SAN ANTONIO - During the half-million or so times that Oklahoma City Thunder players and coaches and players have been asked about the crushing loss of Serge Ibaka this past week, the answer almost always has been the same.
'We've got to move on,' they've said with such no-excuse pride en route to falling down 0-2 in this Western Conference finals series against the San Antonio Spurs that has lost its luster. 'No one is feeling sorry for us.'
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That isn't even remotely true, of course. This observer and so many others are left wondering might have been for the Thunder and wishing they weren't going down like this. This Thunder team, undermanned and overwhelmed, deserves our sporting sympathy, what with Ibaka's calf strain and resulting absence marking the second consecutive postseason in which their title push has been derailed.
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Injuries are part of the game, to be sure. Ask San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker, who battled through a hamstring strain in last year's NBA Finals and likely wonders if being fully healthy might have made the difference against the Miami Heat in their crushing seven-game series loss.
But the back-to-back nature of the Thunder's injury fortunes is a whole different matter entirely. The 2013 loss of Russell Westbrook to a meniscus tear in his right knee in the first round led to a second-round loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, and the latest setback has made this a bona-fide NBA tragedy.
That's before you get to all the questions it raises about their future.
What if the Thunder had been healthy these past couple of years? What if there's a ripple effect here when it comes to how long they'll all be together? MVP Kevin Durant will become a free agent in the summer of 2016, while Westbrook and Ibaka are on board through 2017. But when it comes to the human component and the possible impact that all this might have on their collective psyche going forward, the picture is, predictably, a lot more blurry.
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Thunder fans who wonder if Durant might get a wandering eye three summers from now were glad when he said in his MVP speech that 'the grass isn't always greener.' But continued failure - even if it's forced by such uncontrollable circumstances such as these - has a way of changing things. And as if it's not bad enough for the Thunder that they can't give it a legitimate go with this championship-caliber core, it's even worse because of who continues to benefit from it all as a result.
The Spurs, who avoided the Thunder last postseason and now look Finals-bound again, spawned this Thunder generation. Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti learned under Spurs general manager R.C. Buford and coach Gregg Popovich, then tweaked the blueprint in such a wildly successful way with his own team that his small-market model has become the latest example for others to follow. But the passing of the West baton that appeared to be in the works when Oklahoma City ousted the Spurs in the 2012 conference finals is no more, and the idea that this Thunder group is headed for Spurs-like things (four titles in nine seasons from 1999 to 2007) seems more unlikely by the day.
Popovich is always quick to credit one key factor when explaining this remarkable Spurs run: the 1997 No. 1 overall draft pick Tim Duncan and the winning ways that came with him. But it wasn't that simple. There were countless Spurs who took less-than-market-value contracts to stick around along the way, guys such as Manu Ginobili who could have started anywhere but came off the bench. But what if the Spurs had faced the same challenges as OKC rather than winning their first of four championships in Duncan's second season? Would the same sacrifices have been made?
The Thunder drafted their version of Tim Duncan in 2007 (when they were the Seattle SuperSonics) with second-overall pick Kevin Durant, then got his co-star in Westbrook fourth in 2008. Their evolution has continued at almost every step along the way, but the lack of a championship and disappointment that comes with that will surely have more of a cumulative effect with every passing year.
The Spurs don't have to worry about those questions as they march on in pursuit of their fifth title, and the Thunder are far too busy trying to slow them down to worry about the big picture at the moment. Durant made that much clear on Tuesday, when he was asked about the Spurs and whether he saw their one-of-a-kind formula as the kind of thing they could still create.
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'No, I don't really pay attention to that,' he said with rare brevity and disinterest.
He's not the only one having a hard time seeing the succession plan these days. The Thunder, through no fault of their own on this injury front, continue to come up lame.
Posted by Unknown on Friday, May 23, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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