Monroe: Thunder moving up the NBA's ranks

[duncan228]

Mike Monroe: Thunder moving up the NBA's ranks
Mike Monroe

The day Thunder players were to meet the Oklahoma City media for the first time last preseason, two of the former Seattle SuperSonics failed to show.

This had nothing to do with disliking the media.

The two, freshly arrived in their new home city, couldn't find the media day site.

The Thunder's 3-29 start had less to do with lack of talent and proper direction than it did constant distraction.

For Thunder general manager Sam Presti, the team's first season as the only major professional team in Oklahoma required the extreme exercise of forbearance.

Now, things are different. This season's Thunder came into Saturday's game against the Spurs at the AT&T Center with a 4-4 record that only seemed mediocre. They have already dealt the defending Eastern Conference champion Magic a convincing defeat and taken the defending NBA champion Lakers to overtime.

They won their fourth game 49 days earlier than last season.

“All that energy that last year went into getting acclimated and adjusting, personally, has now gone into energy directed directly to basketball,” Presti said.

Nick Collison is the only player left from the SuperSonics roster that Presti inherited when he was hired away from the Spurs a few days before they swept the Cavaliers and won their fourth NBA title in 2007. The NBA's youngest GM, once dubbed the Spurs' “boy genius” by Gregg Popovich, has brought together the second-youngest roster in the league. The Thunder's starting five is the league's youngest, with an average age of 23 years, 179 days.

The Thunder's top three players are Kevin Durant, 21; Jeff Green, 23; and Russell Westbrook, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Thursday.

They form a nucleus around which Presti can put the pieces of a playoff team, and most NBA experts regard them as a team on the rise.

“You'd be foolish not to,” said Spurs general manager R.C. Buford, Presti's one-time mentor. “They're definitely a team that's made improvements and continues to get better. They're creating tough matchups for a lot of different teams.”

The most optimistic of Thunder fans believe the team is capable of squeezing into the Western Conference playoff field, but that is a pipe dream that will go up in smoke by season's end. The Thunder have the talent to finish above .500, but that no longer guarantees a playoff berth in the West.

Patience will be required of Oklahomans for at least one more season, but Presti learned well in his time with the Spurs. He won't make roster mistakes out of haste.

“He's been value-oriented and patient, with a great deal of discipline,” Buford said. “I would have expected that.”

Presti is thrilled with the support the team has gotten in Oklahoma, both at the box office and from the body politic. Public money built a new practice facility for the team and a locker room at the Ford Center that is the envy of most teams.

Presti has a lot of salary cap flexibility to go after free agents, too. The Thunder's payroll this season is a league-low $48.39 million.

Then, Presti's skill as a salesman will be put to the test. Money still screams in the NBA, but how do you lure players such as LeBron James to Oklahoma City?

[Sean Cagney]

Thats no excuse to lose to this team, they are not moving up the ranks the Spurs just fla out sucked again tonight

[HarlemHeat37]

They're probably going to be a playoff team IMO, but no reason we should lose to them..

[ElNono]

Completely agree that if we pretend to be contenders, you have to be able to beat teams like OKC at home without a problem. Yeah, one of our star guys didn't play well tonight, but that's why we got deeper, right?