The Oklahoma City Thunder<\/strong> finished the 2013-14 NBA regular season with 59 wins and the second-best record in the Western Conference behind the San Antonio Spurs. In fact, it\u2019s that same Spurs team that eliminated OKC from the Western Conference Finals in six games during the postseason.\u00a0Cappers Picks provides free NBA HOOPS handicapping tips all season long. <\/p>\n OKC can find solace in the fact that San Antonio went on to win the championship, but there\u2019s no looking back now, as the 2014-15 NBA\u00a0betting<\/strong> season is upon us, and the Thunder are once again considered one of the favorites to win the West.<\/p>\n Western Conference<\/strong> Thabo Sefolosha \u2013 Thabo Sefolosha is out, and while that may not sound like a crucial loss to the casual fan, he\u2019s been a menace on the defensive perimeter for years. Not only that, but he\u2019s done it without commanding shots, meaning he\u2019s been an easy sub to bring in a scoring guard off the bench early. Now, with Sefolosha gone, the team will look to plug in one of those scoring guards into the starting lineup, which will give the starting unit a bit of a different feel than it\u2019s had the past few years.<\/p>\n Anthony Morrow \u2013 Truth be told, this group doesn\u2019t have many significant newcomers because it doesn\u2019t need any. That said, Anthony Morrow should slide in nicely as that scoring guard off the bench.<\/p>\n Sebastian Telfair \u2013 If Reggie Jackson becomes the new starting 2-guard, that will leave the backup point guard position to Sebastian Telfair. Kevin Durant \u2013 You can\u2019t start this conversation without pointing directly to Kevin Durant. Simply put: He\u2019s the MVP for a reason. At this point in his career, Durant is a five-time All-Star, four-time scoring champion, five-time All-NBA First Team member and he even joined the exclusive 50-40-90 club back in 2013. But this topic isn\u2019t about the past; it\u2019s about the future. And the future looks bright for Durant, as he\u2019ll look to gain another scoring title, win another MVP award and get his team back to the finals in 2015. Serge Ibaka \u2013 Although most won\u2019t consider Ibaka the third piece in a Big Three for OKC, his impact on defense is crucial for this team\u2019s success. He\u2019s a shot-blocking machine, and he alters shots at the rim all game long.<\/p>\n As long as Durant and Westbrook are on this team, scoring the basketball will never be a problem. Furthermore, as long as Scott Brooks is the coach and as long as the team has a guard off the bench who can shoot, points per game will not be an issue. This team scored 106.2 points per contest in 2013-14, and that number was good enough for fifth in the league. It\u2019s tough to nitpick the Thunder, but ball control is one area where improvement could be necessary. OKC lost the ball 15.3 times per game last season, which ranked them 24th in the league.<\/p>\n Sticking with the theme of control, the Thunder were 28th in fouls per game last season, not to mention dead last in technical fouls. Playing controlled is important when chasing a ring, and the three mentioned categories all apply.<\/p>\n Expect the Thunder to be a top-three team out West when the year comes to an end. The Northwest Division should be theirs barring another huge leap from the Portland Trail Blazers, and in all likelihood, they\u2019ll be either No. 1 or No. 2 in the conference once the playoffs begin.<\/p>\n [dfads params=’groups=63706&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thunder NBA Picks The Oklahoma City Thunder finished the 2013-14 NBA regular season with 59 wins and the second-best record in the Western Conference behind the San Antonio Spurs. In fact, it\u2019s that same Spurs team that eliminated OKC from the Western Conference Finals in six games during the postseason.\u00a0Cappers Picks provides free NBA HOOPS […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":986,"featured_media":82680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[63714,66499,1595,749,1978,40659,8471,63716,63731,18274],"class_list":["post-81654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-2014-15-nba-season","tag-nba","tag-nba-gambling","tag-nba-odds","tag-nba-season-preview","tag-okc-thunder","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder-predictions","tag-oklahoma-thunder-season-preview","tag-thunder-predictions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/986"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81654"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82894,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81654\/revisions\/82894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
2014-15 Oklahoma City Thunder<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n2013-14 Record: 59-23 (34-7 @ Home) .720<\/strong>
\nThunder Betting Odds to win Title: 6\/1<\/strong>
\nThunder Betting\u00a0Odds to win Conference: 3\/1<\/strong>
\n[dfads params=’groups=63740&limit=1&orderby=random&return_javascript=1′]<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThunder Key Losses<\/h3>\n
Thunder Top Newcomers<\/h3>\n
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\nTelfair has never lived up to the expectations that he set coming out of high school, but a new role on a winning organization could do him some good.<\/p>\nThunder Top Players<\/h3>\n
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\nRussell Westbrook \u2013 As much criticism as Russell Westbrook takes because of his willingness to shoot with Durant on the floor, he\u2019s one of the best point guards in the NBA. His athleticism is unmatched at the position, his killer mentality is unlike most across the league and his ability to facilitate is underrated. Without Westbrook, this team isn\u2019t where it is today, and without Westbrook, this team doesn\u2019t compete for a championship in 2015.<\/p>\nThunder Strengths<\/h3>\n
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\nRebounding is also a strength, as the team averaged 44.7 rebounds per game last year. That number was good enough for seventh leaguewide, and the reason it\u2019s so high is because the guards get involved at pulling down boards as well.<\/p>\nThunder Weaknesses<\/h3>\n
Thunder 2014 Betting Prediction<\/h3>\n