Oklahoma City Thunder
As long as the team has Russell Westbrook, the team will find success in the NBA. Surprisingly, I expected the Thunder to make a play for a replacement small forward by now. In hopes to retain Durant, the team obtained guard Victor Oladipo, forward Ersan Ilyasova and the rights to power forward Domantas Sabonis form the Orlando Magic for power forward Serge Ibaka.
Perhaps the team will experiment with moving Ersan Ilyasova to small forward and give Sabonis the role of power forward?
In any case, the Thunder have plenty of questions going into this season. They will drop from last season’s performance, but I expect the team will act if there is concern that small forward needs to be addressed.
Key Losses: Kevin Durant, Dion Waiters,
Key Gains: Ronnie Price, Domantas Sabonis, Ersan Ilyasova
Key Statistic: Shooting accuracy
NBA Power Rankings: 7th
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Oklahoma City Thunder (48-34
Last rank: 5th
Is there such a thing as addition by subtraction? Not if you are the Oklahoma City Thunder. The team just lost Kevin Durant, the premier free agent of the 2016 off-season. In the process, the team lost 28.4 points per game of offense.
As long as the team has Russell Westbrook, the team will find success in the NBA. Surprisingly, I expected the Thunder to make a play for a replacement small forward by now. In hopes to retain Durant, the team obtained guard Victor Oladipo, forward Ersan Ilyasova and the rights to power forward Domantas Sabonis form the Orlando Magic for power forward Serge Ibaka.
Perhaps the team will experiment with moving Ersan Ilyasova to small forward and give Sabonis the role of power forward?
In any case, the Thunder have plenty of questions going into this season. They will drop from last season’s performance, but I expect the team will act if there is concern that small forward needs to be addressed.
Key Losses: Kevin Durant, Dion Waiters,
Key Gains: Ronnie Price, Domantas Sabonis, Ersan Ilyasova
Key Statistic: Shooting accuracy
NBA Power Rankings: 7th
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