Win Or Lose, The Future Is Bright
By Addam Francisco
The Oklahoma City Thunder are one game out of the playoffs and people are putting a lot of pressure on them. I also feel like if they don't make it in, fans will be down on them and will be calling for all these coaching and roster adjustments going into next year. That is something I don’t agree on. We have to see the good that came out of this season even if its hard to do. Despite all the injuries, this year has shown a lot of promise for the near future.
The additions of Enes Kanter, Dion Waiters, Anthony Morrow, DJ Augustin, Kyle Singler and Steve Novak has been great for our team. The popular complaint after last season was lack of balanced scoring. Other than Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, there wasn't another consistent scorer. Now, we fixed that, we have a dominant big man who can shoot beyond the arc and hold his own in the paint by getting rebounds with Kanter, another athletic play-maker who is fearless, reminding me a lot of James Harden in Dion Waiters, a backup point guard, resembling a healthy Eric Maynor in DJ Augustin and one of the leagues best three point shooters in Anthony Morrow. These are all great signs going into next year. Many people in the media and other coaches in the NBA have said that we have a championship caliber roster, and probably the deepest bench. There are seven guys on our roster that average 10 or more points per game. Next year assuming everyone is healthy, I don't know a team that can stop us. This team depth wise reminds me of the 2012 Miami Heat championship team that was so dominant.
This team is dangerous and if they can get into the playoffs with Serge coming back, they may just make it further than many think they will. We do have the leagues best point guard and seemingly one of the best big men in the game. Don't sleep on this team, they are better than you think and if they don’t make it where we want them to make it this year, don't lose hope on them. I just feel like they need is another defensive presence down low, or maybe a large wing-man who can guard the post as needed.