Dennis Schroder, Oklahoma City Thunder (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
The narrative coming out of the first few weeks of the OKC Thunder season is they need shooting. But is that really the case?
In case you haven’t heard yet, the OKC Thunder can’t shoot–and it’s kind of a big deal. Of course, the Thunder have been sorely missing adequate shooting for what feels like a millennium and it’s gotten them into some jams in the past, but after a rough start to the season fueled by an anemically bad offense, the issue seems to be at the forefront of everyone’s minds.
After all, the offense has looked like a train wreck in recent weeks, largely because the team just doesn’t have a lot of space in which their creators can operate. And most people have come to the conclusion that–barring a complete re-build adding more shooters to the roster is the only way to jump start the offense.
But is that the only way? Are we sure that trading away valuable pieces for a few more shooters will improve this offense in a meaningful way?
I’d argue no. The big problem with the Thunder for the last few years has been that they’ve fundamentally misunderstood the core purpose of the analytics movement -–to optimize the return on every shot by getting rid of the shots that aren’t worth their while.
That’s why every single team is veering away from the mid-range and focusing almost exclusively on three’s and layups. But the problem is, that approach only works if you have the shooters to make enough three’s to make the math work–and the Thunder absolutely don’t.