As I write this, OKC has a 20-point lead over another really good Western Conference team in the Clippers. (Err sorry, had to come back and edit. They've choked it away, we'll see what happens.)They look like they're well on their way to a quality 43-18 record or 42-19, good for fourth in the league behind the Warriors, Spurs, and Cavaliers.
Sometimes though, you're better than your record. Last year, for instance, the Hawks had a better record than the Cavaliers, only to get swept by them in the Eastern Conference Finals.
However, that isn't the case with the Thunder in this year's NBA. The Thunder is the fourth best team, and it's not particularly close.
OKC got swept by the Cavaliers in the regular season, including a blowout at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Warriors beat the Thunder in two close games, and we'll see what happens tomorrow night in Oakland. And the Spurs lost a down-to-the-wire contest in the very first game of the season in OKC.
It's not luck that these teams have a better record. It's not luck that the Spurs and Cavs are 4-0 against them with a few games pending. There's a big difference between them.
The difference? Veteran role players in the rotation.
Say what you want about the old guys, but they've been around a long time for a reason. They know what they're doing, and you generally know what you're going to get from them on a game by game basis.
You don't see the Spurs building around their young stars with guys like Enes Kanter still trying to figure it out on defense. You don't see the Warriors signing a young gunner like Dion Waiters who's still trying to figure out how to contribute on a nightly basis without trying to upstage their stars.
Sam Presti seems obsessed with collected young talent. However, young teams simply don't win titles in the NBA- at least not very often. It's okay to have a young core- look at the Warriors- but surrounding them with veteran role players is the best course of action.
OKC made it to the finals with a bench of:
James Harden (Really good, but not Houston Harden)
Derek Fisher (Veteran)
Nazr Mohammed (Veteran)
Nick Collison (Veteran)
Daequan Cook (Younger guy, but 3-point specialist who barely played)
Not to mention its other role players outside of its core- Kendrick Perkins and Thabo Sefolosha- had been around for a while too.
It's not coincidence that a younger yet more talented (collectively) bench and grouping of role players hasn't been all that effective for OKC this year. Pending how the team does in the playoffs, the Thunder front office needs to take a long, hard look at the supporting cast around its superstars and consider a more veteran-laden group.
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