The Thunder have a treasure trove in the frontcourt that other teams surely envy. Kanter at 23 and Adams at 22 could start for nearly every team in the NBA at the 5, Serge is still top 5 at blocked shots and saw a huge surge in three point efficiency last year, then you've got a former MVP that moves over in the 4 and kills teams. McGary would arguably be in rotations and Collison is the glue that holds it all together. Kanter has shored up the 2nd units scoring excellently as Waiters hasn't been able to fill the Harden/Kevin Martin/Reggie Jackson role as effectively as hoped. Prime Thabo (40% 3PT and lockdown perimeter D) is gone, replaced with the uncomfortably lopsided Roberson.
Tonight, the Thunder roll into the Air Canada Centre riding a 7 game win streak. While life post-All Star Break had been tumultuous at best, it appears the Thunder have turned a corner with impressive wins against playoff teams like Boston, Indiana, Utah, Portland and Houston. As we near the end of Donovan's maiden voyage, I wanted to flesh out what the current state of the union is, perhaps looking at what some might say are " the good, the bad and the ugly".
Good: Unstoppable Offense
Billy D. was brought into town for his unique voice, inherently a change in direction for the Thunder. The untrained basketball eye can see as a whole that the ball is moving more (sans last 5 minutes of close games) and nobody is proof of this more than the all-star point guard, Russell Westbrook. Averaging a career high 10.6 assists a game, Russ has gotten others involved to previously unseen proportions. He's second only to Rajon Rondo and leads heralded passers Chris Paul and Ricky Rubio. Donovan's system has the ball moving and the offense scoring at franchise high levels-a 113.1 offensive rating.
Bad: Turnover Prone
Now, here's the bad part: there are growing pains. Unfortunately, the ball movement has been expensive and the Thunder has dropped to 26th in the league in favorable turnover margins. When you think about a team's strategy, priorities come into play. For instance, the Thunder are a historically awesome rebounding team but teams are scoring on them with top 10 efficiency. The Thunder kills on the glass but it costs them transition buckets. Turnovers, I believe, are a result of taking the ball more out of the hands of your most efficient players (KD, Russ, Kanter) and letting it touch the hands of your less efficient guys (Roberson, Adams). With that being said, Russ is #2 in the league in turnovers and KD trails at #7, but part of that is due to sheer volume of minutes and unfortunate play at times this year.
Ugly: Wing Depth
Herein lies what could be the Thunder's flaw: a glaring weakness at the 2 to play with Russ. You've got loads of guys you can plug in with Singler, Morrow, Waiters, Roberson, Cam Payne and Foye, but nobody has been able to play consistently on both ends of the floor. 20 years ago, the league would have envied (and still does to an extent) the foreigner filled frontcourt the Thunder has, but that's not quite what you need to overtake the twin towers (San Antonio, Golden State).
Ultimately, the Thunder has performed incredibly this season outside of the late game implosions and unfortunately inherent flaws previously mentioned, but they're a team to proud of. The question is, can they bring down the retooled Spurs and the Warriors.
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