The Optimism Meter: Gauging the improvement of the Oklahoma City Thunder
By Tony Heim
Welcome to The OKC Thunder Optimism Meter, a new post that constantly updates you on the aura surrounding Oklahoma City.
Wednesday night’s dominance of the Utah Jazz led to an extreme wave of confidence within Thunder Nation. Oklahoma City has won 8 of their last 11, placing them in a tie for the 5th seed in the Western Conference. Although improbable, surpassing a San Antonio Spurs team with a mere five-game advantage in the standings isn’t out of the question.
Then there’s the other viewpoint. The one that points out this was 1 game out of 31. How there’s no clear rotation/lineups past the starters. That this is still the Oklahoma City Thunder – anything treacherous that can happen, will happen.
The opening paragraph is an example of a 10/10 on The Optimism Meter. The second paragraph? Well that’s a solid 1/10. I pride myself on my ability to block out recency bias (except for on Twitter), hence why I’ll be constantly updating Thunder Nation on where our sentiments about this team should lie.
Without further ado, I present to you the first ever Thunderous Intentions Optimism Meter.
Thoughts behind the ranking
If we were to watch the Thunder’s last 11 games without keeping track of the score, I doubt anybody would assume they won 8 of those games. Like they have all season, OKC showed flashes of the team we expected to see. The large chunks of time where the ball/players didn’t move on offense overshadowed those spans of brilliance though.
Then Utah happened. A complete team performance buoyed by Russell Westbrook emphasized the potential power of this team. Paul George, Carmelo Anthony and Westbrook took 12, 12 and 13 shots respectively, all hitting at a clip above 40%. Most importantly, we got quotes like these after the game:
"“I think we all hold each other accountable when it comes to that, but in a good way,” Anthony said. “We all watch film. It’s something I’m pretty sure we’ll discuss tomorrow, even though he did swing it to him and Paul made that 3. It was something that we stay on each other about, about keeping it moving, trusting in the pass, trusting one another.”"
Every statement/action from players, coaches and the front office indicates the entire organization is set on making serious noise in the Playoffs. That’s fine and dandy, but hope only goes so far. The Thunder have to show they’re making progress on the court – one game doesn’t change what happened in the first 30….that much.
I personally believe Wednesday was the turning point for this team. It’s going to take future games to back up my thinking however, hence why I’m hesitant to give the ranking a reactionary boost.
The Optimism Meter ranking
Thunder Nation, we should be at a solid 6.1 right now. Russell Westbrook has shot at least 50% from the field the past three games. They now have the #1 defense in the entire NBA. Only 2.5 games separates them from the 4th-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves. Yet their first complete game of the season came against an incredibly-injured Utah Jazz team.
More from Thunderous Intentions
- Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
- Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
- 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
That’s why I’m waiting until December 28th to post the next Optimism Meter piece. The Thunder need to show us they can compete/beat the best teams in the League, aka Houston on the 25th and Toronto on the 27th. Until then we should cautiously feel positive about the current state of this team.
The first 30 games of the season we’re not pretty, but a strong defense kept Oklahoma City in the Playoff picture. Their defense is the sole reason The Optimism Meter finds itself on the positive side of a 6 – if the offense continues to come together like it did on Wednesday then we’ll see the Meter quickly rise.
We aren’t there yet Thunder Nation. But we’re getting closer.
My final message to you: Remain cautiously optimistic the next few games. This roller coaster ride of a regular season isn’t even halfway over. We’ve got more than enough time to consider this team a legitimate contender. Until then, enjoy watching their progression unfold.