Views from OKC: Where do the Thunder sit out West
By Tony Heim
Views from OKC is a public diary from an OKC Thunder fan – today’s topic is the top five teams out West.
It’s been awhile since we’ve had a Views. I’ve missed it. I’ve missed you all as well. My goal for this exercise is not to fill your head with wild ideas of an NBA Finals run, nor lead you to believe the Thunder are headed for a guaranteed playoff exit this season.
No. The idea here is to cautiously make you optimistic as we get closer and closer to the regular season.
Golden State is in a tier above everyone else. Unless Houston, San Antonio, Minnesota or Oklahoma City adds another star-caliber player, this will not change.
Which leads us to our main exercise: rankings the other top Western Conference powers. We’ll go in descending order for the amusement factor.
5. Minnesota Timberwolves
Minnesota is the hottest team of the NBA offseason. After adding Jimmy Butler and Jeff Teague, many believe this team will take a huge leap in Year 2 of the Tom Thibodeau era. The Butler addition is obviously great, but Teague for Rubio won’t do as much as people expect. Minnesota severely lacks shooting – whether or not they’ll be able to overcome that is a big question.
All that being said, this Timberwolves team is going to be good. Taj Gibson will help Karl Anthony-Towns with rim protection and Teague will fit as a secondary ball-handler at the point guard position. It’s not going to come together all at once; the adjustment period for the youngins will take a couple more weeks than a veteran-laden squad.
4. San Antonio Spurs
All that talk against the Timberwolves and I was still tempted to put them above San Antonio. Betting against the Spurs is the second worst thing you can do in sports (betting against the Patriots is #1), but this team has legitimate concerns.
LaMarcus Aldridge is their second-best player. Tony Parker is coming off a torn quadriceps and their biggest free agent acquisition is currently rehabbing a torn Achilles. They lost Dewayne Dedmon and Johnathon Simmons – two players who could actually compete against the Warriors – while re-signing Pau Gasol to three more years.
Everything about the Spurs screams major regression. But it’s the Spurs. I’m not going to be the one that predicts a total top four meltdown.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder are going to be a top four seed in the West this season – don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. They have 2 of the best 15 basketball players in the world, 1 of the 10 best coaches and 1 of the 3 best executives. ESPN’s RPM doesn’t calculate those factors.
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This Thunder team is eerily similar to the one that got the three seed in 2016. Paul George plays the role of Kevin Durant and Patrick Patterson plays the role of Serge Ibaka in the starting lineup. The difference is the bench is much deeper then that team. There isn’t a guard as talented as Dion Waiters, but 2016 OKC didn’t have the likes of Jerami Grant or Doug McDermott as potential weapons either.
2. Houston Rockets
The distance between the Thunder and Rockets is just as close as the Spurs and Timberwolves. Both teams added a bona fide NBA superstar, but Oklahoma City had to give up much less for Paul George. That doesn’t change the fact that Houston is already building on an all-time great offense.
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Chris Paul is one of the smartest players in NBA history – he’s not going to come in looking to take over the Houston offense. Now that James Harden has another primary ball-handler he can move back off-ball like his time with OKC.
It’s important to note that these are regular season power rankings. Houston’s defense is going to be substantially worse than the Thunder’s, something Playoff basketball values more than the regular season. Houston fans will tell you P.J. Tucker can guard Paul George – ask Toronto fans how he did against LeBron James.
We haven’t even touched on the Rockets bench. After trading Chris Paul for their entire bench, Tucker and Nene are set to be the only players worthy of playing Playoff minutes on Houston’s roster. Oklahoma City’s only got stronger between the Raymond Felton signing and the projected leaps taken by Alex Abrines and Jerami Grant.
And that’s why in the 2018 Western Conference Semifinals, the Thunder will beat the Houston Rockets.