With the All Star Game being played in Toronto this Sunday evening comes a much needed break for the Oklahoma City Thunder and its fandom. No hyperbole, it’s been an up and down twelve months for the Thunder.
Last season’s injuries to Kevin Durant, the Reggie Jackson saga, missing the playoffs, the dismissal of a popular coach in Scott Brooks, the hiring of Billy Donovan, the impending free agency of Kevin Durant, and now the tragic death of Ingrid Williams this week. I can only speak for myself, but I’m a little worn down just as a fan/blogger. I can only imagine what Sam Presti is feeling right about now.
Here we are fifty-four games into this uber important season for the Thunder and maybe it’s time to make some calm, level-headed observations.
I still maintain OKC would be around 40-14 if Scott Brooks had returned and the team maintained this level of overall health. Durant has only missed seven games and to me appears to be an even better overall player because of his improvement defensively.
Russell Westbrook is a better player as well. Better passer, better distributor, and when he’s really locked in better at not taking bad shots.
What I’m saying is OKC would have ridden Durant and Westbrook’s evolution with or without the coaching change, and probably even been a little bit better defensively so far this season as an overall team. But under Donovan — I see two areas of improvement which could bode well..1 improved team ball movement, and 2 Donovan and Monty Williams’ ability to bench manage better than Brooks and be more flexible to change things on the fly. Circle this because if OKC gets to both San Antonio and Golden State in post season this is a significant positive.
The team as a whole is one of only four teams in the league with forty or more wins and a viable contender for an NBA championship this season. I still think OKC is one player away from being able to dethrone Golden State, namely another two way swing player, but never scoff at the notion you’re one of a select handful of teams with a real shot to win a championship-especially when you have two guys named Durant and Westbrook.
The trade deadline is approaching on Thursday and the only trade I can conceive as having a realistic chance of addressing this would be for OKC to send DJ Augustin and Mitch McGary to the Phoenix Suns for PJ Tucker. Anotherwords, another vet swingman who isn’t a defensive liability which OKC could throw into the mix against San Antonio, Golden State, or Cleveland–if OKC gets that far.
Otherwise-I really don’t see OKC doing much unless because dumping some expiring contracts doesn’t carry as much weight with the increased salary cap looming in each of the next two seasons.
Key players for me coming down the stretch are the same as they were a month ago…Serge Ibaka, Enes Kanter, and Dion Waiters. These three have to buckle it down mentally and give the Thunder consistency from the third, fourth, and fifth options. Especially Ibaka, he’s the third option and he has to start giving the Thunder something worthy of the third best player every night.
The Thunder’s team defense is the major area of concern, offensively the Thunder are elite. With Roberson coming back, and Waiters showing he’s more than capable defensively there’s no reason for OKC to not be better defensively. Add some flexibility with Singler, and maybe the addition of a PJ Tucker and OKC should have a chance to be better defensively. Not great, but functionally better.
So…for the most part I’m upbeat and exited about the remainder of this season. It should be great basketball to follow from a fan/blogger’s viewpoint.
I think the break comes at a good time for the Thunder considering what Monty Williams and his family are dealing with currently and in reality will be dealing with for the remainder of their lives. A very tough situation for all concerned, but sometimes out of incredibly tough life situations such as these come an even stronger bonding of will and love.