2012 Oklahoma City Thunder Outlook
Oklahoma City is building themselves up very well for their future. Oklahoma City has now become the model that each reconstructing franchise wants to follow. The Thunder have built their squad into a serious contender by taking advantage of their draft selections and developing their players the correct way. The Thunder have established their franchise exactly from the draft and spent little money on free agents on the way.
The Thunder have obviously become one of the best teams in the Western Conference. They proved that last season by going all the way to the Western Conference Finals after putting up a 55-27 regular season mark and earning them the third seed before losing to the ultimate champ Dallas Mavericks in the Western Finals.
This team did not have to make to any moves in the offseason because they’re already set. The only moves they made were minor ones, drafting Reggie Jackson with the 24th pick, resigned shooter Daequan Cook and traded for Lazar Hayward. They went and did lose Byron Mullens and Robert Vaden in the trade, but neither player were heavy rotation guys for the team last year.
Oklahoma City will have a starting lineup full of quality talent in pretty much every position, both from the starters and off the bench. Their starting backcourt will feature all star PG Russell Westbrook who put up 21.9 points, 8.2 dimes, 4,6 boards and 1.9 steals last season and defensive expert SG Thabo Sefolosha, who can close down the opposing team’s best scorer.
Oklahoma City has great depth behind both Westbrook and Sefolosha at the guard position. Sixth man James Harden had a big season last year putting up 12.2 points and providing great offense and playmaking off the bench. Daequan Cook hit virtually 44% of his deep range attempts and was a significant piece for Oklahoma City as they re-signed him this offseason. Eric Maynor sees little time behind Westbrook, but he can also offer a solid contribution for the team given the minutes.
The frontcourt will include one of the finest tandems in the NBA. League leading scorer Kevin Durant will play the small forward spot, he put up 27.7 points and 6.8 boards a contest and has been the scoring leader for each of the past two years. He’s accompanied by athletic freak PF Serge Ibaka who put up 9.9 points, 7.6 boards and 2.4 blocks a night and defensive anchor Kendrick Perkins who came to Oklahoma City thru trade last year. Nick Collison played huge minutes for the Thunder last year and contributed massive for them in the postseason, he’ll back up Serge Ibaka. Nazr Mohammed will back up Kendrick Perkins and Hayward will be used sparingly as he backs up Durant at the 3 spot.
Western Conference Pick: 1st Northwest Division – With our NBA predictions we feel the Oklahoma City Thunder is definitely the team to beat in the Northwest Division, but they also are without question the top team in the whole Western Conference. They can certainly win the west and go to the NBA finals this year.
With experience comes success, and with the much needed experience they had last season, they can definitely push themselves all of the way to the finals this year. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are a devastating mix and are nearly unstoppable once they get started. They also have significant role players in the starting lineup in Sefolosha, Ibaka and Perkins, who will do the mucky work on the defensive end. They will also have one of the deepest benches in the NBA in Collison, Harden and Cook. This is certainly the team to beat in the Western Conference in 2012.
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