Oklahoma City Thunder
The 2020-21 Oklahoma City Thunder season can be defined by the fact that they were the worst tank job we had ever seen, until they weren’t, and then they were again.
What did we learn?
SGA is so good that you can’t tank with him out there.
OKC had a much too strong record of 16-19 in the 35 games that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was in the lineup. The 22-year-old is a Swiss army knife on the court, doing a little bit of everything and making those around him far better. He averaged 24 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds on shooting splits of 51-42-81. SGA plays at his pace and dictates the games on his own terms. He should have been in more talks about being a fringe All-Star.
We learned that The Dorture Chamber is real, not just a one-hit bubble wonder. Speaking of the bubble, Lu Dort was dared by teams to shoot, only a 29.7 percent three-pointer shooter on low volume as a rookie. But he started out this season by shooting 38.1 percent from 3 on 5.8 attempts per game over the first month, moonshots every time. His final number did drop to 34.3% which is still quite the improvement especially when taking the volume into consideration.
Behind SGA and Dort, it was astonishing how many games the Thunder were winning. On March 23rd, the Thunder were 19-24, a 44% winning percentage, tied with the Pelicans for 11th place in the West and just three games back of the Grizzlies, Warriors and Mavs.
That’s when the real tanking began. The Thunder shut down SGA for the remainder of the season, saying that he was dealing with plantar fasciitis, a grueling injury for sure, but one that cannot really be proven.
The Thunder’s record the rest of the way was a horrendous and very impressive 3-26, an 11% winning percentage that included a 14-game losing streak and losses by 37, 38, 48 and a new franchise-record 57 points. The tank was ON, and we know that Sam Presti and Tyler Parker were sleeping soo much better.
But that third and final win of the season was a very ominous one.
It was the last game of the season and the playoff-bound Championship aspiration Clippers were in town, but these weren’t the actual Clippers, no no. This was the tanking for the 4-seed to avoid the Lakers side of the bracket Clippers who had just found a way to lose to the worst record in the league Rockets.
What unfolded on that fateful Sunday in mid-May was a tanking showdown for the ages, starring the one and only, the immortal Daniel Oturu for the Clips who hoisted up 21 shots in 37 minutes. Oturu had never played more than 12 minutes before. He had never taken more than four shots in one game. Oturu made five of those attempts, but he missed 16, a tanker’s dream, a tanker’s delight.
The Thunder won by five. And so, the Clippers out-tanked the Thunder in the last game of the season and Daniel Oturu will haunt Thunder fans forever.
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
Under 24.5 wins, but we actually would not be surprised if OKC is a lot better than most people think.
Thunder 2020-21 Record: (22-50)
YES, our preseason Over/Under prediction hit! And the Thunder were definitely a lot better than most people thought, struggling to tank and having to send Horford away and shut down SGA.
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What’s Next?
To put it mildly, the lottery was less than ideal for the Thunder who did not obtain the Rockets pick and fell to #6. Trading up for local boy Cade Cunningham is getting all the buzz. It’s not like OKC doesn’t have the assets to make it happen.
Speaking of trades, Sam Presti has already found Al Horford a new home, sending him back to Boston along with Moses Brown (who we like, he had a 20-20 game!) for Kemba Walker, the latest OKC renovation project.
This team is lacking a power dunker after the Hami Diallo—Svi Mykhailiuk trade. (Ironically enough, Svi had a lite one of his own that didn’t make the cut for that week’s Power Dunk City, but we see you, Svi!)
We would like to see Kenrich Williams get some more run, the Dreadi, Kenny Hustle! That’s a player who can contribute to winning.
Continue to develop Aleksej Pokusevski. Poku is fun as hell. No player in the league has a wider variety of potential outcomes on any one possession. Every morning we wake up and pray for an invitation to Pokuland.
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Favorite Thunder Highlight from the 2020-21 Season:
“It’s gooood.”
The buzzer-beating call from an announcer that knows the team has no business winning.
