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Oklahoma City Thunder: Grading The Offseason

By Gerald Bourguet

Mar 22, 2015; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter (34) congratulates Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) after a play against the Miami Heat during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 22, 2015; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter (34) congratulates Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) after a play against the Miami Heat during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oklahoma City Thunder
Mar 16, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (left) and guard Russell Westbrook (0) and forward Perry Jones (right) react on the bench during the second half against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /

Overall

With a healthy trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka at their disposal, the Oklahoma City Thunder are automatically one of the best teams in the Western Conference. Bearing that in mind, this team really just needed to get healthy this offseason to reinsert its name into the contender conversation.

But with a supporting cast of Andre Robeson, Anthony Morrow, D.J. Augustin, Dion Waiters, Mitch McGary, Kyle Singler and the offense/defense center yin and yang of Enes Kanter and Steven Adams, the time to compete for championships is now. OKC’s strong offseason kept a title contender intact, even if the individual moves weren’t exactly pretty.

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    • The Thunder sacrificed a little bit of their youth and long-term development to soften the blow of the luxury tax, but they also got some back in the draft with Payne. At the crux of Oklahoma City’s summer was re-signing Kanter, who was probably overpaid.

    But Kanter gives the Thunder an extra dimension on offense as a go-to post scorer. And since letting him go to Portland wouldn’t have given OKC more cap space to sign another big, it would’ve made zero sense to not match. At 23 years old, Kanter still may improve, and more importantly, this decision was preordained from the moment the Thunder traded for him in the first place.

    Personally, I would’ve preferred the Thunder giving Adams the proper time to develop on the offensive end since he makes OKC such an imposing defense. But that ship has sailed, and bringing in Kanter was a defensible move since the Thunder need that sort of added punch to stay afloat in the West. To that end, and with the intention of convincing Durant to stay in OKC past this season, the Thunder had a successful summer…despite the fact that they may not actually be a better team for it.

    Grade: B-

    Next: Los Angeles Clippers: Grading The Offseason

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