4 problems the Thunder still need to solve

The Oklahoma City Thunder have won four of their last six games, but they remain two games under .500 this season. In their own words, that’s not acceptable. They were a team brought together to challenge the Golden State Warriors, and they would be on the outside looking in if the postseason began today.

After Monday’s 116-103 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, Paul George said that the team’s struggles have “got to stop” at some point.

“For the talent that we have, obviously this is not where we want to be,” George told reporters after the loss. “But we’re going to remain optimistic, though, about the future and what we can do. Once we can find a way to really do it night in and night out, it’s no panic mode, but we have to start playing better. It’s getting to a point where we can’t allow ourselves to be at this point.”

There’s no singular reason for Oklahoma City’s struggles, but several stacked atop and building off each other. We identified four significant ones, and it’s easy to see how one or several might find themselves tied together.

Westbrook’s most endearing quality is his unflinching refusal to ever back down. You cannot intimidate him with physical defense, or spook him with cheap tactics.

But there’s a problem: Sheer determination sometimes isn’t enough in basketball. Westbrook hasn’t ever been deterred by the way he wants to play, even when that’s being used against him.

This does not mean Westbrook is a problem for the Thunder — they remain better with him on the court than any other rotation player but Andre Roberson. But Westbrook’s stubbornness on the court can certainly hurt the Thunder, too, even as his dynamism keeps them afloat.

Westbrook’s efficiency is a problem. Even as he averages 23 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 9.1 assists per game, he’s shooting under 40 percent from the field. He’s also shooting career lows on two-pointers outside of 10 feet. Small adjustments could yield better results.

In close games, Westbrook’s insistence on doing things His Way reaches its zenith. His 33.9 usage rating soars to 40.3 in “clutch” situations, according to NBA.com’s stats site, while his True Shooting Percentage tumbles from a bad 49.2 percent to a hideous 43.2 percent.

Westbrook is an addition to calories: The Thunder need him to stay alive, but they can’t keep letting himself gorge on his worst habits. It can be hard to limit something that you need so badly.

The Thunder are attempting to bridge the gap between two different identities this season: The one where Andre Roberson isn’t playing, and the one where he does. When Roberson is on the court, Oklahoma City is a grinding defensive force whose size casts shadows over their opponents.

This is reflected in Roberson’s stats. He plays about 27 minutes per night, and the Thunder are better with him on the court than any other player. They outscore opponents by 4.7 points over 100 possessions when Roberson’s on the court, the best figure among their rotation players.

Roberson might be the worst shooting player in the league, but that’s OK. His defense is actually good enough to keep him on the floor. Consider this: In the 381 minutes that Roberson is paired with Westbrook, George, and Anthony, Oklahoma City gives up fewer than 95 points per 100 possessions. Their offense slows down and tightens up, but the defense is so good that it doesn’t matter.

But the Thunder have a problem: When Roberson leaves the court, Oklahoma City tries to assume a quicker, offensive-minded identity that quickly gives up on the other end. Replace Roberson in the starting lineup with anyone else, and the Thunder give up 124 points per 100 possessions. (Their offense improves, to 108.3 points per 100 possessions, but it’s not nearly good enough.) Anytime the Big Three share the court without Roberson, they score at a rate closer to what you’d expect from them but surrender an alarming amount of buckets.

This problem certainly reflects on the Thunder’s personnel problem — Roberson can’t always be the fifth man, and Oklahoma City’s hopes that someone would emerge from their collection of bench wings has been for naught. They desperately need a reliable two-way wing.

More creativity might help either weld these identities into one, or develop them into separate, reliable entities. Two lineups that had been effective in small doses stood out to me:

Steven Adams is a major factor in Oklahoma City’s defensive identity, and he has an effective pick-and-roll game with Westbrook featuring great chemistry. But it’s tough to balance him and Roberson’s both being unable to space the floor. It’s an extreme stretch to call Grant a creator, but look what can happen when you put him — a dynamic player — on the floor in that first lineup.

For another example, look at Westbrook’s absence as a screener, something ESPN’s Zach Lowe raged about last week.

“You wouldn’t stumble into that one time?” Lowe asked on a Friday podcast. “Carmelo is a good, I mean a great pick-and-roll player in his career. Westbrook can be an unbelievable screen setter with his speed if he actually does it. It’s insane that they can’t even stumble into that by mistake even a single time. Russ simply doesn’t move when he doesn’t have the ball, just puts his hands on his knees until the ball gets back to him.”

We all agree that Oklahoma City has talent, but the best lineups and styles may be scrambled up in a Rubik’s Cube right now. Billy Donovan and the Thunder coaching staff has shown some creativity throughout the year, but they must keep challenging their stars and prodding them in a direction that’s beneficial to this team’s success.

Anthony is averaging three career lows: 18.0 points per game, 1.6 assists per game, and a 50.3 True Shooting Percentage. He’s always been a moderately efficient, ball-stopping scorer, and now he’s the worst version yet of the exact same player he has been his entire career. There isn’t much to add except the obvious: Anthony has to be better.

The Thunder are two games below .500, but they have the 11th-best net rating in the league. They have built a defensive identity better than anyone might have expected coming into the season. How the team retains that while boosting this offense is an important question, but it remains a manageable one.

It feels inevitable that the Thunder will get better, so long as they don’t get discouraged by their slow start. Whether they solve these problems, or simply mask them better, will determine whether Oklahoma City is a significant threat to anyone this season.