Well, the Draft has come and gone, and the Thunder now have 3 new players on their roster. Who are they? Here's a detailed breakdown their style of play, and what to expect from them going forward.

Picked #3-

James Harden

As predicted by our very own Okluschen, James Harden went to Oklahoma City at #3. If there was a safe pick to make, this was it. If Thabeet was available, I might have argued for him to be picked, but at three, the choice was generally between this guy, Stephen Curry, and Ricky Rubio. Rubio had a bunch of baggage, such as whether he would whine about playing in a small market (as Yi Jianlian did) and just how much it would take to buy him out from his club in Spain. Curry was a solid option, but he would be pretty small for a shooting guard, and it's questionable how well he could distribute the ball. So, the Thunder went with James Harden, the safe pick. Personally, I thought the Thunder might have taken a shot at Rubio, seeing as how they hired a Spanish law firm to deal with his contract.

Reguardless, Harden is regarded as the most "NBA Ready" member of the early picks, which is exactly what the Thunder want. Someone to eventually replace Sefolosha, and somebody who won't threaten Russell Westbrook at the point.

Here's James going off for 40 against UTEP, and it's a spectacle to watch. He's regularly hitting down NBA threes (which is what we need, given that we have virtually no 3 point shooters), and he isn't afraid to take it to the hole when he has to.

Another video of James, this time just doing it from all over the floor against good teams. His 3 Point Accuracy will translate to the NBA for sure, but it remains to be seen if his quickness and explosiveness to the hole will translate. Even in these videos, you can see that he's not that much quicker than everybody else, and usually only got past them by sheer force of will or length of body. You can also see that he has not taken a single midrange jumper in either of these videos, which has to be a bit of a concern.

Here's his stats. As you can see, he played virtually the same for both years, and the only reason he had varying stats for his second year is because he had more weight on his shoulders and handled the ball more. Still, you can see that he is an ample defender and shooter, and he's not a guy who's going to take time to "develop". Half a season in, he should be pretty close to his prime.

What to expect:

I'd expect James Harden to start off by backing up Sefolosha, with Weaver either buried on the bench or on another team. Then, it would be a matter of time before a slight injury or a couple bad performances would slide Harden into a starting role mid to late season. He'll be on the All-Rookie team, but I wouldn't expect him to be Rookie of the Year. He'll probably slide in as a fourth piece on a very good team, and while he might not be as good as Curry, Rubio, or Griffin, he could help us out here and now, and that's what's important.

Picked #24-

B.J. Mullens

The Mavericks are sly ones, oh yes they are. They knew that the Thunder wanted B.J. Mullens, so they picked him at #24 and forced the Thunder to pony up a future 2nd Rounder, Cash, and the pick of Rodrigue Beaubois in order to get him. So, the Thunder obliged. So, who, exactly, did we give up a 2nd rounder and cash for?

Here's some silent highlights of B.J. You can see that he has ample low post moves, but he doesn't have much of a range and will get mostly garbage buckets, ala Nick Collison or Robert Swift.

Here, you can't see much of how he could play in the real NBA (as he's playing against a bunch of streetballers) but here you can see what he's got that makes him special - excellent athleticism as a 7 footer. If anyone remembers how Young Shaq would jump above and then proceed to bulldoze 3 defenders before dunking the ball with no remorse....well, B.J. Mullens can't do that. But he can sky for rebounds, be set up for some Alley-oops not normal for that type of center, and possibly tire out old Centers really quick.

As you can see from his stats, he didn't get tons of minutes at Ohio State like Harden did at Arizona State, but he did try to make the most out of 20 minutes. The issue here isn't his scoring necessarily, it's he rebounding. If he could only get a rebound every 4 minute on the College Level, it's pretty doubtful that he'll be a skilled rebounder on the pro level.

What to Expect:

This guy brings a completely different skill set than Krstic (mostly shooting and rebounding) and a somewhat different skill set than Collison (mostly rebounding, defense, and tough baskets). But, if B.J. Mullens gets time, we should be able to see him whip out Birdman-like dunks and bring a whole new shotblocking element to the Thunders' game that has not been see before. But, he will probably really hurt our rebounding totals (which is killer when Kevin Durant is playing Power Foward), and it remains to be seen whether his scoring ability will translate to the NBA. I'd say he'll get Malik Rose type minutes behind Krstic and Collison for most of this season. Next season might be a different story, depending on how well his rookie season goes.

Picked #54-

Robert Vaden

This pick was, literally, purchased from the Charlotte Bobcats for cash. This guy is one of those big fish in small pond colleges, hoping to make the pros on merit from destroying small-time competition. Before we go to the video analysis, lets take a quick look at this graphic that I found:

Any of those other names ring bells? This should tell you what type of player Robert Vaden is: Streaky Shooter. Now, on to the footage.

This video shows him when he's on the opposite end of the spectrum and is shooting properly. And when he's there, he's HOT. Sizzling HOT.

Here he is in all of his highlight video glory. And you can see what he does. A couple layups, and a thousands threes. Even when he gets on the fast break, he just can't resist pulling up and knocking down the jumper (or, as seen above, bricking it). Very Rarely woudl you ever see him drive for the dunk or the layup, or even the midrange jumper. He's gonna hang around the perimeter all day long. But this still raises questions about whether his game can translate to the NBA level. All of his jumpers were made in small gyms, against bad teams, and players that didn't look like they cared. His speed and athleticism don't look like anything special, either.

He has a long and storied college career, as can be seen. He has decent defensive stats, but these are decent against bad players in bad gyms, and, to me, that translates to defensive liability in the NBA. But, an upside to this long college career is that Vaden is going to be ready to play right away. He's 24, after all.

What to Expect:

In all reality, this guy is still a tail-end draft pick. It's very unlikely he'll make the roster, and will most likely either be cut or sit on the tail end of our roster and play in the D-League. If he shows his stuff there, then he could be called up and utilized as a specialist 3 point shooter at the end of the bench. But, in the end, he's got his work cut out for him, and 66ers fans can look forward to seeing him soon.

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