How the Oklahoma City Thunder can contend: Part one
How can the OKC Thunder contend? Sam Presti has to answer that question as the Thunder head into the offseason and look to move forward in their quest to restore the franchise to the status of championship contender.
After losing former MVP and face of the franchise Kevin Durant, Thunder general manager Sam Presti convinced the new face of the Thunder organization – Russell Westbrook – to sign a short extension. A very likely pitch to Westbrook, aside from being the focal point of the team, was that Presti and company were going to make sure that the Thunder did not fall into a rebuild mode. Instead, they would enter the season in a restructuring of sorts and they would do it on the fly.
Russell Westbrook believed in Presti and he believed in loyalty. So he chose to stay. The Thunder front office added Jerami Grant, Taj Gibson, and Doug McDermott. The Thunder went on to the sixth seed in the Western Conference, a 47-35 record and Russell Westbrook averaging a triple double (not to mention breaking Oscar Roberson’s single season triple double record). They were defeated in five games in the first round of the playoffs by the Houston Rockets.
Now the question this summer for Sam Presti and Russell Westbrook will be the same: How do we contend?
The Thunder have very little room to operate with salary cap wise, and it is usually difficult to attract a high caliber player in free agency to a smaller market either way. Then there is the impending free agency of elite wing defender Andre Roberson, whose free throw shooting was a detriment to the team in the playoffs when the Rockets initialized hack-a-Dre.
This is one of the youngest rosters in the league (25.9 yrs), and there are several players with a vast amount of potential waiting to be unlocked. Steven Adams is only 23 years old, which is incredible. Victor Oladipo is 24. Roberson is 25. Domantas Sabonis is 20 and even Alex Abrines is 23. There is a ton of room for growth for this Thunder team. The Thunder can also add another talent when they make their selection in the later part of the first round of what is supposed to be a deep 2017 draft class.
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Building through the draft, gaining experience, making the playoffs and battling in this league is the way the Oklahoma City Thunder built the team that made it to the NBA Finals in 2012. The average age of that Thunder team was 26.4 years old. Certain basketball thinkers (looking at you, Bill Simmons) also fail to remember that no one knew ahead of time that James Harden would become the James Harden we see leading the Rockets into the second round of this year’s playoffs.
It is revisionist history that the reason the Thunder did not get another run at the NBA Finals was because Sam Presti chose to make a poor trade instead of retaining the services of James Harden.
Soon, however, Clay Bennett must give Presti and Westbrook the chance he did not in 2012. It is entirely possible that the players on the current roster are good enough to get back to that point. With just more time – and a little luck – the Thunder could be an NBA champion.
“How the OKC Thunder can contend” is an ongoing series curated by Darian Hutchins at Thunderous Intentions. Over the next few weekss as the offseason begins for the Thunder, this series will take a detailed look at what Sam Presti and the Thunder organization need to do in order to return the franchise to the top of the basketball world.