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Top 3 goals for OKC Thunder in the 2017-18 NBA season

By Albert Dadson

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 26: Victor Oladipo, Ends Kanter, Nick Collison, Taj Gibson and Andre Roberson poses with Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder after receiving the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award at the NBA Awards Show on June 26, 2017 at Basketball City at Pier 36 in New York City, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Michael J. LeBrecht II/NBAE via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 26: Victor Oladipo, Ends Kanter, Nick Collison, Taj Gibson and Andre Roberson poses with Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder after receiving the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award at the NBA Awards Show on June 26, 2017 at Basketball City at Pier 36 in New York City, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Michael J. LeBrecht II/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The OKC Thunder have built a team to compete and now expectations are high. With Russell Westbrook and Paul George, they are now in position to do damage in the West.

The Oklahoma City Thunder spent the summer improving their roster and now they look to return to dominance in the NBA. The Thunder stole Paul George from the Indiana Pacers by only giving up Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.

With the success from last year and Russell Westbrook coming off an MVP season, the Thunder should feel like they can do damage in West. Here are three specific goals that the Thunder should reach to become an elite team this year.

Shoot better from three-point range

In this day and age, it is crucial for everybody on the court to be able to step out and shoot three-pointers. The Thunder did not have a good year shooting the three-ball last season, ranking 26th in three-pointers made and dead last in three-point percentage.

The Thunder added George, who shoots 37 percent for his career at the three-point mark. Patrick Patterson shoots 36.8 percent from three and Raymond Felton shoots 32.7 percent. Those three new acquisitions will help them offensively.

Out of all the Thunder players that played 60 or more games last year, only four players shot better than 30 percent from deep: Russell Westbrook, Victor Oladipo, Alex Abrines and Domantas Sabonis. Oladipo and Sabonis aren’t on the team anymore.

Their opponent in the playoffs, the Houston Rockets, had seven of those players in James Harden, Trevor Ariza, Eric Gordon, Patrick Beverley, Ryan Anderson, Sam Dekker and Nene Hilario. If Patterson starts, that will add to the firepower of the OKC Thunder in a stretch-4 role, but he will be a valuable asset whether he starts or not.

Make sure Westbrook signs extension

It is imperative for OKC that Westbrook sign the Designated Player Extension during this year. Westbrook wants to stay in Oklahoma City but as we have seen this offseason, anything is possible. The players are in more control than ever.

When Kevin Durant left, Westbrook showed his loyalty to the team by signing a three-year, $85 million dollar deal the day after he left for Golden State. Keeping Westbrook in OKC is saying that the team is not rebuilding and that they are still trying to win now.

As of right now, Paul George is also just in OKC for this year. The Thunder will have to figure out if this is more than just a one-year stint. Keeping both of these players is crucial to how the Thunder organization will operate in the future. Will they be a struggling, sub-.500 team down the road, or a future title contender?

Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images /

Win 50 or more games

This Thunder team will have to produce wins. The West will be tough and is as loaded as ever, but the Los Angeles Clippers lost Chris Paul and the Utah Jazz lost Gordon Hayward. Those two teams were ahead of the Thunder last year, so they will not be looking up at those teams in terms of talent.

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The Thunder will have to focus on winning the games against the lesser competition in the relatively weak East and beating the lower level Western teams. If they take care of games that they are supposed to win on paper, the sky is the limit against teams like Cleveland, Golden State, and San Antonio.

The Thunder were 29-23 against the West last year. This year, with the added players they should at least win 35 games against Western opponents if they want to improve their playoff position from last year. That would bump them up to 52 wins on the season based on last year’s mark against the East, which would’ve been good enough for fourth in the West and given the Thunder home-court advantage in the first round.

The Houston Rockets will also be an interesting matchup because that’s who beat them last year in the playoffs. The Rockets have added Paul and have the MVP runner-up in James Harden, whose season wasn’t one to turn your back on either. Harden played the whole season at point guard and now he has a legit floor general on his team in Paul. The Thunder should try to win at least 50 to get them at least a 4- or 5-seed.

Next: The biggest winners and losers of 2017 NBA free agency

The Thunder have improved from last year everybody knows that, but improving on paper doesn’t always mean results. The Thunder will have to build chemistry to make sure that they can withstand the adversity of an 82-game season.

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