Oklahoma City Needs to Acquire a Shooting Guard
The Oklahoma City Thunder is sitting home watching the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat battle for the NBA Title.
If the Thunder wants to represent the Western Conference by overtaking the Spurs, they must make at least one big move during the offseason.
Any team in the NBA that ends their season with a loss has something to work on during the offseason.
However, unlike many of those teams, the Thunder do not lack when it comes to top, elite talent. However, they need to fix a couple of weaknesses.
As a matter of fact, if the club could pick up a No. 2 guard that can shoot the lights out of the basket, the Thunder could find themselves playing into mid June just like the Spurs are doing now.
Derek Fisher will be on the sidelines thi
s coming season, but as the head coach of the New York Knicks. It also looks as if Thabo Sefolosha will leave through free agency and that will likely be the biggest hole the Thunder most fill.
Sefolosha plays very good wing defense, but his offensive numbers have fallen and he shot just 32% from the floor this season.
Therefore, the Thunder need to spend the offseason looking for a shooting guard to compliment the play of point guard Russell Westbrook and league high scorer Kevin Durant.
Reggie Jackson seems to fit that role for the Thunder. The Thunder can destroy many teams when Jackson shares the back court with Westbrook, but Oklahoma City needs the kind of offense he can produce coming off the bench.
Players like Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones do not have the talent to fills those shoes if Jackson becomes the starter beside Westbrook.
The club has some space under the luxury tax cap, which could help in the free agent market and they have two draft picks in the first round at No. 21 and No. 29.
Through free agency, they could go after C.J. Miles from Cleveland. Miles his interested the Thunder previously as he can play two-ways and his price will not push them over the cap.
Miles can hit the three-pointer and plays solid defense on the wing. He is not in the same league defensively as Sefolosha, but he made Cleveland’s defense much better while on the court.
Other free agents the Thunder could pick up include Anthony Morrow from New Orleans or P.J. Tucker from Phoenix.
Through a trade, the Thunder might go for New York’s Iman Shumpert. Oklahoma City wanted him at this season’s trade deadline but a deal was not made.
Another possibility is Arron Afflalo, but he might cost the Thunder more in players than Shumpert.
The draft will also give the Thunder a chance to fill that shooting spot at guard, but at No. 21 and No. 29, the team will not have someone who can step in right away and play, unless they use those two picks to trade up for one that is higher.
Regardless of how they do it, the Thunder must get someone to fill the role of Sefolosha so Jackson can remain their sixth man and give them offense when Westbrook and Durant are not on the floor.
