Should The Thunder Heed Mark Cuban’s Tanking Advice?
Coming into the 2014-15 season, the general feeling among several NBA circles was that the Oklahoma City Thunder could go far into the playoffs or even better, win the NBA title this year. And for good reason too. After all, they had the reigning Most Valuable Player in Kevin Durant and (arguably) the best point guard in the game with Russell Westbrook leading the way. With that kind of talent anything is possible.
Then the injury bug struck.
Their ranks were decimated as it was discovered that Durant had injured his foot, meaning he would be out for at least the first month and a half or so of the new season. However, even with the bad news, there was still an optimism and even a silver lining since it gave Westbrook the chance to stake his claim as a bonafide MVP candidate this year with Durant missing so much time. And boy was he determined to make the most of it.
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Opening night against the Portland Trail Blazers marked the first game in the new Westbrook Era and he went off for 38 points along with six dimes, and three steals. It was going just as we expected since he had his fair serving of shots — he finished the game with 26 field goal attempts — although the final result didn’t go Oklahoma City’s way as they lost 106-89.
Nonetheless, despite the opening day loss, there was still a sense of optimism that things would eventually start to click — or at the very least, Westbrook would hold the ship steady until Durant’s return. Then he too went down with an injury. The diagnoses: a broken thumb that would require surgery and between 4-6 weeks to heal. And just like that, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s promising season has been cast into doubt.
For the first time since the Seattle SuperSonics days, fans would finally see what life without both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for an extended period, will be like. So far, it hasn’t been going all that great. Through seven games, the Oklahoma City Thunder are 2-5, which is why Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban floated the idea of tanking this season to ESPNDallas.com in order for OKC to further their cause in the long run.
“The question I don’t think anybody has asked is, why don’t they pull a David Robinson and try to get Tim Duncan?” said Cuban, prior to the Mavs’ fixture versus the Miami Heat. “I’m not suggesting anything, I’m just curious why the question hasn’t been asked because I’m curious what the answer is.
“We already specialize in a race to the bottom,” he added. “More participants won’t change anything. They’re all high-profile participants.”
“I didn’t see those comments, but no,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks in response to Cuban’s suggestion. “That’s funny, though. But no, we’ve got a good group of guys in here. It’s fun going into games knowing we’re going to play with great effort, that we’re going to be throwing our bodies all over the floor, that we’ll be diving on the floor for loose, and that’s what our fans want to see.
“They understand we’ve had a lot of injuries … they know it, but they like what the guys are doing. They like that the guys are competing. That’s what makes fans proud of our group.”
While Brooks’ never say die attitude is commendable, perhaps they should consider Cuban’s suggestion with little more. It worked out great for the San Antonio Spurs, since they ended up with a superstar who is bound for the Hall of Fame and a few championships out of it – although it has to be said that the circumstances are a little different since their core group is much younger than what the Spurs had at the time.
Nevertheless, the Oklahoma City Thunder in the meat grinder that is the Western Conference, where nothing but Ws all season-long can guarantee playoff action. Getting into a hole while waiting for Durant and/or Westbrook to come save the team could be too much to overcome, come season’s end.
Just last year, the Phoenix Suns had 48 wins and even that wasn’t enough to make the playoffs out West as the worst team (aka Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks) had 49 wins. A case could be made that the conference is even stronger now considering the Suns reloaded by signing Isaiah Thomas and Eric Bledsoe is healthy, plus Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans have gotten even better this year so playoff contention could be in the cards.
On the other hand, they have had some tough games thus far. Five of the first seven fixtures have been against teams that were against teams that saw postseason action last year. And even then, they were able to hold their own having given both the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies a slight scare since both games came down to just one possession.
The next run of games undoubtedly does offer some easier opposition with only three of the upcoming 14 games featuring teams that made the playoffs last season. Surely by then we will have a much clearer vision as to how they will fair this season depending on those results go.
Sorry, Mark Cuban, but the Oklahoma City Thunder won’t be calling it a day just yet.