With 2 wins and 23 losses, the Oklahoma City Thunder barely qualify as an NBA basketball team. I’m not sure they’d even dominate the D-League at this point.
Thunder fans can be happy, though, because the team is young and fun to watch, even when they lose, which is quite often.
I’m not using “fun” lightly. I mean it. When they play with energy they’re a pleasure.
Two relatively bright spots are Kevin Durant and Jeff Green. Rookie point guard Russell Westbrook has also shown talent, though he’s struggling with his shot.
The problem is, aside from that, there’s been nothing.
Durant is shooting very well (46.3% and a fantastic 48.4% from three-point range) for 23.1 points per game, but aside from his 5.1 rebounds he isn’t a player who makes teammates better just yet. He’s a scorer, but not a playmaker.
Green, who has nice versatility, is also shooting extremely well from both two and three-point range, for 15.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He’s a nice fill-in-the-blanks type of contributor.
Westbrook is tossing up bricks, and not creating as much as hoped just yet. But he’s shown legit talent and has a bright future, though he may not turn out as good as the Thunder hoped when drafting him.
Then you have bench fodder.
The team spent several years rounding up rookie centers, but so far Johan Petro, Robert Swift and Mouhamed Sene don’t even combine to be a really good starter.
Assuming they want to hold on to Durant, Green and maybe Westbrook, the Thunder don’t have enough ammo to make a real trade that matters. They just need to keep developing their youth, round up first round picks, and continue to build for the future.
Until then, fans should enjoy the young, athletic players and focus on entertainment value, not wins-losses.
There’s been a good basketball atmosphere in Oklahoma City
