Could Carmelo End Up in OKC?

I don’t know, but it’s an intriguing thought because as we all know in OKC the future is now. Maybe what Sam Presti learned from the Hamptons debaucle is that conventional team building per se doesn’t come into play this summer. Russell Westbrook needs to see Presti and Clay Bennett are willing to put a championship team around him.

You’d obviously need to unload Kanter’s salary and another player would have to be traded as well. I’m not sure how it would go down, but if you have Westbrook, Paul, and Carmelo as OKC’s top three players that’s very formidable.

Thunder’s starting five would be Russ at the point, Roberson at the two, Paul George at small forward, Carmelo at power forward, and Steven at center. This would move Patterson to the second unit to team along with Jerami Grant, Abrines, McDermott, and Raymond Felton. But again, not sure who else besides Kanter would have to be packaged to bring Carmelo to OKC.

I’ve seen a lot of Carmelo over the years both at Syracuse and the Denver Nuggets. His ‘Cuse national championship team beat Kelvin Sampson’s OU team in the NCAA Tournament in the Elite 8. OU couldn’t guard him. Period. If you combine Westbrook, George, and Carmelo you suddenly have your top three core averaging around 75-77 points a game. And you know what that does—if starts to make the Golden State math not quite as daunting as you put a team together which can consistently score around 122 points a game and play some defense.

Another twist is OKC’s assistant GM, Troy Weaver, recruited Carmelo to Syracuse.

Note to Sam Presti—the future is now.

One Shining Moment, 2003. I love these. I truly do.

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