OKC has a bit of a problem. Namely, Steve Kerr doesn’t think Andre Roberson is ever going to beat his Warriors shooting the ball. This isn’t a unique observation among NBA coaches or observers. It’s something OKC has seen every time Roberson takes the floor, albeit to varying degrees of ignoring Roberson in the offensive zone.
But as the stakes have gotten higher, the opposing coaches are basically roving the player assigned to guard Roberson. In essence it’s 4 on 5 basketball for the Thunder in their offensive zone unless they can score in fast break transition.
In this series, the rover is Draymond Green, and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist as a rover against the Thunder to realize most of your roving should focus on Durant and Westbrook. Especially Durant, because Durant more so than Westbrook is a pure clutch scorer and finisher. Plus, he struggles dribbling in limited space.
I just read Tramel over at newsok. He says Billy D must either devise an offensive scheme for Roberson or bench him.
OKC took a hard look at moving Dion Waiters to the starting shooting guard position when Roberson was injured this season. It didn’t do much for me. Besides, as was the case when Reggie Jackson was the Sixth Man, Dion is finishing most of the games on the floor already.
Dion has had a nice post season, but I’d keep him coming off the bench, but possibly nudging his minutes up by say five minutes a game. But I would not start him.
But why not start Anthony Morrow if your problem is creating space and time for Durant?
Granted, his defense isn’t great, but he’s a career 40% three point shooter. His man cannot leave him unattended in the corner. Steve Kerr will not have Draymond Green float off of Anthony Morrow. The downside is if you start Morrow he’s probably going to have to guard Harrison Barnes. But Tramel is right, there is no way OKC can go this entire series with Draymond Green basically floating the passing lane between Durant and Westbrook.
This is what the playoffs are about. Adjusting and changing on the fly. Even Scott Brooks with his stubborn streak of never changing the starting lineup had to sit Thabo in the 2014 post season at one point.
I love what Steven Adams has turned into as a player, but the part of the Harden trade which burned OKC is that Jeremy Lamb was a bust at the shooting guard position and with neither Harden or Jackson content in the Sixth Man role–it’s still biting the Thunder.
When you get to this level of competition it’s very difficult to put a player on the floor who the other team literally does not have to guard.
OKC got away with this in the Spurs series as Roberson had a career night in Game 6 at home. But in this series and in the Cavs series if OKC gets that far, they’ll be playing uphill as it is with five players on the floor who can score the ball.
I think it’s worth a look to see if Anthony Morrow can give Donovan 12 minutes a game total starting both the first and third periods.
One thing is certain, Steve Kerr will become more brazen and aggressive in not guarding Andre Roberson because it’s a percentage money play when the alternative is allowing either Durant and Westbrook more operating space.