Oklahoma City Thunder 2016-17

[Thomas Vu]

The West could be interesting this year. One night after routing the Thunder, the Warriors get routed by the lowly (but improved) Lakers.

Yeah, something about that team. 3rd year losing to them in a row.

Not sure about the multiple banners bit. Team was usually out of the playoffs due to injury and probably still would have lost to LeBron the one chance he had.

[Laramie]

.

Oklahoma City Thunder 112 - Minnesota Timberwolves 92

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400899529

[Laramie]

.

Oklahoma City Thunder 97 - Miami Heat 85

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400899547

[Teo9969]

Sabonis is going to be a gold mine.

[Anonymous.]

Presti is showing he still has it. Sabonis and Oladipo are really showing up. The Ibaka trade is paying off big time in getting these Ws.

OKC's schedule gets very tough after Christmas, leading the WC right now is amazing.

[dankrutka]

Yeah, the schedule has been really easy, but the defense has been really impressive and wins are wins. There were some stretches last night where the defense was just everywhere and while that's led by Roberson and Adams, everyone seemed to be really disciplined and tuned-in. OKC's offense still struggles when Westbrook is off the floor so hopefully Oladipo can continue to get comfortable and possibly get some staggered minutes with second units. I'd love to see OKC get two out of these next three.

[Bellaboo]

Best record for the Thunder for the first 7 games of a season ever. 6 - 1, in 2013-14 we were 5 - 2 IIRC.

[Pete]

The huge wildcard in the whole Thunder future is Billy Donovan.

He did a fantastic job in his rookie season last year, which often gets overlooked... And he could turn out to be one of those star NBA coaches.

I had nothing against Scott Brooks but the upside with Donovan is much higher IMO and he may be good enough to take what was supposed to be a barely-scrape-into-the-playoffs team and make them something more; and potentially much more in future years even without KD.

[Teo9969]

Yeah, the schedule has been really easy, but the defense has been really impressive and wins are wins. There were some stretches last night where the defense was just everywhere and while that's led by Roberson and Adams, everyone seemed to be really disciplined and tuned-in. OKC's offense still struggles when Westbrook is off the floor so hopefully Oladipo can continue to get comfortable and possibly get some staggered minutes with second units. I'd love to see OKC get two out of these next three.

I wonder what this team would like like right now if we had Payne. I bet we wouldn't have gotten our doors blown off by Golden State. Probably wouldn't have won, but once we got down by 10, you could see the deer in the headlights look by the bench.

[Roger S]

The huge wildcard in the whole Thunder future is Billy Donovan.

Agreed.... My only problem with Brooks was his offense... Or should I say lack of it? ... But I wasn't sold on Donovan when he was hired. I was really afraid it was going to be a step sideways. But when we won the opener against the Spurs last season. I saw a lot of potential in him as our coach because I came away from that game thinking that with Brooks as the coach. We lost that home opener because of how he coached situations like that. But Donovan took control, managed the time he had and rotated players appropriately and got his first win against one of the best teams in the West.... He really won me over with that game and has continued to impress me..... Even more so this season..... Granted our schedule with the exception of two games hasn't been that tough yet but right now he has a team that a lot of people don't think will even make the playoffs leading an extremely tough Western Conference while trying to figure out a lot of new pieces to the team puzzle.

[Anonymous.]

On the broadcast last night, they even mentioned that Grant finally went to his first practice after already playing in 2 games with OKC. Right now the team is so new and learning each other, that to be 6-1 is a big deal. By the time our schedule gets difficult in the winter, the team will be meshing together much better and obviously have a lot more experience under the belts.

[Urbanized]

More on the topic of Donovan: last season felt relatively uninspiring right up until playoff time when suddenly - as if by magic - the team seemed to gel and became contenders, seemingly out of nowhere. Only at that point did I realize that he had spent the entire year tinkering with lineups, with his eye on the playoff run. It hadn't been obvious to me up until that point. I think we are still in that phase of him sorting through his guys, finding the right combinations, etc., in addition to the previously-mentioned aspect of new/young players finding their footing.

I see special things for this team, and honestly have since before the season started. And by "special" I'm not suggesting they are going to be true contenders *this* year; I am saying they will outperform pretty much every preseason prognostication. Everyone thought they might struggle to make the playoffs; I think they could be a 3 or 4 seed. WC semifinals definitely within reach, and I think even WCF could be a remote possibility with the right move(s) and the right coaching/play.

[Jake]

Sabonis looks promising.

[dankrutka]

More on the topic of Donovan: last season felt relatively uninspiring right up until playoff time when suddenly - as if by magic - the team seemed to gel and became contenders, seemingly out of nowhere. Only at that point did I realize that he had spent the entire year tinkering with lineups, with his eye on the playoff run. It hadn't been obvious to me up until that point. I think we are still in that phase of him sorting through his guys, finding the right combinations, etc., in addition to the previously-mentioned aspect of new/young players finding their footing.

I see special things for this team, and honestly have since before the season started. And by "special" I'm not suggesting they are going to be true contenders *this* year; I am saying they will outperform pretty much every preseason prognostication. Everyone thought they might struggle to make the playoffs; I think they could be a 3 or 4 seed. WC semifinals definitely within reach, and I think even WCF could be a remote possibility with the right move(s) and the right coaching/play.

I agree on Donovan. A lot of people judge coaches for not playing their "best" lineups in every game, but tinkering and trying out lineups and such allows you to figure out what you have come playoff time. This is something Brooks definitely did not do. I'm on board with Donovan.

This will be fun to come back to. Pretty much every prediction -- and I saw a lot of them -- had the Thunder between 42-49 wins and as a 4-8 seed. I only saw one prediction that had them missing the playoffs so I think you're overstating that opinion a bit. For the Thunder to really exceed expectations I'd say 50 wins is a good threshold, but high 40s would still exceed most expectations. Winning a first round playoff series would also exceed most expectations. And I didn't see anyone predict the Thunder to the WCFs.

If the Thunder just play .500 ball from here out they'd finish at 47-38, which is above most predictions... We'll have to return to this in April.

[Teo9969]

All I know is that it's nice to actually be interested in the regular season for once. Other than the injury year, the last time the regular season was legitimately interesting was the lockout season.

[Urbanized]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...a-predictions/

10. Oklahoma City will miss the playoffs

Before training camp began, the expectation was the Thunder were still going to be a mid-tier playoff team in the Western Conference despite losing Durant and Serge Ibaka this summer. But that was before I saw the Thunder play on multiple occasions during the exhibition season. It’s always dangerous to base too much on the preseason — especially when much of it was played without Steven Adams, easily Oklahoma City’s second-best player and best defender. Still, the preseason exposed two significant issues in Oklahoma City: a lack of shooting offensively and a lack of defensive talent, period. That’s a devastating combination in today’s NBA, and will prove to be Oklahoma City’s undoing — no matter how many times Russell Westbrook puts up insane stat lines this season.

http://radio.cbssports.com/2016/10/2...w-predictions/

6. Oklahoma City Thunder (3rd, 55-27 last season)

The Thunder are the obvious choice here to take a dip in the standings. Losing Durant will make this team a first-round playoff exit…that can potentially miss the playoffs if they lose Russell Westbrook to an injury. The franchise point guard gets a bit of backcourt help with Victor Oladipo in the mix, but the rest of the Thunder depth outside of Steven Adams/Enes Kanter is questionable. It’s going to be hit-or-miss for the Thunder this year, but they should be good enough to make the playoffs.

There is more where that came from, and MUCH more in the vein of "the Thunder will squeak by and get into the playoffs with low 40 wins..." or "the Thunder is a real risk to miss the playoffs..."

My comment specifically was that folks thought they might struggle to get into the playoffs, and I don't think that is an overstatement.

[dankrutka]

I probably read about 20 prediction articles and the top one by Bontemps is the only I read by a credible NBA writer that had the Thunder missing the playoffs. The second one is pretty much in line with most predictions.

[Laramie]

I agree on Donovan. A lot of people judge coaches for not playing their "best" lineups in every game, but tinkering and trying out lineups and such allows you to figure out what you have come playoff time. This is something Brooks definitely did not do. I'm on board with Donovan.

This will be fun to come back to. Pretty much every prediction -- and I saw a lot of them -- had the Thunder between 42-49 wins and as a 4-8 seed. I only saw one prediction that had them missing the playoffs so I think you're overstating that opinion a bit. For the Thunder to really exceed expectations I'd say 50 wins is a good threshold, but high 40s would still exceed most expectations. Winning a first round playoff series would also exceed most expectations. And I didn't see anyone predict the Thunder to the WCFs.

If the Thunder just play .500 ball from here out they'd finish at 47-38, which is above most predictions... We'll have to return to this in April. :)

Ditto!

Dan, you're right about this; especially with a win tonight--7-1. At least 47-38, you may want to recalculate at this point--more like 44-38 (82 game schedule). Right now I feel that the Thunder will finish in the 50-55 win range.

[dcsooner]

The huge wildcard in the whole Thunder future is Billy Donovan.

He did a fantastic job in his rookie season last year, which often gets overlooked... And he could turn out to be one of those star NBA coaches.

I had nothing against Scott Brooks but the upside with Donovan is much higher IMO and he may be good enough to take what was supposed to be a barely-scrape-into-the-playoffs team and make them something more; and potentially much more in future years even without KD.

+1

[dankrutka]

Right now I feel that the Thunder will finish in the 50-55 win range.

Man, I worry about getting expectations this high. Anything 50+ would be really, really impressive. *knock on wood*

[Anonymous.]

Well last night was one of those games where Russ just fell back into "i have to do everything" mode from back in the day. I am not sure if his teammates pissed him off or what, but OKC got 2 defensive stops in a row towards the end when we were within 7, then Russ proceeded to fly up the court and turn the ball over instantly two possessions in a row. Then on all the subsequent offensive possessions after that, he was literally chucking the ball Curry-style from 38 feet, when there was absolutely no reason for it. It got so bad, that on a rebound on the defensive end, Oladipo actually stole the rebound from Russ so he could prevent Russ from doing it again.

It was a real head-scratcher, as 7 points with over 3 minutes was totally within reach.

Definitely a night Russ will want back.

[Thomas Vu]

I recall OKC losing to Toronto last year too at OKC. I went to that game.

Could just be a thing like GSW and the Lakers, but more respectable. obviously.

[dankrutka]

Toronto really exposed one of the biggest issues on this team -- lack of spacing. Without outside shooters that other teams respect, defenders can just clog the lane. That's exactly what Toronto did and Russ got really frustrated and just started settling for low-percentage threes. OKC really needs guys like Abrines, Sabonis, and Oladipo and maybe even Lauvergne, Kanter, and Singler to hit shots consistently before teams will start respecting them enough to actually step out and guard them. It'll be interesting to see if Donovan gives Morrow a chance at some point. I think Donovan really wants to see what he has in other guys because he knows what he's got in Morrow (elite shooter, horrific defender).

Another tough game on Friday...

[Laramie]

Thunder is an entirely different team that runs a different scheme in Billy Donovans' system that was designed to take advantage of the Durant & Westbrook's strengths.

It will take more time for the team to bond & build chemistry. Lots of rookies & new additions to this team like Arbines, Grant, Lauvergne, Sabonis,& Oladipo will need to learn more about one another before any of these guys can build confidence and be aggressive.

Westbrook will need to be patient and make the players around him better. THERE'S IS NO 'I' IN TEAM!

[Jake]

Reality catching up with the Thunder these past few games.