The Oklahoma City Thunder picked the wrong year to put it all on the line.
And that's not really their fault; it's just how the timing worked out.
OKC knew Kevin Durant's impending unrestricted free agency would create a crossroads, and it did what it could to maximize its chances of keeping him. Winning a title would logically have the most "please stay" appeal to KD, and the Thunder traded and signed their way into a roster that, in theory, would give Durant his best shot at a ring since he reached the Finals back in 2012.
But the Thunder couldn't control the rise of two otherworldly superpowers—the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs—equipped to crush Oklahoma City's dreams.
All this puts the Thunder in the unenviable position of being objectively dominant and comparatively imperfect, simultaneously elite and doomed. In any other year, OKC might be a title favorite, yet the term "hopeless case" feels more appropriate in this one.
As Sports Illustrated's Rob Mahoney put it: "The insanity of this NBA season is captured in how we talk about the Thunder: By virtue of the fact ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Grant Hughes
Oklahoma City Thunder Are Elite, and It’s Still Not Good Enough
January 23rd, 2016 by Grant Hughes Leave a reply »
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