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Overall
Win/Loss Record : 47-19 first place
Northwest Division
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Last Season’s Rank
2
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Projected 2012/2013
Finish
3
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Last
season’s Team Statistics and League Rank
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Returning
Individual Statistical Leaders
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Projected Starters Based on Last Season’s Performance, Veteran Seniority and Projected Impact
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Key Reserves Based on Last Season’s Performances, Veteran Seniority and Potential Impact.
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2012/2013
Projection: 55-27 tied first place in
the Northwest Division—will be hard pressed to repeat storied playoff run
from last season.
Analysis:
For numerous
basketball purists it must have been agonizing to watch the Oklahoma City
Thunder play last season. Here was a
team who ranked dead last in assists per game, committed the most turnovers,
and had the lowest assist to turnover ratio in the league. Yet they were still able to finish with the
second best record in the Western Conference and managed to beat not one, or
two, but three former NBA Champions who in the last 15 years had won ten NBA
titles between to reach the NBA Finals.
What made it even more infuriating to purists of the game was that the
Thunder’s playoff success was not due to the team playing well, but rather
the opposite. Both the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers played terribly allowing a team with a
rather simplistic and predictable offense to simply steamroll them while the San Antonio Spurs, who started the Western Conference Final series with a two
games to one lead simply folded under the pressure.
Only the Miami Heat
had the insight and the common sense to figure out the way to shut down the
Thunder and it did so by rather simple roster adjustment. Instead of having their star Lebron James
use up much of his energy defending Thunder star Kevin Durant in the series,
heat coach Erick Spoelstra had a better idea.
He shifted Lebron to the power forward position placing the Heat’s
defensive specialist Shane Battier to humbug Durant on the defensive end.
Spoelstra, as many have already surmised knew that the Thunder’s offense
primary consisted of the ball being dominated by both Durant and Russell
Westbrook while their three other teammates simply stood and watched. Knowing full well that Serge Ibaka would
not less see the ball let alone get any touches, he knew that Lebron would be
free to aide with doubling down on Durant along with not spending energy
guarding on the defensive end.
The same thing
happened with the Heat’s other star, Chris Bosh, who was shifted to the
center position knowing full well that he would not have to spend any effort
on the defensive end guarding Kendrick Perkins. Bosh would simply switch and double down on
Kevin Durant while just staying in the paint to prevent Russell Westbrook
from converting in the paint every time he barreled into the lane. Instead of playing five on five basketball,
the Thunder forced itself due its rather pedestrian offensive scheme to play
five on two against Miami. That would
spell doom for Oklahoma City as they would lose their next four games after
stealing the first game of the series on the Heat’s home court. Their performance in game five said it all
as fatigue set in for both Durant and Westbrook as Miami simply rolled over
them winning the game and the series by 15 points thus becoming NBA
champions.
Basketball purists
would finally breathe a sigh of relief as they watched the team that had spit
on their cherish beliefs of how the game should be played finally bested by
sound basketball fundamentals. The
Miami Heat not only won the NBA title, but also exposed the glaring weakness
of the Oklahoma City Thunder leaving them vulnerable to other teams looking
to take a crack at them. One of those
teams is the Minnesota Timberwolves who underwent one of the biggest roster
makeovers during the offseason by adding one of the best overall defenders in
league in Andrei Kirilenko, along with former all star swing man Brandon Roy
among other. Now the Thunder will be
faced with a team that can possibly take away their current stranglehold on
the Northwest Division while at the same time prove to be a troublesome
opponent come playoff time. Add the
spectacular offseason of the Los Angeles Lakers acquiring not just one but
two potential Hall of Famers, the Thunder will certainly be hard-pressed to
repeat that spectacular playoff run from last season.
Adding to the
pressure is that the Thunder’s second best player, James Harden, will be a
restricted free agent once the season ends giving OKC’s GM Sam Presti and
team owner Clayton Bennett quite the dilemma.
There is no doubting Harden’s talent and worth—he is arguably the
second or third best shooting guard in the league and certainly worth a
maximum contract extension. Unfortunately, the problem lies with the current
collective bargaining agreement in place which penalizes a team almost double
in luxury tax penalties if a team goes over the salary cap. With the Thunder already paying close to
50$ million on four players, paying Harden his worth will certainly put them
over the luxury tax threshold and there will be numerous teams who are under
the salary cap and ready willing and able to inflate Harden’s value just
enough to scare the Thunder away from matching their offers. So this may be the last time fans in the
OKC will be able to see their team who reached the NBA Finals last season
play together and with Harden possibly parting ways with the Thunder once the
season ends, it may be the last time the Thunder will ever have to make the
Finals as well.
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Monday, September 24, 2012
SDH's 2012/2013 NBA Worst to First Previews and Predictions: 3. Oklahoma City Thunder
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