RealGM

KD: I'm expecting a 'down' year from Durant. He's coming off a serious injury, playing with an almost entirely new supporting cast, and will be carrying the lightest load of his career offensively. That said, a down year for KD is still in the running for MVP. He'll play reduced minutes and Donovan may get him on the court more with DJ, Adams, and Dion, allowing him to be the focal point but not pressuring him to be the Lebron-like playmaker (that he's not). Of course we'll still see plenty of KD/Russ together, but hopefully we'll stop giving leads up while they both sit together on the bench.

Kyle Singler: he just got a lengthy extension but ultimately I think he and Morrow are fighting for minutes. I expect Kyle to lose out and end up riding the bench most games. We'll most likely see an injury to someone throughout the season and Singler is a great piece to have to fill in the rotation when a guy goes down.

Huestis: nothing. I expect nothing and I doubt I'll be surprised. He'll probably stay in the D-league.

They have an actual backup (sorry PJ), I'll take it.

I'm actually expecting KD to take a step up, based on his production when healthy last year. Probably less minutes. Singler I can see sitting some for Morrow, depending on what they want from the bench SF position—Morrow seems to defend SFs better than SGs. Huestis gets mop-up duty and D-League assignments.

KD will score less at a higher percent, his assists and rebounds will be about the same. Maybe a little higher assist numbers.

Wonder if we trade Singler this year and have Morrow as primary backup SF

I don't see a way they trade Singler after signing him to that deal. I don't know if they'd get many takers, and he's still the best backup 3 they've had in a while.

ThunderFan123 wrote:Wonder if we trade Singler this year and have Morrow as primary backup SF

Absolutely not.
Singler is potentially one of the best back up 3s the NBA could see. And one of the few Dukies i can stand (next to Deng, Boozer and JJ).
Singler for those who watched him in college, could easily develop into one of the deadliest 3 point shooters in the NBA. He has a very quick shot, his shot has the same motion every single time he shoots, and we know he can drain them from distance against big time opposition.
I can definitely see why OKC locked him up as cheaply as they did, and why the dev. staff rave about him.

Morrow, btw, would not be ideal as a back up SF. Not just because of his size but because our back up unit will consist of Waiters, Kanter, DJ and sometimes Cam. With the starting unit, Morrow fits better. Because the defense will collapse and double team with Westbrook, Ibaka and KD, and Morrow is a better spot up shooter at that 2 in that role. But of course, we need Roberson starting for that first 8 minutes. Him and Adams are the two additional defenders next to Westbrook and Ibaka that set the tone for the game.
With OKC they get a sense that they are playing defense first, and with the other team they are attempting to make adjustments. But by the time that 8 minute mark rolls around, OKC is tossing in Kanter, Waiters and DJ. Which completely negates their adjustments.

bondom34 wrote:I don't see a way they trade Singler after signing him to that deal. I don't know if they'd get many takers, and he's still the best backup 3 they've had in a while.

Its a shooters league now and this guy is 100% a shooter. No questions asked. i remember watching him with Duke and thinking he is just another JJ... and it pissed me off to no degree that Duke kept getting these shooters. As for his NBA career, its been iffy but it seems to be, as with many players, he was drafted to the wrong team and then was put in the wrong position without the proper development on a team. Which is something we see all the time, just look a the Kings and Minny draft history over the past ten years.

That deal, is a steal and 50% of the NBA would offer Presti a blow job to get him.
Any team who is potential contenders and can provide him with a stable system and help him adjust to his role, would be wanting him.

There is a somewhat underrated unknown SF named Kevin Durant that will break out for the Thunder this year and win both the regular season and NBA Finals MVP awards. KD has another 50/40/90 season.

Singler fills in for 12-15 minutes a night and shots 40%+ from 3 creating a friendly competition between Morrow, Singler, Ibaka and KD for which will end up with the highest percentage on the team. All 4 end up over 40% and in an upset Singler wins with 46% on the season and KD finishes in 4th with 42%.