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It’s a key in any good mentor-protege relationship. You need a strong, vocal leader with experience. It’s why Jerry was such a good mentor to Bania. It’s why that ovaltine stuff killed.
And it’s a lot of the reason Serge Ibaka has taken such a leap the past few weeks. He has a mentor. A big, scary, mean mentor that’s pushing him, teaching him how to play with an edge.
The impression Kendrick Perkins has made on Ibaka has been obvious. Much in the same way that Kevin Garnett schooled Perk in the ways of nasty, physical, intimidating play, Perkins has begun to impart that same wisdom on Ibaka.
“Perk does a lot for him,” Kevin Durant said recently. “You can hear him say ‘Serge, go block that’, and Serge just automatically responds and he goes and blocks it. I think it’s just that little push there with a veteran guy down there with you. They’re playing well together. He’s gotta keep it up.”
It’s a thought that hit me during the Charlotte game while watching Perk pat Ibaka on the head after a good hard foul. Perk is teaching Serge how to play with an edge. When he was in Boston, Perkins was the younger guy playing center next to one of the all-time power forwards in league history and next to one of the most intense, amped up defenders the game has ever seen.
KG is an emotional leader and someone that makes an impact on the court not just with his play, but with the way he holds players accountable. Perkins played a three-plus seasons of his seven total with Garnett and the difference KG made on Perk in those last couple was evident. Perkins has become one of the league’s most feared enforcers, someone not to be trifled with in the paint.
He’s brought that same mentality with him from Beantown to Oklahoma City. He’s the Thunder’s Big Ticket, and more importantly, the KG to the young 21-year-old power forward from the Congo.
Perk isn’t shy about getting on his teammates when they screw up or don’t live up to the defensive standard the team plays by. And with Ibaka being his frontcourt partner in crime, Perk doesn’t let Serge get away with anything. Against the Wizards in Perkins’ first game, after Ibaka failed to contest an easy attempt at the rim, Perk came over and fouled the Washington player, preventing an easy basket. Immediately, No. 5 was in No. 9′s face, letting him know about his missed assignment.
Accountability is the buzzword around Perkins. Scott brooks talked about players “self-policing” themselves after a game recently. That’s what Perk is. He’s the defensive patrolman, looking for missed assignments, lapses in focus and letdowns in effort. Specifically, with his eye toward Ibaka. There is a real chemistry between the two. It’s obvious.
“It feels good to play [with Perk], [and] in practice, more especially with me. He’s been ready for a long time,” Ibaka recently told HoopsWorld. “It is good to play and practice and learn. He works hard. Not just for me, but for our team.”
And between Perkins and Ibaka, Oklahoma City now features one of the most intimidating frontlines in the entire league. Ibaka is a rover, hovering around the paint looking to swat anything that comes near the rim. Perkins is the big defensive tackle, taking on blockers allowing Ibaka to patrol. With the way they play off each other and seem to have great chemistry, I’ve said before they remind me of The Bash Brothers from Mighty Ducks 2. (I’m not entirely sure who Fulton Reed is and who is Dean Portman though.) Just the way Scott Brooks seems to use them together, putting them back into the game at the same time in the fourth quarter. It’s like Brooks is saying, “OK, go rough ‘em up boys.”
Just look at the damage Ibaka has done since the trade that put him in the starting five: 9.6 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game and 3.1 blocks per game. Since Perk joined him in the starting five a week ago, Ibaka’s averaging 10.2 ppg, 9.8 rpg and 4.0 bpg. Those are huge numbers. (Right now, Ibaka is fourth in the league in blocks at 2.33 a game.) Remember all that talk about OKC needing a real power forward for the future? Well he’s here and he’s been on the roster for a while now. And here’s the best part: Ibaka isn’t close to a finished product yet.
Perkins has brought a lot to the Thunder. He’s a great defender, a terrific rebounder and a smart veteran that’s experienced what it takes to win a championship. But he may give the Thunder a little bonus in building OKC’s power forward of the future as well. With Perk in his ear nightly, Ibaka’s going to develop in a whole new way. He’s going to start finding and edge, an added nastiness to his game. It’s the type of things that can set players apart.
The way Perk has taken Ibaka under his wing has already been obvious just in a handful of games. And the more time they get, they might bring a lot more than just an edge to Oklahoma City.
Sorry to backtrack, but I was out of town yesterday so I'm just now getting a chance to comment on this article. I freakin' LOVE how Ibaka and Perkins are playing together. With apologies to the Red Bull marketing campaign...it's Perk who has given Ibaka wings! Furthermore, I'm really liking the way Collison and Nazr are playing together. I also like that Collison/Mohammed brings our defense a different personality than Ibaka/Perkins. It meshes with what I believe is one of our 2nd team's strengths, which is to be a complete change in playing approach. The first team is about gun-slingers making big plays with KD, Russ, and Ibaka. The second team is about cold-blooded sharp-shooters, efficiently going about their job.
Efficient 5 on five plays may need to start not long after the first 10 seconds. If the PG and / or SF look for their own shot thru 20 seconds, the result is bad. If they wait over 15 seconds the result is just ok. If they do anything from 10-15 seconds in, one on one or 5 on 5, the results on average appears to be good enough. Shoot in the first 15.
@logging
It is obvious from the stats that early=better, much later=worse. There is still "get it early or get it late" thinking out there by some coaches and fans though. If one sees and accepts these stats one would want to avoid the late shot and that would take your offensive pace up. If you play good defense your defensive pace should be slow. The combo would put you near average overall pace. Like today's Spurs. The really weak Thunder team eFG% in the last 4 seconds of the shot clock should cause at least a really strong 'try to shoot in the first 15 seconds' strategy with plan B being shoot from 16-20 seconds into the clock.
@osano-whoa
offensive consultant and we run a modified motion offense
I want Jerry Sloan to come out of retirement and personally tutor Scott Brooks in coaching. That's my ideal. :D
@logging
Hill would be a great guy to have off the bench. I don't have a lot of faith in Rivers. He was considered an objectively bad coach until Garnett and Allen showed up, nearly sabotaged their one ring, and the majority of what made the team a champion can more heavily be attributed to other people (Thibodeau and Garnett).
If I could pick any coach to take us to the next step, it would be Poppovich.
I'd love Grant Hill on this team, both Thabo and KD could benefit a lot from his expertise.
Crow :
A research paper at the Sloan Conference showed that on average overall team offensive efficiency is best in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock then it begins to deteriorate very slowly in the next 10 seconds then plummets in the last 5 seconds. The 82 games data shows the deterioration on eFG% only. That part is down strongly after the first 10 seconds.
This is kind of obvious, and the leif motiv of the run and shoot systems. The main issue is that you won't find many opportunities to score in transition against top defensive teams, so you need to develop efficient 5 on five plays.
Changing topics - or not- Rivers would be my ideal coach to bring this team to a championship-favourite level.
@JJJ
Good points. I wonder how good the research is on knee braces helping prevent problems in general and modest ones on non-injuerd players in particluar.
@Jimbo Slice
Interesting. I wasn't certain a rubber floor would be better, only wondering. Maybe some sort of hybrid would be better. I'd thought before that hypothetically it could be different material right under the basket than elsewhere.
@Crow
eh, we have a rubber floor at the school i work at and it's acl tear central. actually to the point that we no longer play in that gym and moved into a nearby arena instead. maybe some hybrid between the current floors and some other type of rubberized, almost playground material might be a winner.
I dunno if changing the floor would do much. Part of increasing knee injuries is that a lot more game action takes place in the air than back in the day. More jumping means more wear and tear on the knee. The other prob is that today's shoes focus too much on ankle support. Because the ankle has no room to move around, all the pressure of each jump goes straight to the knees. Not sure how to change that aspect
Pace with Maynor can be slow at times.
@andrew
There are too many knee injuries. I wonder how much they have looked at possibly changing the composition of the floor. Wonder is a softer rubber floor would reduce knee injuries.
Pace probably matters more when teams vary in average pace a lot and when there is a strong favorite / underdog situation. By probability theory only, underdogs should play fast / risky. Favorites should generally play slow. But practically each should probably generally play how they do best / how they feel most comfortable. However the probability theory should not be ignored totally, especially in the playoffs and especially at certain points in games depending on the current scoreboard status. You can overdue trying to slow milk a lead or going desperate for a comeback but the odds can suggest applying a fairly extreme form of one or the other strategy if the lead / deficit and game clock hit a certain level. There was a research paper at Sloan Conference on that too.
OKC is 7-2 for the season when actual game pace is 90 or under. Just 3-2 since the trade.
Player pace data is available but not well known and the different possession formulas on sites can complicate casual comparisons.
With Perkins on the court, pace is actually averaging about the same as team season average. The recent slow down must be mostly elsewhere on average. Russ and KD for the season have played a little faster than overall on average.
The pace of the starters and bench in recent games could be computed by the team from play by play if there was a strong interest.
Most don't think pace is that important. I'd have to review thoroughly to state a general opinion.
David west just shredded his knee.
Either dallas or the lakers will have an easy round one series.
@cdub00
true enough. I'd love to have him for the right price, but at this point, nobody who will be added to come off the bench is worth overpaying.
In the last 4 seconds of the shot clock the Thunder shoot 40% eFG%. Lakers 44%, Spurs 49%. Mavs 48%.
Thunder has done very poorly against opponents who play an average pace on average. 37% win against them. http://www.82games.com/1011/1011OKC4.HTM
Spurs are near average on their pace. Dallas and Memphis are close to there or right there. The others are well above or below and the Thunder did better than those paces. Post trade and with Perkins that might not be exactly the same any more. This doesn't speak directly to what pace was played just opponent averages.
@justin
I agree. Too expensive if we want to keep IbLOCKa and J Hard. J Hard will take Sef's place this offseason, and Sef is a SOLID backup 3,IMO.
Not sure if somebody already put this up, but I read on the ESPN ticker that RW is donating 1,000 dollars to the Japan relief efforts for every point he scores on Sunday. He did the same thing last year vs Memphis for Haiti. Very cool
A research paper at the Sloan Conference showed that on average overall team offensive efficiency is best in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock then it begins to deteriorate very slowly in the next 10 seconds then plummets in the last 5 seconds. The 82 games data shows the deterioration on eFG% only. That part is down strongly after the first 10 seconds.
justin :
Are there any sites out there that track shot clock usage for teams? 82games used to do it…
82 games still does on the "team stats" pages like this one. http://www.82games.com/1011/1011OKC3.HTM
It hasn't been update lately but it shows where they were before Perkins played.
Russ + Thabo= a PG shots more+ a SG cannot shot.
I dont like both of Carter or T-mac,But I always think we need a veteran SG to replace Thabo who is not good in both ends now.
And we need a player to control pace in clutch time.I dont like Russ's hero mode or KD's 30 feet shots.The best way is giving ball to a veteran and KD and Russ doing off-ball move to find better chance
Afflalo is RFA and will be pursued by many teams most likely. I don't think Presti will get into a bidding war for his services.
My favorite free agent is far and away Aflalo. Upgrade offensively and defensively over Thabo, and young enough to fit in with our core group for a long time. At the three, I don't really see "the one" being out there right now, so any solid backup three we could get, especially a Grant Hill type veteran defensive stopper who's not bad offensively, and keep for the short term while looking to draft and develop in the next couple years would make me a happy camper.
@shiki
I will have to pour out a beer and cry if we get either one of those has-beens. NO THANK YOU!!!
@Thomas
"our" not "are"
@Grolgar, Perkins was definitely worth it. Have you forgotten what are team looked like with 40 minutes of Jeff Green a night? Seriously, of the players that were realistically available we made out good. Perk is still recovering from that injury and its impeding his a offense somewhat. I can just about guarantee you that he'll be a more complete player next season. Right now we're just scratching the surface of what this team could be with the new starting lineup.
shiki :
For me ,I hope we try to get Vince Carter or T-mac who played(is playing) with a combo guard(Harris,Stuckey).They can help Russ to control pace and are better in offense end than Thabo.
please Lord no
@justin
yeah, but we cant fix that this season
For me ,I hope we try to get Vince Carter or T-mac who played(is playing) with a combo guard(Harris,Stuckey).They can help Russ to control pace and are better in offense end than Thabo.
Found another version of the blueprint movie in HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1900702005205
Such an awesome video about OKC, I advise all of you watch it!
@f5alcon
Or shooters. When you play a slow pace you need floor spacing for those kick outs...
they might not be used to a slow pace and are not sure what to do late probably needs more structure in the sets
Controlled pace can be good and bad. I've noticed that lately we're going deep into shot clocks more, with varied levels of success. It also seems like, defensively, we're forcing teams into long shot clocks also.
The Utah game is really weird. The team had 21 fast break points (1/5 of total), but the pace was still very slow. Which to me means that when getting into the half court offense, it was plodding.
I don't know of the slow pace will be something that sticks. I agree that it might be better for the team since usually you get a better shot if you wait and move the ball around, but I've also noticed a lot of our longer possessions are just broken plays that don't go anywhere and we get a poor shot attempt.
Are there any sites out there that track shot clock usage for teams? 82games used to do it...
i think we are better in a slow pace and only up the pace for transition offense. our half court offense needs to be slow because that means we are moving the ball and not just iso for 5 secs and jack a shot up.
I've noticed the pace over the last few games has been very slow, and that makes it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the defense. The pace of the Utah game was around 84, so even though Utah didn't score a ton of points, their ORTG was 111 which isn't good. Since the Phoenix game, the pace has been under 90, with only one game (Washington blowout) being played above 90. That is often the mark of a good defensive team (i.e. long shot clocks for the opponent, transition defense) but is also probably due to our own offensive shortcomings.
Since Nazr Mohammed started playing (12 games) the DRTG is 102.8 which is a big improvement. Opponent shooting efficiency is also way down in that span (46.3% eFG). The offense has also been better in that span by two points per 100 possessions on the season but I suspect that has a lot to do with the quality of opponents.
The pace of the team should be something to keep an eye on.
The fact that a crappy sequel to a crappy Disney franchise is being referenced instead of Slap Shot (Hanson brothers*, please!) deeply saddens me.
*There were three Handson brothers, so I concede that it's a numerically imperfect comparison. Still, Slap Shot is an all-time classic. Mighty Ducks II, on the other hand, is the suckage.
@justin
The Pacers should re-sign McRoberts and they probably will. If they don't, the bidders could include the Bucks, Hornets and Celtics (possibly using interest in him to keep Green's salary down?).
I've also said before that McRoberts "might be" a decent value / role player. And he could possibly be for the Thunder- if that is the best he can get. A lot will indeed depend on whether the Bucks, Hornets or somebody else offers him a starting job or at least a secure 25-30 minutes and a salary that goes with that over a less secure 15-25+ minute role and the pay that goes with that. A 4-5 year contract would be somewhat of a gamble, and teams and he may both prefer shorter for different reasons, but he is barely 24 and if that helped "win" him it would be something to consider, depending on the pricetag.
@justin
yeah i think he could as well, but brooks like small not big.
f5alcon :@Daniel
according to 82games all his mins are at pf/c
I think he could play the 3 in certain situations if we went big.
@Daniel
according to 82games all his mins are at pf/c
@justin
I was always under the impression that McRoberts was more a 4-5 than a 3-4. That being said, I think he'd be a great fit here.
@Keith
Yeah he has had YEARS upon YEARs to develop something and never has.
@PNT
crawford is more pg/sg combo, like a better nate rob.
anthony parker, not great probably about equal to cook.
cut ivey(next year is not guaranteed) and use all cap space on Afflalo
tayshaun prince? probably too expensive
not a sg/sf but vlad rad?
mike dunleavey?
grant hill
@lafowler255
Agree, Ben Wallace might legitimately be the worst offensive player (given his time on the court and prominence in the league) in all history.
clarkem :@Bryan
Per game?
I was thinking $12.52 X 5 years
@justin
Ben Wallace to me has the worse offensive game Is what Im saying.