For the second straight time the OKC Thunder aren’t even close to making my Power Poll. The Thunder are 37-29 which is exactly what the Thunder were last season 66 games into their season. Trading two promising young players in Oladipo and Sabonis for what appears to be a one year rental of Paul George in reality has had little impact on the Thunder’s overall ranking in the NBA. Last season the Thunder finished 47-35 and in reality for this Thunder team to finish at 47-35 they would have to finish 10-6 coming down the stretch against what I think is a tough schedule minus three of these next four games. In case you haven’t counted–the Thunder are 8-9 since Andre Roberson went down in Detroit.
The thing Roberson provided was a player on the defensive side of the ball along with Adams who would actually work. The three stars don’t do this each possession. They coast. It must be in their contracts that they coast defensively when it fits their needs. Simply look at the contenders in this league from a defensive standpoint and you don’t see stars coasting on the defensive side of the ball. Golden State, Houston, Cleveland, Toronto, and Boston don’t coast. To Kevin Durant and James Harden’s credit they’ve become better defensive players while Russell Westbrook who was clearly the best defender of the three coming out of college loafs on the defensive end. He can do it when he wants to do…but knowing when that will happen is somewhat a guess.
If I were to go all the way to sixteen on my Power Poll…I’d probably have OKC at somewhere around No. 14. An entertaining team at times, but not one to take seriously because of their character flaw as a basketball team. They lost their best work dog in Roberson. Period. Heck, Westbrook and Carmelo are more into their clothes than playing defense. I mean…can you really blame Billy Donovan for all of this? Billy… see if you can get the North Carolina Tar Heel job would be my advice. You’re too nice of a man for this bullshit.
A bright spot for me is that the Sixers should be an interesting team to watch in the East heading into the playoffs, plus the Boston Bruins picked up Rick Nash at the trade deadline and are currently the No. 2 seed in the NHL’s Eastern Conference. So…I’m blessed in those regards.
My Power Poll
1 Golden State Warriors
2 Houston Rockets
3 Cleveland Cavaliers
4 Toronto Raptors
5 Boston Celtics
6 Portland Trail Blazers
7 New Orleans Pelicans (if A.D. stays healthy)
8 Philadelphia 76’ers
With thanks! This a awesome internet site.
Thanks for reading the blog and the gracious comment. As long as the First Amendment is still standing in Oklahoma….I’m blogging.