Thus far in the season, it's pretty obvious there are some holes in the Thunder bench that need some attention. What kind of attention needed is debatable, I suppose. But the general consensus is this: WE NEED TO TRADE ________. or _______ for _______.
Depending on who it is you're talking or listening to, you can probably fill the blanks in with numerous players, or packages. I know that when I run over all of the crazy scenarios in my head, I come up with nothing more than absurd dream-deals or headaches. For sure, we are lacking in two major areas, and an arguable third area(renew Martin, or not?!?!).
To start, it's fairly evident- we need something different at the backup point guard position. Eric Maynor has clearly not performed anywhere near the level we can all reminisce about from the 2010-2011 season. What Maynor provided the Thunder was exactly what you would ever want with this team's dynamic- a change of pace and a second unit floor general. We all know we are in for a treat when Russell Westbrook is running the floor(not that we always know what we'll get...Good Russ/Bad RUSS that's a different topic, though). His explosive athleticism and knack for drawing defensive attention - which he's now learned how to exploit to another level - helps set a specific tone on the court. By the time the opposing team recognizes what's happening, we would watch a calm, laid back Eric Maynor come in off the bench to change the tones and atmosphere Westbrook had built on the floor. Eric's court vision was on par, developing into what one could argue as the best of any second unit point guard in the league. Not to mention, there were a number of teams that would have loved to have had him start.
We all know the storyline from there. Luckily, last season we had the likes of James Harden and Derek Fisher to generate some offense on the floor with the second unit; something we haven't completely seen yet this season. Sure, Reggie Jackson is playing his best basketball to date, in place of Maynor's deficient performance in the first 25 games. But will that be sufficient for a deep playoff run? Is he that floor general with a sense of awareness and court vision the Thunder need? And as for Maynor... It's quite sad to watch, honestly... but I feel as if I'd be beating a dead horse if I were to expound on it any further. What sums it up is this - when Maynor enters the game in late-game blowout scenarios, everyone on Twitter has started saying, "Zombie Maynor is in!"- he's merely a shell of what he once was.
As hard as it is to watch, it's harder to know what's going to happen with this point guard situation. In part, that is due to whether or not he's fully recovered, and if he even retains any sort of trade value anymore... which leads to another issue, which I will attempt to address later on.
The second obvious hole in our bench is the lack of a big-man presence. There are a couple of sides to this, though. We are looking to face some stellar opposition in the West, come playoffs. Which, last year, with a similar look on the bench in regards to the bigs, we were able to handle somewhat skillfully with the use of Nick Collison and forcing teams to play OUR game, going a bit smaller at times with KD at the 4. Let's be honest- Nazr Mohammed only provided so much of the bench for us, as it relates to true BIG defense. And as much as I was pulling for him to work out - at all - Cole Aldrich did jack shit for us when it came to playoffs battles. SO, we're not at a complete loss when it comes to evaluating Hasheem Thabeet being a back up center. Granted, I will not argue that I am even completely comfortable with him being any sort of second line of defense for us down low... ok, so Thabeet is an issue as well.
As I said, I am not sure we're in a wholly different spot as we were last year, with Nazr and Cole, and I wouldn't be surprised if a move is made to solidify the back up to Perk and Nick... but I think our biggest fish to fry is the point guard situation.
To bring this back around a bit, when discussing trade value and shopping for some sort of facilitating/veteran point guard to come in off the bench, the market seems awfully thin in terms of something feasible and likely for trade potential. There are questions about having such fresh young talent (J. Lamb, PJIII, Jackson, future draft picks) in development while we're surging for deep playoff runs, being considered as a top contender in the league to at least get to the Finals (not to mention, the expected next step is now to WIN an NBA Finals) yet, we know the way OKC has built thus far has been through developing young talent...
We can all scratch our heads as to what will happen. Hell, many of you whom are way way smarter than I, can put together as many possible trade scenarios and it all still seems up in the air. Even with the JJ Barea rumors, or my shameless dreams of magically acquiring a Goran Dragic or a Jarrett Jack seem a bit out of reach, it's a "will they, wont they" speculation as for now. We can do this, "if so, who?!" until we're red in the face.
Needless to say, because we all have said it and will say it again, "In Presti We Trust". I think if any moves are made, they will most likely be somewhat shocking, and outside of the box. I may be wrong. Either way, I do think whatever happens will for sure be in the best interest of the organization. Just look at how the Harden deal has worked out so far. (side note- there is zero time for hypotheticals on "if we could have just kept Harden...")
Shock and awe, or nothing happening at all, this is the exciting stuff that keeps me up until 2 am, text messaging friends with absurd trade ideas, as if I am some sort of genius. We will see, come February 21st.
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