Views from OKC: Another game, another opportunity to overreact
By Tony Heim
Welcome to Views from OKC, Thunderous Intentions’ daily roundup of the best OKC Thunder stories across the web.
New to Views? Glad to have you here, and I hope you’ll make this a daily destination. Well, let’s get started!
OKC moves to nine-games over .500
I want to overreact and say the Thunder are going to sneak in and grab the four seed in the West. I mean they are only three games out AND they have the easiest remaining schedule in the league. I won’t make that claim yet, but one thing I am confident in saying is that OKC’s offense is much better post-ASB. The spacing is better with Doug McDermott and Alex Abrines‘ unexpected increased role; everyone else seems to have grown over the break as well. Or maybe it’s because they have played the Lakers and Pelicans. Not overreacting too much…yet.
Related Story: Oklahoma City Thunder practice roundup from Saturday
The off-the-court responsibilities for a traded player
“That’s by design. The Thunder mostly has tried to bring in players with some core similarities. They’re typically team-oriented. They’re generally hard workers. The idea is that players who fit the mold will settle in quickly.”
This ^ is exactly why the Thunder will always be a successful basketball organization. They vet each and every player to ensure they are high quality individuals both on and off the basketball court. Any player, from professional to high school, will tell you team success is 30% talent and 70% chemistry. That chemistry is built in the locker room, on the team planes. Hearing that Taj Gibson and McDermott are already feeling comfortable speaks wonders to the organization as a whole.
Views from Twitter
Alex Abrines with the starting unit is not churning out the worst results in human history. This might be a thing. The fit makes sense.
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) February 27, 2017
I’ve been saying this all year. At the start of the season I was semi-kidding because Abrines’ defense was not up to standards. It still isn’t, but his defense in Game 59 is 10000X better than his defense in Game 1. The Thunder are 2-0 when he starts, so why make a change? It would only make the second unit stronger having Victor Oladipo more…
Since the AS break..Andre Roberson is avg 14.5 ppg, 6.5 rbs while shooting 12/13 FGs and 4/4 from 3! #theyforgotaboutDRE
— Antonio Daniels (@adaniels33) February 27, 2017
Andre Roberson is playing like a guy who doesn’t want to leave Oklahoma City. Something magical must have happened in those trade deadline hugs because the 25-year old is cutting, dunking and shooting like never before. Just last night Roberson scored on a beautiful drive off an Enes Kanter-handoff. His quickness can cause problems for defenses when he’s actively moving off the ball, but when he’s parked in the corner OKC is essentially playing 4-on-5. Just keep moving, Dre.