The Oklahoma City Thunder's wild 2011 NBA Playoffs run is now over after Wednesday's 100-96 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5. It was the first extended playoff run for a team many expect to dominate the decade. Because of that, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, coach Scott Brooks and the rest of the Thunder players and coaches faced adversity unlike anything they had faced before. Their six-game first-round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2010 was the honeymoon; this year's run was the first stage of marriage, where both parties realizes it is harder than it looks.
In the end, the Thunder were just too young to make it as far as we all wanted. Considering their age and inexperience, making it as far as the Western Conference Finals was an incredible accomplishment. But it was also a journey where holes were revealed, reputations were altered and adjustments became necessary. The 17 playoff games they played were more instructive to them than the 164 regular-season games they have played as an elite team over the past two years. The trick now is for the Thunder to put those lessons into action and grow from this experience, and that's the most difficult step of all.
What lessons has Oklahoma City learned. Let's explore some of them here. In no particular order.
Kevin Durant needs to get stronger
On the whole, Durant had a good playoffs, scoring nearly 29 points a game and grabbing over eight rebounds per contest. He had games where he absolutely exploded, including the Game 5 win over the Denver Nuggets, the Game 7 win over the Memphis Grizzlies and the Game 1 loss to the Mavericks.
Still, there were too many times where he was taken out of games by physical defense. Many pundits used these opportunities to criticize Westbrook for not getting Durant the ball, but the reality is Durant himself is as much to blame as anyone. He didn't always do a great job using screens to get open. Whereas guys like Ray Allen are so good at setting up their defenders so they don't know which way he is going, Durant's off-ball movement was often so obvious that perimeter defenders easily anticipated where he would go. Durant never kept defenders off-balanced by faking one way or occasionally flaring to the corner, and that forced him to catch the ball in poor scoring positions, if at all.
During the offseason, Durant must become stronger, and he must study guys like Allen and Rip Hamilton to see what they do to shed defenders. With his size, Durant should be catching the ball closer to the basket, and not beyond the three-point line. Because of his length, it's difficult for Durant to drive by players that can key on his dribbling and strip the ball. If he can get strong enough to catch the ball closer to the basket, whether it's off a curl or even in the post, he will become even more of a potent scorer than he already is.
And that's a scary thought for the league.
Russell Westbrook needs to work on lead passes
Westbrook is a phenomenal talent, but the playoffs showed that he needs to develop better passing instincts. I think a lot of the criticism he got was unfair, but he does need to improve his ability to lead his receiver with his passes. Too often, he delivered players the ball after they had reached their destination instead of while they are moving, which killed the flow of the play.
Westbrook also needs to work on rotating the ball and not forcing shots, something that became obvious as the playoffs continued. I don't think there's much more to say about this that hasn't already been said. However, I think a lot of Westbrook's struggles can be solved by one key adjustment, which is ...
Westbrook, James Harden and Durant need to play the bulk of the minutes together
The most positive development for the Thunder in the playoffs was the emergence of James Harden, who continued his second-half surge with an even better postseason. We've talked before about how Harden's idiosyncratic game can potentially bridge the talents of Westbrook and Durant. He's such a good playmaker for his position that he can handle the ball and minimize Westbrook's sometimes-erratic decision-making, but he's also a good enough perimeter shooter that he can stand on the weakside and make defenders pay for devoting too much attention to stopping Durant and Westbrook.
The problem is that the three men didn't play enough together in the regular season to actually realize this vision. Only two of the Thunder's top 10 most-used lineups this season included all three of Westbrook, Harden and Durant. None of their top three lineups did either. In the playoffs, the lineup that played the bulk of the minutes didn't either. That has to change next season. The Thunder simply don't have the offensive weapons to afford separating the three stars any longer.
We saw a brief vision of the potency of a Westbrook-Harden-Durant trio in Game 5, and it involved a lot of Harden creating plays and Westbrook cutting off the ball. Westbrook can be an elite off-ball player, and Harden can be an elite passer, so that is a look the Thunder should incorporate more next season.
Scott Brooks needs to make his playbook thicker
Westbrook got the lion's share of criticism from pundits, but Brooks actually deserves much of it. His late-game plays were just dreadful, especially out of time outs. The ugly set that eventually resulted in a 35-foot three by Durant in Game 4 was just one of the many instances where Brooks seemed overmatched with his playcalling.
I still think Brooks is a tremendous coach that motivates his team far better than most, but this is a big offseason for him. For years, Brooks and the Thunder have prided themselves on winning due to effort, not execution. His default philosophy was succinctly explained by Nick Collison when I talked to him out in Washington D.C. earlier this season when the Thunder came into town.
"Our approach is: it's our quality of play that will win games, not the quality of the plays we draw up and the schemes."
That's good enough to fuel the quick rise of a tremendously young team, but once you get deep into the playoffs, everyone tries hard. It's execution that matters. Brooks needs to look deep within himself and make next season a year-long effort toward improving that execution, both with new, more complicated plays and more practice of said plays. I still think he is capable of making that transition, but it has to start this summer.
The Future is Now
The Thunder are a young team, but their window may close quicker than you think. With the possibility of a hard cap coming, it's going to be very difficult to keep this team together for several years down the line. That means they need to pounce now and absorb these playoff lessons quickly if they want to reach their full potential.
Things should be better next year. Midseason acquisition Kendrick Perkins will be fully healthy after being slowed all season by the effects of the knee injury he suffered in the 2010 Finals. Serge Ibaka will be more improved with a full summer to master that 18-foot jump shot. Sam Presti will be smart enough to locate a swing forward in the draft or free agency to replace what Jeff Green brought them and make it easier for Brooks to go small. The rest of the West will be weaker, with the Lakers working in a new coach, the Mavericks being a year older and the Spurs with many questions of their own to answer.
But the Thunder's potential can only be realized if the above adjustments are made. Make no mistake about it: Durant, Westbrook and Brooks all needed to experience this playoff failure to grow. Now, they must do the growing.