Tag: Kenrich Williams

Thunder player grades: How OKC players performed in March

See March grades for OKC Thunder players including Moses Brown, Kenrich Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Two-thirds of the way through the season, the Oklahoma City Thunder have managed to stay competitive in most games. With a 20-27 record entering April, the team has already exceeded the wins expectation entering the year.

This month, multiple G League players emerged as productive pieces of the Thunder, while usual starters were either hit with a longterm injury (Darius Bazley), shut down (Al Horford) or traded (George Hill).

Because of that, and the injuries to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort that costed them the end of the month, the Thunder have had greater opportunities to explore their roster.

With 25 games remaining, let’s take a look at player grades over the month of March.

As a reminder, these aren’t solely based on performance, but also on expectations entering the month. See February grades here.

Al stats are accurate entering April 1.

Report: ‘Unlikely’ that Thunder trade Kenrich Williams at deadline

Kenrich Williams could help a playoff team, but Keith Smith reported the OKC Thunder are unlikely to move him at the trade deadline.

As the NBA trade deadline draws near, rumors have ramped up. The Oklahoma City Thunder seem likely to make a trade, as they are a team in rebuilding mode that has been intent on acquiring assets for the future since last season ended.

One Thunder name that has been mentioned in potential trades is Kenrich Williams, but a new report says he is probably going to stay in OKC.

Yahoo Sports’ Keith Smith tweeted that it is “unlikely” Williams gets traded by the Thunder.

“Opposing teams have the sense that Oklahoma City really likes Williams and intends to keep him beyond this season,” Smith said.

That’s logical. Williams is an excellent defender, good midrange shooter and offensive rebounder, and provides energy than has consistently boosted the Thunder this season.

He’s also on an inexpensive contract. He is only owed $2 million per season through 2022-23.

With that much time on his contract, the Thunder have no obligation to trade him now, especially if they think he can be part of their future.

That negates some ideas being thrown around for a Williams deal, including Zach Lowe’s trade idea on “The Lowe Post” podcast in which the ESPN writer proposed the Phoenix Suns get Williams for guard Jevon Carter and “a couple picks.”

“You haven’t heard of him? He’s playing great as a hybrid forward in Oklahoma City,” Lowe said.

The Thunder know that well, and it sounds like they plan to keep him. Nothing is certain, of course, but based on Smith’s report, they’d have to be blown away.

The trade deadline is at 2 p.m. Central time on Thursday.

[lawrence-related id=443431,443399,443363]

Thunder have received calls on 4 players as deadline nears, per Woj

The OKC Thunder have received calls about George Hill, Mike Muscala, Kenrich Williams and Justin Jackson as the trade deadline approaches.

It continues to sound like the Oklahoma City Thunder will be active at the trade deadline. In a recent episode of “The Woj Pod,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski listed four Thunder players who have garnered interest from teams around the league.

“Oklahoma City has got a number of guys who they’re going to be able to, either now or after the season, move on from: George Hill, Kenrich Williams, Mike Muscala, Justin Jackson — I know they’re getting calls on all of those guys,” Wojnarowski said.

“I think they’re going to probably move at least one of those guys on here in the next week.”

For weeks, it has been expected that Hill would be traded, though he has another year on his contract that is not fully guaranteed, so the Thunder could hold onto him if they wish.

Muscala’s contract expires at the end of the season. He is only owed $2.3 million, so he would be easy for a team looking for a stretch-five to take.

He may actually be the most likely of this group to be traded. Muscala has only played one of the five games since the All-Star break as the Thunder evaluate young bigs including Aleksej Pokusevski, Isaiah Roby, Moses Brown and Darius Bazley.

Williams is probably the least likely, as he has two years remaining on his contract after this season. He has played very well for Oklahoma City, and as his salary is only $2 million per season, it’s easy to speculate that the Thunder would have to receive a very good offer to move him.

Jackson will be a restricted free agent after this season and can be issued a qualifying offer of $7 million, so his movement would depend on whether the Thunder consider him a potential part of a future rotation.

The trade deadline is Thursday.

[lawrence-related id=443249,443198]

[mm-video type=video id=01f114fmj8713e36j7 playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f114fmj8713e36j7/01f114fmj8713e36j7-7b4b96f9be2cb3cd7a28eee6ffc7ffdc.jpg]

‘Get to know Kenny Hustle’: The Ringer is taking notice of Williams

OKC Thunder wing Kenrich Williams has earned the notice of The Ringer. Kevin O’Connor wrote about him in the latest power ranking release.

Few national analysts cover the NBA as well as The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor. His in-depth reporting shines with the rotation players he frequently writes about or refers to.

In his most recent power rankings, he used the Oklahoma City Thunder blurb to talk about backup wing Kenrich Williams.

Thunder fans already know how important Williams’ presence has been on the court. Fans around the league may recognize his name, but not many realize his impact.

O’Connor’s advice: “Get to know Kenny Hustle.”

“Kenrich Williams, a 26-year-old undrafted free agent from the 2018 class, is becoming one of my favorite bench players in the league.”

Williams’ box score numbers of about six points and four rebounds per game don’t particularly jump off the page, but if there’s two areas to focus on in the game log, they are his offensive rebounds and 3-point shooting.

In just 18.9 minutes per game, he’s averaging 1.3 offensive rebounds. His shooting sample size of just 1.4 attempts from deep per game is low, but he has made 42% of his 3s.

O’Connor wrote:

“If he can maintain a 3-point percentage in the mid-to-high 30s, he’ll be in the NBA for a decade. And if he can keep shooting around 40 percent, he’s going to make tens of millions before he retires.”

But there’s so much more to his game on the defensive end that doesn’t meet the box score. O’Connor referenced Williams’ ability to body up large wings and keep up with quick guards. A player like this is important to a rotation that wants to have any real success.

“The Thunder use him all over the floor; of players to log at least 500 minutes, Williams ranks as the NBA’s 24th most versatile defender, per BBall-Index.com’s versatility metric.”

A lot of teams are looking for wings and defensive help at the March 25 trade deadline.

If any have been paying attention to the Thunder, they’d be smart to try to nab Williams. If OKC is willing to part with him.

Oklahoma City was ranked No. 24 in The Ringer’s power rankings, up two spots from the previous release three weeks prior.

[lawrence-related id=441938,442810]

An ode to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 33 in OKC’s win over San Antonio

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the OKC Thunder closed out the first half of the season with a win over the San Antonio Spurs.

A dribble to his left. A dribble to his right. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander backs up, sizing up the San Antonio Spurs defender in front of him.

A drive down low with a change of speed. A spin here. A pivot there.

Help defense collapses around Gilgeous-Alexander for his finishing ability, yet is wary of his ability to kick it out.

Gilgeous-Alexander ducks underneath the defender and uses his length to put the ball up to the hoop.

Right hand? Bang. Left side? Same. Floater? Yup. Using the glass? Of course.

The third-year Oklahoma City Thunder guard is taking ownership of San Antonio. Barely a week after scoring 42 against them, he dropped another 33 points on Thursday night to help the Thunder run to a 107-102 comeback victory and end the first half of the season strong.

His scoring variation above wasn’t exaggerated. I present to you the incredible finishing skills of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, with some help from Thunder Film Room and Boomtown Hoops, a pair of must-follow Twitter accounts for OKC fans.

The Spurs were more afraid of him scoring down low than they were of leaving other players open. It was for good reason.

But they often paid for it.

Muscala, who made the 3 in the clip above, finished with 18 points and four 3-pointers. Kenrich Williams, who got the dish down low, had nine points on 4-for-6 shooting.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with eight assists in addition to his 11-for-19 shooting.

“Every really good guard has that in their game — being able to survey and do multiple things at the same time,” he said. “Survey the court, keep their guy on their hip, keep their dribble alive and extend plays.”

That bench scoring was important in keeping up with the Spurs, who have been one of the best bench scoring teams in the league for two decades.

Muscala and Williams helped the Thunder not vomit points when bench units were on the court. Their combined 27 points were enough to keep up with the Spurs’ 40 bench points.

The Thunder starters did the rest.

They forced a ton of turnovers. The Spurs average an NBA-best 11.2 turnovers per game. They had 19 against Oklahoma City.

Point guard Dejounte Murray had five, forward DeMar DeRozan had four and center Jakob Poeltl had three.

This helped the Thunder kickstart a run in the third quarter. After trailing by 14 following the first possession of the second half, Oklahoma City embarked on a 23-6 run to get back in the game.

“We were aggressive. Some ball screen coverage, just trying to put them on their heels a little bit more instead of letting them come off and dictate what they wanted to do,” Muscala said. “That was a reason for some of those turnovers. Just trying to force them into some decisions.”

The Thunder went on a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter to get a lead, but the Spurs immediately took it back.

Gilgeous-Alexander then checked in.

He assisted a Williams dunk. He assisted a Muscala 3. He hit a shot in the paint. It was another 7-0 run in a manner of 1:50, and it was a lead the Thunder did not relinquish.

When the Spurs cut it close, Gilgeous-Alexander pulled this.

It was a bounce-back from the last two games for both Gilgeous-Alexander and the team.

The guard had not scored fewer than 20 points in consecutive games since Dec. 31-Jan. 4. Every single time he had scored less than 20 points since Jan. 13, he had followed it with a 30-point performance — until this past week, when he scored 13 in a loss to the Denver Nuggets and 15 in a loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

He was back on his horse with a 33-point outing against the Spurs.

The Thunder outscored San Antonio 57-41 in the second half to overcome a 14-point deficit. That’s more of the team we have seen this year — fighting back after falling down.

Over the first half of the season, that’s the image the Thunder have created. Now 15-21, OKC took down a Spurs team that entered the night 18-13 and in sixth place in the Western Conference.

They continue to be too good to tank.

With All-Star week looming, Thunder muster just 78 points against Mavs

The OKC Thunder lost to the Dallas Mavericks sans-Luka Doncic with the All-Star break on the horizon.

After three days off, the Oklahoma City Thunder returned to the court to face the Dallas Mavericks with fresh legs.

Or maybe they had rusty legs. Or maybe there was some All-Star fatigue with the break in two days. Maybe it was just a slip in performance.

Whatever the case, the Thunder couldn’t put up the offense to stand a chance against the Luka Doncic-less Dallas Mavericks. OKC lost 87-78, and only broke the 20-point mark in one quarter.

Dallas heated up just enough in the third quarter to jump ahead of the Thunder, who shot just 33.3% from the field and 23.1% from 3.

Here are three takeaways from the night:

‘Oh, that’s not my teammate’: Thunder-Hawks unis took adjustment

OKC Thunder players said the jersey situation against the Atlanta Hawks took adjustment, but the team still had 31 assists and just 10 turnovers.

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kenrich Williams was asked if changing jerseys at halftime because of a color mishap was the weirdest thing he’s experienced over his three-year NBA career.

“It’s corona and then changing uniforms,” he said with a laugh.

The story of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 118-109 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night was overshadowed by the jersey snafu that had the two teams wearing very similar colors.

The Thunder donned their orange sunset jerseys while the Hawks wore red, the only color they brought on their road trip. It was immediately clear that it should not be so when the teams stepped onto the court.

According to ESPN’s Royce Young, teams go through a process to select their uniforms for every game before the season begins. The home team picks before the road team.

After the teams select, the league goes through the LockerVision system to approve the combos. Friday night’s selection “slipped through the approval process,” Young wrote. The league told ESPN this is the first time it has happened since the system was established prior to the 2017-18 season.

It took some adjustment for the players.

“It looked weird at first, but it didn’t really have too much effect on me once I got going,” said Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Williams agreed.

“You could definitely tell playing on the court,” he said. “Just kind of just — you see somebody, and it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s not my teammate.’”

Both head coaches, Mark Daigneault and Lloyd Pierce, said they didn’t realize there was an issue during the game. The NBA requested the Thunder to change to a white uniform at halftime.

“I certainly didn’t notice it or even think about it, to be honest with you. It was a league mandate that we just reacted to,” Daigneault said. “They made me aware of it at halftime when I went into the locker rooms. The guys were in white uniforms, and then we went out and played the second half.”

Gilgeous-Alexander said switching to white jerseys made it easier.

“It wasn’t really much to it,” he said. “I think it made it a little bit easier for our peripherals and stuff like that in the second half. But other than that, it was cool.”

In the end, it seemed to have minimal bearing on the Thunder. Oklahoma City had 31 assists, one shy of their season-high, and 10 turnovers, well below the season average.

Williams said it was one of the team’s best performances.

“I think this was our best game as far as getting everybody else involved and playing real team basketball,” Williams said.

[lawrence-related id=442487,442454]

[vertical-gallery id=442464]

Al Horford: Kenrich Williams impressed early, is ‘mature beyond his years’

OKC Thunder center Al Horford called Kenrich Williams “mature beyond his years” after his 24-point game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Oklahoma City Thunder wing Kenrich Williams played one of the best games of his career against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, racking up a career-high 24 points to go with six rebounds and three steals.

After his performance, veteran Thunder center Al Horford said Williams has impressed him even before the games began.

“I’ve been talking about K-Rich since I first got here,” Horford said. “He really impressed me, just very early on.”

Williams, 26, arrived to the Thunder has part of the Steven Adams trade to the New Orleans Pelicans. He spent two years in NOLA, where he averaged 4.9 points and 4.8 rebounds over 22.5 minutes per game.

With the Thunder, his stats are hovering around that level — 5.6 points and 3.4 boards in 16.6 minutes — but he’s showing energy, fight on defense and the consistent ability to make the right play at the right time.

Over his last five games, he’s averaging almost 13.8 points and 3.0 offensive rebounds per game. Those offensive boards directly correlated to one win — against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Williams grabbed three in the fourth quarter alone, which led to five second-chance points. Oklahoma City won by two.

“Very mature beyond his years, I feel like. He just understands what the team needs. He’s a team guy,” Horford said. “If he needs to get stops, he’s going to defend, he’s gonna get stops. If he needs to shoot the corner 3, if he needs to handle the ball. Whatever you need from him — guard a big, guard a small, he kind of does it all.”

On Wednesday, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander out of the lineup, the Thunder needed an offensive boost. Williams was there, racking up 11 points in the first quarter alone. In total, he shot 11-for-14 from the field and made a pair of 3s.

Over his 24 games with the Thunder, Williams has carved out a role. He started as the energy guy and is turning into a productive athlete on both sides of the ball, and it has earned him starts in the lineup when others are injured.

With a team option of just $2 million in each of the next two seasons, Williams looks like a player who will remain a piece of the Thunder’s rotation beyond the immediate future.

By the numbers: Thunder take Lakers to overtime for second game in a row

The OKC Thunder took the Los Angeles Lakers to overtime for the second game in a row, this time without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Somewhere, Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti is probably smiling.

The Thunder played well on Wednesday. Really well. They took the Los Angeles Lakers to overtime for the second game in a row and absolutely could have — maybe even should have — won. Instead, LeBron James hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with about 20 seconds left in regulation and then Wesley Matthews hit a 3 with 42 seconds left in overtime to take the lead. The Thunder couldn’t get off a final shot and lost 114-113.

“These ones sting because you want to come away with a win when you put that sort of effort forward,” head coach Mark Daigneault said. “But we’re focused on progress and these are certainly games that we continue show progress and we continue strength our muscles competitively as a team.”

Even without guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City once again played a strong second game of a mini-series. If Monday’s overtime loss to the Lakers had been their best showing of the season, which I wrote after the game that one could argue it was, the Wednesday game exceeded that performance.

Four Thunder players scored at least 15 points, including guard Hamidou Diallo, who has now reached double-digits in 11 games in a row.

Center Al Horford continues to look revived, scoring 25 points, dishing eight assists, grabbing eight rebounds and getting four steals.

James continues to be ageless, though. The Lakers star played more than 40 minutes for the third game in a row and finished with 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Los Angeles eclipsed the Thunder.

Here are some numbers that define the game:

Thunder’s overtime loss to Lakers was one of OKC’s best games of the season

The OKC Thunder lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in overtime, but it isn’t a stretch to call Monday’s game the best of Oklahoma City’s season.

The Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, but it’s not a stretch to call the 119-112 overtime loss their best game of the season.

After leading by five with just two minutes left to play, the Thunder were undone by the Lakers’ veteran experience — and, of course, LeBron James.

James finished with 28 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists, outdueling Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 29 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.

The Thunder had the right ingredients to win: They went on a big run late, outscoring the Lakers 16-2 to close the third quarter. They protected the ball well, committing zero turnovers in the second quarter, one in the third and three in the fourth.

And there were once again heroics from Gilgeous-Alexander, who had nine points in the final four minutes, including three free throws that sent the game to overtime.

His late shots were ridiculous.

What can a defense even do about those?

After the Lakers successfully challenged a Dennis Schroder block that was initially called a foul with 8.8 seconds to play, Darius Bazley won a jump ball over James.

Gilgeous-Alexander got upcourt and pulled up from 3 — or so defender Kentavious Caldwell-Pope thought. He fell for a pump-fake and fouled Gilgeous-Alexander, who calmly sank all three free throws with 1.2 seconds to play.

“That was pretty impressive. It takes a lot of guts to go up there and make the shots like he did,” head coach Mark Daigneault said.

“The management of the clock … The jump ball took him in the back court and he only had about five seconds when he gathered it. Just the awareness to get up to the line and to shot fake in that situation, it was a really mature play. So I was as impressed with his ability to get to the line in that situation as I was with him stepping up and making three shots.”

Gilgeous-Alexander was one of three Thunder players to score at least 20 points.

Bazley, who had a double-double at halftime, finished with 21 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.

“He’s being put in a lot of situations where he’s playing against more physically developed players,” Daigneault said. “It takes a lot of competitiveness and physicality to compete. He’s done a nice job of adjusting to that.”

Hamidou Diallo had 20 points and 11 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive glass.

That was an area the Thunder dominated on Monday. Kenrich Williams had six offensive rebounds, helping Oklahoma City finish with 15 total.

“Those guys are monsters. It’s every night,” Daigneault said. “There was plenty of times it got dicey tonight and they came up with a ball that we desperately needed at that time.”

It wasn’t a perfect game. In fact, many of the raw numbers simply don’t look good: The Thunder shot just 39.1% from the field and 31.6% from deep. They attempted just 19 free throws to the Lakers’ 29. They were outrebounded, out-assisted and were blocked 12 times. OKC only scored two points in overtime, a sloppy period overall.

But that’s not the proper way to gauge this performance. The Thunder only had eight active players. Four of their rotation guys were injured. They pushed the reigning champions to overtime.

Williams was asked if he was disappointed by the loss.

“I wouldn’t say disappointed … I don’t have a word for it,” he said. “I’m proud of the team and I’m proud of the way we competed. This is the best team in the NBA … We gave them a run for their money, so that’s all you can ask for.”

Oklahoma City has a tendency to fall asleep for quarters — or halves — at a time. The team has had too many games in which the opponent scores twice as many points in the first quarter as OKC. There have been too many games in which the Thunder trail by double-digits at halftime.

Monday was nothing like that. The game was consistently close — OKC outscored the Lakers by seven in the first quarter, got outscored by three in the second quarter, won the third quarter by four and then saw the Lakers win the fourth by eight.

Overtime was sloppy as the Lakers ran away with it, but this was a different game than the last outing a month ago, when OKC fell to Los Angeles by 29.

“This time around, it was like it’s supposed to be – (we’re) playing hard, (we’re) competing, and we’re trying to get it done as a team,” center Al Horford said.

On Monday, they were two minutes of defense away from winning. It’s a positive step.

“This isn’t a bad loss — I would say that,” Williams said. “It’s still an L, but it isn’t a bad loss. We can take some things away from this game.”