(Morning Thunder fans. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. Go Saturday.)
If you didn’t love NBA Jam as a child, you probably didn’t have any friends or something. And with the new update of it coming out, of course I’ve been really excited for the Thunder’s two-man team and whether or not they’ll be as good as some of the old great teams on Jam. At E3, Jam debuted some gameplay and in this video, it’s the Thunder versus the Blazers, with the Thunder using a certain four-hoofed secret weapon.
i'll pile on here and say how awesome it is that you can be rumble. i might have to play a video game again (it's been a while).
They slipped on total 3 pointers made from 08-09 perhaps primarily due to roster moves.
Offense wasn't emphasized this season, yada, yada.
When they do, they have a choice whether to highlight 33 point shooting. They've talked about their free shooting games in practice and have seen good game results. Wonder how much 3 point shooting tape watching, technique enhancement, practice, emphasis or even play calls in scrimmages and contests they do or will do. It doesn't absolutely have to a strength but I have a fairly hard time accepting the apparent decision to not make it a priority. especially now that the Lakers defense showed what they can do to shot defense everywhere else when not confronted by much of a 3 point threat from the Thunder.
McMillan lamented the Blazer sharp decline in 3 point game this season over last due to trades and injuries and other issues (including his own minute allocations). They lost about 7 spots on eFG% and overall offensive efficiency despite improving greatly on turnovers and foul shot rate and not slipping as much as you would have expected on offensive rebounding. They say they are looking for more outside shooting in the draft or probably any way they can get it. They were 18th on 3 pointers made this season, down from 9th the previous season. At 25th I'd hope the Thunder make a significant improvement, but I don't know how much it is realistic to hope for given the past. Doubt they get all the way to 15th or the 10th or better I'd shoot for.
The Lakers make it fairly unlikely you'll get better than a split on the rebounding wars, the turnover contests and with both their discipline and the officials getting foul shots. Split these and eFG% and it will come down to game specific details. Win both you have a much better shot, especially if they slacked off / aged / dealt with injuries next season and didn't have home court against the top rival.
As long as their defense is top 5 or near it, you probably won't simply win with just offense. Their offense was only 15th regular season. 4th in the playoffs. Opponents couldn't control the defensive glass enough. the Jazz and Spurs had the best stats on that,
I'll be interested in how the contenders change in general but also specifically how they change / improve with respect to the Lakers match-up. I'll probably wait 'til after the changes before trying to assess the top challenger further.
The key to keeping it close was turnovers. We went from one of the worst to being one of the best among playoff teams. If we turned it over like we did in the regular season the series would have likely been a laugher.
The Lakers series was pretty close, closer than most expected, closer than the stats suggested. If you look at regular season rankings on offense and defense and matched them up the Lakers were project to "win" on 4, lose 1 and tie on 3. OKC outperformed and in some ways the Lakers hadn't woken up. The later can happen in the first round... once.
Nice video from ESPN on DMC on the side bar.
Here's a link in case it falls off the queue:
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5293484&categoryid=2459788
Lakers have 3 strong rebounders who play big minutes. When Kobe makes it 4 or covers for Bynum or Odom that definitely also helps them.
The OKC committee does pretty well on the offensive glass but they probably need to improve on the defensive glass and to defend that better they probably need the PFs and Cs to step up. The perimeter guys certainly help and maybe they can do even more, especially a possessed Durant; but I think the big guys need to more in the playoffs against the best.
@justin
Yeah, that would be very tough. Maybe you'd have to go all out with small ball to try to win. You'd certainly have to shoot well from the outside.
If Bosh went to the Lakers he'd be #3 in my eyes. Maybe his talk about preferring it to be his team will derail this or maybe being #3 for a couple years or thinking he was #2 to just Kobe is actually what would best suit his personality and be a success ticket for him.
If you don't achieve dual above average ranks on the eFG% Factors, you probably will need to be at least 5-3 or better to beat the Lakers.
If the Lakers are able to trade Bynum for Bosh I don't think there's any way to beat them.
@justin
Right. I was typing that caveat at roughly the same time.
Earlier I should have said... Thunder have more strengths than weaknesses "when compared to league as a whole". As you can see from the later information compared to the top competition in the west it was at least crudely equal at 4-4.
Of course not all factors are of equal importance. eFG% is by far the most important. The Thunder managed a split on that. So did the Lakers, though a slightly better one if you look at ranks. Jazz and Nuggets had dual above average ranks on these eFG% Factors but only slightly above average on one. Dual above average ranks on the eFG% factors in the playoffs might be a decisive key to beating the Lakers.
@Crow
They carry different weights though.. it's better to be above average in eFG% than foul rate, for example.. I know you know this, but I think it should be pointed out.
The Lakers were better than this group average on 5 Factors, worse on 3. The Thunder were 4 and 4. So were the Suns. Nuggets were 5 better, 3 worse. Blazers 4-4. Jazz 5-3. Spurs 5-3. Mavericks just 3-5. Griz 3-5 if you give them a tie. Rockets 4-4 if you give them a tie. Hornets 5-3 without Chris Paul for most of it.
Obviously you don't have to be in one specific pattern but I'd rather get to 5 better, 3 worse or be the team that gets to 6-2.
EFG% was the Factor which the top 11 in the west did the best at as a group but what the Thunder did the least well. As a group forcing opponent turnovers was what they did least well at and maybe didn't emphasize. OKC was the best in the west on that. Will these relative rankings remain or will changes be made?
Thunder were 2nd best in the group on offensive rebound rate, 3rd from bottom on defensive rebound rate.
3rd worst on own turnover rate, 2nd best at getting foul shots, 3rd most likely to give up foul shots.
I know the league ranks are easily available and pretty well covered. I thought it might be worth looking at th eranks about the best in the west. That is the main competition and the most meaningful comparison.
Thunder have more strengths than weakness but it woul dbe good to reduce one or more of the weaknesses, especially the issue with own shooting efficiency.
Teams are going to change but I did a quick study of the top 11 teams in the west last season. As a group they are offensively biased, with an average offensive efficiency rank of 9.8 and an average defensive efficiency rank of 14.1. with an offensive efficiency rank of 12 the Thunder fit right in as 8th best in the group with the 3 teams worse missing the playoffs. THe Thunder will face a tougher fight to be 8th best or better in the west on offense next season. OKC had a defensive efficiency rank of 9. The third best in the group and a big reason they gave the Lakers trouble. They were the youngest or one of the youngest teams in the group depending on how you caluclate the team value. They were also one of the biggest. A modest gain on offense would probably help quite a bit in seeding and less slippage in the playoffs is certainly necessary to make a stronger run.
RIP, Manute Bol. You were a good (and tall) man giving back so much to your home country of Sudan who's suffered through so much. Cheers to doing good for your fellow man!
Brad Lohaus and Blue Edwards was the best team.
My brother and I rocked on NBA Jam; Tournament Edition on the SNES. We were awesome.
"If you didn’t love NBA Jam as a child, you probably didn’t have any friends or something." Wow, I must be an antique. When I was a child there was no NBA, no video games, no TV, no computers, no cell phones, no cordless phones. How did I ever survive? Actually, pretty well although I do enjoy having such things now.
Further proof that Durant > Oden
vintage bison...good thing he didnt jump off the ladder in the game
@TempBoy Brandon
I felt the same way. I was commenting on the Laker's blog to congratulate them and let them know that our series really helped us grow, and they said they want no part of OKC next year. Some of the fans even said "we scare them and think we'll dominate the West when Kobe and Phil are gone." Pretty high praise from fans that usually don't give it out so easily. Next IS now!! GO THUNDER!!
The Scott Skiles, Shaq, Penny Hardaway combo back in the day were unstoppable.
you can play with Rumble?! oh heeeck yeah! i was already planning on getting this game, but now i am SURELY getting this game!! sweeet!
ps: when the dude said, "F*!@ing Oklahoma City Thunder," that actually made me really proud. :)
Rumble FTW!!! ;) That made me smile!! GO THUNDER!!