Adding Some Swagger: Oklahoma City's Own "Big Three" Ready to Compete for Title

It all began a couple years ago when Boston's genius plan to create a "Big Three" actually worked, leading to a championship that same season.

No one would have guessed that those moves for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett would start a tradition that, almost four years later, is still developing.

We have Miami's "Big Three" in Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, New York's in Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire and Chauncey Billups and Los Angeles' in Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

Big-market cities are now acquiring big-time players, while lower-market cities are stuck in a never-ending "rebuilding mode," left with many mediocre players.

When LeBron James and Chris Bosh signed with Miami, everyone pretty much wrote off every other team in the league. While I do think they will be unstoppable in a couple of seasons when they add more depth, up until now they have disappointed me—I may be the only one that thinks they will not win the NBA Finals this season.

I always am "that guy" who pulls for the underdog, but even beyond that, my favorite to win it all this season is the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Call me crazy, but take a look at the guys on this team. They may be one of the youngest teams in the league, but they also have the most potential.

With three-plus seasons of experience at age 22, Kevin Durant is already among the elite players in the game today. Russell Westbrook is continuing to have an outstanding season, and is also only 22 years old.

Power forward Serge Ibaka is another player enjoying a breakout season in his first year as a starter, posting 9.3 PPG, 7.1 RPG and 2.1 BPG. While those stats are nothing to go crazy over, he's one of those "beyond the numbers" type of players. Ibaka is one of the rising players in the league, and he is only 21 years old.

This is an Oklahoma City team that fell just short of defeating the champion Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs last season. They really caught the attention of many coaches, players and fans then, and have only improved this season.

Although even with the potential, skill and youth that they have, there was still something missing, and they needed to find what that was before the trade deadline.

Then it happened.

Oklahoma City acquired center Kendrick Perkins and point guard Nate Robinson from Boston for forward Jeff Green and center Nenad Krstic.

Out of all the trades that happened, this is the one I was most excited to hear about. For many years, I have told my friends and family that I thought Oklahoma City would be the best team in the NBA if it just acquired a center.

The Thunder did just that Thursday, acquiring who Dwight Howard has said is the center he hates facing the most in the NBA—Kendrick Perkins.

Perkins is the perfect player for Oklahoma City, filling more than just the role of a center. He is a defensive guy, and he knows it. Perkins will never be the guy to put up 20 points every night, but he will do the things that aren't written on paper.

In the playoffs, he held Dwight Howard to just 13.1 PPG, something other teams would only dream of doing. If he can bring that same mentality to Oklahoma City, this team will be one of the toughest teams to face in the playoffs.

In the trade, they also acquired Nate Robinson. Nate Robinson has never been the best guy on the court, but he has potential and makes a great backup point guard. He will bring even more excitement to Oklahoma City Arena. 

Jeff Green is a highly-skilled player, but he did not fit into the future of this team. With Kevin Durant on the roster, it was hard to get Jeff Green into the rotation, as he is undersized at power forward.

For the Thunder, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook will continue to take over on the offensive side of the ball, while the starting frontcourt duo of Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins tear it up on defense.

Kendrick Perkins knows what it's like to be on a "Big Three" team, what it's like to play in an NBA Finals and how to be a leader. He can bring his maturity, toughness and knowledge of the game to a young team that was in much need of a destructive big man.

Look out for Oklahoma City come April 16th.

I will leave it at that.