The NBA season is officially over. A champion has been crowned and now we shift our focus to the upcoming NBA Entry draft. For those teams who missed out on the playoffs, this year's draft marks hope and optimism as he talent pool here is deemed to be considerably better than it has been in the past few years; mind you it seems like the draft pundits say this same thing every single season.
Nonetheless, the teams who are holding lottery bound picks must be looking at ways to complement their rosters, be it by using the upcoming selection or via a trade on draft day. Not every team with lottery selections are able to address their needs via the draft as there is only so much talent available at each position and since these rookie deals are guaranteed, the new incoming salary amounts must be accounted for within the team's salary cap.
As the NBA Draft approaches eDraft.com will look at each of the lottery teams and identify their needs heading into the draft as well as who might be available to fill hose teams needs. Our draft coverage won't stop there though as post-draft we will have analysis of the picks as well as report cards for each of the teams as to how they fared.
At the fourteenth overall draft slot we find the Oklahoma City Thunder who surely didn't anticipate drafting this high. Obviously a team constructed around two superstar players like Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant and having a Western Conference title to their name in the previous two season; this was not the expected result. Injuries to both Durant and Westbrook proved to be just too much for the Thunder as they couldn't make up enough ground in that uber-competitive Western Conference. Without the full-time services of Durant and Westbrook for extended portions of the season the Thunder fell short of making the playoffs this year.
Key Pieces to Build Around:
Any team that is blessed enough to have any one player the likes of Durant or Westbrook is extremely fortunate. The fact that the Thunder have both these guys gives them two franchise cornerstones to continue to build around. There is the possibility of Durant leaving in free-agency next season as the rumours continue to swirl around the potential homecoming a la LeBron James where Durant returns to the Washington, DC area. If this were to occur, there isn't a player out there who could replace Durant, so no sense trying at this juncture to conjure up contingency plans. The Thunder will continue to move forward as if these two phenoms are staying in OKC for the long haul.
State of the Union - Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder are in great shape heading into next season as a fully rested and recuperated Durant and Westbrook will be poised to once again team up to cause nightmares for opposing coaches. The problem for the Thunder is that they do not have much in terms of salary cap flexibility and they need to be cognizant of keeping some monies for a max offer to Durant. With $76.5 million on the books for next season it is no wonder that rumours have the Thunder looking to shed some salary by means of losing Jeremy Lamb, Perry Jones and or Steve Novak. None of these players are instrumental to success for the team; however, combined they represent about $10 million in salary. Lamb should garner some interest from other teams and he could be moved probably quite easily.
The Thunder head into the 2015-16 season with Durant and Westbrook anchoring the team and they have Serge Ibaka and Dion Waiters locked up to be the supporting cast. They also have a qualifying offer on the table for Enes Kanter at $7.8 million which is too low, particularly for a guy who averaged 19.8 ppg and 11.5 rpg over the last two months of the season. Kanter will definitely get more than $12 million per season in terms of a restricted free-agent offer and should a team really be bent on getting him, any offer North of $14 million a year would price the Thunder out of the market here. If the Thunder can't move enough salary in time and Kanter gets a big offer, the Thunder will have to do some fancy bookkeeping in order to keep him around for next season and beyond.
Draft Needs:
The Thunder may look at trading out of the first round here as any new draftee represents guaranteed money whereas the Thunder will want as much payroll flexibility as manageable heading into next offseason. This pick could very well be packaged along with the likes of Novak, Lamb or Jones in order to immediately provide some cap relief. The Thunder don't have a lot of needs at this point; however, if they are particularly high on a prospect who provides some decent depth then the Thunder may consider making a selection here.
One player who fits the bill and would certainly provide some insurance against injury to Westbrook would be Cameron Payne at point guard. Payne's stock is high and despite a recent hand injury he might be long gone by the time the Thunder are on the clock here. Payne would be a quick no-brainer type pick for the Thunder but if he is gone, there could be a quick deal in place that sees the Thunder drop this pick and move out of the first round entirely.