Looking at the new-look roster

It’s been 10 games since the Thunder acquired Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott from the Bulls. What has worked and what hasn’t with the new-look roster?

TORONTO — Billy Donovan mixes until he matches.

The Thunder coach is comfortable tweaking his lineups, but he does it with a purpose. He rarely concocts a combination without careful consideration.

And so on Feb. 23, when Oklahoma City overhauled its roster on the run, trading three rotation players — Cameron Payne, Anthony Morrow and Joffrey Lauvergne — to Chicago for a pair of new ones in Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott, Donovan took his time.

Rather than rush to start Gibson, a 31-yearold veteran, he stuck with 20-year-old rookie Domantas Sabonis at power forward.

“One of the (reasons) I was reluctant to just make a change right away with Taj is because I personally felt like our first unit had been so good, even… with Domas (Sabonis) out there,” Donovan said Wednesday.

“To throw that by the wayside without seeing how a second unit would potentially look with Doug and with Taj would be a mistake.”

Donovan didn’t rush in. Ultimately, though, he decided Gibson fit best as a starter, a role he’s filled the past three games as Sabonis has moved to the bench.

It’s one of a number of discoveries the Thunder has made – and still is making – in the wake of the trade.

Ten games into the Gibson/McDermott era, here’s what we know and what we’re still finding out about the new-look Thunder, which is 6-4 since the trade and plays the Raptors Thursday in Toronto:

This five thrives

Gibson has started three games alongside Russell Westbrook, Victor Oladipo, Andre Roberson and Steven Adams, but that five-man until has played together in four games for a total of 53 minutes.

In a small sample, that group has gotten big results.

The Thunder’s new starting lineup is scoring 124.3 points per 100 possessions when it plays together and allowing 104.7. That’s a net rating of 19.6, second-best of any OKC five that’s logged at least 30 minutes together, a fit Donovan called “encouraging.”

The old starting lineup of Westbrook, Oladipo, Roberson Adams and Sabonis has played more minutes together than any OKC combo, but its net rating in 612 minutes is 2.4.

Bench is bolstered

On the day the Thunder traded for Gibson and McDermott, Oklahoma City had played 57 games and was scoring 104 points per 100 possessions and allowing 105.

Since the trade, both numbers are up – the offense to 109.4, the defense to 107.8 – but since Gibson moved into the starting lineup, the Thunder reserves are scoring 114 points per 100 possessions and allowing 104.1.

“I like ... Domas (Sabonis) coming off the bench,” Donovan said. “I thought our second unit maybe has gotten a little more consistent the last couple games, which has been positive.”

Sabonis hasn’t soared as a scorer in the bench role, but he’s making more plays for others, averaging 1.7 assists in 18 minutes per game as a bench player compared to one in 20 minutes as a starter.

Questions remain

Will Norris Cole be the Thunder’s backup point guard come playoff time? That was the prevailing opinion when Oklahoma City signed him on March 1, but after averaging 12.9 minutes per game in his first four games, he hasn’t gotten off the bench the past three.

Semaj Christon’s minutes are up at that spot, and the Thunder could opt to stagger Westbrook and Oladipo’s playing time even more down the stretch to give Oladipo backup point guard minutes when Westbrook rests. That’s not the only puzzle piece Donvan still is trying to make fit.

In McDermott’s first six games with the Thunder, he averaged 29.1 minutes.

In the past four, he’s played 13.5 per game, including a 5-minute game against Utah last Saturday.

And in two of the past three games, combo forward Jerami Grant has played less than two minutes.

“I think we’re moving closer” to nailing down post-trade rotations, Donovan said, but matchups still might dictate some minutes inconsistencies.

And Donovan might tinker until the brink of the playoffs. Maybe longer.

“I don’t know if you’re going to sit there and say, ‘OK, this is our rotation,’ because we’ve got to have the ability to adjust and change,” Donovan said. “I think that’s why you have 15 players on your roster, is to utilize the whole roster.”