Oklahoma City Thunder: Paul George deserves better than this

Paul George deserves better than the disaster that the Oklahoma City Thunder have been this season

I feel bad for Paul George. The man suffered one of the most gruesome injuries in basketball history – while playing for his country in the FIBA basketball tryouts – and still came back an even better player, despite recently admitting that he is physically “not as explosive, I’m not as bouncy as I was,” even three years later.

The Pacers teams that he carried to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2013 and 2014 were dinosaurs, playing super-sized lineups that played at intentionally slow paces. The only teammate to ever join George in an All-Star game was Roy Hibbert–in 2014–who isn’t even in the NBA right now.

When George returned to play in April 2015, it was for a reeling Pacers team that ultimately missed the playoffs by one game. Having lost their defensive identity in David West, the Pacers acquired Monta Ellis to be George’s robin. The same Monta Ellis who no longer plays in the NBA. George was completely justified in wanting a trade from a franchise that had failed over and over again to find him anything close to an equal.

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On the Oklahoma City Thunder, he plays with two future hall of famers, with three combined scoring titles. And he has tried to fit in. He has accepted the role of spot-up shooter when Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony play.

Then, when Westbrook is on the bench – and one would assume George would take on a KD-light role of primary ball handler – Raymond Felton does his best Westbrook impression, pounding the rock into the ground. Needless to say, he’s no Westbrook, and it shows in the results. Often George is forced to watch ugly possession after ugly possession from the corner waiting for a pass that never comes, or comes with mere seconds left on the shot clock.

George has shied away from isolation plays more than Westbrook or Anthony. He excels at shooting threes, and when plays break down – as they often do due to a lack of ball movement – he can still drive the ball and get to the paint.

Anthony and Westbrook still play porous defense, but George has returned to his All-Defensive Team pedigree, while keeping his offense more respectable than either of his All-Star teammates.

Melo is averaging a career low in assists, points and field goal percentage, while posting the first negative Offensive Box Plus/Minus of his career. He also has shown a newfound, but hard to quantify aversion to setting good screens. He is not Olympic Melo or Hoodie Melo, but Harm-Melo (I’m not going to apologize for that awful pun, because it at least made me chuckle).

Like Melo, Westbrook’s shooting numbers are dreadful. But even more alarming is that his turnovers are STILL absurdly high at 4.8 per game. Consider this: the first season without James Harden, he averaged 7.4 assists per game on a career low (in a good way) 3.3 turnovers per game, a stat line that reflects a maturing player. The next season, while recovering from multiple knee surgeries, he averaged 6.9 assists per game on 3.8 turnovers.

The assist numbers were never an issue, with Kevin Durant performing heroic feats during his MVP season while bringing the Thunder to an impressive 13th most assists per game, a number they only rivaled in Durant’s last OKC season. Yet every season since 2014, Westbrook has averaged at least 4.3 turnovers per game. That, along with his well know penchant for hunting for triple doubles, leads to many more opponent transition opportunities.

Consider this: the Celtics don’t have a single player averaging more than 5.5 assists per game, yet average the fifth most assists in the league. That is not to say assists are bad, but no amount of assists can make up for absurdly high turnovers and zero off-ball motion, which makes it hard for other ballhandlers to generate offense. Just as traditional bigs are often accused of clogging the paint, Westbrook shrinks the court by not moving, screening, or even giving the appearance of trying to help any play where he doesn’t control the ball.

Despite what many pundits proclaim to be a bad supporting cast, Steven Adams, Jerami Grant and Andre Roberson remain exceptional defenders, and only Roberson is truly atrocious on offense. The Houston Rockets’ three most used lineups feature Clint Capella and Trevor Ariza–an above average shooter, but one who takes over 80% of his shots on the catch.

While Alex Abrines and Patrick Patterson have underwhelmed, almost any other “Big Three” could likely make the Thunder’s supporting cast work. The Timberwolves (who arguable have worse role players), Warriors, or even Celtics and Spurs could easily manufacture more dunk opportunities for the athletic Grant and Roberson through cuts and off-ball movement.

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Oklahoma City’s offensive system is a joke, but amidst all this chaos and mismanagement, Paul George has played great individual and team defense, leading the league in steals while knocking down threes at a career high in volume and percentage. This is what we were expecting George to do before the season began. He is living up to – if not exceeding – expectations. Melo, Westbrook and Coach Billy Donovan can’t say the same.

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