Russell Westbrook has a great combination of size, strength, and athleticism for a point guard and he has been using all of that to put together a great sophomore season for the Oklahoma City Thunder.  Westbrook is a great sidekick for Kevin Durant, who has turned into an MVP caliber player himself.  Although Westbrook doesn’t get the same recognition guys like Chris Paul, Derron Williams, or other up-and-coming point guards like Derrick Rose get, he is turning into one of the top point guards in the NBA.  This season he is averaging 16.7 points, 7.9 assists, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.4 steals.  He still needs to work on being a more consistent shooter, since he is hitting only 42% from the field and 25% from three.  He has solid touch and a good release on his shot though, so I see him developing into a good outside shooter as his career progresses.  Right now though, he has the quickness, strength, and athletic ability to go without a great outside shot.  He can get to the basket with ease and he does a great job of finding the open man.  The Thunder are now 39-24 on the season and they have won 15 of their last 18 games.  Kevin Durant is their main guy and is a big reason why they have been so much better this season, but without Westbrook the Thunder would not be this good.  With Durant, Westbrook, and a slew of other young talented players, Thunder fans have a lot to look forward to not only this postseason, but for years to come.

Kurt Thomas had really played well for the Supersonics so far this season as he’s providing them with rebounding and defense. Thomas has played in 22 games so far this season and he is averaging 24.8 minutes, 6.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game. His leadership has been very influential on the young Sonics roster also which makes Thomas even more valuable to the team.

Nick Collison has played in 3 games off of the bench for the Sonics this month and he’s playing great. Collison is averaging 28.3 minutes, 11.0 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. He will likely earn a lot of more playing time in the near future as long as he keeps playing like he is right now.

Not many people outside of Seattle get to watch power forward Chris Wilcox play but that doesn’t mean that he’s not a rising player. He has played in 16 games this season and he has averaged 29.9 minutes, 15.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game. The Sonics would be smart to get the ball down low to Wilcox even more than they already are as he’s a pest in the paint for opposing teams.

Rashard Lewis has opted out of his last two seasons of his contract with the Seattle Supersonics thus making himself a unrestricted free agent.  This move by Lewis will likely end his career as a Sonic with the Sonics likely to draft small forward Kevin Durant in next week’s NBA Draft.  Lewis had a injury marred season last year like a lot of key Sonics did.  He played in 60 games and he averaged 39.1 minutes, 22.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game.  Lewis also shot well last season as he hit 46.1% of his shots from the floor, 39% from three point range and 84.1% from the free throw line.

Lewis likely ends his career with the Sonics having played in 617 games (528 starts) and he averaged 33.9 minutes, 16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game.  He shot 46.1% from the floor, 38.6% from three point range and 80.1% from the free throw line in his career as a Sonic.  Lewis did a great job in his time in Seattle as their #2 man behind Ray Allen.  He should have no problem signing a contract for big bucks on the open market.