The Oklahoma City Thunder are coming off of a season in which they failed to make the playoffs due to a litany of injuries. But after a firing of a head coach and the additions of a healthy KD and a lottery pick, the Thunder are not only looking to make the playoffs again, but they are looking to make the NBA Finals.

Signings: The first move the Thunder did was to fire Scott Brooks. Ever since winning the Coach of the Year award, Brooks has seen his stock go down tremendously. Brooks became known for having no structure in his offense and just having a job because he had two top-ten players at his disposal. The OKC front office finally realized his incompetence and decided to fire him for Florida head coach Billy Donovan. Donovan will actually have a system in place which will help the flow of OKC’s offense. It’ll be interesting to see if he can replicate Steve Kerr’s success

The Thunder didn’t have much flexibility this offseason to go and sign other players, but they had to re-sign their own. And the biggest free agent they had to re-sign was Enes Kanter. It’s foolish when people say that the Thunder can re-sign Kanter but not James Harden. At the time of the situation, the Thunder had to choose between Serge Ibaka and Harden. Ibaka meant more because of his defensive prowess and that they had no real replacement for him. Also because the Thunder knew that they could get more for Harden rather than Ibaka. With that said, the retaining of Kanter is not very likeable.

Kanter is a stretch five, and he is not a good rebounder and a TERRIBLE defender. Opponents shot 61 percent on less than six feet from the basket when Kanter was guarding them. Also, Kanter’s rebounding is very overrated. When one person is fighting with Kanter for the rebounds, Kanter only pulled down the rebound 35 percent of the time according to NBA.com. Paying $70 million for Kanter might come back to hurt the Thunder especially with young players like Mitch McGary and Steven Adams available.

The other re-signing was Kyle Singler. Singler was just re-signed to provide depth at the wing. He may not play much.

Draft: It’s not often you see teams like OKC in the lottery. But OKC knew that they needed to get this pick right, and they might have done so. With the 13th pick, the OKC Thunder selected Cameron Payne. Payne was that mid-major prospect that always gets a lot of steam, but scouts were really high on Payne. Payne was compared to George Hill/Devin Harris by NBADRAFT.Net.  

"Intelligent point guard with a great basketball IQ and feel for the game ... At 6-foot-3, has good height for the position ... Lefty scoring point guard who can mix things up with strong passing abilities ... Has the ability to shoot and finish off the dribble ... Can knock down 3-pointers without much room from his defender ... Has nice range on his shot ... Capable of pulling up from different spots on the floor and knocking down mid-range shots ... Shooting mechanics are consistent ... Possesses a nice floater and runner in the paint ... Quick release and good elevation on his jump shots ... Shooting efficiency from mid-range and 3-point range jumped across the board from his freshman season ... Can operate very well out of pick-and-rolls in half court offense ... In pick-and-roll situations, he’s shown the ability to take his man off of the dribble or pull up for a jump shot ... Outstanding court vision and awareness on offense ... Is a playmaker ..."

Payne is exactly what OKC needed. OKC needed a true point guard that can make plays and setup the offense. Payne fits well with this OKC team, and he can serve the James Harden role and be a super sixth man.

And in the second round, the Thunder took Dakari Johnson from Kentucky. Dakari is a big boy who can come off the bench and produce. Dakari has a soft touch and nice length. It was good value getting him in the second round.

Prediction: OKC still has the potential to be one of the best teams in the NBA. With KD and Russ at the realm, they will always be among the best in the league. The X-Factor for this team is the cohesiveness between Russ and KD. Russ needs to learn that this is KD’s team and accept the sidekick role, or at least learn to defer to KD more than he does now.