Thabo's Thunder

As long as you're not calling them the "Zombie Sonics," the Oklahoma City Thunder live up to their nickname.  First noticed as if by gut reaction to subtle vibrations that arrive before the noise, the Thunder have been gathering attention without yet doing anything worth noticing.  Any observer gets the instinctual sense that there's great potential here.  It's nothing concrete, but that only adds to the excitement.  It's the idea of possibility and the anticipation of future amazement.  We can sense it. 

Their resigning this week of Thabo Sefolosha only adds to the tension.  He's another good, young player with a clear set of skills that complement the abilities of those around him, and he's on the cheap.  He just makes sense.  And so we wait, excitement growing with every Russell Westbrook steal and every Kevin Durant jumper, for the impending explosion of noise.

The star of this incarnation of the Thunder is clearly budding superstar and possible scoring automaton Kevin Durant.  As a 6-9 small forward that can go to nearly every offensive move in the book at will, he deservedly demands our attention.  There's a certain thrill to watching an unstoppable scorer, a player contributing so clearly to his team's success that we watch in half awe, half excited bemusement; Did you see that? Unbelievable.  Scary.

That's what makes Thabo important, nay, necessary to this team.  Science has shown repeatedly that attraction is based on symmetry.  We like seeing a mirror image, whether it be of ourselves in a mirror or the opposing sides of a loved one's face; it's comforting.  There is eternal truth in symmetry; it just makes sense.

In Durant and Sefolosha, we get two sides of the same coin.  Durant's explosive offensive repertoire is balanced by a defensive skill set that is lacking, though not exclusively of his own doing.  When playing shooting guard he often looked like a spider trying to defend an ant, all arms and legs trying vainly to stop the smaller force of a single mind from getting past him.  It looked not unlike a one-on-one game of Red Rover, and Durant often lost.

Speaking of lost, this is perhaps the most apt description of Thabo on offense.  As awkward as Durant appears on defense, his Swiss counterpart has him beat on offense, often looking as though he believes his team loses points for every second the ball stays in his hand.  I'm unsure of making statements about his offensive skill set because I don't know how good he could be, because he looks youthfully uncomfortable.  It would be like making a judgment about a college student's future sexual exploits at move in day.  There's just no way to get an honest inference from him. 

Durant is the proven scorer who is developing his defense; Thabo is the proven defender developing an offensive game.  They're exact opposites in skill set, but in one they'd make a team-defining whole.  Hopefully, eventually, they'll lose that symmetry.  Durant will improve his defense, removing the final wart from his game. The adjusted plus minus stat doesn't take too kindly to Durant's defense, and the sooner that skill approaches Sefolosha's the sooner he'll put any talk that he's overrated to rest.  But for now he needs Thabo like the Thunder need Thabo.  He's at once a foil to and mirror image of Durant, and though he's under-appreciated this signing only makes it more likely that the Thunder are capable of something special, eventually.  I can sense it.