The Thunder bigs complement Russell Westbrook perfectly

All season long, Russell Westbrook has rampaged through the NBA, stacking box score columns night after night. His triple-double barrage has been impressive on its own, but more important than the sheer volume of 10-10-10 nights is the Thunder’s 31-7 record in games where he’s reached double figures in three categories.

Even on those nights, though, Oklahoma City’s defense and rebounding have played key roles in keeping the Thunder in games long enough for Russ to be in position to work his magic in crunch time. (He’d scored 211 points in 132 clutch-time minutes as of this writing, per NBA.com.) Prior to Wednesday night’s rollicking comeback win over the Orlando Magic, the Thunder ranked just 16th in offensive efficiency. By contrast, they ranked ninth in defensive efficiency, fourth in defensive rebound rate, and second in both offensive and total rebound rate. Where this details leads us is here — the big boys doing the dirty work on the inside have played a larger-than-talked-about role in the Thunder arriving at their 42-32 record and top-six playoff seed.

Though he didn’t necessarily set out to do so, Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti assembled a group of big men that, together, accentuate Westbrook’s strengths with their ability to fill in the few gaps that his immense talent doesn’t cover.

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Though he’s been responsible for nearly 70 percent of the points scored while he’s on the floor, Westbrook can’t actually do everything by himself. He needs to work off screens, for example.

Steven Adams is one of the very best screen-setters in the league — he ranks 16th league-wide in screen assists per game, according to NBA.com’s hustle stats. The Westbrook-Adams pick-and-roll dance doesn’t create quite as many opportunities for Adams himself as it did when Kevin Durant was still spacing the floor around it, but teams’ desperation to cut off the floating lob over the top to the Kiwi big man has created perimeter openings for players like Victor Oladipo, Alex Abrines, and more. (They haven’t exactly taken advantage of those opportunities, though. Oklahoma City ranks tied for ninth in “wide-open” 3-point attempts per game, per NBA.com, but only 29th in conversion rate on those attempts.)

Adams also carries the burden of a huge defensive responsibility for the Thunder. Billy Donovan’s scheme calls for him to cover a ton of ground, requires him to rise up to meet the level of the ball-handler in nearly every pick-and-roll, then get back to the rim before the ball swings all the way around and creates a close attempt. Adams, as he showed during last year’s playoffs, is up to the task night after night. He flies all over the court, corralling ball-handlers and contesting shots. Only nine players have gotten within range of more 2-point shots per game, per NBA.com, and his rim-protection numbers, while not quite elite, are on par with players like Nerlens Noel, Tyson Chandler, and Bismack Biyombo.

There are usually about 13 minutes a night where Westbrook is parked on the bench, and during that time, the offense is running through Enes Kanter more often than not. Kanter is averaging 24.4 minutes per game this season, and he’s averaging 11 per game with Russ on the floor alongside him. Kanter’s 27.0 percent overall usage rate already ranks second on the team (the only other players close are Josh Heustis and Norris Cole, who have played a combined 75 minutes this season), but there’s a big split in that figure. With Westbrook out of the game, Kanter’s usage rate is nearly nine percentage points higher than when the two players share the court.

Enes Kanter: Usage and Efficiency

Kanter has long been a post-up beast, but this year he has for the first time become a (somewhat) willing passer out of the block. That development was borne out of the fact that everyone double-teams him down there now, Kanter says, because they’re more afraid of him bullying his way to the rim than they are of the Thunder’s wings letting fly from outside. He’s not exactly become Marc Gasol or anything, but any willingness to give the ball up without an assurance of getting it right back is a step in a positive direction. Oklahoma City has scored 106.2 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor and Westbrook out, per nbawowy.com, a pretty healthy number. (They’ve been blasted for 114.7 points per 100 possessions on the other end, but that’s another story.)

Taj Gibson was only acquired at the trade deadline and lately has only been on the floor for about half the game, but he has fit in seamlessly alongside Adams in the starting lineup and Kanter off the bench. Oklahoma City has outscored its opponents by 6.6 points per 100 possessions with Adams and Gibson in the game together, per NBA.com, and 3.4 points per 100 when Gibson and Kanter have shared the floor. Almost everyone on the team has seen their defensive rating improve when sharing the floor with Taj, which should come as a surprise to exactly nobody. This is a guy that anchored some of the best defensive units in the league during his time with Tom Thibodeau’s Bulls, and he did it as both a starter and a sub. (Gibson says this trio reminds him of his time with the Bulls because of its physicality, and it’s hard to argue.) When he’s played with Westbrook, the Thunder have just smoked teams, blowing them away by 12.0 points per 100 possessions in the 17.6 minutes a night they’ve been on the floor together.

Domantas Sabonis and Jerami Grant have factored into Donovan’s big man rotation to different degrees this season as well, and each brings a distinct skill to the table. Sabonis is the most willing of the Thunder bigs to let loose with a jumper (even if he has become arguably the most hesitant shooter in the NBA since an early-season run of strong sniping), and he’s already shown himself to be a capable connecting piece between one side of the offense and the other. Like his father, he’s quick with a whip-smart pass. And Grant, well, he just tries to dunk on everybody. He’s explosive when he bounces off the floor, and you need that kind of athleticism when there’s not much room to operate. Neither player factors quite as heavily into things on either end as Adams, Kanter, or Gibson, but their contributions fill in where needed.

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We all know that Westbrook powers nearly everything this Thunder team does. We’ve watched the one-man wrecking crew all year. But every wrecking crew needs a clean-up crew to come in and mop up after it, right? It’s a thankless job, but somebody’s gotta do it. These guys do, with no complaints.