So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.

[D.o.s.]

It would be absurd in my eyes for them to not start Kanter. Heck not starting Morrow is just as bad in my eyes.

Westbrook, Morrow, Durant, Ibaka, Kanter is a force in my eyes. Spreads the floor, scores at a high rate, and Ibaka covers enough of the interior D for Kanter to be adequate. Makes no sense in my eyes.

If OKC's coaching staff had enough faith in Ibaka covering he [edit: Kanter] might very well be starting. The idea could also be to have Kanter bear a larger part of the scoring load with the second unit, since he's not going to get many effective touches with KD and Westbrook on the floor, and he will almost certainly have an easier time on both sides of the ball against bench squads.

[Endless Paradise]

It's primarily the latter: it best maximizes Kanter's strengths and minimizes his weaknesses having him come the bench. Would you rather have Kanter guarding an Austin Rivers-Cole Aldrich pick-and-roll or a Chris Paul-DeAndre Jordan pick-and-roll? Would you also rather have Kanter going against Cole Aldrich or DeAndre Jordan on the offensive end?

Not to mention, the Thunder's three best players have all come off serious injuries in the past several seasons, so the team is looking to lighten their individual workload. Not ideal to have Serge constantly having to cover for Kanter after two consecutive seasons of lower-extremity injuries.

Finally, the Thunder's starting lineup of Westbrook, Roberson, Durant, Ibaka, and Adams was fairly productive last season: +15 net rating with a less-than-100% Durant and two new starters. Not unreasonable to think the starting lineup is effective enough as is and could stand a good chance of being even better with some good health and another year of chemistry.

[Big333223]

I love that a preseason article saying it "seems" like Adam will be the starter is iron clad proof.