Round Table Discussion: 2015-16 Season Expectations and Predictions
By David Ramil
Oct 18, 2015; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan reacts to a play against the Denver Nuggets during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Other than health, what could tear this team apart this season?
Woods: Everything that stems from coaching. I think Donovan will be a very good coach, but he needs to figure out who to play when considering the number of players that are decidedly one-sided players.
Ahmed: The only thing I can think of would be a locker room altercation or the players just not buying into Donovan’s philosophies. Those two things happening would be very un-OKC like. From what I can tell, the team enjoys the refreshing new style of basketball being implemented by Donovan. As far as buying in? The team was still playing hard for Scott Brooks when they were in absolute crisis mode last season. Simply, it will have to take something drastic and uncharacteristic to occur for this team to crumble this season.
Haringey: Dion Waiters. His penchant for believing he’s the best player on the floor and taking step back twos might cause the team to disintegrate. At the very least it might cause Russell Westbrook to punch him.
Lambert: Durant’s future could be a major distraction. I know he’ll do his best to deflect the question about his impending free agency, but he’s still going to get asked about it and when things go wrong in a game, it’s going to be a major talking point. Over the course of 82 games and the playoffs, all the talk is going to be wearing on Durant and the team.
Livingston: I really don’t think there’s anything else that could but for the sake of answering the question I’ll go with chemistry. Maybe Dion Waiters and Enes Kanter decide they don’t like their roles and start to cause trouble in the locker room but I just don’t see that happening.
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