The Oklahoma City Thunder are right in the thick of the NBA playoffs just three years after moving from Seattle.
The concept of the Thunder being a playoff team is pretty remarkable in and of itself, but the thought that this team has a legitimate shot to win an NBA championship is just short of crazy talk.
Or is it?
The last few years as the Seattle SuperSonics saw a franchise in turmoil. Starting in 2005-06, the SuperSonics had three consecutive losing seasons that got progressively worse, ending in a 20-62 debacle in 2007-08.
The season of relocation wasn’t much better for the new Thunder franchise. The young team struggled in the first half of the season but seemed to develop some chemistry down the stretch en route to a 23-59 finish.
Then, things began to change.
Young players began to mature. Coach Scott Brooks got his players to work like a team and rely on one another while making key acquisitions through the draft, trades and free agency.
And the results began to show on the court.
Behind a young core of players and an energetic coach, the Thunder produced one of the greatest turnarounds in NBA history, going 50-32 and becoming the youngest team by average age to make the playoffs in NBA history (23.19).
The Thunder were ushered out of the playoffs in the first round by the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers, but the future looked bright.
We had high expectations for the Thunder this season, and they didn’t disappoint, winning the Northwest division championship with a 55-27 record and grabbing the fourth seed for the playoffs.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are the obvious stars of this team, and a few new faces — Kendrick Perkins, Nate Robinson and Nazr Mohammed — have brought the possibility of an NBA championship.
Because of Perkins and Mohammed, teams like the Lakers and San Antonio Spurs no longer can bully the Thunder inside.
In addition to the size increase, improved play from James Harden and Eric Maynor has been a huge addition to this team’s already dangerous offensive ability. Harden has filled the scoring void left by Jeff Green admirably, while Maynor’s play down the stretch of the season was phenomenal. In March and April, Maynor had a fantastic 7.67 assist to turnover ratio.
There is no reason to think that the Thunder couldn’t defeat any team in the Western Conference in a seven-game series. OKC has defeated each of the other seven teams at least once, except for the San Antonio Spurs, who defeated the Thunder in all three of their meetings this season.
Playoff experience really helps your team understand the stakes and intensity, especially a young team like Scott Brooks has.
However, I think the feeling of disappointment is a bigger motivator than any amount of experience. The Thunder felt the sting of disappointment when they lost to the Lakers in last year’s playoffs.
For a variety of reasons, they couldn’t knock off L.A., but they knew that they could win. That realization has fueled this year’s run to the playoffs.
It will be interesting to see how far the Thunder go in the playoffs this season. They could lose in the first round to the Nuggets, or they could win it all.
The Thunder have brought many surprises with them to Oklahoma City, but it wouldn’t be all that surprising to many to see them hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June.
— Luke McConnell, journalism junior
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MichaelPWright 1 year, 1 month ago
Hey meatheads should you be studying for finals, or is all you do in the Boren years is look for glory in all the wrong places? During the Boren years their has been an increase of noise carnivals on the Norman campus, it seems with the addition of Clay Bennet, relative of the late Boren puppetmaster E.L. Gaylord, the noise will only increase.