Timberwolves’ ranking in the Western Conference – Part Three
By Will Long
Oct 7, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) attempts to dribble around Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter (11) in the first half at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
3. Oklahoma City Thunder
Kevin Durant will win the 2016 MVP. The Oklahoma City Thunder, however, will not win the Western Conference.
KD has the perfect narrative en route to winning the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award next year. Coming off of an injury-plagued season in which his team, despite the superhero efforts of co-star Russell Westbrook, missed the playoffs, it’s hard to imagine that Durant won’t get this team back into the picture. In fact, it would be hard to not see this team as a contender with reemergence of the “Slim Reaper.” (Sorry, KD, I know you hate that nickname.)
The Thunder, as a whole, have a very complete roster. While shady on defense — especially in a pick-and-roll situation — Enes Kanter is a great post scorer and rebounder, and while he might’ve been slightly overpayed, he still adds another dynamic to the big man rotation. Plus, if he does hurt the team’s overall defense past belief, rookie head coach Billy Donovan will have the luxury of subbing in other defensive-minded players — Steven Adams, Mitch McGary — to stop the bleeding.
Add in a solid rotation at point guard rotation with the aforementioned Westbrook followed by an under-appreciated backup in D.J. Augustin and a lottery pick in Cameron Payne, and you’ve got yourself what looks like a deep team.
The weakness in this roster appears to be at second guard spot. Andre Roberson started a lot of games last year with Dion Waiters filling into a role much like James Harden during his tenure in OKC. (I know, I just compared Waiters to an MVP candidate. Probably not a good idea.) However, Roberson is probably in the running for worst starter in the entire league, and Waiters saw his production dip as the sixth-man in comparison to his previous two seasons.
Hopefully Donovan will run a better fourth quarter system than Scott Brooks‘ trademark give-it-to-Durant-or-Westbrook-and-let-them-create-out-of-isolation that they’ve done so much over the past few seasons. If the preseasons means anything, it’s shown that Donovan has implemented a lot of constant movement throughout the entire offense, which KD will be thankful for in the future.
Next: #2 - Superstars Depth = Wins
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