It just shows how stacked the pre-trade Thunder were. With Durant and WB out they'd still have a team anchored by Harden and Ibaka, two all-star level players.
So we already have the Thunder, Pacers, and Lakers knocked silly by injuries. And the season isn't even 3 games old yet.
They weren't going to be in the playoffs or anything, but a healthy Steve Nash can make a lot of people look good on offense. And losing their rookie for the year puts his development back -- though that might be better for the franchise because they can take an extra dip in the lotto pool.
steve nash for the last two years at no point was healthy and nobody should have really believed he was going to play this year.
If the Rockets wanna lure Durant here, the best way is to win a title or come very close to doing it between now and July 2016. I don't think the Thunder coming up short will be enough to get him in a Rockets uniform.
Are the Thunder even going to make the playoffs? They could easily put themselves in a 12-14 game hole here. I don't even see how they're going to win a single game.
It's gonna be hard for them to make the 8 seed. They probably go like 4-12 over the next 16 games which puts them at 4-14. If Westbrook can make it back for the Dec 5 game then they would have another 8 games before Durant gets back on Dec 19th (which would be by far the best case scenario for Durant). So if they go 4-4 with Westbrook before Durant gets back then they would be around 8-16. So they would have to win 70%+ of their final 58 games to have a chance at the playoffs. I don't see it happening.
Let's not go crazy. This team won 59 games last season. They could spot the rest of the west 10 games and still make the playoffs. If there are any set backs in recovery and Durant has to sit for another 10 games then they could be in serious trouble. I realize that Durant isn't a 7'6 giant, but we all remember that Yao had continuing problems with a similar injury.
They could be spotting a lot more than 10 games. I don't think you realize how bad they are without KD & WB.
They won over 70% of their total games last year, so I don't now why they wouldn't be able to do that for the last 58 games (also I see them doing better than 8-16). The Thunder not making the playoffs is very wishful thinking.
I realize that without even Jackson or Lamb there is literally no one steering the ship but I would think they could still eek out some wins vs the fodder in the Eastern Conference.
Take a look at their 15 games in November and tell me what ones you would favor them to win without KD & WB.
There's a couple factors that would make sustaining that 70% win rate for the remainder of the season very difficult. Those players returning from injury will have a ton of rust and several of them have missed the preseason or portions of the preseason. This will put the entire team in a position where they're re-establishing their continuity on the fly. They'll basically be the equivalent of an opening month team playing the other teams after they've had 2 months to work out chemistry and shake off the rust. Their current roster is an 8 man rotation. Minutes will be sky high and the risk of further injury to the remaining roster will rise with the increase in fatigue. When you take a roster and reduce it that much you are at risk of entering a treadmill or cascading injuries, making it even harder to get back on your feet. While it's theoretically possible they could all get back and win 70% of the remaining games, I think that is wishful thinking. 60-65% is more likely as they are working themselves into mid-season form. If this was the East it wouldn't be an issue, since this is the West the stress from having almost all of the 50 remaining games as essentially elimination games would take near superhuman effort and luck in terms of additional injuries. If OKC is at 4-14, I think it's a coin flip at best to make the play offs in the West. It's more likely that they'll need to be closer to 7-11 or 8-10 to give them a solid chance at a play off berth.
