Over the next month, we will be previewing every team in the NBA. Here's the next installment of our series on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Notable Acquisitions: Cameron Payne (Draft)

Notable Departures: None

Temperature Check:

After an injury-filled, nightmare of a season saw them on the outside looking in come playoff time, the Thunder are looking to bounce back in a big way. But instead of making changes to their roster, Oklahoma City only switched up their head coach, axing Scott Brooks in favor of Florida’s Billy Donovan. With a new coach and the future of Kevin Durant -- from both a health and contract standpoint -- up in the air, the Thunder may be the most intriguing team in the NBA this season.

Inside the Playbook:

After what seemed like an endless amount of time on the hotseat, the Thunder finally parted ways with head coach Scott Brooks. In his stead comes Donovan, who brings with him a sterling record at the Division I level. The biggest hurdle Donovan will face is the same one that likely cost Brooks his job: the team’s offense.

Despite finishing among the top-five in offensive efficiency three times over the past half-decade, OKC’s offense under Brooks was often stagnant and unimaginative, heavily reliant on his superstar duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook to break down opposing defenses without much help from the team’s system. Even though the deck was stacked against him as far as injuries last year, certain possessions from Brooks' system were a microcosm of all the critics misgivings during his entire tenure.

While you can cherry pick a single possession of any team and find some wonky stuff going on, this is clip provides a lot examples of the smaller maladies that added up to the frustrating performances from OKC’s offense under Brooks.

For starters, the play, which begins in a static walk-up situation, contains no real attempt to shift the defense in any way (typically called “false action”) before running the primary pick-and-roll between reserve point guard D.J. Augustin and big man Steven Adams. Now while everyone fawns over the elaborate beauty of the misdirection of team’s like the Spurs, ‘false action’ in situations like this isn’t really necessity. If your spacing is good (which it was, especially later on, under Brooks) and you have the right players running the right action, you can tell a defense what you’re doing while walking into and it will still be hard to stop.

The problem with the Thunder, as evidenced by this set, is that they didn’t (and kind of don’t, which we’ll get into a bit later) have those D’Antoni-esque floor-spacers around a pick-and-roll between two players that, while talented, aren’t among the league’s elite at either position. As usual, the devil is in the details. In this case, that means there really isn’t an excuse for how the two players positioned on the right side of the floor -- Andre Roberson and Anthony Morrow -- to not be swapping spots.

Roberson wasn’t very good from behind the arc in general, but specifically was a trainwreck shooting 3’s above the break, where he was just 6-of-36 (16.6 percent). From the corners, Roberson was substantially better, shooting over 32 percent on 47 attempts. Morrow is deadly from the corners but is a threat to the defense anywhere beyond the arc, so it’d make sense in a perfect world -- or in this case a controlled walk up situation -- to give the worse shooter of the short 3 from the corner (and this clip is from later in the year, so there is no lack of data excuse).

As you see in the clip above, this error in alignment allows Roberson’s help defender to gum up Augustin’s drive, forcing a kick out to his reluctant teammate who bypasses a shot in favor of the drive-and-kick to the corner man, Nick Collison. It’s here where we see another subtle error that great offenses typically avoid.

On no planet is Collison a threat handling the ball in pick-and-roll. Yet after the kickout from Roberson, Adams rushes over to screen for him, Collison accepts the help from his teammate but the pick-and-roll (predictably) goes nowhere and Collison is forced to pass out as a last resort.

In the more cohesive offensive systems that are the envy of the league, these subtle nuances certainly don’t occur frequently, if at all. So while talk of big picture stuff like ball movement and misdirection will dominate the conversation when it comes to the Thunder offense, Donovan will have to focus in on the details to succeed where his predecessor failed.

Lineup to Watch:

Enes Kanter-Serge Ibaka-Kevin Durant-Dion Waiters-Russell Westbrook

On paper, this lineup, which should get some decent run if everyone is healthy, has the potential to be an unstoppable force. Four out of the five players can create shots against a set defense, in a variety of ways, while Ibaka offers the incredibly rare combination of floor spacing on one end and rim protection on the other.

Donovan likely sees this as a lineup capable of punishing opposing lineups attempting to hide subpar defenders -- at any position. One of your bigs can’t handle guys on the low block? Here comes a post play for Kanter. Trying to put a more physical player on Durant? Here comes a wide pindown. And if your 4-man isn’t very nimble, how about a pick-and-pop between Westbrook and Ibaka?

Very few lineups in the league will be able to pick on opponents weak points in such unrelenting fashion. But as we’ve seen numerous times in NBA history, lineups stacked with offensive talent can sometimes devour themselves. This group in particular, has real potential to self-destruct. However, if this quintet can form a cohesive unit, the Thunder will have a devastating force of nature at their disposal.  

The Wildcard:

Andre Roberson

As long as Durant and Westbrook team up in Oklahoma City, there will always be a need for that third backcourt position to be filled by a 3-and-D type wing. In his first season of regular action, Roberson showcased he has the latter part of that equation down.

According to data from 82games.com, Roberson held opposing shooting guards to a PER of just 12.5 (15 considered league average). Small forwards didn’t fare much better, posting an even lower mark of 11.4. As a team, the Thunder posted a sterling defensive rating of 100.1 whenever Roberson was on the floor, a number that would have landed the team in the top five of the NBA if it held up over an entire season.

Those numbers paint a clear picture that Roberson, a solid athlete with a 6-foot-11 wingspan, has the chops to be a pesky defender at this level. So why did he only play 19.2 minutes per game during OKC’s injury-ravaged campaign? You don’t need to look much further than his 24.7 percent 3-point shooting to find the answer.

Roberson was such a non-threat, that his defender would sag off him so liberally it was like the Thunder were playing 4-on-5 on offense. If Roberson hasn’t improved from deep this offseason, Donovan will be faced with the same offense/defense dilemma his predecessor was. But if Roberson improves from bad to even just mediocre from 3-point territory, it finally give OKC the two-way player between Durant and Westbrook they sorely need.

Coach’s Question:

How will Billy Donovan handle the backcourt rotation?

Speaking of Roberson, his development is just one factor in what seems like an endless string of options Donovan has with his backcourt. Aside from Roberson, Waiters, DJ Augustin, Kyle Singler and Anthony Morrow all bring solid skills that can be used to to create a deep and versatile Thunder rotation.

Waiters may not have the most efficient game, but his ability to create offense could come in handy depending on what Donovan does with Kanter and if/how he staggers Durant and Westbrook’s minutes. And while it’s easy to assume Waiters is basically empty calories in what is hopefully a championship diet, the Thunder were actually +4.4 per 48 minutes in the 1,448 minutes Waiters was on the floor last year, nearly four points per 48 better than when he sat.

Singler is a jack-of-all-trades type without a standout skill. He is active and attentive both on and off the ball defensively, but hardly the type of player capable of frustrating top wing scorers. Singler also shot 39.8 percent from 3 on exactly 3.0 attempts per game last year, but struggles to get to counter when chased off the arc by a closing defender.

Augustin is perhaps the team’s best and most willing passer, something that will be sorely needed on a team with four players who (want to) operate primarily as high usage scorers. And after Augustin, there’s Morrow, master catch-and-shoot player with a lightning release, but very limited in other areas.

All these players have the ability to help fill out dangerous lineups in a very deep and versatile Thunder rotation. But trying to wedge them all in over the course of a week of games can breed inconsistency due a constant reshuffling of the rotation. Yet at the same time, if Donovan chooses to abstain playing the matchup game in favor of a more set rotation, he may leave a productive player on the bench for months at a time. It’s a good problem for Donovan to have, but not always the most fun to find a solution to.

Best Case Scenario:

60-22 If…

Durant stays healthy, Donovan proves to be at least an even trade with Brooks and shoot-first tendencies of Durant, Westbrook, Kanter and Waiters don’t create a ‘my turn, your turn’ offensive flow.

Worst Case Scenario:

48-34 If…

Durant’s foot issues cause him to miss extended time. Donovan can’t figure out a complementary rotation with his bigs and/or wings. Waiters and Kanter refuse to acquiesce to the team’s two mega stars (when they’re healthy) while Westbrook stays stuck in last season’s mega-alpha dog mode.

Click here for a full list of NBA Season Previews from Brett Koremenos.