The Thunder waived Mitch McGary and Ronnie Price yesterday while keeping Semaj Christon as the third point guard. This pares the Thunder roster to fifteen the day before opening night. A very, very young roster. It’s imperative Westbrook and Adams stay healthy.
So who will be OKC’s top eight players as the season begins. I’d go 1 Russell Westbrook, 2 Steven Adams, 3 Victor Oladipo, 4 Andre Roberson, 5 Enes Kanter, 6 Domantus Sabonis, 7 Ersan Ilyasova, and 8 Cam Payne.
Until Cam Payne returns from his foot injury to fill backup point guard minutes Russell Westbrook will have to log especially heavy minutes.
Victor Oladipo has to find his comfort zone as Westbrook’s backcourt partner and define himself as the team’s third best player for this team to become one which hangs onto a fourth, fifth, or sixth seeding position.
I don’t watch NBA preseason games, but my guess is the new player to watch beyond the top three will be Domantus Sabonis. He’s a young player who should at some point give the Thunder another solid two way big man to go along with Adams. He’s smart, has good hands, nice feet, is tough,does everything relatively well, and isn’t a liability on either end of the floor. He should become a solid piece in the Thunder’s future moving forward.
You look at this current Thunder roster of fifteen players and it just seems to me that Sam Presti at some point in this season will be making a trade which shores up the roster a bit more. Oladipo’s level of play being the key as I see it. Can Oladipo become a consistent third piece to fit alongside with Westbrook and Adams is probably the most pressing unknown as we begin the season tomorrow night.