Oklahoma City
Thunder
Northwest
| 2011-12 Team Rating | |
| Offense | Defense |
| 107.1 | 100.0 |
| 2nd Overall | 9th Overall |
2011-12 Season Stats
W
47
L
19
PCT
.712
GB
- -
CONF
34-14
DIV
10-3
HOME
26-7
ROAD
21-12
LinksVideo | Statistics | Tickets | Team
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Category | Grade | ||
 Having Kevin Durant at small forward solves a lot of problems. But getting so little offense from both bigs, Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins, is worth addressing, no matter how good the defense.
|
A |
||
 Russell Westbrook is getting better all the time, now with a lethal mid-range game. The criticisms are just part of growing into stardom. Thabo Sefolosha is a placeholder starter for James Harden, but a defensive weapon.
|
B+ |
||
 The Thunder, who once took a step back on defense, are back in a good place, with valuable contributors inside and on the perimeter. They have the ability to reach the top of the rankings.
|
A- |
||
 An area of concern, as strange as it is to say on a roster with the Sixth Man of the Year. Take away James Harden, though, and the Thunder have Nick Collison and the hope Eric Maynor comes back from knee surgery.
|
C+ |
||
 The Thunder wanted Scott Brooks to come back. He wanted to come back. It was just a matter of working out the numbers. Now that the sides reached a deal, Brooks gets the pressure of needing to deliver a title.
|
B |
||
A
Summary
The defending West champions remain the team to beat in the conference, and not just this season. The window of opportunity that could be seen coming from years away is real and as wide open as ever, now with the boost of playing in the Finals. Not winning, true, but getting there will make the Thunder better going forward.
That the new role of playing from the front of the pack in the West comes at the same time as major roster decisions loom makes their 2012-13 especially interesting. Do they keep James Harden and Serge Ibaka the entire season with the hope both can be re-signed in a very tight budget squeeze? Or does OKC make a move before the trade deadline rather than deal with the difficulty of a potential sign-and-trade next summer? Just when it seemed the Thunder could not get any more fun to watch.
--Scott Howard-Cooper
Explanation of Marking System
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