Is this the perfect modern defense?
How can a small defense be so good? This detailed film breakdown & scouting report explores the Oklahoma City Thunder defense, which is lapping the league in turnovers, and they are the league best in another surprising area that is the key to their success.
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42 Comments
Thx for creating & sharing this !
"The modern NBA doesn't allow defense any more" š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”
better than the 04 Pistons?!
This is the defensive answer to lack of post players
Scary defense to see your team match up against. At least they donāt have a defensively elite stretch-5 coming back from injury soon!
Subtle backcourt 3:12
lu dort finally getting much deserved shine
I really feel like a lot of the vocal critics of the modern NBA only value strength in an athlete. Thatās why they love football and why they praise the older style of basketball. Like nothing wrong with strength but thatās not the whole game, itās one dimension of the game. It is only one part of what it takes to be a successful athlete in basketball. Like why are we complaining about players shooting? Like that is one of the biggest pillars of the sport.
Hartenstein changes everything
Obviously GSW showed a small ball team can beat a team with deep rim protectors against the Celtics in the Finals a couple years go. But they kinda cheat with being illegal at the end of games (or barely legal when they are doing it right). Wiggs, Dray, Looney and even Otto Porter Jr did a pretty good job of help defense on that team. Where this version of the Warriors aren't good is that after stopping the ball one time they either give up offenisive boards or don't recover on counters to their typical drive help and interior passing roations. And that's where Hartenstien is helping with OKC. For a big man, he has a pretty good foot work
You need size to protect the rim. You only need one big man if the perimeter defense is pretty good. You also need team rebounding which you can get with speed and size. Hartenstien is a solid big man. A big man that can pass helps with any offense but they can be smaller than Joker as Sabonis and Dray have shown.
But then Dallas with Gafford and Lively and Luka's passing was able to get some stuff that they wanted going to the rim and it made a huge difference in that series. So having Hartenstien and Chet together will be very valuable for a finals run with Joker and AG, what the Wolves have with Naz, Randle and Rudy, Laker with AD, and of course Dallas if they get healthy
It's crazy to say this, but their synchrony and movement, toggling between man and space, looks like a football (soccer, for americans) zone. They press like Liverpool and protect the box like Atletico. It's so impressive.
6:00 AE switches pivot foots, super obvious travel
Sorry, I'm a stupid Baseball player typically on X Games mode, what constitutes horizontal on a basketball court? Annnnd as I am writing this, I realize you were thinking in 3 dimensions, where I was thinking in 2.
Loved the video, hell love ya content overall but 1:41 u have to stop that. Shai n JW pushing 6'6 š
I bet their defensive coach (do NBA teams have those?) will be a head coach soon
They are all always on a string. So well connected and well coached. I canāt wait for Chet to get back.
Future dynasty ā¼ļø
Having their superstar offensive players completely bought in to working hard on the defensive end makes such a big difference. There's not a single person they put on the floor who isn't an aggressive and engaged defender.
I would enjoy it if you would consider turning the background music down. To me, it feels like the music is supposed to help hold our attention or something. I find it distracting. The quality of the words, ideas, and images are great. I personally don't need hype music to feel engaged with this videos.
Best team in the league right now in my opinion
I believe it's this same defence stimulates SGA's offence in training. He's used to these tough defenders which makes it easier ingame against weaker defenders.
Aye bro this is the meta uff OKC Boston and Denver we're already doing this one guard 3 wings one big
That ignore on rudy gobert was lowkey funny af
JDub is 6ā6ā
All I ask is the NBA refs do not punish teams who play legitimately good defense with a bunch of ticky tack fouls. Offense isn't everything. Let teams play. Please š
Love the OKC, but why do their jerseys make them look like they play for Clorox?
You missed the most important reason for the Thunder's success. The savior of basketball himself, Aaron Wiggins
Weāll see if they can keep this energy up all the way through the playoffs.
And weāll see if the refs allow those āactive handsā on the ball handler. One or two of those clips are textbook reaches, so relying on that as part of the defense is not gonna be reliable.
they have the highest biggest difference over league average since the bill russell celticsā¦ this is the best defense of all time
The thunder are the greatest defence ever because you measure defence differently then how they used to. Thatās the problem with the NBA they stay lying by omission.
"No OnE pLaYs DeFeNsE aNyMoRe."
A truly claustrophobic watch… What an incredible team they've assembled.
I wanna see it in the playoffs where teams can really prepare for it. But I do believe in it for now
we all know that JDub is 6'3 TB
I know itās a weird comp, but this isnāt entirely dissimilar to what Purdue has done to transform its defense this year as well.
Obviously OKC is better at it, but kind of a similar style to prevent the ball from getting into the paint.
Iām a sucker for good defense
I fucking choked when I saw BIG ASS "Ignore" on Gobert's head lmfaoooo
I really think Denver is the only team that poses a threat to a healthy OKC, and thatās if they can sustain efficient shooting from three ON VOLUME. They would need Christian Braun or Aaron Gordon to have a PJ Washington level of series for it to go past five.
People will say Dallas since they won the season series 3-1, but OKC had more impactful injuries than Dallas did, even with Luka out.
Insane roster, and they STILL have crazy draft pick capital in the bank. That roster is why I think Shai can't hold a candle to Joker in the MVP race though. They are not playing with the same cards even remotely.
This is why I F with you TB
I still think they are allowed a ton of contact that other teams are not – just because its their way of being hyper active and aggressive…
The feel and team iq is different every single player on this okc is a two way player of some sort
last time i checked this small ball defense got smoked by giannis, small ball doesn't work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!