Oklahoma City is clearly in a good position to compete next season. With an MVP candidate, two promising All-Stars and a cast of top-tier players, the Thunder have cracked the code to success.
Now that the team has fixed its rebounding issues from last season and added a connector in place of Josh Giddey, there are no real holes in the roster. Oklahoma City should be an elite defensive team and a well-oiled machine on offense. There are a handful of good isolation players surrounded by the NBA’s best three-point shooters in terms of percentage. This is also a young team that will love to run in transition.
When looking at the teams in the top three of NBA title odds, the only real gaps are pretty minute. Bleacher Report recently published a piece breaking down the arguments against the league’s top contenders, and Oklahoma City’s will be all too familiar to Thunder fans. It’s something fans were hearing constantly a season ago, and it seems to be happening again.
“It’s hard to argue with the Thunder, who finished (via tiebreaker) as the No. 1 seed in the West last year and have improved since then,” Eric Pincus wrote. “But they’re still a very young and inexperienced team.”
“Caruso won a title with the Lakers and Hartenstein was essential to the Knicks’ run last season. The Thunder’s key players gained experience in last year’s playoffs, but the team could be a year away from having the ‘know-how’ needed to finish in the final rounds of the playoffs.”
If Oklahoma City had only made the play-in or been eliminated in the first round last season, this would have been a bit more valid. But the facts are that Oklahoma City won a playoff series in blowout fashion and was one last-second foul away from taking Dallas to a Game 7 at home. The Thunder gained extremely valuable experience on the big stage last season and the young core is seasoned.
The addition of Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso gives Oklahoma City even more seasoned veterans. Hartenstein is coming off a playoff run with the Knicks and Caruso has championship experience from his time with the Lakers.
The playoff battle between Oklahoma City and the Mavericks was exactly what the team needed in terms of experience. They battled, made changes, found success, and navigated the ups and downs of an intense playoff series. That should give them plenty of experience moving forward, especially next season. The rest of that experience will have to come through growth as the team moves forward.
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