Thoughts on the Thunder

[thebigabd]

Nothing wrong with the Thunder... GSW is one of the best teams in the history of the NBA, and has the two best 3pt shooters on the planet. The 3pt shot covers up for whatever weakness they have.

Think about that for a second... To have the best 3pt shooter IN THE WORLD is one thing, but to have the #1 and #2 shooters on the planet, on the same team? Both in their prime?

Well, that's why they won 73 games and are going to the win the NBA Championship again.

The Thunder are an awesome team, but it's demoralizing when guys just don't miss from the 3pt line...

Adams turned out better than anyone could have hoped, Durant/Westbrook are unbelievably good... They could use more shooters, but that's really it. They did their best, but they aren't a better team than GSW.

 

[Big Old Booger]

Russell Westbrook is the best player on the Thunder. No, he's not a good shooter. But the dude just averaged 26 pts, 11 ast, 7 reb, 2.6 stls per game in the playoffs.

This team just took what is the greatest team in the history of the NBA by record to the 4th quarter of the 7th game of the WCF. That's after dominating a top 10 best team in NBA history coached by a top 3 coach of all time in the Western semis.

Most dynamic I will admit but best? I don't quite buy it though he looked the best the last few games because KD looked so poor. I would take Curry over RW any day.

 

[kingssc]

Went to Game 7 last night. Probably haven't been in a more exciting environment for a game.

I love watching RUSS play, but he really needs to cut down on the amount of 3s he takes until he can start being better than the 4th worst 3Pt shooter of all time.

 

[sperry]

Most dynamic I will admit but best? I don't quite buy it though he looked the best the last few games because KD looked so poor. I would take Curry over RW any day.

Curry is the 2nd best player in the league, so that's not exactly a slap in Russell's face. Russ is probably the 4th best player in the league.

 

[Big Old Booger]

Curry is the 2nd best player in the league, so that's not exactly a slap in Russell's face. Russ is probably the 4th best player in the league.

You might be right about that but this is a watered down NBA. Russ wouldn't make the original dream team if he played 23 years ago. Too many deficiencies in his game, most notably his shot selection and percentage.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

You might be right about that but this is a watered down NBA. Russ wouldn't make the original dream team if he played 23 years ago. Too many deficiencies in his game, most notably his shot selection and percentage.

too many deficiencies? I think you listed the only two he has. His shot selection improved greatly this year. Game 7 was bad with six threes but he saw that nobody else was hitting and tried to take over.

He just needs to limit his three attempts to two or three a game. That would completely take away all his deficiency. Look at Michael jordan, he was a terrible three point shooter his first 8 seasons in the NBA but he only took 1 to 2 a game

 

[SoonerBounce13]

until he can start being better than the 4th worst 3Pt shooter of all time.

??? who are you referencing here? there are more than 4 worse 3 pt shooters on his team

 

[WTSooner]

not imo

Have you not been watching basketball in recent years? The Thunder need, more than anything else, guys that can shoot the three and space the floor. Wade is a terrible shooter, who excels at the same thing Westbrook and to a lesser extent Durant excels at, getting to the rim/paint. That doesn't help at all, no matter "how good" Wade is, which, keep in mind, he isn't exactly a young pup anymore. Wade is about a year away from being the age that Paul Pierce was when his game fell apart due to age.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

Have you not been watching basketball in recent years? The Thunder need, more than anything else, guys that can shoot the three and space the floor. Wade is a terrible shooter, who excels at the same thing Westbrook and to a lesser extent Durant excels at, getting to the rim/paint. That doesn't help at all, no matter "how good" Wade is, which, keep in mind, he isn't exactly a young pup anymore. Wade is about a year away from being the age that Paul Pierce was when his game fell apart due to age.

Wade wouldn't come in a start along side westbrook and durant. A team would be crazy to not take a vet player like wade if given the chance. Thunder need someone off the bench that has won a championship. And someone that makes big plays in crunchtime. Wade has done that his entire career. The thunder had one of the better offenses in the league...i don't think they need to change much besides upgrading their bench. I think Wade would do that. I don't know how much he is going to demand though.

 

[Smash Williams]

Dwyane Wade would be a poor fit in OKC, but he's not leaving Miami, so it's a moot point. You may as well argue how well Tim Duncan fits in OKC, because that's equally as likely to happen.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

Dwyane Wade would be a poor fit in OKC, but he's not leaving Miami, so it's a moot point. You may as well argue how well Tim Duncan fits in OKC, because that's equally as likely to happen.

To each their own. OKC needs a scorer off the bench. Waiters in too inconsistent, foye brought nothing, and cam payne is inexperienced. And singler...yeah.

So Wade can't shoot behind the arc. He is still going to demand more respect than roberson.

I can see both sides but if he is an option, he's an instant upgrade to the bench

 

[KBaden145]

To each their own. OKC needs a scorer off the bench. Waiters in too inconsistent, foye brought nothing, and cam payne is inexperienced. And singler...yeah.



So Wade can't shoot behind the arc. He is still going to demand more respect than roberson.



I can see both sides but if he is an option, he's an instant upgrade to the bench

Agree with your premise but disagree on Wade for reasons mentioned by WT.

They also need a long athletic 2 that can knock down that corner 3 and play D at a higher level than Roberson and a long athletic combo forward capable of replacing Ibaka in the starting lineup.


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[SoonerBounce13]

They also need a long athletic 2 that can knock down that corner 3 and play D at a higher level than Roberson

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Only a few of these in the league...none of which the thunder could afford i don't think.

Unless that packaged Kanter and Cam maybe. KD, Russ, and adams are the only ones I think are untouchable. Cam has a lot of potential so I think you either have to package him with kanter or serge. I think kanter has more value right now than serge

 

[Sooner04]

I think kanter has more value right now than serge

That's not exactly an exclusive club.

 

[WTSooner]

You guys are trying to build the perfect team with no holes. NOBODY has a roster like that, not even GS. You don't think GS fans were saying they needed to get tougher/bigger inside after Adams beat them up? I didn't think the GS bench played particularly well the first 3-4 games of that series either. And Barnes, a guy that started all year, ended up getting benched to start Game 7.

Every team/roster has holes. Nobody is going to have a roster that can do everything.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

You guys are trying to build the perfect team with no holes. NOBODY has a roster like that, not even GS. You don't think GS fans were saying they needed to get tougher/bigger inside after Adams beat them up? I didn't think the GS bench played particularly well the first 3-4 games of that series either. And Barnes, a guy that started all year, ended up getting benched to start Game 7.

Every team/roster has holes. Nobody is going to have a roster that can do everything.

I agree. And I don't think the THunder are far off. If KD would have had 1 typical KD takeover game, the thunder would be in the finals. He just wasn't himself during the series and I think it was mostly fatigue from playing defense for a whole game

 

[KBaden145]

1. You guys are trying to build the perfect team with no holes.

2. Nobody is going to have a roster that can do everything.

1. Anyone not trying to find a way to accomplish this isn't really doing their job.

2. Reality.



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[Smash Williams]

If Durant re-signs, they don't have any cap flexibility. They'll be over the cap, so they'll be limited to either the full MLE or the taxpayer MLE. Given the spike in the cap, there will be a ton of teams with ample cap space. Furthermore, the growth in salary cap has far outpaced increases in MLEs, so that the full MLE is not anywhere near as valuable as it once was. In 2011-12, the full MLE was $5 mil with a $58 mil cap; in 2016-17, it's set at $5.6 mil with a projected $92 mil cap. In other words, the full MLE doesn't buy what it did five years ago. Thus, if OKC does anything in free agency, it'll be on the fringes (i.e. washed up vets).

As far as trades go, OKC is a bit limited. Payne has trade value, but trading him now would be selling low. Related to the cap spike, his contract is a huge bargain for the next three years. That's a big deal for a team with several guys due for huge raises within the next year.

Ibaka is entering the final year of his contract, which depresses his trade value unless he's willing to commit to the receiving team long-term a la Love to Cleveland (unlikely). Also, Ibaka is nowhere near as bad as OKC fans think; people don't appreciate how much his role has changed as the league has evolved. He spent most of the WCF guarding wing players (Barnes/Iguodala) and switching onto other perimeter players. No one is going to do that against Golden State without a few lapses. OKC's small lineups only had success against GS when Ibaka was the 5 because pairing any other big with Roberson put two non-shooters on the floor (and replacing Roberson with Foye introduced a complete different set of problems).

Assuming Adams and Westbrook are off the table, no one else has significant positive trade value. Kanter is a role player who was unplayable against Golden State, except when Curry and Thompson were on the bench. He was useful in the San Antonio series, but he has 3 years, $54 mil remaining, plus a 15% trade kicker. It's a question of how much of an asset Kanter is at $20 mil per year. Given the inflation of salaries that will occur with this cap increase, there would probably be some teams willing to take Kanter and his contract, but I'm skeptical that he would yield a significant return. I'd be willing to trade Kanter for a decent two-way wing, but I don't see any scenarios that make a lot of sense for both sides. Bigs that can't defend in space have lost a ton of value over the last several years.

OKC's most realistic path to improvement is standing pat. I would bet on Payne making a sophomore jump. Use the regular season to get Payne ready to be a playoff rotation player. Bring back Waiters, partly because you don't have the cap space to add a better player if you let him walk. Adams' continued development is promising.

 

[campbest]

Agreed, OKC's roster is good enough to win a championship...it just comes down to KD & Russ. They have to play at their accustomed level over 7 games. OKC didn't lose to GS because of Ibaka, two-way wing, etc., they lost because Curry & Thompson outplayed Russ & KD in Game 6 & 7.

Side note: OKC won 6 out of the last 8 quarters of the series...

 

[Big Old Booger]

Agreed, OKC's roster is good enough to win a championship...it just comes down to KD & Russ. They have to play at their accustomed level over 7 games. OKC didn't lose to GS because of Ibaka, two-way wing, etc., they lost because Curry & Thompson outplayed Russ & KD in Game 6 & 7.

Side note: OKC won 6 out of the last 8 quarters of the series...

That means nothing. Stats are for losers.