OKC Thunder Tank

When most teams have their eyes on the playoffs and strive to chalk up more wins than losses as the regular season ending is on the horizon, the OKC Thunder, in it’s rebuilding mode for the year is surely not focusing on winning but more on allowing it’s players to learn and gain valuable playing time during the season. Instead, after all their so-called superstars and most veteran players have moved on to other teams that have a realistic chance of continuing play after the regular season ends, the Thunder has traded away the stars, accumulated a treasure trove of future draft assets in the process and should definitely be a very competitive team in the years to come. Even with the current roster, one can see great potential in several of the players already on the team and even after losing game after game, it seems the coach is more focused on the teaching aspect of coaching and giving more playing time to just about everyone, knowing that all this experience will certainly pay off next season. I suppose I never really became a serious basketball fan until the former Seattle Supersonics came to OKC and became the Thunder. I watched through the years as Kevin Durant, James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Russell Westbrook, and Paul George came, contributed, flourished to some extent and left (not quite that fast but eventually that’s what happened) and I never bought into the big star mentality. Winning games has always been a team effort and every superstar the team had, always had nights when their shot was off and their stats were not that impressive. I subscribe to the belief that if a player’s personal stats are worth noting after a game but in a losing effort, and this becomes a pattern, then that player is too selfish, not a team player and is better off somewhere else. Compile so many double-doubles, and triple doubles and the team manages to make the playoffs but gets eliminated in the first round? So good-bye superstars and let’s now take a good look at the beginnings of a team that is destined to be a force in the NBA in a future that is closer than you think. A few pieces of the “puzzle” are already in place in the form of Shae Gilgeous-Alexander, Darius Bazley, Moses Brown, Theo Maledon, Lugentz Dort and Alexi Pokusevski. There are other players like Ty Jerome, Svi Mihailiuk, Tony Bradley and Kenrich Williams that are coming off the bench and adding a considerable amount of scoring. The new Thunder team shows more scoring from just about every player that takes the court, from both the starters and those coming off the bench. All this experience, even with all the mistakes in the form of turnovers that are part of the learning process, will lead to more confident and disciplined players as time passes. With the recent acquisition of Gabriel Deck, OKC Thunder general manager, Sam Presti, a wizard in his own right, works to complete his master plan of building a super team in the smallest market in the NBA. Watch in the upcoming draft when I expect Sam to use the thirty four or more first and second round draft choices to scoop up one of the top college players entering the draft this year. My guess is that he has Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham on his radar and what an addition that would be. The final piece of the puzzle plus a few more promising choices to shore up his supporting bench players. Remember when the Bulls ruled with Michael Jordan and the Lakers rose to the top with Kobe Bryant. The NBA Western Conference better brace itself because the super team of the future is coming from the opposite end of the Turner Turnpike, about 100 miles from Tulsa. There’s a quiet rumbling that people will start to notice. The superstars are getting old and the stars of tomorrow’s NBA are rising up to take over. Finally, hats off to one Chris Paul, CP-3, who in a trade from Houston for Russell Westbrook, spent about a year in a Thunder uniform, showed the basketball world what a great individual player and team general he was, even though he ended up being traded to the Phoenix Suns. He has left an indelible impression on the team and the OKC fans and will forever be loved by Oklahoma. Who can argue that in the end, we got the better part of that trade?