Golden State Warriors challengers, part 4: Can Paul George help Thunder re-create 2015-16 blueprint?
Welcome back to the Golden State Warriors challengers series. Over a two-week span, I will make the case for six teams that can prevent the Dubs from staking claim to a dynasty. In Part 4, we take a look at the Oklahoma City Thunder, and whether the addition of Paul George can counteract the loss of Kevin Durant.
There are many differences between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. This is perhaps the greatest: With Durant as the Oklahoma City Thunder’s best player, they were uniquely equipped to beat the Golden State Warriors. With Westbrook in that role, they are uniquely equipped to lose to them.
A big part of this phenomenon boils down to Durant being the better basketball player. He is a threat to score from every spot within 28 feet, whereas Westbrook’s effectiveness dwindles with each inch he ventures from the hoop. Durant must be accounted for at all times, Westbrook only when he possesses the ball.
Durant is the twitchier, switchier, more committed defender. He is harder to predict, easier to play with and more likely to improve those around him.
The difference in their actual impact on day-to-day winning is not nearly that stark. After all, Westbrook is better than Durant in several ways. He’s deadlier in transition, tougher for bigger players to switch onto and significantly more relentless. He comes at you until one side breaks, be it you or him.
Durant, for all his talent, tends to pick his spots. Against many — perhaps the majority of — NBA teams, Westbrook’s approach is more devastating.
Against the good teams, he generally cracks first. And against the best team, he always crumbles. The Warriors know all his tricks. They limit his transition opportunities, deny him penetration and dare him to shoot. Their versatile forwards corps neutralizes his switch attacking, and their all-world shooting backcourt forces him to stay home on defense…not that he does.
This is what makes their acquisition of Paul George so fascinating. George is no Durant, nor is he a Westbrook for that matter. He sits in a tier, if not two tiers, below either one.
What the Thunder hope he can be is a proxy for their departed superstar. George can do most of the things Durant did for them. He is an off-ball threat, can score from anywhere and is a long, versatile defender.
There is not one thing he does as well as Durant. He used to be a lockdown guy, but his 2014 broken leg has taken away much of his defensive ferocity. Perhaps his wariness on that end has also been tied to his desire to leave Indiana, in which case the Thunder should rejoice.
Live Feed
Blue Man Hoop
Playing with Oklahoma City should help every part of his game, whether due to motivation or team structure. Westbrook will get him better shots than he’s ever gotten. While it may not be the 2012-13 Pacers, Andre Roberson, Steven Adams and Patrick Patterson are far better defenders than almost all of his recent teammates. With his free agency a year away, George might have his best season yet.
What will this mean against Golden State, though? Things will ultimately flow through Westbrook, and the Warriors will by and large handle him the same way they did in 2016-17. Sure, he can kick it to George more, but that’s still a win for Golden State. George is not beating a team with Durant, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
For the Thunder to make things interesting, their defense will have to be gargantuan. When they nearly upended the Warriors in the 2016 Western Conference Finals, the length of Durant, Roberson, Serge Ibaka and Steven Adams was key in disrupting their beautiful game. George will have to channel Durant’s performance from that series, and Patterson will need to find a way to approximate Serge Ibaka’s value.
The Thunder bench does not present many alternatives. Jerami Grant can switch and is active on the weak side, but he is difficult to fit in. Neither he nor Patterson can function as a small-ball 5 in place of Adams, and removing Roberson defeats the purpose of trying to juice the defense. Grant could replace Patterson, but that leaves George as the only three-point threat.
After that, it’s Enes Kanter, Alex Abrines, Doug McDermott and Raymond Felton. No help there.
There’s also the Durant problem. Even if OKC can approach its 2015-16 level, the Warriors are a different team. When facing the lengthy Thunder two years ago, they countered with isolations from a hobbled Curry and stagnant bombs from Thompson. Had a few less of the latter fell, we would not be having this discussion.
But they did. Now, they can counter that defense with Durant — a player too big, too fast and too skilled to be deterred by a web of arms.
Next: The biggest winners and losers of 2017 NBA free agency
The Westbrook-George Thunder will be far better than the Westbrook-only variety. Teams like Houston and San Antonio—the consensus No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the West—will be vulnerable to them. As long as Westbrook is the first name on their marquee, though, they will be significant underdogs against a team that features Durant—not to mention Curry, Draymond Green and the haunting Thompson.