Oklahoma City's Blunder Is That Its Bench Has Absolutely Zero Thunder

I can’t get into the whole "Oklahoma Blunder (as I like to call them) are going to make a run at the playoffs next year" talk; I just can’t.

A lot of people think they are going to. I don’t think they are; they just won’t.

Is Durant going to become a big, big star this year? Yes. Will that equate to nearly 30 wins? No, it will not.

Now, let’s look at the other additions in GM Sam Presti's offseason.

One of the first major moves was the drafting of Arizona State wing player, James Harden.

Harden has been the main guy the majority of his career, but when he gets to Oklahoma City, he'll be looked upon as a fourth option. He’s not going to get the looks and touches he needs to be effective. When Harden isn’t the main guy, as evidenced in college, he completely disappears on both sides of the ball.

Don’t believe me? Watch the last game he played against Arizona.

There was a solid 18 minutes that he was on the floor and I had no idea he was there. There was also a game against Cal where he disappeared for over 15 minutes.

When he doesn’t get the ball, he completely checks out of the game.

Sure, he had a great summer league, but he was the No. 1 option. It's not fair to already label him a bust, but he may not average more than six points per game in his rookie season.

All these factors lead me to believe the Thunder made the wrong selection. They should have traded Durant to the Clippers for the No. 1 pick to take Blake Griffin. Then, we could have had a guy who would have actually made an impact.

Green and Westbrook will both be improved, and may put up better numbers than they did last year, but they both need to make better decisions with the ball and take better shots. They’d have a great game one night and then disappear for the next three. They need to be more consistent.

Then, there's what they like to call "a bench."

Honestly, they might as well not have a bench at all. They got rid of their best bench player in Desmond Mason. It now looks like he’s going to help the Nuggets, though. That's a great pick up on their part.

Serge Ibaka—Might as well not even be on the team. He’ll be lucky to see three minutes.

Shaun Livingston—He is about the only thing on the Blunder bench that has a pulse.

BJ Mullens—Has five siblings; Gabriel, Tabby, Steve, Danny, and Ronald. I’m glad he’ll really help the Blunder's attendance figures. Outside of that, he won’t help much else.

Kevin Ollie—Glad the Blunder are helping out the elderly. Better than Ollie working at Wal-Mart as a greeter.

Thabo Sefalosha—An NBA bust. He’ll give you four points a night, just two less than James Harden.

Etan Thomas—A complete waste of space. His mother even hates him.

Kyle Weaver—It’s really nice he’s in the league at all. Watching him at Wazzu, I never once thought he’d make a good pro. Usually, I have an eye for that. He’s a poor man’s DJ Strawberry (GO TERPS!).

Nenad Krstic—I didn’t even realize he was back in the NBA. Good for him!

DJ White—Meh, he’ll be alright off the bench. He may be worth six to eight points and a few rebounds. Nick Collison doesn’t ever have to worry about losing his starting job.

The outlook?

A very tired Durant, Green, Westbrook, Collison, and Harden.

All these guys are going to have to log nearly 45 minutes a game to even give the Blunder a shot at winning. The starters are going to be walking zombies by the time the All Star break comes, and that three-day rest isn’t really going to be enough for them since Durant will probably log serious minutes in the All Star game, and Westbrook and Harden will both be in the Rookie-Sophomore game.

At least Nick Collison will have some time to enjoy Seattle.

Season ticket sales are already down 25 percent entering this season. With rumors of Durant leaving for DC, Harden becoming a bust, and losses mounting, I see fan support dwindling despite the Thunder improving and going 32-50.

This will land the Thunder a top-10 pick in another weak draft.

I am going to have a fuller and more in-depth explanation on why they will finish 32-50 this year, but I’m still looking over the schedule and I'm going to have to evaluate the talent of other teams in the preseason as well.

Until then as always: Suck it OKC.

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