Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Sam Hartman's avatar

I call playoff experience the "Rudy Gobert Corollary" (which may need a new name after his most recent dominant game). Essentially, playoff offense and defense is a different beast. Teams have time to prepare a game plan for you, so any weaknesses are magnified.

Rudy Gobert is an example of this. A DPOY that can be played off the floor at times because what he struggles with (defending in space/on the perimeter) can be exploited with the right gameplan.

Point being that you can make solid assumptions about what your weaknesses are, but you don't know how bad they'll be until you get to the playoffs. You also don't know how well players will adjust when their strengths are taken away and their favorite spots on the floor are harder to get to.

None of this means that the Thunder *can't* do these things. They have the personnel to mitigate most matchup problems. It just means that the uncertainty is a lot higher until they prove they can do those things. It's the reason that playoff experience is a relevant factor in most advanced NBA stats.

Expand full comment
1 more comment...

No posts