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    • Mark Daigneault isn’t worried about Alex Caruso’s slow offensive start
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    Mark Daigneault isn’t worried about Alex Caruso’s slow offensive start

    Idris Bevan Posted on

    Considering the Oklahoma City Thunder’s historic 7-0 start, the average fan might consider Alex Caruso’s contributions so far to be the ultimate Rorschach test.

    The box score stats don’t jump out at you, but there’s no denying that Caruso played a key role in the Thunder’s historic defense. OKC has a ridiculous defensive rating of 93.8. For comparison, the second-place Golden State Warriors have a defensive rating of 102.1.

    Still, some Chicago Bulls fans have embraced the Josh Giddey trade. The predictable gimmick has already made its seasonal debut. Bulls fans posted screenshots comparing Caruso and Giddey’s season stats. Of course, this disingenuous exercise fails to contextualize the 30-year-old’s role.

    Are Caruso’s 2.7 points at 27.6% ugly on the surface? Secure. These are borderline non-NBA averages. But there’s a reason the Thunder average a staggering 21.3 plus when he’s on the court.

    The two-time All-Defensive member has made OKC’s defense strong. Surrounded by other top-notch fullbacks like Lu Dort and Cason Wallace, Caruso had the luxury of playing more of a free safety role in defense and not having to worry about locking down the opponent’s leading scorer.

    After the Thunder’s seventh straight win to start the season, Caruso said OKC has similar defensive characteristics to the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers, who won a championship in the NBA Bubble.

    “I don’t know what the numbers are,” Caruso said. “The only other team that had such a defensive mindset was the team in LA in 2020. It was also a different version of defense on that team. This team, we had three seven-footers, we had a shot blocker on the side. “So far this year we’ve missed two of our biggest successes.

    If the Thunder want to reach similar heights, they will need Caruso’s offense to turn things around. He shot 3 of 18 (16.7%) from 3 to start the season. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault isn’t worried about such a small sample of 37.6% outside shooting in his career.

    “I would say low sample and low volume,” Daigneault said of Caruso’s shooting concerns. “He didn’t take a lot of shots. This is a low example in terms of games and low volume. But his impact on the team was undeniable. I would expect both its volume and efficiency to increase. That’s me.” I’m not worried about that at all.”

    It’s still too early in the season to panic about Caruso’s slow start from the outside. He’s too good of an outside shooter to continue shooting so poorly. Once he experiences positive regression, the Thunder will pose an even more dangerous threat as they look to match their offense with their defense.

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    Idris Bevan
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