10 questions for training camp

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One week. One week and the NBA season kind of sort of gets underway.

The Thunder will open their seventh training camp in Oklahoma City next week, beginning with the annual media day on Monday. And for the first time since 2011, Scott Brooks will be figuring out a new starting lineup during camp. That’s the first big question. But because one question isn’t very good, and 10 is a good round number, I came up with nine more to think about as the Thunder get set to open camp.

1. Who starts at shooting guard?

There are four candidates right now — Jeremy Lamb, Anthony Morrow, Andre Roberson and Reggie Jackson. You can probably cross Morrow off as he’s already said that he’s under the impression he’ll come off the bench. Brooks went with Roberson last regular season 16 times when Thabo Sefolosha was out injured, never leaning on Lamb once. And of course Jackson assumed starting responsibilities in Game 3 against the Spurs to varying degrees of success.

This decision has a political angle to it as well. Jackson wants to be a starter, and the Thunder want to sign him long-term. In terms of fit, Jackson is better suited to remain as the team’s sixth man, providing a scoring spark to abuse opposing second units and the kind of depth you need over an 82-game schedule. Starting Jackson would give the Thunder a unique offensive look, but it would also create potential issues defensively. We all know Jackson isn’t exactly a high level defender, particularly in stopping dribble penetration. Westbrook is good, albeit inconsistent, but together the Thunder’s backcourt would lack the traditional size the team has always preferred. Starting Jackson worked against the Spurs because they had an undersized backcourt themselves, but against bigger teams with stout shooting guards (like the Blazers, Rockets, Warriors, Pelicans, Lakers, etc), the Thunder would be inviting a mismatch. That’s very unlike them.

So to me, the choice is going to be between Roberson and Lamb, with the one who outplays the other in training camp winning the job. Lamb is clearly — CLEARLY — the better offensive player, but Roberson’s advantage is a significant edge on the defensive end. Primarily because in the Thunder’s starting five, defense has always been the priority because of the combination of Westbrook, Durant and Ibaka on the floor at the same time. The Thunder have latched on to the idea that if they defend, they win, citing a stat of allowing under 103 point per possession resulting in wins some 90 percent of the time.

Roberson is darn near an elite defender already, and with an offseason of work and improvement, he could come back a surprisingly good player. He was far more aggressive in summer league in attacking the basket, playing with more confidence on the offensive end. Lamb was inconsistent last season, but is still just 22 years old and poised to make marked improvements. Lamb noted defense being his offseason focus at exit interviews, so if he could close the gap on Roberson, even marginally, his offensive ability might be enough to pull the job away.

2. Can Steven Adams push Kendrick Perkins for starting center?

It’s a complicated situation. Because on the surface of mere ability and talent alone, Adams passed Perk in those areas sometime around December last season. There were factors as to why Brooks stuck with Perk regardless, like Adams propensity to fouling and the fact it would be pretty scary to entrust the starting center spot to a 20-year-old rookie for the postseason.

It’s pretty clear Adams is better than Perk, and has more to offer on the offensive end. Adams is a very good pick-and-roll player with an ability to, you know, finish. He’s made jumps defensively going from a lost brute to a understanding space, help and how to use his feet. He still fouls too much, but that’s why you have a $9 million backup center, right?

Here’s the complication: Perk is in a contract year, and with that, has an ego, as you’d expect him to. Despite Perk’s lip service about selflessness and doing what’s best for the team and sacrificing when he’s talking about other players, I’d assume there’s little chance he’d actually walk the walk if put in that position. Perk is only 29, an age far too early to be missing out on solid contracts. So he’s going to want to prove himself this season to make cash next summer. And in his mind, he can’t do that if he’s playing behind Adams. One of Perk’s greatest talents is being a wonderful veteran locker room presence, but he could quickly become a locker room problem if his spot gets taken.

The way to solve it? Trade Perk, right? Well, that’s easier said than done, and still, Perk has a value to the team if he’s invested. Despite the common inclination to clown him, the Thunder don’t beat the Grizzlies without him holding Zach Randolph under water for six games. Seriously, go look at Randolph’s numbers, particularly when Perk was on the floor. The Thunder advanced for a lot of reasons, but one of them was undeniably Perk’s work on Randolph. That’s not to say Adams may not be ready for that, but if you can take advantage of Perk’s abilities, though limited, while still relying on Adams more, that’s the ideal situation.

Really, it’s on Brooks to use his world-renowned player chemistry degree to sort through this. Though we all know what his answer will probably will be: Perk starts.

3. How does the offensive remodel look?

When Scott Brooks took over as coach six years ago, he said the team’s entire focus in training camp was on the defensive end. And that’s the way it was for the first three or four seasons. Defense was the focus, and the offensive end left to just kind of sort itself out. That’s caused an incredible amount of frustration for some, but the results are hard to argue with. The Thunder have developed into one of the league’s most consistent defensive teams, and in games where they show that, they win. The offense can look frustratingly simplistic, but under the plan of trusting great offensive talent like Westbrook and Durant to sort through it, the Thunder win a lot of games. In reality, the games where the halfcourt offense implodes and causes a flood of furious statements, it’s actually probably as much a defensive issue because by design, the Thunder are supposed to be getting stops and not have to rely on the other end to win games.

Still, Brooks isn’t some idiot. His tactics are certainly questionable, but the team has slowly begun implementing a bit more complexity into their offense. Last season there were a few new sets and a few new principles. This season, there will be a much bigger emphasis on ball movement and spacing. Brooks mentioned it during exit interviews how he wants the Thunder to be a better passing team. The question is what that actually looks like. Because isolation, while sometimes incredibly disgusting, has been pretty kind to the Thunder.

The word “system” gets tossed around about the Thunder a lot, as if it’s some magical fix to an already terrifically productive offense. But in truth, there are only a handful of successful systems in basketball, and all of them depend on your personnel. Everyone likes to say the Spurs have a “system,” but in truth, they run the same eight or 10 sets the Thunder do, but they just have different, far more unselfish personnel running them. Their “system” is in having five live offensive players on the floor, five guys that can cause damage. Opposing defenses have to be mindful of five players on the floor at all times and it allows the Spurs better spacing and an easier ability to share the ball. So when the Spurs run “Horns” or “Floppy” they’re running the same set the Thunder are — they’re just running it with a different approach. The Thunder are typically trying to free up No. 35, No. 9 or No. 0 in one of those sets. The Spurs are trying to free up anyone.

Inherently, the Thunder are a selfish team. Westbrook wants to shoot. Durant wants to shoot. And those two guys use more than 60 percent of the teams possessions. Because that makes sense, because those two guys are amazing. But Brooks is trying to create a bit more inviting structure that creates looks for other players, making the three other guys on the floor more live. Adding a player like Anthony Morrow helps a lot in accomplishing that and there are a lot of creative lineups to be deployed with Lamb, Jackson and Jones.

The question is how much the players buy in and trust this different approach. A guy like Russell Westbrook isn’t going to just sit back and make extra passes if the Thunder are down eight early in the fourth quarter. He’s going to attack and assume the responsibility of creating points, because that’s what he does.

4. Does Mitch McGary have a chance at cracking the rotation?

Nick Collison is 34, and had an offseason knee procedure. Scott Brooks has tried to manage Collison’s minutes a bit the past few seasons and the addition of McGary presents even more of an opportunity to do that. McGary has pretty clearly been added to be Future Nick, but it’s a matter of how prepared he is.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Collison gets a few more nights off this season, and in that case McGary would probably get time by default. I can tell you this: The front office and coaching staff are very high on McGary, particularly in what he could do on the offensive end to create a different look and dynamic. I don’t think he’s going to be getting 20 minutes a game in November, but sparse rotational minutes? Definitely.

5. How does Anthony Morrow fit?

Morrow’s addition gives the Thunder something they’ve never had before, a true knockdown sharpshooter. Daequan Cook was supposed to be that, but he’s always been a streak shooter, someone that could make five in a row, but then miss his next 25. Derek Fisher sort of tried to become one last season by accident, but was never the right fit to do so for a myriad of reasons. Same thing happened with Caron Butler.

Morrow is a player that’s well over 40 percent from 3 for his career, and nearly hit 46 percent from deep last season. He’s a reliable outside shooter that opposing defenses will have to remain mindful of, presenting Durant and Westbrook a new option. It’s really a question of how many minutes he plays each night fitting into the rotation with Jackson, Lamb and presumably, Roberson.

6. Will Perry Jones find a role?

Jones is such a unique talent. Last season Brooks called him a “utility man,” which seemed like a compliment at the time, but really it just means that he has no position and no place. Yes, it’s nice to have a guy as versatile as Jones, but that just means you don’t use him until you need him in one of those roles.

By nature, Jones really should be a stretch 4 that gives the Thunder an offensively dynamic look with him playing alongside Serge Ibaka and Kevin Durant. But in name, he’s kind of just Durant’s backup. The experiment at shooting guard didn’t go horribly, but Jones always just seemed out of place. He was much improved last season, becoming a decently reliable corner 3-point shooter, but still, that doesn’t make him a fit. He seems to have too much talent to just waste, but finding his place with quality depth already in place is a challenge Brooks has to try and figure out.

7. Will Kevin Durant actually use this move?

Let’s hope so.

8. Are any of the young guys ready to take a leap?

Jackson seems to maybe already done that with his Game 4 outburst against the Grizzlies. So which of Adams, Jones, Lamb or Roberson is ready to take another step? I think Steven Adams is set to make a marked improvement this season, but my eye really is on Jeremy Lamb. He has overflowing offensive ability and showed some unexpected versatility as a creator last season. He lost confidence sometime in February and thereby, fell out of the rotation. But he had a few nice moments in the postseason and finally got much needed experience.

Like I said earlier, his jump needs to really come on the defensive end, making him a reliable rotation for Brooks to trust. Lamb can play — remember his games against the Heat and Rockets last season? — it’s just a matter of him playing with confidence and belief.

9. Will the Thunder fill the 15th roster spot?

After trading Hasheem Thabeet to the Sixers, the Thunder opened up an extra roster spot. Traditionally, they like to leave that open to fill later in the season with a D-League call-up or a buyout player available after the trade deadline. But they’ll bring in the usual castoffs for training camp and give some guys a look. But I don’t think they’ll fill it.

10. Does the extra rest make a difference for Durant and Westbrook?

Yes? I have no idea.