Oklahoma City Thunder: 5 obstacles to contending in 2017-18
2. Finding relief for Russell Westbrook
Part two of the finding bench support is finding proper relief for point guard Russell Westbrook. Westbrook averaged 37.4 points, 11.6 rebounds, 10.8 assists and 2.4 steals per game against the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. Ultimately, it was the bench support that sent OKC packing early.
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Westbrook sat out a total of 46 minutes in the whole series. Within that time-frame, the Thunder were outscored 137-79 by the Rockets. The bench ranked 14th in the NBA in scoring last season (36.1 points per game), which isn’t too bad, but to contend for a title it will need to improve drastically.
The signings of Raymond Felton and Isaiah Canaan should improve things when Westbrook is out getting rest. Felton averaged 6.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists off the bench for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Canaan had a down year with the Chicago Bulls, averaging 4.6 points and 1.3 rebounds in 15.2 minutes per game. He’s on his fourth NBA team entering his fourth season in the league. He averaged 11.0 points and 1.0 assists per game in 2015-16 with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Both players serve as better options than Cameron Payne and Semaj Christon but they’ll need to produce or it could be another early playoff exit for OKC.