5 reasons the Oklahoma City Thunder can win the NBA Championship
After a disappointing regular season, the Oklahoma City Thunder enter the NBA playoffs as the fourth seed in the West. Don’t sleep on them…
What a strange year for the Oklahoma City Thunder. When the season started back in October, Sam Presti seemed like an early front runner for Executive of the Year. After turning Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and Enes Kanter into Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, OKC projected to be a team with a high floor and a potentially devastating ceiling, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. Fast forward to April and the trades that seemed like coups before the season don’t seem as rosy anymore. All the jokes we made at Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard’s expense now seem utterly foolish. As the playoffs loom, this OKC team is a puzzling bunch that often leaves you wanting more.
The Thunder’s statistical profile is generally solid overall. OKC is in the top ten in both offensive and defensive rating, which is generally the marker of a well-rounded, rock solid playoff team. But the Thunder have been wildly erratic throughout the year, at times looking like world beaters and then seeming completely clueless just days later. On the one hand they’ve delivered some inspiring performances; they pulled off two convincing wins against Golden State, a gutsy Christmas day win against Houston and a thrilling overtime victory against the a surging Toronto team in March. And on the other hand the Thunder have frequently fallen apart late in games and mailed in some absolutely mind numbing losses to lottery teams.
As we’ve seen so many times over the past few seasons, rosters that include multiple mega stars and big egos often take months, even years to coalesce. Given Paul George’s contract situation, the Thunder are sorely lacking in terms of time. If they are going to “figure things out” they need to do so very soon. Despite their inability to gel and excel for much of the season, this is a dangerous Thunder squad.
OKC enters the playoffs as the fourth seed in the West and is squaring off against a Jazz squad that has taken the league by storm since the return of Rudy Gobert. This pairing is perhaps the most intriguing matchup of round one, and probably the most intense in terms of physicality. If OKC survives this brutal series, the Houston buzz saw looms large in the second round. But don’t count out the Thunder yet. They can beat just about anyone and take home the title, and here’s why: