Landing in at No. 5 is the Oklahoma City Thunder. Just 4 days ago, I had them repeating as the Western Conference Champions for 2013 but after a Saturday’s trade with the Houston Rockets, they’ve fallen to no. 3 in the west after losing their 6th man and floor general James Harden.
Although they picked up a bonafide scorer in Kevin Martin and and rookie Jeremy Lamb, the Thunder’s championship quest might be two or three more years away from now. Durant and Westbrook might be getting impatient with that wait after their impressive Western Conference playoffs elimination-spree of the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs; all whom of which are the only West NBA Champions the last 14 seasons.
Picking up the Martin and Lamb isn’t a bad thing but it’s when and how they got the two, just 72 hours before the NBA season starts, which is definitely going to leave an emotional toll on the team and franchise to adjust to life without the beard.
Arguably the steal of the draft, Perry Jones III should have no problem fitting in with this team and get playing time whenever Ibaka or Perkins are on the bench. He’ll be able to spread the floor with his jumper and also be able to defend in the paint due to his size.
The new OKC big 3 of Ibaka, Durant and Westbrook are all locked into contract over the next few years but it’s definitely going to be difficult for the team to adjust to playing without their off the court friend Harden. I see them making it to 2nd round and possibly the conference finals if they don’t run into Timmy or Kobe.