Welcome to the inaugural edition of eDraft’s NBA Season Preview. We turn our attention to the Northwest Division, covering everyone from the pretenders to the contenders. Today we take a look at the Thunder. This is a team that came close the Promised Land last season, do they have what it takes to win the championship this time around?
Key additions: Hasheem Thabeet (C), Perry Jones (28th overall, F/C),
How does a franchise go about becoming America’s Team? At various points in my life this title has been bestowed upon the Dallas Cowboys, the Atlanta Braves and the Gonzaga Bulldogs, but what these teams have in common eludes me. In any case, today the Oklahoma City Thunder are the latest to bear this moniker, but I will have to root against them, and it won’t be hard to do. I know that I am supposed to like the Thunder, being America’s darlings and all, but some things just can’t be forgiven.
To be clear, the Thunder are the most exciting young team to come around in years, and my grudge against the franchise does not extend to the players themselves. I love them all. Let’s start with Kevin Durant (28PPG-6.6RPG-1BPG-1.2SPG-26.6PER), the best pure scorer in the league today. Our lanky superstar is impossible to guard: get physical with him and you find yourself sulking on the bench with a quick-and-easy five fouls, play off him and he nails the three every time. He’s taller than most defenders at the three position, and almost always faster (deceptively so). He rarely ever has an off-game, and he hits big shots. By the time the season kicks off he will be all of 25 years old, meaning he will be terrorizing opponents and delighting fans for years to come.
Rounding out the front court are Kendrick Persons and Serge Ibaka, two men who look almost cartoonishly solid when compared to the spindly Durant. They are his enforcers and they are excellent at their jobs. But Ibaka (9.1PPG-7.5RPG-53%FG-18.9PER), at least is more than a brute, and should develop into a special player in his own right. His pick and roll game is coming along as is his 15 footer. He has the inkling of a post-game, and his quickness is an asset. He is an excellent one-on-one defender and blocks shots at a high rate. I see Ibaka making the All-Star team this year.
The athletic Thabo Sefolosha starts at the two guard slot and has proved a highly capable player over the course of his career. Unfortunately for him, he shares the backcourt with two of the game’s brightest stars. It’s difficult to write about Russell Westbrook’s (23.6PPG-5.5APG-4.6RPG-23 PER) game (you need to watch him!), as his style is without analogue. He is the fastest point guard in the league (though Ty Lawson would give him a good footrace), and Westbrook is better than any other player in the NBA at using a variety of speeds to throw off defenders.
Tony Parker is almost as good at this technique but the difference is that Westbrook has two more gears than Parker. Further, once Westbrook gets past his defender he is usually going to play above the rim and get a high percentage layup or dunk. And if Westbrook doesn’t have the shot he has the floor vision to find an open teammate (though he doesn’t always do it).
Often the recipient of Westbrook’s largess is sixth man extraordinaire James Harden (16.8PPG-3.7APG-4.1RPG-21.3PER), who has ice in his veins and the smoothest game this side of Scottie Pippen. And he’s really smart. Harden never forces the action (forcing is Westbrook’s major flaw) but picks his moments and delivers. A jack of all trades, Harden can get to the rim, hit the three, and even wear the playmaker cap when Westbrook shifts to the two spot.
Nick Collison, Cole Aldrich, Reggie Jackson and Perry Jones are all fine supporting players (I am rooting for Jones in a big way) and should help the Thunder go very deep into the playoffs, and all the while I will be loudly cheering for the opposition. Oklahoma City is a fine town, I am sure, but the Thunder belong to Seattle, and the man who helped steal them, minority owner Aubrey McClendon belongs on the short-list of worst NBA owners.
McClendon is: the head of Chesapeake Energy Corporation—a major proponent of the hydro-fracking process that is destroying water-supply systems across the country, a contributor to the slanderous Swift Boat campaign that destroyed John Kerry’s presidential campaign, a climate change denier who is helping to destroy the planet’s delicate ecosystems, and a swindler who promised the citizens of Seattle he would keep the team there and then heartlessly broke his promise and destroyed basketball in the city for the foreseeable future. And as absurd as it sounds, it’s the last of these destructive acts that really gets my blood boiling, that will have me, come playoff time, hoping the Thunder get swept.
Reason for optimism: James Harden is entering a contract year, and like every athlete who has ever entered a contract year in the history of professional sports he is going to have a phenomenal season.
Reason for despair: Appreciate James Harden because he will be gone next summer.
Projected record: 58-24