Thunder acknowledge adjustment issues, expect to start rolling soon

The Oklahoma City Thunder came into this season armed with a new Big Three and dreams of challenging the Golden State Warriors' Western Conference hegemony. But, despite full health and one of the league's easiest schedules to date, the Thunder have stumbled out of the blocks with a 7-9 start that has them outside of the West playoff picture.

Whether the tough start has dimmed the Thunder's internal optimism, however, is another matter. The team's struggles in crunch time and inability to hold leads have been well documented, but they still own the fourth-best net rating in the conference, and expect their win-loss fortunes to follow suit soon.

Carmelo Anthony and Paul George were brought aboard in offseason trades, giving reigning MVP Russell Westbrook the complementary pieces he seemed to sorely need last year. But the three haven't quite gelled yet, and the notion that Westbrook's two new running mates would make his life easier has so far been belied by his cratering efficiency.

George has begun to find his groove in the past couple of weeks as the Thunder have put the ball in his hands more, but he still feels like he's thinking too much and doing too little, even as he receives less defensive attention than he's used to.

"I've been thinking about where I should be, where I should attack, instead of just playing," George told USA Today's Sam Amick. "You've got a lineup with Russ and Melo out there, and all you've got to do is just play.

"I think with ourselves being out there, we're so used to - like in Indiana, the whole playbook, I knew where guys were going to be, I knew where my shots were going to come from, I knew where double teams were coming from. I just knew everywhere and everybody on the floor. Now, it's different being in a new system, having to figure out where guys are coming from, where double teams are coming, where's the help rotating at, how are the bigs going to guard me now that they can't really help off of anybody? I'm so used to catching the ball and coming off screens, and it's two (defenders) to the ball. It hasn't been the case here."

Much of the burden for figuring out how to fit these puzzle pieces together will fall on head coach Billy Donovan. For now, he and Westbrook are both still struggling to make the most of the ball-dominant point guard's talents in more of an off-ball role.

"One of the things I wanted to try to do (going into the season) is to find ways to help Russell be more efficient," Donovan said. "The ball was in his hands so much last year, so how can we move him around in some ways to take advantage of some different things?"

So far this season, Westbrook has finished just four possessions as a cutter, and eight possessions when using an off-ball screen. He ranks in the 47th percentile as a spot-up scorer. And, though his usage rate has come down almost 10 percent from last season, he's spending nearly the exact same amount of time with the ball in his hands per possession (8.8 seconds compared to 8.9), and even more time per touch (5.78 seconds compared to 5.35).

Donovan acknowledged it's still a work in progress.

"I think people think that all of a sudden you take a collection of talent and just throw it together (and it works)," he said. "I didn't think it was going to be like, (snaps fingers), and we're off and running."

But 20 percent of the season is already in the books. They're going to have to get off and running eventually.