SILENT THUNDER
Columnist Berry Tramel considers a 3-point paradox after changes in team talents
Paul George is a Clipper, Russell Westbrook is a Rocket, Jerami Grant is a Nugget and the Thunder is so sheepish about their replacements that they haven't been introduced to Oklahomans who soon enough could be asked to cheer them like crazy.
Chris Paul and Danilo Gallinari remain under wraps because they'll be on the first train out of town after Sam Presti finds a deal to his liking. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, too, remains a stranger, I guess because the Thunder is so weird.
The Thunder's summer metamorphosis remains stunning. We're all still in various stages of shock, and that probably includes everyone involved with Big Blue. Players, coaches, executives, announcers, ticket-sellers, concessionaires. We're entering a brave new world just hoping it doesn't become a nuclear winter.
But lost in the valley between chaos and despair is this morsel of interesting news. The Thunder has become a quality 3-point shooting team.
Call it the Gift of the Magi. The Thunder has needed 3-point shooting to become an even better team. The Thunder has received better 3-point shooting, but at the expense of a good team.
Remember when 3-point marksmanship was considered chief among the Thunder problems? You know. Fortysomething days ago, when the world was young.
With supreme talent, you worry about details like 3-point percentage. That can be the difference between winning 48 and 52 games. But when your talent dips, and those details are the difference between winning 33 and 37 games, who cares?
A lack of deep-ball accuracy was a firstworld problem. The Thunder no longer lives in that world.
But at least OKC can shoot. The 14 players on the Thunder's current roster took a combined 1,931 3-point shots last season and made 702. That's a percentage of .3635, a figure that would have ranked eighth in the NBA last season.
The Thunder actually finished 22nd in 3-point percentage, .348. But that's what happens when you subtract Russell Westbrook and his 292 MISSES from deep. Grant, a 39.2
percent 3-point shooter last season, only took 293 3-point. shots. Westbrook missed virtually that many.
Maybe the last-season shooting of this collection of Thunder players was a fluke, like in the case of Gallinari, a career .367 3-point shooter who somehow shot .433 last season.
OK. So I used the career totals of all 14 Thunder players. Collectively, this roster has made 35.77 percent of its 3-pointers, a figure that would have placed 10th in the NBA last season.
It's not just Gallinari. Paul is a career 37 percent 3-point shooter. Mike Muscala is 37.8 percent. Gilgeous-Alexander shot 36.7 last season as a rookie. Terrance Ferguson has shot 35.6 percent over two seasons at ages 19 and 20.
Again, Gallinari and Paul could be traded tomorrow, and it seems virtually certain that the Thunder won't finish the season with both. But while they're here, Billy Donovan can
rely on a much better 3-point game.
The Thunder last season was elite defensively (fifth in the NBA) but mediocre on offense, ranking 17th at 107.6 points per 100 possessions.
It's possible that the Thunder can match that offense. Not likely, losing talents like George and Westbrook, but possible.
But losing Grant and George means the defense will drop a lot, you would think out of the top 10 and maybe even further. It all adds up to a second-rate season for the Thunder, with a victory total somewhere in the 30s. At least the Thunder won't be clanging shots off the rim, courtesy of the Gift of the Magi.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-7608080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok.com/berrytramel.