The Oklahoma City Thunder will Win the Title… Just Not this Year
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50 wins. A MVP candidate. A deep bench. Excellent three-point shooting. All of these are characteristics that the Thunder will finish the season with, barring a Detroit Pistons-esque collapse in the last 20 games. And yet, the Thunder are not even in the top five in championship odds according to Vegas Insider. Why is there apparent disrespect circulating around the second seed in the West?
Lack of Size and Rebounding
Chet Holmgren has played outstanding in his first full season in the NBA after missing all of last year thanks to an offseason injury. His defense has been as good as advertised and his offensive game has blown every expectation out of the water. If there is a hole in his game though, it’s his relatively poor rebounding numbers. Now, the responsibility for that does not fall solely on his shoulders, as the Thunder as a team are in the bottom five of the NBA in rebounds per game, but if he is going to be a staple on their playoff rotation as he figures to be, something needs to change. The Thunder made a move to shore up the rebounding numbers, signing Bismack Biyombo, but this problem might require a change in mentality. The young Thunder players love to get out in transition and run the court but in the playoffs, the guards and wings are going to have to crash the glass and secure defensive rebounds to ensure that they can stay in the game.
Lack of Veteran Leadership/Playoff Experience
Again, the Thunder made a move to fix this apparent issue when they traded Tre Mann, Davis Bertans and a draft pick to Charlotte for Gordon Hayward, but it is still something of note. The top seven players on the roster excluding Hayward have a combined two playoff series under their belt. Shai Gilgous-Alexander will be ready for the bright lights of the postseason, almost nobody is concerned about him potentially falling short. Other young players, like Holmgren and wing stopper Jalen Williams are where the questions begin. J-Dub has been good defensively, but he’s going to have to be even better when the Thunder face the likes of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Kevin Durant and LeBron James as soon as the first round of the playoffs. If the young players that have shone throughout the season are caught off guard in a playoff atmosphere, it could spell doom for Oklahoma City.
The West is Just That Good! Really!
To put this into context, the Boston Celtics, the leaders in the Eastern Conference have had somewhere between a five to seven game lead on the second seed for the better part of two months. At the time this article is being written, the same number of games separates the one seed Timberwolves and the sixth seeded Phoenix Suns. The West is as competitive as it has ever been and has more star power than ever. The playoffs are extremely matchup dependent and any team could go home at any point if they catch the wrong team on the other side of the court. Despite having one of the best home-court advantages in the NBA and one of the better isolation players in SGA, the Thunder could be in deep trouble if they draw a team with elite big play, like the kind the Lakers, Kings, Pelicans and Nuggets have.
The Thunder are set for success for many years to come, with more draft picks than they know what to do with and a plethora of young talent throughout the roster. This season, though, they might not get as far as they should and could have a lot of decisions to make in the summer.
