Any exercise we could make about OKC last season is completely irrelevant for this season given they are now a completely different team.
The Thunder were the biggest surprise of the league last season. Led by Chris Paul, OKC was super competitive and they were historically good down the stretch during the entire season. The key for them to be so clutch was their unguardable 3-guards lineup.
Among these three guards were Chris Paul, who was traded to Phoenix, and Dennis Schroder, who was traded to the LA Lakers. Only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stayed in Oklahoma City and he’ll now be the main playmaker of the team. Even though he improved a lot last season, this role might be too much for him right now.
George Hill joined the team to give them more versatility but it’s likely that he’ll get traded sooner or later. The last time Hill played for a poor team (Sacramento), he looked uninterested the whole time and underperformed.
Luguentz Dort was a nice surprise last season with some great defensive instincts, but his lack of shooting ability was clearly exposed by Houston in the playoffs.
Al Horford will have an opportunity to play as a full time Center after a subpar season in Philadelphia. However, will he be motivated to play for a tanking team? His big contract makes it hard for him to be traded but Oklahoma City would love to do that as soon as possible.
Oklahoma City is the current NBA champion in terms of draft picks and if they are able to avoid being the worst team in the league this season, that will be a positive sign for them.