Fairweather Report

Now that March ... well, I guess April, Madness is over, it is time for the Butler Bulldogs to take off that glass slipper that they wore oh so well, and pass it along to their professional counterparts: the Oklahoma City Thunder. Yes, that Thunder. The neglected stepchildren of the Western Conference, the team formerly known as the SuperSonics, the home of the Durantula, the ... uh, hmm, that’s all I’ve got really, but one cannot deny that they are playing some of the most exciting basketball in the NBA right now.

As of today, the Thunder have comparable records to the Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks and are a mere game-and-a-half back of Utah, Denver, Phoenix and Dallas for the No. 2 through No. 5 seeds in the West. If they can maintain the momentum they have going now, having beaten the Lakers and Celtics a week ago and Dallas this past Saturday, they will have a legitimate shot at taking the No. 2 or No. 3 seed into the playoffs. I mean seriously, a year ago, who in their right mind thought that such a thing would even be possible?

Despite their consistent success this season, they still can’t break into the back page headlines overpopulated by the big boys of LA, Cleveland and Dallas. Sure, these teams consistently establish themselves as legitimate perennial contenders, but it’s hard to ignore the noise generated by the Thunder given the turnaround they’ve experienced from last year to now. The Thunder have not only doubled their win total from all of last season, but they’ve done it without massive free agent signings, a la the ’07-’08 Celtics, or big name trade deadline move. Instead, they’ve built a solid team through the draft (four of their five starters have three years or less experience), developed their young talent and have an established franchise player in Kevin Durant. These are the essential building blocks of a championship team in the making.

The key to Oklahoma City making a deep playoff run is maintaining their game plan from the regular season: Feed Kevin Durant till he can’t handle the ball anymore! Ever since they drafted Durant the team has done nothing but improve. Despite my skepticism stemming from his brief time at Texas, which hinged heavily on his awkward lankiness and underdeveloped build, I can’t help but be impressed by his game. Granted, he is still as scrawny and goobery as ever, but somehow he has made it work. If you were playing a pickup game, based solely upon looks, he would definitely end up being one of the last guys picked ... well, next to Rasheed Wallace’s Buddha belly and Chris Kaman’s hairline.

Durant has proven repeatedly that he is willing to bear the burden of the franchise while his young supporting cast develops. LeBron has Shaq, Antawn Jamison and Mo Williams. Kobe has Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher. Who does Oklahoma City have without Durant? Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green are having solid years, averaging 16.1 pts and 15.1 pts respectively, but they’re not exactly solid enough to keep the ship afloat. The one knock on Durant’s game is that he tends to disappear in the fourth quarter and is hesitant to take the game over, like the aforementioned LeBron or Kobe. That being said, all of this has to be put in perspective.

First, this Thunder team has rarely broken the .500 mark (20 and 23 wins the last two seasons), was being blown out on a nightly basis, and therefore rarely ever had anything to close out. Secondly, I think it simply shows the faith that the coaching staff, and Durant himself, has in the rest of the team to finish the game. No matter how great a singular player is, he still needs those other four guys on the floor to fulfill their roles to help win championships.

The anonymity of the Thunder’s roster is what makes them such an exciting team coming down the stretch. They are a completely new generation of players who are all evolving into superstars at the same time. They have given every big name team in the league a run already this season and if there were one team I would not want to play in the playoffs this year, it would definitely be the Thunder. Despite their youth and inexperience, my question is why not this year? Why does everyone root for the Cinderella team in March, but neglect them in May? Can we please come up with a better nickname than “Durantula?” I think it is about time for some new blood at the top of the NBA.