Oklahoma City Thunder

Vegas Over/Under: 51.5

Fromal’s Record Projection: 52-30 The Bet: Prevent but lean over
Since Kyle Wagner broke down for FiveThirtyEight, the inclusion of Paul George immediately vaulted the Oklahoma City Thunder back to contention in the Western Conference:
“The top-5 of Westbrook, George, Enes Kanter, Steven Adams and Andre Roberson are worth 53 wins all on their own. But CARMELO thinks so little of this Thunder bench that the rest of the roster is worth -2 wins. That seat was awful last year, but young players such as Alex Abrines and Doug McDermott may improve with an additional season with the team, and this season’s first-round draft pick Terrance Ferguson has potential as a spot-up shooter on the wing, and also the staff desperately needed last season. However, with Taj Gibson likely leaving in free agency, the Thunder will be sparse. But while their projection doesn’t put the team almost at the level of the Golden State Warriors, as well as the newly minted Chris Paul Houston Rockets, acquiring George should have an outsize effect on the Thunder.”
The TL;DR variant here is that even without factoring in the upside that stems from possible internal advancement, the Thunder already should have been expected to acquire 51 games. And this was written before OKC inked Patrick Patterson–a power forward who fits perfectly with another anticipated starting pieces–to a deal of a deal.
Improving much beyond the 51-win benchmark is a challenging job as the Thunder try to weave in new players seamlessly. But after watching Russell Westbrook serve as a one-man show during his MVP-winning effort, they get to place so much more talent .
Expect big things.