Oklahoma City Thunder
2008-09 Record: 23-59
Anticipated Starting Five
PG- Russell Westbrook
SG- James Harden
SF- Kevin Durant
PF- Jeff Green
C- Nenad Kristic
Key Reserves: Thabo Sefolosha, Kyle Weaver, Nick Collison, Serge Ibaka, BJ Mullens
Biggest Strength: Explosive wing players
Westbrook, Durant and now Harden make up one of the best core of wing players in the league. I personally think James Harden is going to surprise people. He really got poo, poo’d after a sub par NCAA tournament but this kid really knows how to play ball and showed that in summer league. Forget his numbers it was the way he played. His poise will really help an already know squad. Harden will add some control, stability and spot up jump shooting to the backcourt next to the more frantic style of Westbrook.
Durant is a flat out stud. I honestly do not know how good this kid will be when it’s all said and done, but he hasn’t even scratched the surface of potential yet. He drastically improved from his rookie year and word is he has been training like crazy and dominated the Team USA mini-camp.
Westbrook plays a similar style as a young, D-Wade (no where near as good of course). He can’t shoot a lick from the perimeter yet and turns the ball over a bit too much. But does damage with his speed and athleticism going to the basket and getting to the line where she shoots it pretty well. He attacks the boards and is a pest on the defensive end as well. If Westbrook makes a similar leap in performance as Durant this team could turn out to be much better than a bottom feeder.
On top of those well known guys, they will toss defensive specialists at you in Thabo, Weaver and who knows what they’ll get out of Shaun Livingston.
Biggest Weakness: Front Court
Jeff Green is decent at power forward but he is more of a hybrid 3/4 like Thad. Kristic is decent but thin and soft. Collison is a rebounding machine and he will need to continue with that with Wilcox gone. Etan Thomas only played 26 games last season and is an unknown along with rookies B.J. Mullens and Serge Ibaka.
More than anything else all the Thunder needs out of their front court is good rebounding, screen setting and defense.
Key Player: Russell Westbrook
By drafting Harden the Thunder said Westbrook is our point guard. His game is more of a combo, but now he has to show he can handle the point on a full-time basis and run a team effectively. His biggest thing will be managing the game and controlling his turnovers. He is averaging nearly 4 turnovers per 36 minutes to just 6 assists.
On top of that he really needs to learn to shoot the ball. 39.9% from the field and 27.1% from three is horrible anyway you look at it. He is hurting the team every time he shoots the ball with those numbers, especially when he has the significantly more efficient Durant to pass the ball too. He averaged nearly 15 shots per 36 minutes last year. I think that number MUST go down if he continues to shoot that poorly. Harden is a good player to give 5 of his shots to.
Biggest Question: Just how good is Kevin Durant?
I was going to write about whether or not all these young players can mesh, but I realized that the main factor in this team’s future is how good Kevin Durant can be. We know he’s good, but will he be Glenn Robinson good, Clyde Drexler good, or even Michael Jordan good? Last year, at age 20, he was 6th in the NBA in scoring at 25.3 ppg. Only LeBron James scored more per game at that age. The only players to have a better PER in their Age-20 season were LeBron, Shaq, Chris Paul, Chris Webber and John Drew. Will he be LeBron or Shaq? Or will he be Webber or Drew? I think the chances favor the former because like those 2 players, Durant is a unique player. He’s 6′9” and can shoot the lights out, but can also take it to the hole and finish. I would argue that he’s a better scorer at age 20 than anyone in the history of the game and he might end up averaging something ridiculous like 35-37 ppg for several years in his prime. Maybe I’m buying into the hype too much, but I think the Thunder will climb on his back and rise to the elite of the NBA. Not yet, but perhaps sooner than you think.
Best Individual Season of All-Time: Gary Payton, 1999-00
24.2 PPG, 8.9 APG, 6.5 RPG, 1.9 SPG, .448 FG%
The Glove’s best season – and the only season, since steals were a category, that a player averaged 24 points, 8.5 assists, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals in a game. The only possible addition from the pre-steal era are Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain, the only 2 who matched the first 3 numbers. Oh, and just for good measure, he was also first team all-defense.
Pete’s 2010 Outlook: 4th place, Northwest division / 10th place, Western conference / 20th place, NBA
If their owners weren’t scumbags and their logo didn’t look like they play in a local YMCA league, I would really like this team. As you can tell, I am very high on Durant, and there are very few players I would take over him for the next 5 years. I picked Westbrook to be a huge bust but he has already proved me way wrong after just 1 season. As Dannie mentioned, they really need some help down low, but I think they are going to flat out outscore a bunch of teams and be a real pesky team this year. They are probably 1-2 years away from the playoffs, but there are few teams with a more promising future than the Thunder.
Dannie’s 2010 Outlook: 4th place, Northwest division / 12th place, Western conference / 23rd place, NBA
I want to rank the Thunder higher and there is certainly a chance they could move up to 10 in the West past Houston and Golden State but until they prove all that young talent will translate into more than 25-30 wins I just can’t.
The Thunder were the 29th in offense and 20th in defense. With the addition of Harden on the perimeter I have to think they will get better offensively. There struggles were driven by a high turnover rate (28th in the league) and being the worst shooting team in the NBA last season. That tells me they need a better offensive system that creates good shots for the right people. I am not sure Scott Brooks is the right guy for that. Defensively they also underachieve considering the talent and athletes they have.
They have talent but they are still a strong front court player and stability at the point before they move into the top 8 out west.
See all 2010 NBA team previews
Loading ...
{ 1 trackback }
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Rodney Carney – Looks like we just signed him, contract undisclosed (although I’d assume it would be for whatever the minimum salary is for a player of his experience). Probably the only player I’m disappointed we didn’t take a longer look at (as far as what was reported in the news, anyway) is Rashad McCants; but aside from him, I like Carney over most of the other options out there.
Inarguably the best type of bench wing player is a guy that can both stroke the 3 as well as play excellent defense. While Carney certainly isn’t a great at either one, he is good at both, and has shown the ability to hit the three, and has improved both his 2 point and 3 point shooting hugely since not only his rookie NBA year, but during his Memphis days, when he was a flat out AWFUL shooter.
If he can continue to work on his shot, as well as provide good defense as he did in his first two years with us, I’d much rather have a guy like Carney in the Willie Green role than Willie Green going into the future (taller, more athletic, better shooter, better at attacking the lane).
Obviously he’s not getting more then probably 10-12 mpg, but still a nice pickup for the price.
Nick Collison: I think this is going to be the best year of his career. Certainly will never live up to the hype he had coming out of Kansas, but he’s either been caught in perennial logjams with Wilcox and their former platoon of 10,000 unskilled centers, or has had injury woes. Collison is a tough player that has a knack for making good plays and is an excellent rebounder because he knows fundamentals like body positioning and actually boxes out. He’ll be getting the lion’s share of minutes for the first time in a long while, and appears to be healthy, along with having a pretty strong year last year. When push comes to shove, an ideal forward off the bench though, not as a starter.
Shaun Livingston – I am so in this kid’s camp it’s not funny…Livingston by all accounts is a very humble, good guy off the court, and I loved his game back when he had athleticism (throwback passfirst point) before the injury. This team is a great fit for him as it will allow him to prove what game he still has left in a PG position (backup up Westbrook), and giving them another well rounded guard like Harden that has a very high basketball IQ. I’ve heard Scott Brooks talk a lot about using Livingston as a SG and SF off the bench as well. Shaun needs a place to call home to relaunch his career and be brought along slowly, and the Zombie Sonics need a bolster to their bench at a low cost. Perfect fit. I really hope he can prove he’s still got something left in the tank to offer the NBA.
I really hope Livingston can get his career back on track. Def rooting for the kid.
Guys, a front court guy you didn!t mention, D.J.White, finished strong last year and may be their backup p.f. to Green. Collison seems to play more 5 than 4 lately.
Suede – I thought about White but honestly at this point we would have to see how the front court minutes will be distributed. They have 7 front court players:
I think it’s pretty much open competition for minutes behind Green and Kristic. Collison has been a proven rebounder and hustle guy for them. I am not sure what their plan is for their rookies with talent. Than they brought in a veteran big and still have White.
make sure you guys pick durant with the 3 or 4 pick in your nba fantasy drafts. dude is a stud, and i agree that he could become one of the best scorers ever.
Strength(s):
–The Oklahoma fans
-Kevin Durant (potential to be a star, started showing signs in the second half)
–Nothing to lose, but plenty to improve on
-Potential to be a great fastbreak scoring, rebounding team
Greatest weakness(es):
-The fundamentals of basketball! (especially defense)
-Turnovers
Look for Kevin Durant’s possible growth change and maturity in year 3. The team needs to get stability in many facets of the game and then they can really be something.
With that said, the Thunder will be 4th in the Northwest Division, 13th in the West!! (Maybe get the #1 draft pick in 2009!!)
(On a side note, the Sixers will sweep the Thunder (1-1). Last year’s loss was quite an off-night for the Sixers that night in OKC. Andre Iguodala v.s Kevin Durant matchup– that should be fun!! Our frontcourt should be able to take care of the Thunder’s.
Also, there are some former Sixers on that roster and staff for OKC: Scott Brooks, Maurice Cheeks, and Kevin Ollie.