The Thunder are Just Fine

Durant, Westbrook and the rest of the Thunder are just fine

When Oklahoma City traded James Harden days before the season started it elicted the sort of widespread reaction that Twitter and Facebook salivate over. It left some people dumb founded, others sad and others intrigued. They had just shipped away one of the better NBA talents around for what? A couple of draft picks, an unknown Jeremy Lamb and an decent player in Kevin Martin? Then Harden went out and had two monstrous games right off the bat and it all looked like the Thunder had made a disastrous move, right?

Wrong. I had stated earlier this year when the Thunder extended Serge Ibaka's contract that they had made the right move to do so and that Harden was a surefire goner. And there he was, gone, almost in an instant. Oklahoma City may have become a less star-studded team, but they had just made their team more dynamic, more ready for the future and more properly centered around Westbrook and Durant. Harden was a great talent, but he was not worth the choke hold his contract would have put on their salary cap. I'm also not sure he would have been content staying on the bench in a sixth man role, it's not an ego thing, it's a I-deserve-to-start thing. But I'm not here to talk about why Harden didn't fit going forward, I'm talking about Oklahoma City right now.

This team is 15-4, second in the West (though they have two more wins than the Grizz and only one more loss) and is clicking on all cylinders. Many people thought the loss of Harden would stunt their offense, actually they've done the exact opposite sitting at a furious 105.7 points per game click, tops in the league. But I'm not going to stat-slam you to death. There will be no John Hollingerisms out of me. I use the eye test and the Thunder are passing the eye test at an exhilarating rate. Durant and Westbrook are playing with the sort of synergy that we've been waiting for, for years now. Westbrook is averaging a career high in assists and Durant is shooting a sizzling 51% from the field including a ridiculous 45% from three point range. Kevin Martin has replaced Harden almost indefinitely and the Thunder's latest six-game winning streak has been impressive with wins against Philly and Brooklyn on the road and an absolute thrashing of Harden's Rockets. OKC has been so good that they have seemingly resurrected Hasheem Thabeet from the depths of the bust-dungeon (kind of).

Down the road it should only get better in OKC. If Westbrook and Durant can continue to grow and mature together, all with Kevin Martin assuming his role nicely as he has, then the Thunder will be right there at the end. I predicted them to win the West and I'm still confident about it. Durant has that Jordan-esque look in his eyes and that crushing defeat in the Finals last year is surely serving as motivation for OKC to tear through this league at a 60-win pace. Westbrook will still have his wild moments, but that's his pulse and if you don't let him run wild then you might as well cage him up and ship him elsewhere. Every game these two dominate together it seems like whatever "animosity" the media has created between them disappears. People are claiming that the Grizzlies are the league's best team, but it's not valid until the Thunder concede that title and at this rate the Thunder won't give up that claim for quite some time. I don't care who's back there playing off the bench or at shooting guard, Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka will be the right trio going forward.James Harden will hardly be missed.

I know everyone has forgotten about this whole Harden, Thunder situation, but I'm here to remind you that as much as analysts want to gush over the Grizzlies and Clippers and as much as David Stern wants to end Gregg Popovich's life, don't forget, the Thunder are still here, still buzzing and still own the rights to the Western Conference.