It's been a bittersweet season so far concerning the Oklahoma City Thunder. I was by no means a Sonics fan, but that team and that city obviously had a lot of history. This was obviously a big topic over the past year for the NBA, so I won't bore you with any details, but if you can't feel for the city of Seattle and the Sonics fans, then I might not be the right writer for you.
But on the other hand, it's a really exciting time for anyone who has any interest in the Thunder. David Thorpe has compared Westbrook to Dwyane Wade. Kevin Durant, fresh off his first big public appearance in which he destroyed the Rookie-Sophomore game, has been arguably the best player offensively in 2009. In the entire NBA. Look at the numbers. His game, with his ability to score in almost every way possible, without being an unbelievable athlete, reminds me of Larry Bird. And before you scoff at that idea, let me remind you that Durant is only 20. Bird was 23 as a rookie.
Right there, you have two future superstars of the NBA, neither of whom can legally purchase alcoholic beverages.
So why then, is OKC at the bottom of the standings? For one thing, neither Durant nor Westbrook is there. Not yet. Durant can put up points with the best of them, but he's still a lousy passer and defender. Westbrook is a shooting guard trying to run a team. That's why Earl Watson is getting significant minutes. Will Westbrook develop the skills to be a point guard? Questions like that are why I follow the game, and I can only hope the answer is yes.
As far as future prospect is concerned, smart money rides with the Thunder. The Thunder also have Durant's fellow sophomore, Jeff Green. Green is not a superstar by any means, but he has the game to become a James Posey type player. Not quite good enough (nor does he have the position), to be a starter, but he could be one of the best players in the NBA off the bench. In addition to their three young players, they picked up Tyson Chandler today as well. Chandler has been on and off injured this entire season, and even when he's played, he hasn't been great. But he's still 26, and has shown the ability to be a great rebounder and very competent finisher.
So the Thunder have a core of Westbrook, Durant, Chandler, and Jeff Green, all under contract through at least 2011. So two all-star caliber players along with two good players. That's a good place to start, especially in today's NBA where you need at least 3 all-star caliber players, along with some good players to knock off King James.
So what's next for the Thunder? Well, we get to play my favorite game: NBA General Manager. BTW, here are the links I use, so you can play along.
PG: Westbrook
SG: ???
SF: Durant
PF: ???
C: Chandler
Bench ball-handler: ???
Bench swingman: ???
Bench tweener: Green
Bench big man: ???
It's tough to ask someone to predict exactly which players a team should get, especially since we're speculating a couple years in advance, but this is an approximation of what the Thunder would need to catapult themselves into the Cavs/Lakers/Trailblazers/Magic/Jazz conversation that will be occurring once the Celtics and Spurs are all done (btw, the Nuggets belong with one of those two groups, but I'm not sure which so I'll leave them out for now.)
When I've seen the Thunder play, their half-court offense looks like. Post Kevin Durant up at the top of the 3 point line and let him go. It's such an amazing testament to his talent that he puts up the numbers he does given that this is how they often utilize him.
The other part of their offense is the transition offense, lead by the extremely athletic Russell Westbrook. To utilize him correctly, I think he needs a running mate. Ideally, they'd win the lottery and be able to select Blake Griffin (who I think will develop into a nice player, something akin to a pre-injury Kenyon Martin). But this is the real world, and the Thunder won't have a great shot to win the lottery and select Griffin. So the Thunder will need to dig into their scouting and look for the next Paul Millsap, David Lee, or Amare Stoudemire. A mid-late round pick with little to no ability other than to rebound and put the ball in the basket (although hopefully he'll be better defensively than those three).
As for the shooting guard, I'm not too familiar (yet) with who's available in the lottery this year, but picking a shooting guard for this team shouldn't be difficult. They need a lockdown defender. Not even talking the Battier's or Bowen's of this world, but a guy like Raja Bell would suffice.
So the lineup looks like this:
PG: Westbrook
SG: Lock-down defender a la Raja Bell
SF: Durant
PF: High-flier with minimal isolation ability, but who boards hard
C: Chandler
Re-sign Earl Watson to the MLE, throw in Green, Kristic, and a pure scoring 2-guard off the bench, and that's a top rate team.
One that hopefully will keep rings off of King James fingers.
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This is Rob -
ReplyDeleteYou forget that Krystic is signed to a 3 yr deal that is VERY reasonable. He's basically a poorman's Memo Okur. Off the bench that's fantastic. Watson as a backup is another positive - he has another year at roughly 6mil.
The Thunder have alot of 1st round picks in their arsenal (this year and next) and if they DO get lucky and notch the top pick (it is conceivable they finish with the worst or 2nd worst etc. record) having Blake Griffin would be nuts.
Durant has been far more productive at the 3 than the 2, but there is always the possibility of going big w/ essentially Westbrook (who functions like a 2 as you say), Durant, Green (who def. is a "F", not good enough shooter to be a classic 3 and not big enough to be a classic 4), Blake Griffin, and Chandler. That's a devastating lineup.
I love the idea of Jeff Green being a better version of Posey off the bench for this team. He can knock down the 3 like Pose, but really has the ability to throw down some sick dunks and is a nice passer to boot. Overall, I think he will be a cross between Lamar Odom and Big Game James, which is a great player to have on your team.
ReplyDeleteI know he hasn't shown in yet, but I like Kyle Weaver a good amount and think he could become that Raja Bell type player they are looking for.
The Thunder are a really dangerous team to look out for in the future.
Bobbo,
ReplyDeletegood points about Krstic and their dearth of picks. I liked your potential bigger lineup too. A big part of having good depth in the NBA is being able to throw different looks at different teams. Again though, to be true contenders, I like Jeff Green as their first man off the bench. Nothing more, nothing less.
DB,
I know we had talked about Weaver being the lockdown defender, but given I haven't really watched him play specifically yet, I wanted to hold out on any comparisons.
"The Thunder are a really dangerous team to look out for in the future."
While I agree with this, people were saying the same about the Bulls a couple years back (before Deng's regression and some awful signings (see: Ben Wallace), so for now I'm going to be optimistic, but cautious about my approach to the Thunder.
As I'm sure you've all heard, the Chandler trade was rescinded. Too good to be true. Doesn't change my opinion on the future for OKC, just means that Sam Presti's got some more work to do.
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