They have long-term potential for sure. Currently, they're a team that I think will be decent, and will be annoying to play because I think they have the potential to upset teams on any given night.
They could be pretty good in a year or two, but I'd keep an eye on the Clippers as well. Baron, Kaman, Camby, Griffin, Eric Gordon, Thornton, and they'll have a lot of capspace next year too, to add even more.
If someone asked me to make a list of the top 10 teams I would never expect to see in an NBA Finals in my lifetime, OKC would probably be one of the first teams I'd write down. They have some talented kids, and by all accounts Sam Presti is an up and coming GM in this league like KP was a few years ago, but at the end of the day ... they ... are ... Oklahama ... City. I think David Stern would hang himself if his league somehow had OKC in the Finals.
Until OKC learns how to play some defense, they'll post some surprising wins and hover around .500. A team to keep an eye on, but they have some big contracts coming up in the next few years.
Is this referring to me? I just thought I'd throw it out there. OKC has a roster built like ours. Lots of young talents on rookie contracts and available cap space. Not saying I like their prospects as much as ours, but their team (core) is even younger and has a lot of nice pieces.
I like Westbrook, Harden, Durant and Green, but I wonder if they fit together well. As far as talent goes, they can be scary, but are Westbrook and Harden going to be as good in the backcourt as people think? Can they get by with so little size?
It's funny how everyone is creaming their jeans over Durant AGAIN! He's a man among boys in Las Vegas. He's the only lock to make the Olympic team. He may be better than LeBron (actual quote from some article)! Did I miss the part where he learned to play defense? Where the team actually did better with him on the court than off? Whenever Durant is playing, you can be sure that there will be two high scorers: Durant, and whomever he's supposed to be guarding. (Except when he's playing Batum, of course - then neither scores...) I get it: the script is Durant great, Oden a bust. But this is like saying Bob McAdoo was the best player ever and Bill Russell was a huge disappointment. Oh, and Russell Westbrook is NOT a point guard. Fun player to watch, but there's a reason Darren Collison was the starter.
while I agree with you on principle, I'm holding off of the Russell comparisons until Greg plays 23 minutes once in a playoff game.
Q? Anyone Legitimately Concerned About OKC? Can anyone think of a FA signing of a sought after Center to a lessor market? Off the top of my head I can't. NBA Centers with options on where to make their 10's of millions go to marquee teams... and thats not OKC. I think they'll have to land one in the draft, but their days as a bottom scraping team are probably drawing to an end for a while. With their talented young team they should improve and maybe make the playoffs in the next year or two, but without quality size their upside is limited. Thats the long answer. The short answer is no. STOMP
I don't think Oden is anything remotely approaching a bust and I think Durant is great. I think his defense tightened up last year, when he was put back at his natural position, and his offensive efficiency went through the roof.
OKC has a nice collection of players, but until we see that they can mesh on the court to produce wins, it's premature to get too concerned about them. Durant is obviously a stud, but the lack of a true center should keep them off of the competetive radar for the foreseeable future.
Well, he's not going to win any defensive player of the year awards anytime soon . . . but I thought it was interesting how Coach K was talking about his defense the other day. I mean, if KD can just be an average to better than average defender - he's going to be mentioned in the same breath as the Lebrons, D-Wades, Kobes, etc. He's that good offensively.
I really like their team, but they really need a big guy. Chandler would have been awesome for them if that went through. As for concerned? I'm not concerned about anybody if GO pans out.
