By Charles Jay
The Oklahoma City Thunder finally caught up to the Phoenix Suns and assumed, by way of a tiebreaker, the #8 spot in the Western Conference playoff queue. But that was only part of the good news on Thursday, when they beat the Dallas Mavericks in their first game coming out of the All-Star break. The Thunder also made some deals in an effort to ensure that the lack of depth that hurt them last year would not come back to haunt them again.
In the NBA futures odds that have been posted at Vietbet, the Thunder are priced at +450 to win the West, which puts them ahead of teams like the Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers, as well as the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets. So there are indeed both oddsmakers and basketball bettors who have a lot of faith in this team at the moment.
Oklahoma City is also +825 to win the NBA championship.
This team started the year behind the eight-ball, as Kevin Durant was sitting out with a foot injury, and Russell Westbrook got hurt early in the schedule. They lost 12 out of the first 15 games, but naturally they have battled back since Durant – the reigning MVP – and Westbrook have been able to get on the floor at the same time. Scott Brooks is a coach who emphasizes defense, and the Thunder have been second-best in the NBA in that category, allowing opponents less than 43% shooting from the field. So a lot of the elements have been coming together.
But there was an unhappy camper. Reggie Jackson, a former first-round draft pick out of Boston College, felt that he should be starting at the point guard position. Brooks was not about to put him in the starting lineup and move Westbrook over to the shooting guard spot, and from the comments that have been made by Brooks, Durant and general manager Sam Presti, Jackson became a real attitude problem and they are not at all regretful about letting him go. In fact, Brooks described Jackson is someone who didn’t even want to be there anymore. The fact is, he didn’t, and asked for a trade on Wednesday.
Vietbet patrons who follow the NBA know that the Thunder got some very useful players in beating the Thursday trade deadline. Jackson was sent to the Detroit Pistons, and center Kendrick Perkins (who they WERE very sorry to let go) went to Utah. There were also draft choices involved, but Oklahoma City really bolstered its bench, picking up a very useful center in Enes Kanter (13.8 points, 7.8 rebounds per game), along with DJ Augustine, who will back up Westbrook at the point guard spot, swingman Kyle Singler and 6′ 10″ Steve Novak, who is a deadly three-point shooter (43% for his career). This will, in a big way, answer some questions about the Thunder’s ability to score points when they have to go to the second unit.
And meanwhile, apparently Jackson is going to be running the offense from the point for Stan Van Gundy and the Pistons. So he should be happy, at least for the time being.
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