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Annual NBA General Managers Survey: Where Do The Oklahoma City Thunder Stand?

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On Tuesday, NBA General Managers were asked to vote on their annual pre-season survey and the Thunder fared well in a number of areas.

By JuanToribio
/ new
Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Last season, the general managers around the league voted the Los Angeles Lakers to win the western conference. We all know how that turned out. Just another example that pre-season polls or surveys should just be taken with a grain of salt, but they are a ton of fun. Especially in the off-season.

Let's see how the Thunder and some players fared in this years' annual GM survey.

First off, the Miami Heat were voted to win the NBA tittle again with 70% of the votes. The Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs finished in second place with 6.9% of the votes. The Thunder also received some votes to win the NBA tittle, along with the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Clippers.

OKC wasn't picked highly to win the NBA tittle, but they fared well amongst the GM's about winning the Western Conference. The Thunder finished behind only the Spurs with a 36.7% chance of representing the conference in the finals. OKC, was also voted as the overwhelming favorite to win the Northwest division with 96.6% of the votes.

Now we move on to individual awards.

Kevin Durant finished second in voting in the following categories:

  • Who will win MVP?
  • If you were starting a franchise today and could sign any player, who would it be?
  • Which player forces opposing coaches to make the most adjustments?
  • Who is the best small forward in the NBA?
As you can see, Durant is still second in a lot of lists. And he was behind only LeBron James in every single one of those categories.

Durant, however, was voted first in a couple of categories. He took 39.3% of the votes in the category "Which player would you like taking a shot with the game on the line" and 33.3% in "Which player is best at getting his own shot?"

Russell Westbrook also took some honors home.
  • Finished first in "Which player is fastest with the ball" with 26.7% of the votes
  • Finished second in "Which player is most athletic" only behind LeBron James.

Player profiles: Russell Westbrook

 What do we expect from Westbrook this year?

Westbrook, however, was not voted in the top-3 of the "Best point-guard" poll. That's pretty debatable in my opinion.

The Thunder fared out well in these polls among the general managers of the league. Durant and Westbrook led the way in the voting, but there were plenty of Thunder mentions in these polls. Below is the rest of the questions that Oklahoma City received votes in.
  • Jeremy Lamb received some votes in "Which player is likely to have a breakout season in 2013-2014?"
  • Who is the best shooting guard in the NBA? Kevin Durant actually finished third in this voting. Strange.
  • Oklahoma City votes received votes on their off-season moves. Houston took the tittle on this one.
  • Steven Adams finished tied for third in "Which player was the biggest steal at where he was selected in the Draft?
  • Serge Ibaka received some votes in "Which International player is likely to have a breakout season in 2013-2014?" This one is a bit of a head scratcher because I don't think Ibaka will creep up on anybody anymore. He's legit. Ibaka also received some votes for best defensive player in the NBA and third in "Best interior defender"
  • Oklahoma City received votes and just missed the top-four list in "Which is the best defensive team in the NBA?"
  • Scott Brooks got some love, too. He received votes in two categories: "Which head coach makes the best in-game adjustments?" and "Which head coach is the best manager/motivator of people?"
  • Derek Fisher finished tied for fourth with 7.1% of the votes in "Which active player will make the best head coach one day"
  • The Thunder received 13.8% of the votes and finished third amongst funnest teams to watch in the league and were voted to have the best home-court advantage in the NBA. Thanks, loud city!
  • Kevin Durant was third amongst the "Best pure shooter in the NBA" category. Only behind Stephen Curry and Ray Allen. Not bad company.
  • Nick Collison finished third with 6.9% of the votes in the toughest player in the NBA poll. He finished behind Kobe Bryant and David West. Collison also received votes in "Which player makes the most of limited natural ability" and I just don't understand that one. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Like I mentioned above, pre-season polls don't really mean much. If anything, they are a ton of fun. Let us know what you think of these rankings below and if you want to check out the entire poll, click HERE.

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