Constant tinkering has Thunder in playoff race

After two losing seasons in a row, the Oklahoma City Thunder's first two months in their new home started to make Nick Collison's commute feel like a drag.

The Thunder started out as the laughingstock of the NBA, opening last season with a 3-29 record before a respectable finish. Just over a year later, they're a season-high five games over .500 following a blowout of the New York Knicks on Monday night and right in the thick of the playoff race.

``It's a lot more fun driving to the arena feeling like you have a good chance to win,'' said Collison, the only player left from the franchise's last playoff run in 2005, when the franchise was still in Seattle. ``You like to tell yourself that all the time but when you're 3-29, it's hard to believe.''

That feeling was unusual for Collison, who lost only once in high school and had oodles of success in college with a powerhouse Kansas program. And now, it's gone again.

Times have changed for the Thunder after constant tinkering with the roster by general manager Sam Presti and an emphasis on defense by Scott Brooks, in his first full season as head coach after filling in for P.J. Carlesimo on an interim basis last season.

``When you look at the schedule, we know we're capable of beating anybody,'' Collison said. ``That doesn't mean we're going to win every game but it's a lot more fun when you come in and you know that if you play well, you've got a great chance to win.''

The Thunder were tied with Houston for seventh place in the Western Conference standings after Monday's games. There's still more than half the season to go, though the playoffs are actually on the table for discussion.

``Every team wants to be a team that's playing in the postseason. We're no different in that respect,'' Presti said Tuesday. ``But I think there's a healthy respect and humility to the group about just how hard that is and also understanding that we can't control how other teams play and prepare in the conference, let alone in the league as a whole. We have to do our jobs.''

Presti has used a series of low-key moves to create a deep team around the young core of Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook. It started with the signing of center Nenad Krstic, who was completely out of the NBA after a left knee injury. His acquisition at the end of 2008 coincided with the end of Oklahoma City's miserable start, and the Thunder went on win 20 of their final 50 games last season.

Presti added defensive stopper Thabo Sefolosha in a trade deadline deal with Chicago last season and then swapped practically nothing with the Jazz for 20th overall pick Eric Maynor last month to capitalize on Utah's desire to avoid paying the luxury tax.

Add in Serge Ibaka, a 2008 first-round draft pick who spent last season developing his game in Europe, and James Harden, the No. 3 pick in last year's draft, and the Thunder have a two-deep lineup where one didn't exist a year ago.

``Adding Nenad and Thabo when we did last year, I think those were guys that we felt like fit with what we were trying to accomplish with our organization and building that foundation, building a group that can grow together,'' Presti said. ``As you go through that process, there are things that you learn. You're not always going to learn them from the good times. You're going to learn some things as you go through some struggles.

``This group has gone through (that) and will go through more.''

Brooks' approach after taking over for Carlesimo was aimed toward simply making the team competitive again, believing that the Thunder would eventually break through if they played enough close games.

The key has been defensive improvement. The Thunder were one of the bottom five teams in the NBA in field-goal defense through their miserable stretch last season but now rank third - behind only the Lakers and Cavaliers - at 43.7 percent, an improvement of about four percentage points.

``That gives us an opportunity to win pretty much every game, to be real close in every game,'' Sefolosha said. ``Some games we win in the fourth quarter, some games we lose, but definitely I think it gives us the sense that definitely we can do something if we keep playing the way we play defense.''

Despite the massive turnaround, Presti said the Thunder are ``certainly not comfortable or content with where we are'' and don't have a timeframe for when they'll be a contender.

``We don't necessarily look at it like we have a schedule, so to speak. We're not crossing days off the calendar,'' Presti said. ``The fact of the matter is I'm not sure that we'll ever get to a point where we're satisfied. Clearly, we have a long way to go.''