Oklahoma City Thunder: 3 Items on the to-Do List

Kevin Durant and company have made incremental improvements over the past two seasons, pushing the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers to six games in the first round of the 2010 playoffs, then bowing out to the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 Western Conference Finals.

Notice a script?

Despite a great season last year, the Oklahoma City Thunder still have a lot of things left accomplish. Once this lockout is over, the Thunder will need to get a few things done before they can start the 2011-12 NBA season.

Here are three things the Thunder must accomplish before they begin actually playing games.

Re-Sign Daequan Cook

It might seem strange that it is a big priority to bring back a guy who averaged just 3.8 points in last year’s playoffs. However, the Oklahoma City Thunder need Daequan Cook badly.

The Thunder had been mired near the bottom of the league in three-point shooting percentage (25th out of 30 teams in 2009-10) before signing Cook.

A year after adding the sharpshooting guard, the Thunder ranked in the league's top 20, and saw its three-point percentage go up nearly a full percentage point.

Cook has benefited from playing for the Thunder. He reached his best-ever three-point percentage of his (short) career last season (42%), despite averaging the least amount of minutes (13.9 per game).

According to NewsOk.com, Cook has been in Oklahoma City more than any other Thunder player during this offseason and wants to stay with the Thunder. Signing Cook probably won’t be hard, especially since the Thunder have the right to match any team’s offer to the restricted free agent.

It’s still of paramount importance though, to make sure Cook figures into the coming season's plans. Cook opens up the floor for the second team and provides a major boost to the team’s outside shooting. It was his spot shooting, after all, that helped key some comebacks against the Mavericks last spring.

Decide About the Guard Rotation

Toward the end of last season, shooting guard James Harden really showed his stuff for the Thunder.

The former first-round pick averaged 13 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists in last year’s playoffs, providing a superb spark when coming off the bench.

Meanwhile, Thabo Sefolosha started during the regular season and playoffs, averaging just 5 points in the regular season and even less in the playoffs.

When added to the at-times maddening play of star guard Russell Westbrook—who has worried some Thunder fans that he may like to shoot too much—and the play of backup point guard Eric Maynor who has shown to himself to be a solid game manager with a nice outside shot, head coach Scott Brooks has a pleasant dilemma on his hands.

Thunder management need to figure out what combination of these guys is best for winning. It’ll be difficult, especially when you throw Cook back into the mix.

The chemistry of this team is still really fantastic, in spite of all this. Thunder General Manager Sam Presti needs to keep it that way.

"Perk Up" Perk

Kendrick Perkins was brought in last year by the Oklahoma City Thunder as a defensive center with playoff experience who could take the young team to new heights.

It appears that the new formula has worked so far.

The Thunder went 19-5 during the final stretch of the regular season last year and made it to the Western Conference Finals. Pretty good return for a team with no starters over the age of 27.

Perkins has been quoted as saying that he was only about 60 percent health-wise during the playoffs this past year according to NBC Sports. The fact that the team gave up an average of three less points per game with a Perkins at three-fifths of his optimal fitness is pretty impressive.

According to NewsOk.com, Perkins is making great progress on getting back to his pre-injury, Boston Celtics-NBA title form. His knees are progressing so well that he is even considering playing overseas during this lockout.

He shouldn’t necessarily do that, as one would like to see him completely healthy and fresh when the season finally does start.

Either way, getting Perkins as healthy as possible should be a huge priority for the Thunder. It could very well be the difference between last season’s playoff exit in the Western Conference Finals and a championship.