Upgrade for OKC?

I was reading through Yahoo! BDL's preview of the OKC Thunder, and two glaring weaknesses that could be construed are PG and C slots, granted you could argue that every position not currently played by Kevin Durant is weak. Some would argue the SG slot if you consider Russell Westbrook a PG type player, something of a defensive minded 1, kind of like Rajon Rondo, however, it could also be argued, as Zorgon from Blue Blitz points out, that Westbrook might be better suited at a 2 slot than the 1 (see item 9). As much as we try to talk ourselves into believing that Robert Swift is not a bust, the fact that you oftentimes have to start Nick Collison at center leads me to believe that hte center position is weak. Here's my call, and if you disagree, you disagree, but I think it gives the Thunder a legitimate shot.

Send Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith to Charlotte for Raymond Felton and Nazr Mohammed.

While I mentioned that sending Wilcox and Wilkins to Golden State for Al Harrington seemed like a good idea, to more than just me, beyond purely financial reasons, Al Harrington doesn't really address a whole lot of the problems that OKC beyond maybe perimeter shooting. Deal breaker? Well in this one it would definitely have to be Nazr Mohammed's $18 million contract over the next 3 years, but given the roster construction of the current roster, I don't see that it's that big of deal, OKC develops over the next couple of years (which they will need to develop) and Mohammed becomes another expiring contract that Sam Presti can magically turn into some trade exception or 5 draft picks, all first round.

Ok, all joking aside let's look at how this works out. We have Russell Westbrook develop as a defensive minded SG, a defensive stopper, something akin to Raja Bell, and then we start Raymond Felton at the PG. For all our woes about Felton, he's a solid point, just a little overshadowed by his draft class, you know, like by Deron Williams and Chris Paul. However, Felton I believe is a major upgrade and I believe will definitely help facilitate an offense that is ridiculously stagnant. Furthermore, with Westbrook sliding into a 2 slot Durant can move to where we all believe he will be better suited playing, at SF. By trading off Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith, the PF slot platoon is also cleared and you have fewer people playing out of position. For the moment I'd startNick Collison and have Jeff Green kind of work his way in off the bench. While Nazr Mohammed isn't exactly the most sexy name in terms of centers, he's shown he can start. After being traded to Charlotte for Primoz Brezec and Walter Hermann, Mohammed started for a bit with Emeka Okafor sliding over to the PF slot. He averaged 17pts, 9.4rbds, 0.8 blcks, and 0.8 stls in 5 games on 74.1% shooting. Okafor didn't do horribly either, posting 14.4 ppg and 11 rpg during that same stint, then, to the confusion of many fantasy owners, Mohammed was abruptly benched. However, that I believe is enough of a glimpse to show that Mohammed can make himself effective as a starter. Regardless of any reservations you might have about him, he is at worst serviceable, and in my opinion a significant upgrade over Swift and Petro. The depth chart ends up looking something like this:

PG- Raymond Felton, Earl Watson

SG- Russell Westbrook, Damien Wilkins

SF- Kevin Durant, Desmond Mason

PF- Nick Collison, Jeff Green, Steven Hill

C- Nazr Mohammed, Robert Swift, Johan Petro

Not great by any means but an upgrade to what they have now.

I don't think Larry Brown would've lobbied so hard to draft DJ Augustin that high if he was just going to be a backup to Raymond Felton, that pick could've been much better spent on something else. Which leads us to conjecture that Raymond Felton is not the Bobcats' PG of the future, aka Larry Brown doesn't really like him. From all the reports I've read, Larry Brown doesn't really like anyone on the team, except maybe Jared Dudley. So the Bobcats add to their frontcourt depth, and bolster the PF slot at least a little which I think needed the most work. Worst case scenario, perhaps Gerald Wallace and Joe Smith can be packaged together to make another trade, either way, they get cap flexibility and an improved roster in the frontcourt, which is what they're looking for. Personally, I'd start Wilcox and then work Joe Smith into the rotation allowing both to see some time at center should Brown decide to run a smaller lineup, this also allows Sean May a little more time to fully recover and perhaps become the player he's supposed to be, gives Alexis Ajinca some time to develop, keep Emeka Okafor where he is most effective, in the paint, and keep Gerald Wallace where he won't get concussions, at SF. This creates a lineup that looks something I think, like:

PG- DJ Augustin

SG- Jason Richardson, Matt Carroll, Shannon Brown

SF- Gerald Wallace, Jared Dudley, Adam Morrison

PF- Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith, Sean May

C- Emeka Okafor, Alexic Ajinca

It does leave the Bobcats a little thin at the PG slot, but I think you can package something to get a backup PG of some sort. Though I supppose good ones are hard to come by, maybe tack John Lucas III onto the trade for a draft pick? Anyway, this is the brunt of it, I think maybe it works? It doesn't make either team a contender right away, but it definitely is an upgrade, I think.