Oklahoma City Thunder

KD to OKC's ball-movement critics: 'We're not the San Antonio Spurs'

Published Jan. 25, 2016 4:30 p.m. ET

Jeff Caplan

The Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs have changed the way many NBA teams approach offense and how NBA fans perceive it. Passing is all the rage.

Without fail, when a team slings the ball around the perimeter and it ultimately lands in the hands of a wide-open shooter in the corner or the wing for an uncontested 3-pointer, analytics junkies and broadcasters alike scream: "Now that's great ball movement!"

Ball movement. It's all about ball movement.

Only that hasn't been the case for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who feature two of the best one-one-one maestros of this era in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Critics have howled for years now that the Thunder run too many isolation sets and are too reliant on their two stars breaking down defenses and getting into the paint, especially in late-clock or late-game situations. It was perhaps the most frequent critique heaped upon former coach Scott Brooks.

Well, for all those critics, Durant has a message for you: "We're not the San Antonio Spurs."

Here's what he told reporters following Monday's practice, via ESPN's Royce Young:

Durant with an interesting quote on working on adjusting to being a better ball movement and spacing team: pic.twitter.com/bqObXI9EtW
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) January 25, 2016

Creating more ball movement and increasing assists was a Brooks talking point over the last two seasons, although assist numbers stayed rather stagnant, averaging out at about 21 a game. This season, under new coach Billy Donovan, OKC ranks 11th in the league in assists per game at 22.1. Westbrook, who will make his first career All-Star start next month at Toronto, is having his best season distributing, averaging 9.7 assists a game. That ties him for second in the league with Chris Paul and John Wall.

However, on the whole, not much has really changed. The Thunder rank 24th in assist percentage (54.4), which is the number of baskets that are assisted, yet boast the second-most efficient offense in the league behind Golden State. In 2011-12, when the Thunder advanced to their lone NBA Finals, they ranked last in the NBA in assists, averaging just 18.5 a game.

Just because the Spurs and Warriors, who also happen to be the last two NBA champions, have turned offense into an artistic display, it doesn't mean the Thunder have to do the same to be successful.

At 33-13, they're content to stick with the dominant half-court power and finesse games that Westbrook and Durant can uniquely deliver on any given possession.