court direction is as valuable as a quarterback’s. Think more Peyton Manning than Daniel Jones.
Jalen Williams is third in the league in steals per game (2.1) behind Paul George and a man cunning enough to be nicknamed “The Great Barrier Thief.” His work as a pseudo center, with spirited contests and the same ‘ol ball pressure, plugged the holes of what felt like a sinking ship.
Lu Dort continues to do Lu Dort things. Cason Wallace continues to steal moments as his understudy. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, of course, swings in on entry passes and unassuming handles like Peter Parker.
All have helped the Thunder’s fiendish defense keep up appearances, even without two of its main culprits.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finding his spots
For a second, Gilgeous-Alexander had some concerned about where he stood in his development. How bullish he might be on his 3-point shot, and where he might fall on a scale of volume that ranges anywhere from Hartenstein to Anthony Edwards.
He chucked his share of shots, especially early. Some felt aimless. But all were and continue to be intentional, his ways of preparing himself and his teammates for the postseason.
He’s still chucking some games; he has little choice with bodies dropping and dwindling options. But his discernment has clearly improved. He’s claimed that he’ll take what a defense gives him, and these days, it seems that simple.
Gilgeous-Alexander shot 26.4% from deep through the first 10 games of the season. His next 10? He’s shot 40.6% on 5.3 attempts per game.
The pull-up 3 we’ve seen him display, bold and hoisted while leaning forward, isn’t as common for SGA as it was in the preseason and early parts of the regular season. He’s mixed in other shots. His one-dribble stepback, a hang dribble pull-up. Catch-and-shoot opportunities are scarce but exist.
But Gilgeous-Alexander’s mixed bag has worked of late, helping him look the part of the MVP-caliber shotmaker he was a year ago.
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Lu Dort appearing as OKC’s most accurate shooter
The returns are early. There are obvious asterisks.
But Dort, all things considered, has made a case as the Thunder’s most accurate shooter through 20 games.
Dort is third on the team in 3-point volume, trailing only Isaiah Joe and Gilgeous-Alexander by averaging 5.3 attempts. He’s shooting 41% from deep this season, good enough for second-most accurate on the team (and one-hundredth of a percent behind Aaron Wiggins).
His shot profile certainly isn’t Joe’s, OKC’s best bet as a movement shooter and the constant recipient of Hartenstein’s handoffs. Or that of Williams, who has a quicker trigger than ever both off the dribble and catch.
Dort’s shots are simple. He’ll catch it on either wing, or either corner and let a high-arching jumper rip. So far, it’s been his best shot.
Frankly, it’s been one of the Thunder’s best shots.
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