Thunder fans had better enjoy these next two years... because after that this team will have issues. I don't think they'll be Suns-level bad -- they have SGA -- but I think they'll be a lot like last year's Nuggets squad. That is to say, still a solid team, but just not deep enough to be anything like what they currently are.
Well, yes -- still a strong team (they have Jokic just as the Thunder will still have SGA) that can outperform expectations if things go right, but ultimately lacking the depth to push their way over the top. That the Nuggets made it to game 7 had a lot to do with their being a more experienced team, but in the end they wore down because the Thunder had more good players (and to be fair both of the Nuggets' starting forwards were out there at FAR less than 100 percent because the team had no shot at all without them).
Yep. That's a couple of years from now, though; hard to predict what happens that far out in the future. My baseline assumption is that you're correct, but they have enough draft picks and ways to replenish the role-player pipeline with rookie-scale contracts that it's certainly feasible they can keep things rolling on the back end of the roster.
Barring serious injuries, which, as we know, can happen to anyone and any team, OKC will not be anything but a perennial contender for a while, and I guarantee they won't be having issues in two years. The organization is too smart, the core is too young, and the cultivation of depth will continue.
Both things can be true. OKC is so far ahead of the curve that they could be substantially worse than they are today and still be the number one contender in 2028. It's impossible to predict that far out in today's always-changing NBA!
Thunder fans had better enjoy these next two years... because after that this team will have issues. I don't think they'll be Suns-level bad -- they have SGA -- but I think they'll be a lot like last year's Nuggets squad. That is to say, still a solid team, but just not deep enough to be anything like what they currently are.
Like last year's Nuggets squad that took OKC to 7 games?
Well, yes -- still a strong team (they have Jokic just as the Thunder will still have SGA) that can outperform expectations if things go right, but ultimately lacking the depth to push their way over the top. That the Nuggets made it to game 7 had a lot to do with their being a more experienced team, but in the end they wore down because the Thunder had more good players (and to be fair both of the Nuggets' starting forwards were out there at FAR less than 100 percent because the team had no shot at all without them).
Yep. That's a couple of years from now, though; hard to predict what happens that far out in the future. My baseline assumption is that you're correct, but they have enough draft picks and ways to replenish the role-player pipeline with rookie-scale contracts that it's certainly feasible they can keep things rolling on the back end of the roster.
Barring serious injuries, which, as we know, can happen to anyone and any team, OKC will not be anything but a perennial contender for a while, and I guarantee they won't be having issues in two years. The organization is too smart, the core is too young, and the cultivation of depth will continue.
Both things can be true. OKC is so far ahead of the curve that they could be substantially worse than they are today and still be the number one contender in 2028. It's impossible to predict that far out in today's always-changing NBA!