Not one man.

The Oklahoma City Thunder finds themselves down 3-2, but should this be a surprise? This team has two top ten players in the league in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. How could a team with those two players be on the brink of elimination in the first round of the playoffs? The answer is simple. We’ve been overrating the Thunder.

Front Office

            Now, the Thunder wouldn’t be in this position if their owner, Clay Bennett, wasn’t cheap and spent the money on James Harden.  OKC would be cruising right to the finals right now. But they trade James Harden because the owner didn’t want to pay him, and in return team GM, Sam Presti, gets Kevin Martin, and some mid-round draft picks. All that for the best shooting guard in the NBA. For some reason, Presti has got a pass for his roster. Have you seen this roster 4-9? Kendrick Perkins, Steven Adams, Nick Collison, Derek Fisher, Caron Butler, Reggie Jackson and Thabo Sefolosha. Look at those names. That is not a good roster. When you look at teams like the Heat, Spurs, Clippers, Nets and Grizzlies, they win because they are deep and can spread the ball and doesn’t allow defenses to focus one or two guys.

Scott Brooks

            Brooks has taken a lot of blame in this series for the way the offense has been playing, and deservingly so. The offense looks lost.  They barely run any sets when Kevin Durant doesn’t get the ball. It’s basically the three other guys pointing at the hoop instructing Westbrook to drive to it. Brooks has been getting criticized for the lack of ball movement in his offense but who do you want him to pass the ball too? No big man on the Thunder can operate in the post. Their three point shooting is okay at best when it comes to their role players. Serge Ibaka should be getting more touches in this series. He’s shooting 60% but only taking 10 shots a game. In order to win in the NBA you need two or three stars and very good role players. The Thunder has the stars but the role players are not very good; they’re just okay.

Russell Westbrook

            We all like to pick on Westbrook when the Thunder loses because everyone hates his shot selection. However, last year when he was hurt and missed the second round, OKC lost to the Grizzlies in order for the Thunder to compete for a title they need Russell. So far in this series, Westbrook has been a disaster. He’s shooting 34% averaging 25 shots, shooting 18% from the three while taking 7 threes a game. Yes, you read that correctly. After OKCs game five lost Westbrook said,” If they give me the mid-range jumper I’ll make it 9 out of 10 times.” NO you won’t.  Someone should probably tell him he should pass the ball more. But part of Westbrooks failures have to go on Brooks and ….

Kevin Durant

            Kevin Durant. Now before I kill Kevin Durant, salute to Tony Allen who is absolutely working his ass off this series. Defending Durant is no easy task but he has put Durant on lock down. Now you might say, how does he have him on lockdown? Durant is averaging 28 points a game but is shooting 40% while taking 25 shots a game. He’s shooting 28% from the three while taking 8 shots from the three a game. In this series, Durant has a net rating of -0.1. That might seem like nothing but when your best player is a negative, you will lose the series. Tony Allen has also found a weakness in Durant’s game.  Allen battles KD before Durant gets the ball and at times it looks like Durant gives up on the play, and that’s the signal for Westbrook to do crazy shit. The solution here is to get other players involved (I’m looking at you Scott Brooks) or for Durant to fight for positioning and to get the ball.

            Right now OKC is a mess and I don’t see Memphis blowing this series. If OKC does lose, Brooks will be gone and the offseason will be an interesting one for the Thunder.

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