After last night's humiliation by Orlando: Hopefully, the Thunder are able to ignore the midrange enough to have a middling season and get to the playoffs, and then come playoff time they will midrange their way to a title.
I don't see it. With GSW, I could see it. Even way back with Miami I could see it. The Rockets look to possibly have it. But with OKC I definitely don't see it. It is like the glove doesn't fit, so they must quit. Too many scorers and not enough true playmakers to cancel the ISO ball out. That's It.
Put a fork in em. Their season is a waste. They might be 8-14 on the season after twolves and spurs games
Russ has been doing his ball hog routine for years. Melo has been doing his ISO act for over a decade. This team will always be easy to defend.
I think its a bit early to conclude too much about OKC. Sure, the glove hasn't fit instantly/early. But sometimes these things take time. I seem to remember a time when even Hakeem had to learn to trust his teammates enough to involve them properly. For the record, I am no OKC fan. I want them to fail big time. But it wouldn't surprise me if they are the 5 or 7 seed by the all-star game, or the 4 or 5 by years end.
OKC had a 67% chance of keeping the right guy out of Durant, Harden and Westbrook and they botched it. Hell, trading Westbrook alone could have probably netted them Durant and Harden for the rest of their careers.
i guess it makes sense why Westbrook won MVP last season then--consolation prize for the being the worst of the old OKC big three
They're all scorers. That's their main issue. Not one person (including Westbrook) is a true facilitator for their teammates. They play for themselves to score not for the team to score. So far it's looking like the talking heads' prediction of the Rockets', CP3 + The Beard project not working and the "BIG 3" in OKC working to be a bust. James Harden is still finding a way to manage the same numbers he did last season while Westbrook and his teammates have all regressed. Ironically the help he didn't have last year is flourishing on other teams too (Oladipo, McDermott, Kanter, etc.) . It may be to early to count them out, but it can never be too early to count them, NOT all in.
To be fair, Ben Falk (Cleaning the Glass) has an overall positive outlook on the Thunder, using their point differential and good D as reasons to not panic. Here's how he ended his recent article on them: "This Thunder team is not the 2010-11 Heat. But Miami still provides a powerful example of why we shouldn’t overreact to early results. If the Thunder can follow the Heat’s model, walling off the outside noise, identifying the right areas for improvement, and taking the long view, they should end about where we expected them before the season started: a team that wins in the high 40s or low 50s and that opponents are loathe to match up with in the playoffs."
Are you saying they're the team nobody wants to see come playoff time? I am loving the sound of that.
