Minnesota Sports Forum

monsterpile wrote:

TheFuture wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:OKC is not a playoff team in my opinion. Where's the offense coming from outside of Westbrook? I don't see how they are that much better than the Sacramento's and NO's of the world with 1 great player on the team and not a ton of help. I just don't see nearly the offensive firepower needed to hang in the West.

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Oladipo, kanter, ilyasova, Adams, Payne, mcgary, roberson, sabonis is a good group surrounding a top 5 player. Didn't Westbrook carry them to the playoffs a couple years ago without Durant?

Nope they took 9th

Was that also the season Westbrook missed 20ish games as well?

Either way, his supporting cast is better now than it was that season. I'm expecting full terminator mode from Westbrook and do not doubt one bit that they make the playoffs.

Westbrook for MVP

They went 45-37 and lost out on the playoffs due to a tiebreaker. They did have Reggie Jackson for 50 games before they traded him and then they got Kander who went off for 18/12 or something like that. So yeah 2 years ago the 9th seed in the west won 45 games.

OKC was without Durant for about 60 games... And Ibaka sat the last 18 or 20. Kanter had offensive numbers but gave it all back defensively. Defense cost that team a playoff spot.

Kanter has improved a bit on D. He's closer to serviceable now.

We talk about sub .500 records over 19 game stretches... That OKC team played above .500 for 20+ games without the reigning league MVP and 3rd best player. (And a key guard from earlier in the year, r. Jackson).

This year's OKC team is better on paper.

I, of course, have high expectations for the Wolves. Thibs is reason #1, growth of young guys is #2, and upgrade of the bench is #3, especially at backup PG.

That being said, I like monster's take that every West team seems to have made substantial upgrades on paper, with the exception of OKC, yet even they look good enough to compete for a playoff spot. Predicting a final finish in the West is a complete crap shoot!