How the Thunder Can Protect the Paint Without Rim Presence

The Oklahoma City Thunder have dealt with an injury bug this season, and it’s primarily impacted the frontcourt. Obviously, the injury to Chet Holmgren before the season. Next, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl went down, followed by Aleksej Pokusevski.

After missing all three players, the Thunder had to take on the Charlotte Hornets, where Mark Williams found plenty of success in the paint. In 21 minutes, Williams scored 17 points on 7-of-7 shooting and pulled down 13 rebounds. Plenty of success for Williams, who has barely got NBA minutes here in his rookie year.

If the Thunder allowed Williams to dice up their defense, how will the Thunder guard Joel Embiid, who the Thunder match up against on New Years Eve, while missing their defensive presences? It surely won’t come from any one player, and Coach Daigneault knows that. So how will they do it?

“Turning the dial a little bit,” Daigneault said. “Especially in the help. First level help at the elbows and at the nail with the primary help defender, earlier help around the rim and around the paint.”

Bringing guards in to help like Tre Mann, who plays with an aggression that can bother a big man into passing out of a potential mismatch, or even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams who have long arms and can bother a big man in that way, too.

“Early in the season, we were having a lot of success, but we were contesting a lot of shots at the rim and that opens you up to fouls,” Daigneault said. “It opens you up to offensive rebounds. One thing we’ve really tried to improve is eliminating some of those shots.”

With the current big main availability for the Thunder, which was Jaylin Williams and Mike Muscala, there isn’t as much vertical play as there was earlier in the season. They’ve got to lean into eliminating their opponents from getting under the basket to generate solid looks. Coach Daignault mentioned the Thunder need to “take the rim out and try to force them into jump shots.”

Realistically, with Jaylin Williams being the next man up along with Muscala, that’s somewhat possible. Joel Embiid will be a solid test for this theory, as he can easily start settling for jumpers early, even more so if he sees them starting to fall. They’ll want him to settle for his left hand to his right hand mid-range pull up.

As the Thunder navigate a challenging, successful season, they face even more challenges. They’re 15-20 on the season and are continually proving people wrong, so what’s one more challenge?

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