Thunder opener
Westbrook’s status and the difference he makes entering Thunder-Warriors
All eyes are on the Thunder as the team opens its season against Golden State in Oakland tonight.
In the final week of the Thunder’s 11th preseason, every day turned into a reading of the Russell Westbrook tea leaves.
On Monday after Thunder practice, Westbrook stood talking next to general manager Sam Presti. Underneath black shorts rolled up and tucked in at the thigh, Westbrook wore white compression pants equipped with padding. Westbrook bent over to unlace his sneakers with one hand, a pair of neon blue Westbrook signature shoes in the other.
The Thunder opens the regular season on Tuesday in Oakland. And even with indications that Westbrook won’t be available nearly five weeks removed from arthroscopic knee surgery, the curiosity around his status for Thunder-Warriors won’t cease until game time.
Nor will the questions for coach Billy Donovan.
He gets the same ones every day, and it won’t change until his star points guard is back. Since Westbrook’s reevaluation benchmark of four weeks passed Oct. 10, Donovan has run out of ways to relay the daily updates he’s being told by the Thunder’s medical
staff and Westbrook.
“You guys are just doing your job,” Donovan said when asked if he’s eager for Westbrook’s return, not just to have one of the NBA’s best players back, but so the questions can stop.
“I respect and understand that. I get it. He’s obviously an important piece to our team.”
Arguably no piece was as important at toppling the Warriors last season, when Westbrook helped orchestrate a 2-2 split with the two-time defending champions while averaging 31.8 points and shooting 47.9 percent from the field.
Most important in those wins, however, was the Thunder’s defense. The Warriors’ passheavy style contributed to one of the league’s highest turnover rates —
15.3 percent of their possessions, fifth-highest in the NBA.
The Warriors’ turnover rate against the Thunder in four games shot up to 18.8, which would have been the highest rate in the NBA over an entire season.
Donovan attributed the Thunder’s success in turning over the Warriors to length on drives and players pulling across and defending together when the ball changed sides of the floor.
“They went to areas of the floor at times where there was two of us, two of our players on the ball, and at times, it’s hard to throw over those guys, and if you do sometimes it’s a bit of an air pass,” Donovan said. “It’s got a little bit more time that a defender can react and make a play on it.”
“Overall, I thought we came across and pulled across and helped when we needed to help, kept our hand active.”
Even after Andre Roberson’s season-ending injury on Jan. 27, the Thunder turned the Warriors over on 17.9 percent of their possession in three meetings. Westbrook accounted for 10 deflections, five loose balls recovered and four steals in those three non-Roberson games, per NBA.com's hustle stats.
The Thunder’s game notes listed Westbrook as “OUT” on Tuesday, but those notes — released before teams go through shootaround the day of the game — are fluid. Per the NBA, teams must report information concerning player injuries, illness and rest for all games.
Before the afternoon notes went out, the Thunder was talking like a team that on one side had no idea about Westbrook's status and on the other side may have been playing coy.
“Obviously, we wouldn’t even be talking about this if he couldn’t do anything,” Donovan said. “I’ll have to evaluate it after today, and probably when we land in San Francisco to see how he’s feeling at that point in time.
“Russell is a bright, smart guy. He knows his body better than anybody else. He’s gonna take the feedback he’s receiving from these workouts and go from there.”
When asked about the Thunder’s rebounding advantage against the Warriors, Paul George included Westbrook in the conversation as a numeral, but No. 0 was included, nonetheless.
“I think the biggest scouting report on us is to hit the glass and try and secure the ball because of who we have on our side,” George said of Westbrook. “Zero, the way he can create something out of nothing, teams try to account for that and rebounding is an area we have to be better at.”
So, that means Westbrook’s playing, right?
“I’m not sure,” George said, holding his expression. “Y’all need to ask Zero that. Watch tomorrow night.”