Watching last two United States games made me think about that. With LeBron sharing role, minutes and points with Wade and Bosh and with Kobe being older and comming of a surgery, Durant will be this season's MVP and probably the best scorer back to back. But that is not my point, we've already known Durantula is special. The guy who impresses me the most is Westbrook. For me, he has been the 2nd maybe 3rd best player for the US team this Championships. He can run, he can score and create. What's more he will be a nightmare matchup for most of NBA's starting point guards. What's more, he matches up well against other great pg's. Derrick Rose, Steve Nash, Rajon Rondo, etc... Only Williams and Billups may cause him some problems but I think he will be fine. You add guys like Green, Sefalosha who is probably a top 3 defender on the perimeter, you have that young athletic center who can really get up and block shots and you really have a great team. Remember, they won 50 games last season and they pushed the Lakers to 6 games (almost 7). They are young but you can't say that they don't have expierence now. They are fearless, have a great coach and dhowed great chemistry last year. Oh and I forgot they they are a great road team too. 23 wins. Really, I can see them stealing Western Conference 1st place from the Lakers. The sky and injuries are the limit for this team.
and he is still learning about the PG position. tha's the rub against OKC, outside of durant and westbrook, it is a team of young scrub. it is not a deep team.
They are not scrubs at all. You don't win 50 games in the West and you don't cause trouble to the Champs having 2 great ones and the rest of scrubs. They may be lacking a solid frontcourt player, that is all.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=3439 Give this kid some time, he's may be the Thunder's front court answer...
What the thunder needs is shooters. The lakers really exposed them in that series, and just left gree, sefalosha, and their other guys wide open, while they just face guard durant. Once they get some shooters, maybe they can trade for rudy fernandez, as I see him really fit that team well. Until than, just double up durant and leave everyone else open on the perimeter.
I was reffering to him in my earlier post. Wasn't he phenomenal last year? 1.3 bpg is pretty nice. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Du2-aTLluxE?fs=1&hl=pl_PL"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Du2-aTLluxE?fs=1&hl=pl_PL" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
I completely agree. He is full of energy and has a lot of potential to be a huge factor on that team.
well they picked up cole aldrich this summer, so that's nothing but help for them int he front court...Green is a good third option for them and Harden can still develop enough to surpass green as that third option. They do have a depth issue, but that's natural with such a young team. Littly by little, over the next 2-3 yrs they'll have more FAs looking to play with these guys. One problem with their quick success is their draft positioning. It'll be tough for them to continue to build the team using the draft because of it.
Not as good as they should be... They needed to make a move this offseason, use their cap space to land a forward (I think we were all thinking Lee) before Westbrook gets a contract. Now, they do still have a lot of room and plenty of 1yr deals to couple away in a trade, but their time is running out. If they don't land a player this year they are gonna be in a bind. If Philly really was packaging the #2 with Brand, that's the type of deal the Thunder should have been considering. Anyways, how good they'll be this year, and maybe into the future, will be determined by the player they acquire. I could see them missing the playoffs. I could also see them getting hot and knocking off the Lakers in the 1st round.
They'll be alright. Just put your best defender on Durant and shut him down and get the win with your star or hottest player. :grin:
It'll all depend on both the development of the role players, and Westbrook's own development. There's no doubt Westbrook is a great player, but he hasn't quite grasped how to adequately play PG yet, imo. When/if he does they'll be a scary team. I still don't see why they didn't make a run at one of the 2nd tier PF's available this summer.
they'll be good. i thought they caught a lot of teams off guard last year and now teams will be ready for them. they'll be good b/c of their defense. however, their lack of an interior presence on both sides is stopping them from being great. ultimately, NOT a championship contender
OKC needs some more shooters other than Durant. Missing open jumpshots killed them against the Lakers.
It is becoming more of a guards league, having adequate interior presnce is enough. Though I agree that they arn't there just yet.
I couldn't disagree more. The Lakers have won the last two championships because nobody can match their length and skill up front. LA, Orlando and Boston have been three of the four best teams the last couple years and they have quality big men.
Ehh there's no doubt they'll be good for years to come, but I'll still take my Rockets over them any day baby.
I'd argue that it's more that the triangle offense doesn't call for an elite(or even average) PG. Also, sure the Lakers front court outclasses the vast majority of opposing teams, but the past two championships have stemmed from Kobe. Teams are forced to leave Pau in single coverage because the best player in the game is on the court.
You are wrong. It has nothing to do with Kobe. They were just a playoffs team with Kobe, even better, younger Kobe. Pau is the difference maker. And yes, Kobe is important but they have been winning because nobody can match up against Gasol, Odom or Bynum.
Some of you are saying that they need shooters? Well, they got Deaquon Cook and Mo Peterson in the offseason. They also have James Harden who is going to be in his 2nd season and improve. Some of you are saying that they aren't deep? Are you kidding me? They are loaded with young. Other than Durant and Westbrook, they got: Green, Harden, Ibaka, Safalosha, Kristic, Eric Maynor, Cook, Byron Mullens, and drafted that rookie Center from Kansas. All of the above players are under 27 years of age and they all have talent.
