OKC post-trades thoughts. Vote.

Today's deadline was full of last minutes deals, the greatest surprise being the Boston/OKC trade in which Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson were traded from Boston to OKC for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic. The Thunder also made another move, sending Morris Peterson and D.J. White to Charlotte for Nazr Mohammed.

The trades mean the Thunder are undoubtedly bigger and more rugged. Perkins in particular brings a no-nonsense game to a team lacking in the tough department, and Mohammed is a crafty vet at this point capable of holding his own in the paint.

The reaction from Boston fans hasn't been good, and many in the media seem to think that Boston GM Danny Ainge is waiving the white flag on this season. As you might expect, the Thunder are being hailed as legit contenders who are looking to win now by fans and media alike.

Here's how the inbound and outbound parts fared statistically so far this year (I'm going to keep it less advanced):

OUTBOUND

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  • Jeff Green 15.2 pts, 5.6 rbs, 1.8 asts, 13 PER in 37 minutes as the starting PF (49 games)
    
  • Nenad Krstic 7.6 pts, 4.4 rbs, 0.4 asts, 12.6 PER in 21.7 minutes as the starting C (47 games)
    
  • D.J. White 2.8 pts, 2.3 rbs, 0.2 asts, 10.2 PER in 9.5 minutes as a backup big (23 games)
    
  • Morris Peterson 1.0 pts, 0.8 rbs, 0.3 asts, 1.7 PER in 5.8 minutes as a backup wing (4 games)

INBOUND

• Kendrick Perkins 7.3 pts, 8.1 rbs, 0.8 asts, 10.2 PER in 26.1 minutes as a starting C (12 games)
• Nate Robinson 7.1 pts, 1.6 rbs, 1.9 asts, 10.2 PER in 17.9 minutes as a backup wing (55 games)
• Nazr Mohammed 7.3 pts, 4.9 rbs, 0.3 asts, 15.9 PER in 16.7 minutes as a backup C (51 games)

The Thunder seem to have a few options for their starting 5 now, and it may take a few weeks for the regular rotation to be settled, but here's a rough look at their depth chart:

Starting Point Guard: Westbrook. Maynor and Ivey as backups.

Starting Shooting Guard: Sefolosha. Harden, Cook, and Robinson as backups.

Starting Small Forward: Durant. Sefolosha and Harden as backups.

Starting Power Forward: Ibaka. Collison as backup.

Starting Center: Perkins. Mohammed. Mullens and Aldrich as backup.

Nothing should change much as far as production from Durant, Westbrook, or Sefolosha, and there's no reason to see much of a change from their backups, either. Collison's role also remains the same. My guess is a promotion for Ibaka into the starting PF role, which should net an increase in his stats with the increase in minutes (with 10 more minutes on average, maybe 4-5 more points and a couple boards more per game). Perkins is definitely a superior defender to Krstic, though it's either Nenad's advantage or a draw on offense. The addition of Mohammed adds that 2nd solid quality player to throw out there. If Ibaka can hit 15 per game and Perkins hits his average, the Thunders' points-from-starters are at what they were pre-trade and they're better defensively. Nazr's 7 points per game and defense end up being the big difference.

After taking this all into consideration (and being as objective as one can be as a fan of a divisional rival), it does seem that the Thunder should be better, maybe even significantly so. So why doesn't it feel like the proverbial cherry on top to me? Am I alone?

I expect the Thunder to make a decent run in the playoffs, but I did before the trade, too, and I don't really see them being so much better now that they're THE team to beat. To me they're a 3rd consistently-high-scoring-starter or big-time-6th-man away from being that team. How do you feel? Did they improve enough to be considered better than before? Are they the best the West has to offer, or are they still in that 2nd, 3rd, 4th best area? Can they Will they make it to the Finals? And, maybe most importantly, how do they stack up to the new look Blazers and the other teams in the West?