Oklahoma City Thunder Christmas Round Table Series, 2 sleeps til Santa

As the Oklahoma City Thunder near the much touted Christmas Day game the team at Thunderous Intentions decided it was perfect timing for a Round Table session.

In this three part series the Thunderous Intentions Team answers questions ranging from whether Russell Westbrook will average a triple-double to which Thunder player you would most like to share dinner with.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable task, so we hope you’ll play along and provide your answers in the comments section.

With that, I give you part 1 of the series:

Two more sleeps til Santa, KAT and Wiggins arrive

We’re all invited to a Christmas Thunder event. As good guests we’re going to bring along a host/hostess gift for the team – what team gift are we bringing?

Cole Hixon:  A secondary ball handler. With Cameron Payne out, the closest the Thunder have to another play maker is Victor Oladipo. He can handle this in spot minutes against backup units, but would be better if he didn’t have to.

Heather Koontz: I’d bring a guide to free throw shooting. The team’s low free throw percentage has been costly in the last few games, and certain players (looking at you, Roberson) could really use a refresher

Tony Heim: I’m bringing the team a veteran that can play at crunch time. Russ has obviously done a great job distributing this year, but he doesn’t trust these young guys at the end of games. Bringing in another tenured guy would take pressure off Russ, plus it would be good for the locker room as well.

Eric Snyder:  A Jump Shot- If this team could put a group of shooters on the floor to surround Russ, it would be a legitimate title contender. At this point, the team as it is constructed has no shot to make any noise in the postseason.

Joshua Lea:  If I’m Santa Clause for OKC. The number one gift I’m bringing them this Christmas is better three-point shooting. OKC is shooting an average of 8-of- 25 (32%) from the floor per game. They also are quite woeful from the free throw line at 72% on the year. The OKC Thunder need better scoring, starting from the outside.

Anthony Halkias: Better offense

Jeremy Lambert: Can I kidnap Paul George and put him in a bag? Strategically, I’d bring them a little three point defense. The Thunder are middle of the pack in opponent 3FG%, but it sure seems like they give up a lot of open looks, especially lately. The loss of Victor Oladipo, combined with Westbrook’s lack of effort, has really hurt their perimeter defense. It is possible to strategically fix Westbrook’s defensive effort level?

Yaman Khabbaz: Better three-point shooting.

Casimir Cuffy: Easy. I am bringing more perimeter shooting for the team. Always good to bring something they don’t already have right?

Chris Hughes: I think it’d bring an ability to consistently start games well. We either seem to hit the ground sprinting or walking, never running. And when the Thunder get  behind early like in the first quarter by a wide margin, they often fail to come back.

Rich Condon: Shiny new rotations: Billy D has been experimenting, but I would like to see a pure offensive mix (Russ–Abrines–Morrow–Sabonis–Kanter) and a lockdown defensive lineup (Oladipo–Roberson–Grant–Adams-Morrow/Abrines).

Tamberlyn Richardson:  Clutch time closing super power …. every team knows to up their defensive effort on Westbrook often leading to him missing the shot. Since Russell does so much the entire game it’s easier to defend him in minutes 45-48.

Side note: make sure to visit Thunderous Intentions for daily features, player articles, pre and post game analysis plus all things OKC Thunder.