The Oklahoma City Thunder will be without Kevin Durant this season in the light of him signing with the Golden State Warriors. Here is why the Thunder will be better than the 2014-15 club, when Durant was out for all but 27 games.
We all know what happened last time that Kevin Durant was not with the Oklahoma City Thunder for most of a season. They missed the playoffs and Russell Westbrook morphed into Superman. This time around Oklahoma City will be in a better position to make the Finals without Durant.
There were a heap of other factors in 2014-15 besides Durant’s broken foot. Westbrook was out for 17 games with a broken hand. Serge Ibaka, the other of the big three of that season, missed time at the end of the year with a knee injury.
The Thunder missed the playoffs on a tiebreaker to the New Orleans Pelicans, who beat them two out of three times during the season. Westbrook took the team on his shoulders, winning the scoring title but it was not enough.
Unfortunately the Thunder team was set up for two superstars to be playing together and the rest of the roster could not cover the loss of Durant.
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This season, general manager Sam Presti made sure that this was not going to be the case when he traded Ibaka for Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and Ersan Ilyasova.
Oladipo is obviously the gem of this trade. Last season he averaged 16.0 points per game in 33.1 minutes of action. This is not going to replace the 28.2 points per game that Durant produced, but no one player is going to do that.
What Oladipo offers the Thunder is a viable option as the shooting guard who can create his own shot. In the 2014-15 season, Westbrook shouldered the load of creating shots for himself and for others.
Sure Enes Kanter can average 10 points per game, as could Ibaka, but Ibaka had to have his shot created for him while Kanter relies on transition offense and putbacks for a large portion of his scoring.
The opposition defense was able to compress onto Westbrook as Oklahoma City had no other viable playmaker to ease the load.
Oladipo is also a top wing defender, helping ease the issues of the 2015-16 Thunder, much less the 2014-15 Thunder, who had issues defending the perimeter.
Also, Oladipo also has the speed to turn defense into offense, usually ending a steal with a fast break score.
The combination of Westbrook and Oladipo defending up high and interrupting passing lanes should lead to a higher number of easy transition points.
Westbrook finished fifth in steals and Oladipo was 22nd last season, meaning life will be difficult for opposition point guards. I feel sorry for rims around the league this year when the Thunder come to town.
Oladipo will start at the off guard position, displacing Andre Roberson. I am pretty sure that Roberson will not lose his starting spot, however. Roberson is such a long defender that he could fill the role that Luc Mbah a Moute handles for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Mbah a Moute does not worry too much about offense; he is there to concentrate on stopping the opposition small forward.
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Yes Oklahoma City does not have a viable starting small forward. Josh Huestis is too green, Kyle Singler is Kyle Singler and they have signed Chris Wright, another green player.
Of these players, Singler unfortunately will get the most minutes. I can see Billy Donovan using Ilyasova at the starting small forward spot this year.
The Thunder also lost Ibaka in this trade. The defensive giant will be missed, but fortunately Steven Adams has stepped up to be the defensive leader for Oklahoma City. He has also started to replace Nick Collison as their heart and soul as well.
Adams will take the next step this season and average a double double, covering part of the loss of Ibaka.
During the playoffs, Donovan found out that he could play Kanter alongside Adams without his appalling defense being shown up too much.
With Westbrook and Oladipo creating shots, defenses will collapse onto them, leaving Adams and Kanter to collect more offense rebounds and creating second chance points.
So why is this season’s edition of the Thunder going to be more successful than the one that missed the playoffs two seasons ago? Simple, the team is balanced better with less reliance on one or two players.
Do not be surprised to see Donovan change his starting lineup to suit the opposition that he is playing against. The only guaranteed starters at this point are Westbrook, Oladipo and Adams.
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I am excited by the prospect of an Oklahoma City without Durant. My attention is drawn to Nov. 3 when Oklahoma City takes on the Golden State Warriors for the first time. Be prepared for a 50-point/15-assist game from Westbrook.