Mar 28, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter (34) watches from the bench area late during the second half against the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena. The Jazz won 94-89. Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
The Enes Kanter injury means change to Billy Donovan’s constantly-evolving rotation. What could that possibly entail?
I have a lot of questions for Enes Kanter. What were you thinking? Do you realize how important you’ve become to this team? What is Oklahoma City supposed to do now?
With Kanter out, Russell Westbrook becomes the only true scorer in OKC. Victor Oladipo is seen in that light, but in reality Kanter has been the only reliable nightly scoring option for the Thunder. Oladipo gets most of his points off catch-and-shoot opportunities; Kanter is scoring on isolation plays in the post.
The second-unit is now devoid of their offensive fulcrum. The bench started to round into form as Kanter started scoring more, but that option is off the table. The situation sounds depleting, but we thought the same thing when Oladipo went out with the sprained wrist.
Related Story: The Enes Kanter injury domino effect
Guess what? The Thunder were fine. Billy Donovan made a few adjustments, players stepped up..I expect the same thing to happen again. It’s what well-coached teams do.
So what changes are likely to occur? I think I have an idea. I also have a few extreme ideas, but hear me out. Like the Oladipo injury, I think Kanter’s stupid decision oddly could help the Thunder.
Jan 15, 2017; Sacramento, CA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams (12) controls the ball against during the first quarter at Golden 1 Center. Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
5. Play Steven Adams with the second-unit more
I should preface these changes by saying that all five moves interconnect for my own personal vision of what the rotation should be. I expect some of these will actually happen, but not for the reasons I lay out. This is one of them.
There is no way that we don’t see Steven Adams get extended time with the bench. We already saw this last night when Adams played the entire third quarter. In fact, when Westbrook left the court OKC outscored Dallas 9-3 in only 2.5 minutes.
Playing without Russ will give The Big Kiwi more of an opportunity to be a focal part of an offense. Adams may not be as potent of a threat as Kanter, but giving Adams that work against lesser-skilled players would help with his development. Plus the upgrade on the defensive end would help a truly-awful unit.
Related Story: Steven Adams could be a primary scoring option
If Adams is playing with the second unit more than the starting center minutes must get taken by somebody. Well I have just the player…
Jan 26, 2017; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Domantas Sabonis (3) drives to the basket against Dallas Mavericks forward Harrison Barnes (40) during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
4. Bring Domantas Sabonis off the bench
So this works for a couple different reasons, one of which that will be explained in a later slide. But for the purpose of this section we will explain how this move makes sense for Domantas Sabonis.
As of now it is a question whether or not Sabonis is going to be a power forward or center in this league. We’ve seen him at power forward; now is an opportunity to see his potential as a small-ball center.
Related Story: Looking at the potential of Domantas Sabonis
If the Lithuanian comes off the bench he will have more of an opportunity to have the ball in his hands. With Kanter out, the second unit is going to rely on each other more than ever to score; Sabonis’ high basketball IQ would fit well in that style of play.
Sabonis’ biggest downfall this season has been a pure lack of confidence. He gets afraid (and rightfully so) playing alongside the intense Westbrook and it’s affected his game. By playing in Kanter’s role he can get back to where he’s most comfortable: the post.
Domas averaged over 17 points a game by dominating down low, showing off an array moves from fadeaway hooks to up-and-unders. Homie wasn’t a shooter. And the Thunder shouldn’t try to take away the most natural part of his game.
PLUS, playing Domas as a small-ball five coincides perfectly with who should be the first big off the OKC bench!
Jan 2, 2017; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Jabari Parker (12) drives for the basket around Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jerami Grant (9) during the fourth quarter at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Milwaukee won 98-94. Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
3. Make Jerami Grant the first OKC big off the bench
By now you are probably aware of who I think should start in Domas’ spot. I won’t ruin the surprise if you still aren’t sure. Anyways we gotta talk about Jerami Grant finally getting to play primarily at stretch four.
When you look at Billy Donovan’s rotations (when the roster is healthy) you notice that Grant tends to be one of the last players to check in. Well in this new made-up rotation Grant should be the first player to come off the bench.
Related Story: Figuring out Jerami Grant’s fit in the rotation
Grant will come in for _____ around the time that Kanter normally comes in for Sabonis. This way the Thunder will get to play more with the Westbrook-Oladipo-Roberson-Grant-Adams lineup that has become popular in crunch time.
For a few minutes you get the all-defense lineup some clock together, than the small-ball lineup as Domas comes in for Adams to end the quarter. Remember the first step in this new rotation? Adams eventually comes in for Roberson, pushing Grant to the three.
Nowwwwww you see the method to my madness.
If you read me (and thank you for that if you do) you know how important I think the development of Grant is. This new rotation would give him a little bit of playing time with all the potential lineups/positions he could be a part of.
Grant is Andre Roberson on steroids: he’s two inches taller, more athletic and not offensively inept. Billy Donovan’s focus should be putting him into as many different situations as possible because Grant’s huge ceiling comes from his versatility. But speaking of Andre..
Jan 15, 2017; Sacramento, CA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Andre Roberson (21) controls the ball against the Sacramento Kings during the first quarter at Golden 1 Center. Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
2. Andre Roberson loses his second-unit minutes
How does it make you feel to hear that Roberson averages more minutes per game than The Big Kiwi? It’s only .6 per game, but that’s still not a good feeling. If there’s not a dominant scorer on the court there is no reason for Roberson to be on the court. And most benches don’t have a dominant perimeter scorer worthy of Andre’s attention.
With Kanter out the Thunder bench will almost always be without a scoring-oriented player-they are going to have to rely on off-ball movement, quick passing and good decision-making to score. Roberson’s awful shooting makes him impossible to play in a system like that because teams can prey on that when switching on screens and playing help defense.
Must Read: The origin story of Alex Abrines
Roberson’s four-six extra minutes should go exclusively to Alex Abrines. Every sharpshooter that OKC brings in ultimately loses his touch (i.e. Anthony Morrow) but that hasn’t happened to Abrines. What keeps him off the court is his defense. Well if he’s playing with Adams as I’ve hypothesized than he’s got a defensive anchor he rarely ever gets to play with.
Abrines’ 14.5 minutes per game just aren’t enough for the rookie to develop quick enough. At 23 the Spaniard Sharpshooter is a relatively old rookie, so the Thunder should be trying to develop him as quickly as possible. Plus who doesn’t want to see more of this?
1. Joffrey Lauvergne enters the starting lineup
You may be asking how I can justify starting a player who has had three DNP-Coach’s Decision this month. Well if we can justify Sabonis starting every game this season than we can justify starting Joffrey Lauvergne.
Lauvergne actually averages more points, rebounds and assists than Sabonis per/36 minutes while playing more efficiently according to PER. We’ve gone over why this move would help the rookie, but it would also be beneficial for King Joffrey.
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If we include Grant as a big, OKC currently has five who deserve nightly minutes (sorry Nick Collison). That’s one too many in this day and age. Because Sabonis and Lauvergne essentially play the same style/have the same body-type it only makes sense to keep one of them around for the foreseeable future. We all know who is going to last in that one.
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By giving Lauvergne consistent minutes with the starters it gives Sam Presti the ability to showcase that in a potential trade. As of now Joffrey may net a second round pick in a trade. But if he plays well for a couple weeks Presti may be able to work his magic for something.
At this point the Thunder aren’t going to make any big time moves. But a little adjustment like this could be the make or break point for OKC to get an extra pick/higher selection for King Joffrey. He’s a free agent at the end of the season and the Thunder are unlikely to resign him unless it’s for the low-low; Russ and Co. aren’t close enough to a championship for that to happen.
As I said earlier, I expect some of these to happen regardless whether or not Billy follows the five-step plan. But my plan is an interesting experiment, one that would give the Thunder the ability to play with a wide variety of lineups. Versatility is key in basketball, and the THunder still have that even without Enes Kanter.
