National Media Attention Adds False Pressure to Thunder Season

One thing has remained consistent during the Oklahoma City Thunder's rebuild -- the team is going to move at its own pace, despite outside noise.

Most teams in the situation that the Thunder is in would expedite the roster-building process. They've got a plethora of young talent, but most franchises don't wait for the team to establish themselves before pushing the win-now button.

For the Thunder, it's been evident that the time will come when the team is ready. The team is completely fine with giving this young core the proper time needed to begin to compete on its own.

Given the nature of the young core and the rising respect the team is getting, the national media might want the team to push its chips to win now or even expect a certain level of play from this team.

The added outside pressure is unfair to the young team. Chet Holmgren's addition, on paper, sounds like it perfectly fits the system and will open everything up. This might not be the case. There might be an adjustment period for the team to mesh. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has played with Al Horford and Mike Muscala -- two stretch bigs -- but Holmgren adds that and the ability to roll and be a lob threat. There might be an adjustment period there.

The defense will be solid, but adding more crucial players could mean some miscues will happen. They're also a young team -- clutch games might not always go their way.

This upcoming season for the Thunder could truly go either way, but it doesn't set the complete standard for years to come. No matter how much pressure the media puts on the team because of the amount of young talent it has, it won't matter. This team likely has an internal understanding that this season and the success that comes isn't measured by the win or loss column, and establishing themselves might not come immediately.

In the end, how the Thunder operate or the standard the team sets for the season won't be impacted by the outside noise or hype established by fans and national media.

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