EDITOR'S NOTE: Each week, The Daily's RJ Young and MJ Casiano debate the biggest question in sports. This week, Young and Casiano debate whether the Oklahoma City Thunder will be better, the same or worse than last season.
RJ says a little worse
I don’t believe the Thunder will win more than 47 games this season, because it’s the Kevin Durant show in Oklahoma City whether Durant would have you believe it.
Wednesday night, the OKC Thunder opened up their season at home in the Ford Center by soundly thumping the Chicago Bulls 106-95. Durant led all scorers — again — with 30 points in 41 minutes.
The way the Thunder handled the Bulls looked eerily similar to the way they handled most of the NBA last year. They ran Thunder coach Scott Brooks’ offense through the most prolific scoring threat currently assaulting NBA rims.
Durant dared the Bulls to double-team him, but they didn't challenge him until late in the third quarter. Not exactly a great strategic move by Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.
When the Bulls did double-team Durant, he made easy passes to either Jeff Green or Russell Westbrook, who have emerged as solid sidekicks to Durant. But for Westbrook and Green to have had those open looks, Durant had to prove to the Bulls he could take on their defenders one-on-one and continuously drive to the hoop in isolation sets.
So, in essence, Durant will have to be the same prodigious NBA savant that he was last season for the Thunder to come anywhere near winning the 50 games that they did in 2009-2010. Brooks’ offense is built around the talents of Durant, which puts the onus on him to drop 28 points per game just to give the Thunder a chance of beating elite competition.
Teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, Utah Jazz, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat all have offensive and defensive threats that could neutralize the talented Mr. Durant as well as win an NBA championship.
I don’t believe Westbrook or Green have the talent or wherewithal to carry the Thunder if — heaven forbid — Durant’s game decides to take the night off or a coach not named Tom Thibodeau actually creates a defensive scheme that forces the Thunder to find another player to run the offense through.
Yes, 47 wins sounds about right to me.
MJ says better
When a team goes 50-32 and claims the last playoff spot in the Western Conference, then follows up the season with their two star players — Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook — winning a Gold Medal for USA in the FIBA Championship over the summer, it’s hard to think the Thunder won’t be improved from a year ago.
Last season, this team had the youngest roster in the NBA, and even a year later that interesting stat has stayed the same with a 24.2 years old average.
It’s rare to see such a young an inexperienced team so good, and now with another year under the belts of guys like Durant, Westbrook and even the ever-so-raw Serge Ibaka, the sky is the limit for the Thunder.
I’ve seen many NBA season previews for this season, none of which had the Thunder watching the playoffs from their couches. The majority had the Thunder only seeded behind the Lakers when the regular season wraps up.
In 2007-08 — Durant’s and Jeff Green’s rookie seasons — the Thunder went a conference-worst 20-62.
The next year, they added Westbrook and slightly improved to 23-59 for the third-worst record in the conference.
We all know what the team did last year, making the playoffs and giving the eventual back-to-back champion Lakers a run for their money.
Experience is the one thing that can drastically improve a team, as well as team chemistry, and the Thunder may have the best team chemistry in the entire league.
Not to mention the major talent going to the Eastern Conference, including Amar’e Stoudemire to the Knicks and Carlos Boozer to the Bulls — among others — which evens out the playing field past the Lakers.
In the end, all the pieces are there, and barring a major injury to Kevin Durant, this season can only be better than the last.
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JosephT 1 year, 6 months ago
MJ wins!