OKC Thunder a playoff team?

Not sure if enough teams will drop to make it in next year. Phoenix didn’t even make it in last year and they won like 40 something games, they should be down though. Hopefully they do a sign-and-trade with Amare and they go way down, since we get their draft pick. I don’t buy Utah being down, D Williams was hurt last year and they obviously like Milsap over Boozer. Houston is a mess, they should be way down, but don’t forget they played pretty well without Yao against the Lakers, so they may be a surprise. I just don’t see it happening this year, but I will keep my fingers crossed. Any other teams looking to fall?

I’m sick of the saturation of the word maturation. Just had to say that.

The Thunder elected to select James Harden with the 3rd overall pick. I was shocked when i heard they passed on Rubio but after analyzing the situation more it seems like a good call.

What analysis?

Harden will fit nicely into the vacant 2 guard spot. He is a very mature player and has a high basketball IQ.

What does this mean?

He knows how to run an offense and will be a facilitator to Durant and Westbrook.

And here I thought Westbrook was supposed to get better at this whole facilitation thing and Harden was supposed to pick up the slack with our miserable perimeter shooting …

There are two keys to the Thunders success next season. The first is the maturation of Kevin Durant. He made a 5 point scoring jump from his rookie to sophmore season and will likely increase it this season. But more important than scoring will be his ability to lead his team. He must find ways to keep the Thunder in ball games until the 4th quarter where he can take over and he must keep his young players focused on winning and not the other thrills of NBA life. If Durant is able to keep his team focused and stay healthy the Thunder can potentially be a force to be reckoned with.

Where are you going with this? Durant obviously needs to improve, but increasing his point production is not all that important. He needs to get stronger, rebound more, play defense, get better at (as ThunderHorn notes) moving without the ball, and basically, improve. It’s not on Durant to keep the team focused … that’s sort of the perogative of the members of the team itself. As a team leader on a team built around him, I’m sure he’s contributing to the spirit of gunning for wins — but isn’t everyone? Not to mention I think most of the individuals on the roster are of a similar mindset.

The Second key to the Thunders season is the center position. No Knock against Kristic but he is a backup at best. They drafted B.J. Mullens who will be a good role player one day but is still too raw. If the Thunder can acquire a center who can play defense i can honestly see them slipping into the 8th seed. Centers seem like a rarity these days but one possibility is Tyson Chandler who has been in trade talks for a while. The Thunder need someone who will protect the paint and grab rebounds.

Krstic is so unremarkable that you didn’t even spell the name correctly. So yes, indeed it’d be a nice idea to find a defensive center — or better yet, an all around center. You know — that missing piece we’ve looked for the past decade plus. Chandler isn’t going to happen. It got axed before for a reason, and it’d be ridiculous if now it all worked out again. Defensive minded centers aren’t as rare as you think. They are just all locked up, playing backup to someone who fields some modicum of offensive/post moves, or not nearly as skilled rebounding or in specific rotations. It’s not to say they are all that easy to find, but several decent options are always available nearly every FA period.

If Yao Ming was healthy i would say the Thunder have no shot at making playoffs but the Rockets are likely going to be a lottery team next year. The Suns will be decent next year but with Nash another year older and Amare confused on where he wants to be i think they have to many internal issues. Another team that will not be as formidable next year is the Jazz. All the Boozer trade talk along with the Millsap drama leaves the rest of the Jaz players uncertain of who their teamates will be next year.

Huge random generalities … wow. I’ll follow up with my own similar unprovable and similarly haphazard opinions. The Rockets aren’t going to be nearly as bad as you think they will be. Losing Yao is bad, yes. The rest of the team is unlikely to just keel over though. Utah? At the end of the day, they still have Boozer and Millsap. Drama is drama, but it didn’t stop the Kobe+Shaq combo from winning. Just saying …

PG- Westbrook- must take good shots and run the offense which he has been doing very well in summer league. MUST BE CONSISTENT.

Or rather, he needs to continue improving his PG skills, his shot, and reducing turnovers. At that point, after he gets better, consistency would be nice. Being highly consistent at being turnover prone and random is stupid, if that makes any sense. Stats 101 — reliability does not equal validity.

SG- James Harden- he needs to find his role on the team and play it well. Create shots for Durant and Green.

What? He needs to become a SCORING THREAT which will create opportunities for EVERYONE else.

SF- Kevin Durant- He needs to be a top 5 scorer who requires double teams and must keep his team focused.

He already takes double teams, because everyone can just collapse their pressure on him. That’s what we drafted Harden to attempt to remedy.

PF- Jeff Greene- Greene must rebound and defend the inside well. On offense he has to make other bigs guard him on the perimeter and utilize his exceptional passing ability.

Jeff GREEN is the PF, and I’m sure he’s better than Jeff Greene, but that’s another point. As far as the rest … eh.

C- Kristic- With Kristic at center OKC is not a playoff team but if theycan find a defensive center they have a shot.

Krstic (what’s up with slaughtering these names? I swear it isn’t that difficult …) is obviously not the long term solution at C.
 

Look for the Thunder to move up in the standings this year and maybe possibly slip into the 8th spot if everything goes their way. Even if they do not make the playoffs they are going to be extremely fun to watch and I believe when Durants career is over he will be one of the greatest scorers of all time.

Well … yeah they are probably going to improve. Unlikely to do worse. And yes, they could slip into the 8th spot, but I won’t hold my breath waiting for it to happen. If it does? Of course I’ll be overjoyed — but it’s not really the purpose of this year. Though it would be nice.

A blanket statement for team improvement would be something inane like: “To win more games, the Thunder need to score more than the other team and stop the other team from scoring as much as they score”. Which is so obvious, it’s stupid.
 

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No thanks.

All I want to say is that the Thunder is playoff team!!

Go Thunder!!

and reading Mayberry’s piece in the Oklahoman, I decided to post some analysis on the whole “playoff talk” thing. The story should be on the front page on Wednesday.

There will even be an awesome poll where you can all predict how the Thunder will fare!