Charley Rosen's Take on the Thunder

[Erick Blasco]

Charley Rosen takes a look at the Thunder.

 

Where do the Thunder go from here? That depends on where they want to go.

 

If surviving into the Western Conference finals is satisfactory, then the team should stand pat. If they truly aspire to win a championship, then radical changes must be implemented.

 

Forget about any talk of their humbling at the hands of the Mavs providing valuable experience for OKC's youngsters. There's nothing positive to be gleaned from their blowing Game 4 and wilting down the stretch again in Game 5. A hard look at the way the Thunder work and play together is much more meaningful than indulging in wishful thinking.

 

And forget about all the team's accomplishments in the regular season because the late rounds of the playoffs are a totally different form of the game. Indeed, the dissimilarity can be compared to scrambled and hard-boiled eggs — the same substance in two vastly different manifestations.

 

With only Kevin Durant, Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison locked into long-term contracts, the team has a lot of room to maneuver.

 

Here are the keepers, the losers and the tweaks necessary to make the Thunder a legitimate threat to win the gold.

 

KEEPERS

 

Kevin Durant is a bona-fide franchise player. To maximize his stupendous skills, however, the offense must be expanded. Running him off high screen/rolls or isolations that end up with the ball in his hands a step above the three-point line puts too much of a burden on KD — plus missed bombs usually become fast breaks going the other way. The Thunder's defense is too porous to be so vulnerable to easy scores on the run.

 

Durant needs to post up more, get the ball on the move and be the beneficiary of the same kind of screens — and run the same routes — as Boston's Ray Allen.

 

 

 

 

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Serge Ibaka is a bargain at $1.28M next year followed by two option seasons at $2.25M and $3.35M. He's a shot-blocker with terrific defensive range and, once he got over his playoff jitters, was able to knock down his mid-range jumpers. Yes, he makes mistakes of commission and omission, yet Ibaka is still only 21 and is nowhere near the kind of dominant player he's destined to be. Among other aspects of his game, his post-up efficiency must be improved.

 

LOSERS

 

Will Russell Westbrook ever learn how to play the point? He certainly hasn't made significant strides in this direction over the course of his three seasons in the NBA. He's still a questionable shooter who takes questionable shots and continues to take too many ill-advised risks with the ball. His often foolish head-long drives to the rim in the face of stacked defenses leave the Thunder with poor court balance and susceptible to opponents' fastbreaks. And how many times has Westbrook over-handled and either ignored Durant or dumped the ball off to him with a short shot clock?

 

His incredible athleticism makes Westbrook a highlight finisher in a broken field, but he's simply incapable of implementing a half-court offense — and his limited vision makes him a bad fit with Durant.

 

With only one year guaranteed, Westbrook is prime trade bait.

 

Nazr Mohammed earned $6.88M for playing limited minutes and producing limited returns. At best, he was asked to block one shot, hit one jumper and avoid embarrassing himself on defense. Bid him good-bye and good luck.

 

 

http://msn.foxsports...s-Harden-052511

 

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Edited May 26, 2011 by Erick Blasco