NBA Monthly Roundup: 3 December takeaways and 3 January predictions

December Takeaway: The Thunder are a playoff team

So much for a down year. The Thunder are currently on pace for 44 wins (43.5 to be exact but I’ll be optimistic and round up) which would be only five less than their 2018-19 win total. That seemed impossible for them after the Paul George and Russell Westbrook trades this offseason but here they are, pretty comfortably occupying the 7th spot in the Western Conference standings.

Head coach Bill Donovan has faced his fair share of criticism in Oklahoma City, but he deserves a lot of credit for this season. Since Donovan took over in 2015 he’s had to build offenses around ball-dominant star players like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Paul George. I don’t want to make it sound like that was some burden for him as I’m sure any coach would sign up for those teams, but it was the reality of the situation.

Now all those players are gone and he’s had to pivot into less of a star-driven operation and get the team to win by being balanced – a job he’s done extremely well.

Chris Paul is a future hall of famer and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a future star, but neither is able to handle a Durant/Westbrook/George type of role at this stage in their career. Instead, the Thunder have turned to an approach that wins with the sum of its parts, showcased by their top 4 scorers who all average between 16-20 points per game. It’s a bit early for postseason award talk, but Donovan deserves to be in the conversation for Coach of the Year.

They’re well on their way to a quick first-round exit in the postseason, but that doesn’t take away from how successful this season has been for them. Anymore it seems like teams either go all in for a championship or completely tank the season, so it’s a nice change of pace to see teams like the Thunder who are doing everything they can to win games, even if they don’t have a shot to win it all.