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OKC Thunder in the news: Westbrook and Patterson appear on top ranked lists

By Tamberlyn Richardson

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 26: Russell Westbrook of the OKC Thunder receives the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award at the NBA Awards Show on June 26, 2017 at Basketball City at Pier 36 in New York City, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 26: Russell Westbrook of the OKC Thunder receives the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award at the NBA Awards Show on June 26, 2017 at Basketball City at Pier 36 in New York City, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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OKC Thunder in the news for Sunday September 3, features topical news on your favorite team.

The final day of the weekend finds OKC Thunder in the news focusing on lists. Today’s edition looks at the NBA scribe Fran Blinebury’s top 10 triple-double list. Next Bleacher Report writer Zach Buckley ranks his top seven under rated moves. Finally ITN examines Vegas over-under rating for the OKC Thunder and where it places  them among all 30 teams.

Fran Blinebury of nba.com ranks best triple-doubles of 2016-17:

Blinebury offers a great take on the top ten triple-doubles of the past season in his article. Not surprisingly Russell Westbrook makes his list more than once. Only Westbrook and Harden make his list twice. Nor is it a shock Westbrook took three spots on the list. Considering there were 42 such performances to pick from it would be easy to make the entire list about Westbrook. In fact, Thunderous Intentions already made a top ten list of Westbrook’s infamous season.

Related: Russell Westbrook Top 10 list from historic triple-double season

"It has to be the record-breaker. After 55 years, Oscar Robertson’s mark was finally broken with a kick-out pass to Semaj Christon, who nailed a corner 3 with 4:16 left in the game that gave Westbrook his 42nd triple-double of the season. Just to cap off a historic night, Westbrook scored 18 of his half-century in the fourth quarter, including a 36-foot, game-winning prayer with 2.9 left in the game that gave the Thunder a 106-105 win. It was also his third 50-point triple-double of the season."

Patterson lands on under rated signing list:

Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report examines the free agents signings of the summer and compiled a top seven list. OKC Thunder power forward Patrick Patterson makes Buckley’s list ranking second. There’s an argument he could have landed in the top spot, especially if he hadn’t suffered injury last season. It’s interesting the top three players on the list came from the Toronto Raptors. This points to the fact the Raptors will be relying more on their youthful core this coming season particularly from the reserve unit.

"Patrick Patterson, who came in on an economic three-year, $16.4 million deal in July, stands to modernize this group’s frontcourt and flesh out what was the league’s best one-man show…. The 28-year-old might be a specialist—65.9 percent of his shots were threes in 2016-17—but his specialty addresses a glaring need (shot 37.2 percent from beyond the arc)."

Vegas annual over-under predicts success for OKC Thunder:

More from Thunderous Intentions

With training camp and preseason around the corner annual prediction lists are released. One many fans anxiously await is the Vegas over-under predictions. This past week the list published and paid the OKC Thunder some love. Vegas foresees the reformulated squad surpassing last season. Although a positive rating, it seems to err on the cautious side given the numerous changes the roster made. TI covered the complete predictions here:

"The annual Vegas over-under projections were released for the NBA 2017-18 season with odds makers predicting the OKC Thunder will recognize a 4 game win increase. The annual Las Vegas predictions have the OKC Thunder winning the Northwest Division with a total of 51 wins. That would translate into a fourth place finish with the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs slated to finish ahead of the OKC Thunder in the Western Conference."

That wraps up OKC Thunder in the news for September 3. Enjoy the remainder of the weekend and be sure to make Thunderous Intentions a part of your daily fix.

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