Enes Kanter is still riding with his former team.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are now 8-12 following their Wednesday night loss to the Orlando Magic. They’ve now lost three straight and five of their last six, during which time their offense is placing 28th in points scored per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com.
Few could have, or even tried, predicting this from a team that employs Carmelo Anthony, Paul George and Russell Westbrook. All three are iso-heavy players, but the prevailing belief seemed to be that Anthony and George were good enough off-ball shooters to make this work, and that Westbrook would be more willing to operate off the ball himself after laboring through his solo act last year.
It does appear all three are trying to hash this out. Westbrook has been more inefficient than usual and can commandeer touches down the stretch, but you can sense extra hesitation from him when both Melo and George are on the floor. Ditto for Melo. And George has been outright passive at times, frequently watching plays unfold from beyond the arc and going possessions at a time without touching the ball.
Kanter doesn’t care.
Asked about the struggles of his former team on Wednesday, he proclaimed that he would still take them over any squad in the Western Conference, which we can only assume includes the Golden State Warriors, per Basketball Insiders’ Michael Scotto:
Enes Kanter was asked what he thought of the Oklahoma City Thunder falling to 8-12 on the season. pic.twitter.com/5EkzvyH8pl
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) November 30, 2017
Showing support for his previous home is nice, but whoa. The Thunder, in no uncertain terms, aren’t the best team in the West. Not even close. Especially now.
Could the Thunder emerge as the biggest threat to the Warriors if they get their act together? Possibly. They’re third in the NBA in points allowed per 100 possessions, and they’ve verged on dominant when winning. The Thunder are outscoring opponents by 18.2 points per 100 possessions in victories—second-best differential in the league, behind only the Warriors.
This sounds great in theory. But there’s a difference between dominant victories and a dominant team. And the Thunder, as of now, are straddling the wrong side of that fence.
