Last Week:4↑
2023-24 record: 57-25
OffRtg: 118.3 (3) DefRtg: 111.0 (4) NetRtg: +7.3 (2) Pace: 100.9 (5)
Key addition(s): Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein, Nikola Topic
Key departure(s): Josh Giddey
Three numbers to know:
The Thunder’s 57-25 record was the best mark among 109 teams that got at least 1/3 of their minutes from rookies or second-year players over the last 20 seasons.
They have a league-high nine players under contract who shot the league average or better from 3-point range (minimum 100 3-point attempts) last season. No other team has more than seven.
Caruso averaged 4.7 deflections per 36 minutes, second most among 266 players who played at least 1,000 minutes last season. He led the league with 5.2 deflections per 36 in 2022-23.
Key question: Will they get more shots than their opponents?
Caruso seems like a great fit with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams set to do most of the ballhandling. The Thunder led the league in the percentage of their 3-point attempts, 80%, that came off the catch and he shot 40.6% on catch-and-shoot 3s last season. With his menacing defense, the Thunder will be the favorite to lead the league in opponent turnover rate for a second straight year.
Despite being tops in the league in turnover differential last season, they still attempted fewer shots than their opponents last season since they were one of only two teams – the Wizards were the other – to rank in the bottom five in both offensive and rebounding percentage. That’s where Hartenstein – along with some added strength for Chet Holmgren – comes in. He was fourth in offensive rebounding percentage (12.9%) among 288 players who averaged at least 15 minutes in 40 games or more.
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