Are the Oklahoma City Thunder Legitimate Title Contenders?

The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the most beloved teams in the NBA. It all started two postseasons ago when Kevin Durant and company gave the Los Angeles Lakers a run for their money in the first round of the playoffs, pushing the eventual 2010 champions to six games and nearly seven.

Then, last year, the Thunder blew past the Denver Nuggets in the first round and proceeded to defeat the Memphis Grizzlies in an extremely exciting second-round matchup. Once again, they would ultimately fall to the team that would end up being the champions, with the Dallas Mavericks being the culprit this time around.

Now that Oklahoma City has a solid chunk of experience under its belt, many people are considering them legitimate title contenders for the 2011-12 season. With a lineup consisting of Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden (who doesn't start but may as well, as he is clearly one of the team's five best players), Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins, the Thunder certainly have an exceptional amount of talent. However, is it enough?

My answer right now: no. Why? Well, a couple of reasons.

First of all, Oklahoma City lacks a low-post scorer, and any team that wants to seriously entertain championship aspirations must have that. Ibaka and Perkins are very valuable players who bring a lot to the table on the defensive end. As a matter of fact, one can make the argument that the Thunder have the best defensive frontcourt in the league.

Still, neither has any inkling of a back-to-the-basket game, and that will hurt this team in the postseason.

Another important factor that you have to consider is that Oklahoma City does not exactly have a very deep team. Yes, it has Harden coming off the bench (and I really don't understand why, as a player of his caliber should be starting), but outside of him, it doesn't have too much. The rest of its reserves consist of players such as Eric Maynor, Nick Collison, Nazr Mohammed and Daequan Cook.

I like Maynor and think he has a bit of promise, and Collison is a nice hustle player to have coming off the pine, but other than that, you can see how thin the Thunder's depth truly is.

Given those two criticisms, you then have to take into account that Oklahoma City is playing in a vastly-improving Western Conference, with the Los Angeles Clippers adding Chris Paul and the now-experienced Grizzlies getting Rudy Gay back from injury (he missed the entire postseason last year because of his shoulder).

I'm not so sure that the Thunder are decidedly better than either one of those teams with both the Clippers and Memphis having reliable low-post players—Blake Griffin in Los Angeles and the likes of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol in Memphis. To be honest, I'm not even sure Oklahoma City will be as good as either of those squads, let alone better.

Don't take this the wrong way; I am not giving the Thunder the death sentence. They are still extraordinarily talented and have some tradeable assets (such as Harden) should they wish to acquire an offensive force down low this season, and that may be something they have to do.

Oklahoma City has plenty of ingredients that a championship team needs: a bona fide scorer and perennial MVP candidate in Durant, an elite point guard in Westbrook and intimidating frontcourt presences in Perkins and Ibaka. However, at the end of the day, it is missing two crucial pieces: low-post scoring and a reliable bench. Unless the Thunder remedy those problems through trades this season, I can't see them beating any of the big boys in the playoffs.

Therefore, before anyone anoints this team as favorites in the West, take a look at the champions of the past, and tell me how many of those teams didn't have big men who you could depend on to provide vital buckets late in the game.

Actually, I can think of one team: Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, a testament to how phenomenal the greatest player of all-time truly was. So, that's a bad example, because the Bulls had Jordan and Oklahoma City doesn't.

Just to really drive my point home, though, let's take a look at some of the other recent champions and the great big men they have had: Dallas (Dirk Nowitzki), the Lakers (Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and, going all the way back, Shaquille O'Neal), the Celtics (Kevin Garnett), the Spurs (Tim Duncan and, in the first two of the team's four titles, David Robinson), the Heat (Shaq), the Pistons (Rasheed Wallace)...shall I continue?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the Thunder are good, but not good enough.