Bench shake-up
With the playoffs looming, will Billy Donovan stick with all-bench units?
A nine-point Thunder lead evaporated in 66 seconds against the Celtics. Not a Thunder star was on the floor.
Boston went on a 7-0 run with Carmelo Anthony, Steven Adams, Paul George and Russell Westbrook watching from the sideline. The answers to the Thunder’s frustrating equation of finding consistency hasn’t always boiled down to “starters vs. second-unit” as it did last season. But 5-foot10 Shane Larkin was baffling the Thunder’s reserves as the quarter closed.
What was more telling of the Thunder’s staggering starters quandary was the offense. Patrick Patterson has been a competent 3-point shooter this season, but his game has been wobbly at best inside the arc. Patterson drove and hoisted a contested hook shot that made one wish for a contested Anthony fadeaway jumper.
Tuesday’s collapse in Boston showed Thunder coach Billy Donovan still loves his starless, bench-heavy units. So, when will they end with the playoffs looming and the Thunder's rotation bound to shorten?
Traditionally, at least for teams with the scoring options the Thunder possesses, an individual shot creator always stays on the floor. The minutes are staggered between offensive talents with all of them convening again in the fourth quarter.
Donovan says he goes with all-bench units in short stints for the sake of the starters, and the decision is collaborative.
“I think the biggest thing is trying to — with Carmelo, Russell and Paul — making sure they’re in their rhythm, their routine and how they feel comfortable, and then working off of them and communicating with them,” Donovan said.
It’s not that bench heavy five somes have been completely derelict this season. Collapses against Orlando in which the Thunder was trounced 13-0 to start the fourth quarter in November have been offset by triumphs against Charlotte in which a set of five reserves pulled away from the Hornets in January.
Yet, the Thunder’s season has become measured in pre-Roberson/ post-Roberson terms, and the staggering of the starters applies.
While Donovan has cut down on the minutes in which the Thunder operates with none of its core four on the floor since Roberson’s injury, the dropoff with all of them on the sideline has been stark.
Before Roberson’s season-ending knee injury, the Thunder had an outstanding point differential per 100 possessions (net rating) of plus-3.8 in 217 minutes when Anthony, Westbrook and George were all on the bench at the same time. That net rating only dropped to plus-2.7 when Adams joined the “Big Three” on the bench (186 minutes).
Since Roberson’s injury, the Thunder has had a minus-8.4 net rating in 151 minutes with Anthony, Westbrook and George on the bench together, and a minus-7.6 net rating in 130 minutes with the foursome off the floor.
It’s part of why George has seen his minutes extend into the start of the second quarter.
George likes to play the entire first quarter, but Donovan started the experiment against Atlanta last week of playing George 1 to 3 minutes into the second. In those nine early secondquarter minutes George has played in four games, then Thunder has broken even — scoring 22 points while allowing the same.
Adams said whenever you can get George in “any sort of bloody five” it’s always good. You could say the same for Adams, who doesn’t care when he plays but typically is paired with Westbrook in substitution patterns to maximize their pick-and-roll chemistry and Adams’ screen setting.
“When he (Donovan) says to go in, it’s like, ‘Yup,’” Adams said. “’He’s thought about it. This is probably going to put us in the best position to win.’ So, you just do that, really.
“It’s pretty simple, honestly.”
If it was so simple outside of Adams, the Thunder would play one of its “Big Three” at all times.
The all-bench units won’t last in the postseason when starters minutes get stretched out. But in Donovan’s conversations with his trio, what’s currently going on is what the group feels is best.
Should the group have a say?
“There’s a balance,” Donovan said. “I didn’t feel like Paul was great with six minutes, come out, wait, come back in to close the (first) quarter. I think he’s a player that gets into more and more rhythm as the game goes on, when he’s flowing in the game, when he’s reading the game. I also think with Carmelo, too, sometimes you want to keep him going, keep him flowing as good as you possibly can.
"They play a big part of that because the most important thing is they feel comfortable and in rhythm and they’re playing at a high level, and then you try to work around those