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Thunder in the News: The “questioning the roster” edition

By Tony Heim

DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 10: OKC Thunder team lock arm during the playing of the national anthem before their game agains the Denver Nuggets on October 10, 2017 in Denver, Colorado at Pepsi Center. (Photo by John Leyba/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 10: OKC Thunder team lock arm during the playing of the national anthem before their game agains the Denver Nuggets on October 10, 2017 in Denver, Colorado at Pepsi Center. (Photo by John Leyba/The Denver Post via Getty Images) /
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OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – OCTOBER 1: Carmelo Anthony #7 and Russell Westbrook #0 of the OKC Thunder and their team hold an open Blue/White scrimmage for fans on October 1, 2017 at Edmond North High School in Edmond, Oklahoma. Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Three days. Three days until the OKC Thunder are back in our lives on the regular. Until then peruse today’s edition of Thunder in the News.

Happy Monday Thunder Nation! For the first time all year we have a reason to celebrate too – we’ve officially reached the first week of OKC basketball. No matter the outcome, this season is going to be fun. Really fun. But before we can celebrate too much, we need to take a look at the potential flaws of this team heading into the season. Why? Because well-rounded fans are the best fans.

What’s going to happen in crunch-time?

Our first dilemma seems to be the biggest question with this team. And deservedly so. Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony are all used to being the main scoring option at the end of games – how they mesh early in the final five minutes will go a long way in predicting the success of this team. Royce Young ultimately gives a great reason why it may just work better than we expect.

"Westbrook owned clutch time last season, building an MVP campaign largely on late-game heroics. Westbrook attempted 184 of the Thunder’s 303 clutch-time shots (last five minutes, margin within five) last season."

What’s going to happen with the backup center?

Our second big concern is another fairly obvious one. Fred Katz details how the loss of Enes Kanter leaves a hole at the Thunder’s backup center position. Luckily Oklahoma City is playing basketball in 2017 and not 2007; a legitimate backup center isn’t necessarily mandatory if the defensive schemes come together correctly.

"Career-long power forward Patrick Patterson stands to play backup center on most nights. Jerami Grant, who played a bunch at small forward after OKC acquired him last year, will see time at center, too."

Let’s change the conversation

And finally we end with something positive. Josh Huestis has been one of the bright stories from Thunder training camp. Most of Thunder Nation is clamoring for the third year player to finally crack Billy Donovan’s rotation – our writer Lawrence George explains exactly how Huestis can/will be used.

"The best way to utilize Huestis is in crunch time defense. His IQ on that side of the ball will be an asset down the stretch as he makes great decisions, particularly on help defense."

Thanks again for reading! Check Thunderous Intentions for all of our player previews, preseason analysis and many other features about your favorite team. Remember: only three days from the start of the season!

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