Barnes: Oklahoma City just keeps winning

Most NBA teams faced questions of age or unpreparedness as the lockout came to an end this… Most NBA teams faced questions of age or unpreparedness as the lockout came to an end this season.

But the Oklahoma City Thunder avoided all of those questions. Despite no organized practice during the lockout, the Thunder’s players knew they only needed to do one thing in the upcoming season: win.

It’s rare — and dangerous for opponents — when a team can focus solely on winning due to a lack of off-the-court issues. If the lockout had never occurred, the Thunder and their prospects for the new season would arguably have been the story of the NBA offseason.

Oklahoma City enjoys luxuries that few teams in the league share. General Manager Sam Presti built the team through the NBA Draft, shrewd trades and free agent signings. The Thunder technically began in 2007, when the franchise resided in Seattle and went by the Sonics.

Presti put the future in motion when he drafted Texas forward Kevin Durant with the second overall draft pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. Durant led the league in scoring the past two seasons, and is currently averaging 27.3 points per game through the Thunder’s 25 games.

Prior to the 2010-11 NBA season, Durant accepted an extension to his contract for five years and roughly $86 million.

That year, Presti also acquired Georgetown forward Jeff Green in a draft-day trade with the Boston Celtics. Last season, Presti traded Green to the Boston Celtics for their starting center Kendrick Perkins, filling a hole at the center position.

In the 2008 draft, Seattle drafted UCLA point guard Russell Westbrook with the fourth overall pick. In his rookie season, Westbrook made an immediate impact, scoring 15.3 points per game and handing out 5.3 assists per game. Westbrook played in all 82 games his first season and started 64 of them.

This season, Westbrook leads the team with 5.9 assists per game and backs Durant as the second-leading scorer with 22.3 points per game. Westbrook also plays well defensively, using his long arms and speed to deny passing lanes and steal the ball from players. Westbrook currently has a record of two steals per game, good for fourth in the league.

Most importantly, Presti locked Westbrook up for the future in early January by extending Westbrook’s contract for five years.

In the same year the then-Sonics drafted Westbrook, Presti also drafted forward Serge Ibaka, a 19-year-old from Brazzaville, Zaire. Now he starts at power forward for the Thunder and earned the nickname “I-Block-a” from fans because of the number of shots he blocks on any given night. He averages 2.7 blocks per game, which is third in the league.

Another key cog in the development of today’s Thunder came in 2009 when Presti drafted Arizona State guard James Harden with the third pick in the draft. Harden has increased his scoring average every season during his three years in the league.

This season, Harden averages 16.6 points per game, making him Oklahoma City’s third-leading scorer.

Interestingly enough, Harden rarely starts. During his rookie season, Harden played in 76 games and started none of them. Last season, he played in every single game but started only five. So far, in the 2011-12 campaign, Harden played in all 25 of the Thunder’s games to date, but only started two.

Head coach Scott Brooks starts the game with a defensive player at the shooting guard position, Thabo Sefolosha. With all of the scoring on the floor already in the forms of Durant and Westbrook, Brooks can afford to keep Harden on the bench for awhile and let Sefolosha prevent the opponent’s best scorer from starting the game hot.

Although Harden is undoubtedly the better player, Sefolosha’s presence allows Harden to go to work later when most of the players on the floor are bench players.

With this core in place, Oklahoma City is currently on the right path with a 20-5 record — the best record in the entire league — and just needs to keep focusing on winning.