Reply With Quote
It is their last shot, Durant will go serve a better player than Westbrook.
What If This Is OKC’s Last Shot?
The Thunder may be writing another chapter in the book reminding us that greatness always has an expiration date
by Bill Simmons on May 14, 2014
There’s a poignant moment in Jonathan Abrams’s oral history about the 2002 Kings, right after the section covering their gut-wrenching Game 7 defeat, when a Sacramento employee named Devin Blankenship remembers his coworkers consoling one another. They were saying all the right things about losing to the Lakers. It’s just the beginning. This is the start of something bigger. You can’t win the big one until you lose a few tough ones. Their boss overheard and went the other way, wondering aloud, What if that was it? What if that was our shot?
That moment resonated for a simple reason: That WAS their shot. And that WAS it.
The boss wasn’t describing a “shot” as much as a window. If you’re blessed with Michael and Scottie in their mid-twenties, that window should last for a decade, as long as nothing funky happens. If you’re catching C-Webb right as he’s hitting his prime, and you’re surrounding him with quality veterans who connect with his unselfish playing style, maybe that’s four or five guaranteed years. If you’re teaming up Pierce and Garnett and Allen at the tail end of their primes, you’re publicly hoping for five healthy years and secretly praying for three. Every A-list contender has a built-in window, and almost always, you know what it is. When that window slams shut well before you’re ready, you never really get over it.
Will we remember Oklahoma City that way someday? We know that it’s Kevin Durant’s seventh season and his sixth with Russell Westbrook. We know they’re playing for a small-market franchise that actively avoids the luxury tax. We know Durant’s contract expires in 2016, and Westbrook’s deal expires one year later. We know Westbrook endured three knee surgeries in the past 12 months. We know that bad luck comes in all shapes and sizes. We know the West is loaded, and we know LeBron is never going away. We know they easily could have blown the Memphis series, and we know the bumbling officials saved their season Tuesday night.
We overrate youth and potential with sports, movies, TV, music, art and even politics — it’s more enjoyable to imagine what something might become. We envision the Thunder overpowering LeBron’s Heat in Durant’s MVP season because that’s the age-old NBA formula, right? Young guys work their way up, learn a few lessons, suffer some pain, finally overpower the in bents, battle all comers for the next few years … and then the cycle repeats.
That’s your best-case scenario for the Thunder. The other scenarios aren’t as pretty. Just like we overrate youth and potential, we underrate injury luck, unfortunate breaks, untimely trades, the Disease of More, greed and egos, poor coaching and plain old bad luck. The Thunder could definitely topple San Antonio and Miami next month, but they’re just as likely to not win a single le with Durant and Westbrook. The S.I. Vault, Basketball-Reference.com, dozens of NBA books and thousands of YouTube clips deliver the same message: Things are just as likely to go wrong as right. On paper, OKC should evolve into this generation’s version of the 1990s Bulls: Durant as Jordan, Westbrook as Pippen, and Ibaka as Grant/Rodman. It’s a star-driven league with the least amount of playoff variance in any professional sport. When you have a top-two player, a top-eight player and a top-25 player on one team, you should definitely win a ring.
Unfortunately, you never know when “The Rains of Castamere” will start playing. A similar window opened after Game 7 of the 1962 Finals, when the Lakers came within Frank Selvy’s errant 15-footer of upending Bill Russell’s budding dynasty. That Lakers team employed 27-year-old Elgin Baylor and 23-year-old Jerry West, two of the league’s best five players. (Sound familiar?) Nobody was thinking after the ’62 Finals, What if that was it? But they spent the next two years trying to find a good enough center, then Baylor wrecked his knee during the ’65 playoffs. So much for Elgin and Jerry owning the NBA. They never won a championship together.
Read more:
http://grantland.com/features/simmon...-championship/
It is their last shot, Durant will go serve a better player than Westbrook.
Hopefully Durant bolts East.. wonder which teams have cap space in 2015.
If it isn't OKC's last shot, it would then turn out to be Lebron's...
That was a damned good article. I have no idea if OKC will get over the hump. I can't imagine them getting much better unless a Kawhi-like player falls into their laps.
OKC are quite literally the old Supersonics team. Payton, Kemp, Schrempf — great, legendary players that could never bring home a ring.
Even if by some chance OKC does beat the Spurs in the WCF this year, there is no way they are beating the Heat. , I think they'd have issues with the Pacers if by some chance the Heat lose.
Letting Harden go was the last stand for the Thunder as far as I am concerned, it will be hard for them to find another player to fit into their system quite like he did.
Nice comments. When Jordan was Durant's age he had already ceased being a top two player, no one else compared to MJ. Taking away Ibaka's foot speed and replacing it with the lumbering Perkins, Collison and Adams should be a death dagger for the Thunder this year, if not against the Spurs, then likely against Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat. I know Westbrook gets the votes but I don't rate him as a top ten player. The move might shake the OKC Devon tower to it's foundation, but Presti might consider calling New Orleans and offering Russell for Anthony Davis, plus change. Davis would be someone KD could tutor, instead of stand and watch like he's sometimes inclined to do when Westbrook's playing hero. Besides that we all know how Westbrook likes to dressy dress. He would fit in perfectly in New Orleans.
Last edited by Strategic; 05-17-2014 at 07:57 AM.
Durant could bolt.
them
the one thing the nba ed up on is marketing these fkn clowns as some rivalry with lebron, it wasnt one and it never be one...
they couldve made a heat spurs rivalry back in 06 till today from shaq/wade vs duncan prime spurs, then the hand over to the cheat team that as individuals bosh has been tds and lebron also...
now the buildup for the last 3 seasons couldve been all spurs vs heat finals....but no, they had to pushed a team that has no business being there
They always do this. It was just a few years ago they big push was Lebron vs Kobe, but that didn't happen either.
Id be very surprised if this is their last shot. Durant isnt going anywhere, so that leaves at least 2 years of contention provided Chuckbrook's knee doesnt implode. Im betting Westbrook resigns in 16 and they continue their reign of dominance over the west. Of course, itll be up to Presti and co. to make the correct decisions retooling around them.
This isnt OKC last shot, if they won win this year, they will have at least one more.
They will still be a dangerous team next season.
Injury is always a possibility, so in that case, yes, this could their last chance. We can say the same thing about any team.
I do think a player as good as Durant won stay if they don't win. RW...maybe. He looks like a person that would rather lose and be the best player on his team than win and be the 2nd scoring option.
Westbrooks knee is gonna blow soon because of the way he plays. They better get one quick.
Given Jackson's progress it's interesting to speculate how good they'd be with Jacksom-Harden-Durant-Ibaka instead of Westbrook tbh
Grantland has some good stuff. Prefer Simmons as a writer over an analyst.
yeah, simmons is amazing on paper, disappoints on TV. i thought the game he and jalen color commentated was more fun to watch than typical nights though
yeah, you would think that.
are you gna pull this everytime? well it then
Get used to it, buddy.are you gna pull this everytime? well it then
Could be worse; at least you don't wear white pants while hanging out with men at clubs.are you gna pull this everytime? well it then
spurraider is Armenian, I'm sure there's more than a couple of white pants in that closet for when he hits up the hookah spot tbh......
tbh i've never smoked a thing, and i'd sooner blaze than smoke hookah. at least there's a point to it besides wasting money
As long as you don't deny the white pants tbh.....
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
