Thunder weekly grades: Russell Westbrook leads the new Oklahoma City charge

New, comments

Russell Westbrook blew up the world as Kevin Durant's foot issues resurfaced, and Westbrook led new cohorts to a remarkable offensive explosion.

By Dustin Howell and Joey Conger Feb 23, 2015, 3:12pm CST

/ new

The Thunder experienced one of the biggest shake-ups in their young OKC franchise history. How did each player respond to the changes?

Game 1: Shorthanded Thunder rout Dallas Mavericks, 104-89

Game 2: New look Thunder get win over Hornets, 110-103

Game 3: Thunder roll and thrash hapless Nuggets, 119-94

***

KEVIN DURANT	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	1	37.0	12.0	6.0	5.0	0.0	1.0	2.0	+15.0
JOEY		Kevin Durant only played one game, and he wasn't anywhere close to 50%, so he gets a break. C Average.
DUSTIN		KD played a high 37 minutes on an aching foot. He only made 4-14 from the field. Had this been any other player it would probably be an F.

RUSSELL WESTBROOK	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	3	33.0	29.3	6.7	12.3	0.0	1.0	4.7	+17.3
JOEY		Three wins, without a healthy Kevin Durant, is awesome. Three wins, without a healthy Kevin Durant AND dropping 29-12-7 averages is "A++" worthy.
DUSTIN		Since the ASG, Russ has been the best player on the planet. A++ is an understatement of how well he did this week.

SERGE IBAKA	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	3	32.3	19.0	14.0	0.3	3.7	0.7	2.3	+18.0
JOEY		Serge Ibaka has been fantastic since the All-Star break. He has his first 20-20 game ever, and is putting up averages of 19-12-3 over the last three games. All on a TOTAL of three 3 point attempts.
DUSTIN		Going into All-Star Weekend Serge was playing somewhat inconsistent. Coming out of All-Star Weekend he looks more comfortable and statistically is back to the Serge we have seen in past years.

ANDRE ROBERSON	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	3	13.7	2.7	6.0	1.3	0.0	0.7	1.7	+5.3
JOEY		He had 8 points total, through three games. BUT, he did have 12 rebounds against Dallas, so I'll give him a C plus.
DUSTIN		Andre will be hard to ever get above a C+ due to lack of offensive skill. His defense has been really good this week, but unfortunately at 2.7 PPG its hard to get a better grade.

STEVEN ADAMS	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
JOEY	N/A	[Evaluation]
DUSTIN		Steven Adams was seen doing shooting drills prior to the game on Sunday against the Nuggets without any brace so A+ for rehab.

ENES KANTER	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	2	29.5	15.0	12.5	2.5	0.0	0.5	1.5	+22.0
JOEY		Two games played with the Thunder, and Enes Kanter has posted two double-doubles. Russ seems to really like finding Kanter off the pick and roll, which is bad news for other teams, if they keep this up.
DUSTIN		New team in a new city with new teammates with no chemistry. 2 double-doubles. Fantastic work in the paint and on the boards.

DION WAITERS	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	3	28.7	11.7	1.7	2.0	0.3	1.3	1.3	+7.0
JOEY		Dion Waiter is doing his job, just not very efficiently. 35 points on 39 shots is not great, but it'll do in a bench role.
DUSTIN		He does what the coaching staff asks. Play defense and compete on the offensive end. His percentage wasn't great but he didn't hurt OKC either. He had a pretty average week.

DJ AGUSTIN	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	2	26.0	10.0	3.0	2.0	0.0	0.5	1.5	+7.0
JOEY		Staying in his role, and controlling the game is what he's done. D.J. Augustin hasn't shot well overall, but he has shot 4-8 from 3.
DUSTIN		DJ is the type of player that does his job and does it well. He isn't going to wow you every night. He's the Nick Collison of the PG position. In 2 games he has hit two huge threes for OKC.

NICK COLLISON	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	3	18.7	3.7	5.7	1.7	0.0	1.0	1.3	+1.7
JOEY		As far as stats go, Nick Collison has been great this week. He even taught Mitch how to take a charge, which brings his grade up at least a letter grade.
DUSTIN		Nick was just being Nick. Played some big minutes and as usual was on the positive side of the +/-. Seems to be taking Mitch in as an understudy as well.

ANTHONY MORROW	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	3	22.7	10.0	3.3	0.7	0.3	1.0	1.0	+4.3
JOEY		I'm giving out a lot of "B's" but it's difficult to grade how guys are filling in their role. I'll give Anthony Morrow a B plus because he's 4-9 from 3.
DUSTIN		He has had issues finding open 3's this year. With the new additions it spaces the floor out more and so far he has been successful from behind the arc since they joined.

MITCH MCGARY	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	3	17.7	7.7	6.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	1.7	-4.3
JOEY		A three minute stretch against Charlotte, in which Mitch McGary racked up 7 points and 7 rebounds saved his week, here. McGary had 10 points and 7 rebounds against Denver, but most of it was in garbage time.
DUSTIN		How do you not get excited when this guy does something? He takes a big charge and has a huge smile on his face the whole way back. Solid week for Mitch. Collison seems to be rubbing off on him.

KYLE SINGLER	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	2	16.5	6.5	2.0	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	+10.0
JOEY		Spot starting must be hard, but it'd be extra difficult with guys you met hours before the game (not to mention having to fill in for the reigning MVP). Singler knocked in a few threes and played defense, learning things quickly.
DUSTIN		He is a huge improvement from PJ3 as Durant's replacement. He knocked down some threes and was pretty efficient.

PERRY JONES III	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	2	9.5	1.5	2.5	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.5	0.0
JOEY		Perry Jones somehow didn't get traded, then responded by knocking down a garbage time three. What. A. Week.
DUSTIN		It appears PJ3's starting days in OKC have come to an end. Averaged under 10 minutes and those were really in garbage time. He managed a 25% from the field this week as well. I won't be too critical since neither game was on the line that he played in.

JEREMY LAMB	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	2	6.0	1.5	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	-1.0
JOEY		Jeremy Lamb forgot to nail a ridiculously deep, meaningless three in garbage time, but oh well.
DUSTIN		He managed to play in 2/3 games which means he was awake for at least 2/3 games. Baby steps JLamb, baby steps.

STEVE NOVAK	Games Played	MIN	PPG	REB	AST	BL	ST	TO	+/-

(Average Stats)	1	9.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	-4.0
JOEY		He missed a couple threes, but I'll cut him some slack.
DUSTIN		Steve Novak who has been known as a streaky shooter in his younger days struggled in his OKC debut. It was in garbage time so I will give him a pass on this one. Plus he looks like an old dad.

TEAM GRADE	Record	OffRtg	DefRtg	AstRatio	REB%	TS%	PACE	+/-

(Advanced Stats)	3-0	106.4	93.7	16.4	75.4%	53.5%	103.0	+15.7
JOEY		We beat one good team this week, so let's chill a little bit. Good sign to win without Kevin Durant, though.
DUSTIN		Good solid week of Basketball for OKC. The last 2 wins were expected but the way OKC took care of Dallas while missing 2 players who were traded away hours before tip-off deserve an A+ grade.


SCOTT BROOKS	Coaching Grade
JOEY		I hold Scott Brooks partially responsible for Novak not getting a three. Only nine minutes of playing time in a game that was over by halftime? You can do better, Scotty.
DUSTIN		Scott Brooks has had the toughest job of any coach in the NBA this season. Everyone is calling for his head and he doesn't let the pressure get to him. He has integrated the new players nicely. 3-0 is always a good week.

SCOTT BROOKS

Coaching Grade

JOEY

I hold Scott Brooks partially responsible for Novak not getting a three. Only nine minutes of playing time in a game that was over by halftime? You can do better, Scotty.

DUSTIN

Scott Brooks has had the toughest job of any coach in the NBA this season. Everyone is calling for his head and he doesn't let the pressure get to him. He has integrated the new players nicely. 3-0 is always a good week.

*All player images via www.usatodaysportsimages.com

Thunder weekly grades: Russell Westbrook leads the new Oklahoma City charge

Share this story

Share All sharing options for: Thunder weekly grades: Russell Westbrook leads the new Oklahoma City charge

In This Stream

Thunder 2014-15 Regular season weekly player grades

More From Welcome to Loud City

Loading comments...

Share this story

All sharing options for: Thunder weekly grades: Russell Westbrook leads the new Oklahoma City charge