In week nine the pundits rank the OKC Thunder as high as fourth and as low as eighth.
Here’s what the national sites and top blogs had to say.
NBA.com – John Schuhmann:
In week nine the stats master Schuhmann drops OKC one spot to seventh. For the rest of rankings and insight click this link.
"The Thunder schedule saw an increase in difficulty last week and they split four games within the top 14 of the Western Conference, winning two at home and losing two on the road. Russell Westbrook has been struggling again with his shot (both from the field and from the line), but Paul George (24 points per game) and Steven Adams (16 ppg) are both averaging career-highs while combining for an effective field goal percentage of 61 percent in December and anchoring the league’s No. 1 defense. With their losses in New Orleans and Denver last week, the Thunder are 5-9 in games that were within five points in the last five minutes (only the Knicks, Hornets and Cavs have been worse), but it’s a positive that they’ve had only one loss (Nov. 10 at Dallas) that wasn’t within five in the last five."
ESPN – Panel
In week 9 the panel drops the OKC Thunder three spots to seventh but it seems to have more to do with other teams excelling versus the Thunder regressing. That and 20th ranked offense likely didn’t help. Click this link for the full panel rankings.
ESPN’s panel:
ESPN: Kevin Arnovitz | Tim MacMahon |Andre’ Snellings
The Undefeated: Marc J. Spears | FiveThirtyEight: Chris Herring
"Paul George has arguably been the Thunder’s MVP thus far this season. In their 18 wins, George is averaging 25.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2.2 steals and 0.9 blocks per game. When his shot is working, George has been nearly unstoppable this season, and it is translating directly into team success. — Snellings"
Bleacher Report:
Grant Hughes drops OKC one spot to fifth, however offers plenty to chew on. A portion of his article is below. Hughes full comments on the team along with the rest of his week nine rankings can be found here.
"Paul George has subtly surpassed Russell Westbrook as OKC’s best player, even though Russ is averaging a triple-double (again). George is posting career highs across the board—points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and three-point attempts per game—while ranking second in the league in deflections and second among small forwards in ESPN’s DRPM."
Sports Illustrated – The Crossover
Writer Khadrice Rollins drops the Thunder to eighth in week nine, but had a ton to say about the squad. A portion is included in the excerpt below. But check out the entire segment on OKC and the remainder of his rankings.
"The Thunder have been great so far this season, and a large part of it has been Paul George taking over as the team’s leading scorer. Westbrook has been focusing more on finding the right balance of attacking and distributing to keep the offense humming, and conceding a bit more to PG is going a long way in creating that balance. Backing off and allowing Dennis Schroder to run the point at times when they are sharing the court is another sign of Westbrook figuring out the best way to play off his teammates while giving them a chance to get in the groove."
Hoops Habit:
Gerald Bourguet of Hoops Habit moves OKC up to fourth this week. For the rest of his rankings click here.
"There’s isn’t a bigger indictment of Carmelo Anthony than what the Oklahoma City Thunder are doing without him. They lost two of their four games this week, but it’s hard to ignore OKC’s 18-6 record since that rocky 0-4 start. The Thunder’s home record and defense are both elite, Paul George and Russell Westbrook are trading off nights posting gaudy stat lines and Dennis Schroder looks comfortable in his sixth man role. With five of their last eight games of 2018 coming on the road, we’ll see how the Thunder look heading into the new year."
FanSided – The Step Back:
Ian Levy of The Step Back drops OKC to seventh in week nine and makes a compelling argument on why this iteration of the roster might be scarier than they’ve been given credit for. The excerpt below offers a portion of his thoughts. The remainder of Levy’s thoughts and his other rankings can be viewed by clicking this link.
"This is not the best Thunder team we’ve ever seen — not by strength-of-schedule-adjusted point differential, not by win percentage and almost certainly not by championship probability. What they do have is the best defense in franchise history, relative to the league average, and as good a chance to win a title as they’ve had since Kevin Durant departed."
CBS Sports:
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CBS Sports writer Reid Forgrave holds the Thunder steady in sixth highlighting how special Paul George has played and more importantly how well Russell and PG have bonded as a duo. For the full list of his rankings click here.
"We’re a third of the way through the season, so this feels less of an anomaly and more of a surprising trend: Paul George is carrying more of the offensive burden than Russell Westbrook. George’s usage rate is nearly as high as Westbrook’s, and George is averaging 24.9 points per game, nearly four points more than Westbrook."
Next week:
Week nine pundit rankings were based on the OKC Thunder games played in week nine facing the Jazz, Clippers, Pelicans, and Nuggets.
The next power rankings in week ten will be based on four games featuring the Bulls, Kings and a back to back set against the Jazz and Timberwolves.
That wraps up the week nine power rankings from myself and the National pundits. Hope you had a wonderful weekend.