According to Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman, the Oklahoma City Thunder is set to start Kyle Singler and Enes Kanter tonight versus the Charlotte Hornets. The move is rather peculiar for a couple of reasons. The Thunder locker room has been notably more fragile than ever before, and to bring in new guys and immediately insert them into the starting lineup may scratch some heads. The move to start Kanter instead of Nick Collison or Mitch McGary isn’t as surprising as the move to start Singler. Previously, Thunder coach Scott Brooks started Dion Waiters with Kevin Durant out; however, tonight he goes with the 40 percent three-point shooting of Singler.
Normally, Singler will come off the bench. Tonight, he gets the start because Kevin Durant is resting his sore foot. The Thunder has a relatively soft schedule over the next few games. In fact, the next seven are against Charlotte, Denver, Indiana, Phoenix, Portland, L.A. Lakers, and Philadelphia. So with that said, the Thunder may be able to steal some time for the reigning MVP to get some rest.
Tonight is an interesting game for Oklahoma City. For the first time all season, the Thunder has sole possession of the number eight seed in the Western Conference. The Thunder’s mindset now shifts to chasing teams ahead of them. Most notably, OKC is only four games back of San Antonio in the loss column and only five back of Dallas. The Thunder has a relatively soft schedule, but with Durant likely to miss time here and there, it will be on the shoulders of Russell Westbrook to take care of teams like Charlotte and Denver.
For Charlotte, after a relatively disappointing start, the Hornets open their second half looking to make a playoff push. This team was supposed to be fun to watch. The addition of Stephenson was supposed to allow the Hornets to compete with some of the better teams in the East and perhaps win a round in the playoffs. Charlotte, like Oklahoma City, currently holds the eighth seed. The difference is that one of these teams has serious title aspirations while the other is just hoping not to lose out on a playoff spot to the likes of Boston or Detroit.
The game is big for both teams. Charlotte struggles to score the ball, and both teams are capable of playing a grind-it-out physical brand of basketball. The key matchup will be Kanter versus Al Jefferson. Kanter and Jefferson were teammates, and Kanter is notably a poor defender. Ibaka could spend some time guarding Jefferson as well as Collison. If the Thunder are able to get out and run, they will most likely have an easy victory. No Durant gives Charlotte a chance, but with the way Westbrook has been playing (coming off 34 and 10 on 9/17 shooting), the Thunder should still be favored to win. The new additions create an exciting element, and it will be interesting to see how everyone meshes. More importantly, it will be interesting to watch Scott Brooks play Kanter too much and Waiters wave his arms for more shots. Tip off is at 6:00 pm CT.