Some season stats to consider

As we go into the offseason and the discussion continues about what free agents Oklahoma City should key on or who the Thunder should set their eyes to in the draft, one good way to gain some perspective is to take a look back at the season in stats.

• The Thunder ranked in the bottom 10 of the league in nine major statistical categories: 24th in scoring offense (97.0 ppg), 23rd in opponent points per game (103.1), 26th in field goal percentage (44.6), last in turnovers (16.2 per game), last in three pointers made (four a game), last in three point attempts (11.6), 20th in assists per game (20.3), 22nd in blocks (4.5 a game) and 29th in assist to turnover ratio (1.14).

• OKC did rebound surprsingly well ranking sixth in the league in rebounds per game (42.6). But while the Thunder hit glass well, they did give up 41.2 rebounds a game for a differential of +1.4, which was in the bottom 15 of the league. But at the same time, nobody averaged more than 6.9 a game. It was all done by committee without one dominant rebounder.

• Another thing the Thunder did well was steal the ball. OKC ranked 13th in the league with 7.4 thefts per game.

• Again, the Thunder ranked dead last in both three pointers attempted and made. Jeff Green and Kevin Durant combined to make 193 of OKC’s 328 threes this season. Yeah, that’s 59 percent of the team’s total three point makes.

• OKC averaged 91.8 ppg in November, 96.1 in December, 102.8 in January, 106.3 in February, back down to 92.4 in March and 95.4 in April.

• In wins, the Thunder had six guys that averaged double figures. In losses, they had just three. In wins, “the big three” averaged 60.3 ppg, (60 percent of the team’s points). In losses, they averaged 56.1 ppg (59 percent of the team’s points).

• Kevin Durant averaged 27.2 ppg and 8.0 rpg in wins and 24.7 and 6.0 rpg in losses. Jeff Green averaged 18.6 ppg in wins and 15.9 in losses. Westbrook averaged 14.8 ppg in wins and 15.5 in losses. But he averaged 4.9 assists per game in losses and 6.2 in wins. That says something right there.

• For the season, the only three players that averaged double figures were Durant, Green and Westbrook. Other teams that had three or fewer players average double digits: New Jersey and Dallas. The Thunder relied more on three players than all but one team (Dallas had Dirk, Jason Terry and Josh Howard combining for 63.5 ppg while OKC’s three averaged 60.3 ppg). Nenad Krstic provided some supplementary scoring sometimes and Thabo did too sometimes, but OKC needs a consistent extra scorer whether it be off the bench or in the starting lineup to take some of the load off the big three.

• OKC’s backcourt ranked 26th in the league in efficiency and got just 34.0 ppg from the backcourt, which was last in the league.

• The Thunder ranked 28th for in-the-paint stats and 23rd for out-of-paint stats.

• The Thunder’s starters ranked 25th in the league with a -9.6. They ranked 22nd in points per game, tied Minnesota for lowest shooting percentage and tied Boston for first in turnovers.

• OKC’s bench ranked in at 19th at a -1.4, was fifth in rebounding but last in turnovers.

• OKC ranked 21st in point guard play and last in turnovers in that category with 4.9 a game.

• At shooting guard the Thunder ranked last in the league with a -5.8. OKC got the least amount of points from that position in the league with 15.3 a game.

• OKC ranked fourth at small forward and were fourth for points per game, sixth for rebounds per game, third for steals per game, sixth in shooting percentage, first in three point percentage and fourth in free throws made at that position. Oh yeah, Kevin Durant.

• The Thunder ranked 28th at power forward. At the four, OKC was 18th in ppg, 22nd in rpg, 26th in blocks and 25th in field goal percentage.

• And at center, OKC came in 24th. 16th in points, 17th in rebounds, 24th in blocks and 18th in field goal percentage.

• Finally, just because I care: KD wound up shooting a 176.1 in the “180 Shooter” statistic. At one point he got as high as a 179.3 but his subpar finish dropped him down some. Still a wonderful shooting season and I’m thinking he’ll be a multiple 180 shooter during his career. (He finished 47.6 percent from the field, 42.2 from three and 86.3 from the free throw line.)

So out of all that, it’s clear OKC needs help pretty much across the board. But some of that should be taken care of players the Thunder already has. You’d assume Westbrook will improve and bring the turnovers down. You’d assume the offense will be better with a full season under Scott Brooks and Durant, Green and Westbrook all getting better. You’d assume the defense to improve some as young players mature and understand that end of the floor better. But some things you can’t expect the Thunder to just “get better” at. They need a shooter. They need a physical post player that can rebound, block shots, play solid post defense and score on the block. They need depth off the bench. You know, so get all that and we should be fine.