With an awful team to call my own, don't ask why I have spent the past week catching every Oklahoma City Thunder game I could on League Pass. Something about Kevin Durant continues to thrill, and Russell Westbrook's new cult status as Rondo-on-a-bad-team coupled with Jeff Green's eternal Pippen mimicking make the team an interesting watch.OKC earned its third win in 27 games against Toronto on Friday as the Raps played awful on offense. But Sunday's loss to the visiting Cavaliers seemed more telling. For all but a two-minute stretch at the end of the third quarter, the Thunder quite nearly played Cleveland evenly, despite killer shot-making by Delonte West and Mo Williams as well as another 30-point game from LeBron James. Late in the third, Cleveland turned a four-point lead into a 10-point margin and held that spread through the fourth.
But the fantastic thing -- the factor which kept OKC in closer proximity than most far superior Cleveland opponents -- is that the young Thunder players never quit.
Durant, Westbrook and Green have a tremendous chemistry on the court. Obviously, it rarely registers in the win column and often not even in the box score. But that's a youth and talent issue. Westbrook is playing true point guard for the first time since high school, which means he's playing true point guard for the first time ever. Green is learning how to subjugate his talents for the cause of increased versatility and team benefit. At Georgetown, the highly structured Princeton offense forced Green to be a playmaker on every possession. Alongside Durant and Westbrook, the Thunder need Green to be more of a Shawn Marion at times, a Scottie Pippen at other moments. Green has become a shooter, a board-crasher, a ball-mover, a wingman. It's a big jump, perhaps as great the leap from college combo guard to NBA point guard.
And Durant, of course, still must be the best player on a terrible team in a city that's never had a professional major league franchise. Durant has to be a messiah. He seems to relish the role, and relish his relationship with his teammates. Durant cannot relax, because there is Westbrook stabbing for a steal. Durant can't give up on a play after an errant shot, because there is Green crashing the offensive glass. It works inverted as well: every time the Thunder seemed on their way toward ignominious 20-point defeat, Durant hit a silky jumper or picked LeBron's pocket or zipped from midcourt to the rim faster than an Andretti. By mutual collusion, the Thunder refused to allow obliteration.
It's a minor victory, of course: the Cavs won by 11, and OKC sits at 3-25. The team is still on pace for the worst single-season NBA record ever. But the shimmer of hope, a fistful of spirit remain, with every Westbrook assist and Green three and Durant dunk. In a few years, opponents will long for 2008, when OKC represented an easy mark. This team, meek as it seems, travels on the path toward respectability. Patience will be required, but almost certainly rewarded.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
I honestly cant believe no one is talking about the Thunder being a major major major player for Lebron and the free agent class of 2010. With people talking about New Yok and Cleveland having so much money for that summer that they might be able to get 2 big free agents, i dont think people realize how much money the Thunder will have. They have the least amount of money on the books for that summer of any team. The Cavs have $35 mill commited, the Knicks have $18 mill , but the Thunder have only freakin $7 mill on the books!!!! And thats while still having Durant,Green, and Westbrook still under contract. So they literally have enough cap room to make ma offer deals to THREE (!!!!!) major superstars. And to everyone thinking Lebron would never sign for a horrible team like this let me put it like this. They can sign D. Wade and either Bosh or Stoudemire and still have the room to sign Lebron. So they could approach him with a lineup that includes Wade, Bosh/Amare, Durant, Westbrook, Green, plus whatever lottery picks they get in the 2 upcoming drafts. Thats four or five 20+ point scorers you approach him with. And Bosh will be 26 (or Stoudemire 28),Durant and Westbrook both 24,Green 26, D Wade 28, and then Lebron would only be 25. Thats a young dyansty easily. I really think its a possibility just because its the ONLY place that has enough salary space where Lebron and Wade could play together and include another superstar from that Olympic team (like Bosh) - and they already have a young supestar and 2 young good players in the making. Let me know what you think America!.....
I hope you're joking. LeBron and the other potential 2010 free agents will never come to the Thunder, not because of the team, but because they play in OKLAHOMA CITY! Nothing against the city or the team, but I could never smoke enough crack to believe that. At least half of the NBA cities will never be attractive to top players, and OKC is unfortunately at the top of that list, along with teams like Milwaukee, Sacramento, etc. These cities are not media centers and even good teams like the Cavs and Spurs are on that list and would never attract decent free agents except for their having great players and being title contenders already. Unless a player is from said small-market, or prefers to be out of the limelight (which seems increasingly rare), only the most selfish, greedy ones seem to be willing to accept max contracts from said teams. You shouldn't want those players on your team anyway, and signing them only handicaps the team's ability to put together a decent supporting cast. Most small market teams aren't willing to pay luxury tax either, due to their smaller average revenue streams (unless they have a multi-billionaire owner like Portland's Paul Allen, they probably can't afford it even if they wanted to), so signing LeBron, for example, probably means giving up at least two of the Durant-Green-Westbrook core, not because they couldn't potentially resign for top dollar in OKC, but because the team isn't actually going to do that. Those guys are going to be good in a few years anyway, as long as they and the team have the patience and none of them (the players or management) reveal any huge character flaws.
Well lets just put it this way Clay Bennett and his partners were like thieves in the night . When they sought to move the franchise elsewhere merely because the city of Seattle wouldn't acquiesce to their demands. And all of the subterfuge and lies that took place on all sides just goes to show that this whole situation was nothing more than about who possessed the deepest pockets.
Thankfully now we're seeing the franchise sink even lower into obscurity with its less than average play. I don't suppose that Durant wishes he were elsewhere ?
tophatal .....................
Are you really sure it was a bunch of lies, was you in the room with every one when what ever was said was said? All of this BS was brought out in the open because the city couldn't support a new building, they have a baseball stadium and a football stadium, both are new or less than 5 years old. to say that this is all because of this reason or that is false get the facts straight.... if it was that easy then the team would have staryed in seattle..
yeah the obscurity of the #8 team in the nba for ticket sales by percentage.
So the original poster stated that the young Thunder (ex-Sonics - Gonics) players "never" give up. "Never" is a very long time. "Never" ought ot include the Houston Rockets at Seattle Sonics game in February / March 2008 wherein it appeared to several fans near my "decent" seats that Kevin Durant was not quite himself, by any measure. Simply beyond belief ! His body was on the court, but we can only speculate where his mind was that night. Felt so sorry for the young man to do that to himself.
If you have seen the tape of that particular embarassement, you would "never" say "never".