Tag Archives: Zach Collins

First Round Preview: Thunder vs. Trailblazers

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What have you done for me lately? If you are the Oklahoma City Thunder, you should go confidently into your first round match-up with the Portland Trailblazers. The Thunder just finished a regular season in which they swept the season series against division rival Portland, 4-0. But just as the slogan says about the postseason: it’s a new season.

The Portland team the Thunder will face in the playoffs will not be the same Portland team they faced in the regular season. The season-ending injury to Jusuf Nurkic late in the season wipes away a source of familiarity the Thunder are used to seeing from Portland. The entire dynamic of this series changed the minute Nurkic went down in the 73rd game of the season. Logic would have you think this benefits Oklahoma City. But in a weird way, that dynamic may be slanted more towards Portland.

The Thunder swept the season series against Portland in part because they matched up so well with them. Russell Westbrook can play Damian Lillard to, at worst, a draw. CJ McCollum has a bit of a feast or famine thing going when he faces the Thunder. And Nurkic is one of the few centers in the league that plays similar to Steven Adams. Continue reading First Round Preview: Thunder vs. Trailblazers →

Thunder Draft Options: Movin’ On Up

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Mark Dolejs – USA Today

The Oklahoma City Thunder own the 21st pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. There is certainly a possibility the Thunder stick with the pick and take a player at 21. But the Thunder have been known to do some shuffling in order to move up in the draft. Of the nine drafts the Thunder have been involved in (to include the 2008 draft, in which they were known as the Seattle Supersonics due to the fact the team hadn’t officially moved to Oklahoma City yet), they have moved up in the first round in four of them.

Here’s a quick summary of the Thunder’s history of moving up in the first round. A quick note: The idea of moving up doesn’t necessarily mean the Thunder change their draft position. If the Thunder starts the draft at 25 and then ends up with the 11th pick, that just means that the team picking 11th drafted the player OKC wanted in exchange for something else. Continue reading Thunder Draft Options: Movin’ On Up →