Comments on: Is The Thunder Better Than Last Year http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/2011/02/08/is-the-thunder-better-than-last-year/ Oklahoma City Thunder News, Photos, Blogs, Videos and more Thu, 02 May 2013 15:06:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5 By: Matthew http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/2011/02/08/is-the-thunder-better-than-last-year/comment-page-1/#comment-8815 Matthew Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:40:00 +0000 http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/?p=4503#comment-8815 Is the Thunder really winning with offense? Is the offense really better than last year? It is the percentage and not the point totals that really tell the story of how well a team is playing on offense. Thunder is only shooting .460 this year, while they were shooting .462 last year.
How important is shooting percentage? Of the 20 teams that are supposedly playing better defense than Oklahoma City, only nine are shooting a lower shooting %. None of those teams have a better winning percentage and the average winning percentage among those teams is .418. Chicago is tied with Oklahoma City in shooting percentage and has a slight edge in winning percentage. Chicago is also tied with Miami for league for holding opponents to the lowest shooting percentage.
How important is .2%? If Thunder shot .2% better they would jump from 16th to 13th in the league in shooting %, but what is more telling is what it could do for them defensively or in winning percentage.
Of the remaining 10 teams that have a better opponent defensive number, 5 teams have less than a 1% better shooting % and only Dallas has a better winning percentage. Of the remaining five teams with a better defensive number, four are shooting less than 2% better than Thunder and only one (Denver) has a lower winning %. Only Boston is shooting more than 2% better than Thunder and they are sitting on top of the East in winning percentage, although San Antonio does have the league best winning percentage at .840, while shooting .471.
Simply put: Just a little bit higher shooting percentage would solve a whole lot of defensive problems. The game is won inside. Fight for the higher percentage shot and defend the rim. One could contend that Thunder is just not big enough to win inside. (Sniffle, snivel) I contend that Thunder has a fine complement of big men but they just tend to want to play small and play jump shoot. Play to win, play big!!! Go Thunder!!!

]]> By: Tweets that mention Is The Thunder Better Than Last Year | Thunder Rumblings -- Topsy.com http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/2011/02/08/is-the-thunder-better-than-last-year/comment-page-1/#comment-8811 Tweets that mention Is The Thunder Better Than Last Year | Thunder Rumblings -- Topsy.com Tue, 08 Feb 2011 19:53:17 +0000 http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/?p=4503#comment-8811 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by NewsOKThunder and OK City Thunder Buzz, Darnell Mayberry. Darnell Mayberry said: Now on Thunder Rumblings: Is the Thunder better than last year? — http://bit.ly/gfzw9l [...]

]]> By: qrex http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/2011/02/08/is-the-thunder-better-than-last-year/comment-page-1/#comment-8810 qrex Tue, 08 Feb 2011 19:27:08 +0000 http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/?p=4503#comment-8810 Who or what are the Boomers? (Words can be plural without ending “s”. Just an FYI!)

]]> By: Joel http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/2011/02/08/is-the-thunder-better-than-last-year/comment-page-1/#comment-8809 Joel Tue, 08 Feb 2011 19:26:09 +0000 http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/?p=4503#comment-8809 @Brandon

YES! Please stop calling the Thunder “Boomers”. It’s ridiculous, and doesn’t fit.

]]> By: Brandon http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/2011/02/08/is-the-thunder-better-than-last-year/comment-page-1/#comment-8808 Brandon Tue, 08 Feb 2011 19:21:15 +0000 http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/?p=4503#comment-8808 Good stuff as always, guys. I’m glad you are all keeping up with this new feature, I’m digging it.

But I think your next Question of the Day should be: Should Berry Tramel stop calling the Thunder “the Boomers” or no?

]]> By: Lynn1 http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/2011/02/08/is-the-thunder-better-than-last-year/comment-page-1/#comment-8805 Lynn1 Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:43:44 +0000 http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/?p=4503#comment-8805 Better, they’ve had far more injuries this year than last , and still winning at a better pace.

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