I expected Paul George to sign with either the Lakers and Clippers this past summer. I then expected the Thunder to be on the worst end of any trade in recent NBA memory in giving up Victor Oladipo and Domas Sabonis for a one year rental of Paul George. I expected the Thunder to be heading into the same decline pattern of say the Memphis Grizzlies with Mike Conley and Marc Gasol becoming a fringe playoff team fighting for an 8th seed here and there.
Fortunately I was wrong. Paul George fully committed to the Thunder. Jerami Grant signed a new contract. Sam Presti got rid of Carmelo Anthony in a trade which now gives him a sixth man in Dennis Schroder and picked up a legitimate NBA backup center in Nerlen Noels.
Presti used both of the Thunder’s second round draft picks to select Devon Hall from Virginia and Kevin Hurley from Texas Arlington. Hall a shooting guard and Hervey a forward you would expect to be playing in the D League this season.
Presti acquired two nice swing players in Hamidou Diallo and Timothe Luwawu-Caborrot. Both could help the Thunder given the uncertainty of Andre Roberson’s recovery from his leg injury.
It was a solid sustainable summer for Sam Presti as the Thunder enter the first year of their second decade of NBA basketball in Oklahoma City.
But the key word is sustainable. It has been Presti’s mantra in OKC since the Thunder were moved here from Seattle.
Not in sustaining NBA championships, but more to the point in sustaining relevance in the league as OKC’s only major league team in one of the smallest markets in all of the four major sports.
I would say mission accomplished two years removed from Kevin Durant’s exodus to Oakland to join the loaded Warriors.
I’ve yet to really sit down and pick my top eight teams in the West, but given what transpired in the league this summer—I could either pick the Thunder as high as No. 2 or as low as No. 5 in the West. If OKC were in the East—I’d have them right there with the Celtics as the best team in the East.
If I were to do an overall NBA Power Poll right now…I’d probably go with the Thunder at No. 5 or No. 6 in the entire league as far as their roster heading into the season.
So I’m giving Sam Presti a very solid grade of an A for his off season as the Thunder’s general manager.
Sam Presti has given Billy Donovan plenty to work with this basketball season, plus he saved the Thunder around $88 million dollars in getting rid of Carmelo Anthony and by stretching Kyle Singler.
This will be Billy Donovan’s fourth season as the Thunder coach. My jury is still out on him. Don’t get me wrong, I love him as a decent person and a representative of the city. I think he’s a classy guy. But my jury is out. I need to see Billy Donovan soar with this roster.
In fairness to Donovan he was one game away from reaching the NBA Finals in his first NBA season. In his second NBA season the team overachieved with 47 wins and Russell Westbrook’s historic triple double season. So—for the first two seasons I’m giving Billy Donovan a B+ as the head coach.
Like everyone, I expected more form the Thunder last season. But to be fair to Donovan he was saddled with a delusional former star in Carmelo Anthony who had no realistic appraisal of his current value in this league.
Placating Carmelo will not be an issue for Billy Donovan this basketball season.
The Thunder should be both an excellent defensive team and one of the league’s best rebounding teams. I would also think the Thunder will lead the league in defensive deflections with their exceptional overall team length and athleticism.
This won’t be a Thunder team waiting for Carmelo to lumber up the floor and catch up with his teammates. Sam Presti has a team of greyhounds in place for Billy Donovan.
Shooting will decide this team’s fate. Unlike last year–they can’t suck shooting the three and be one of the league’s worse free throw shooting teams.
Amazingly for me, I think Alex Abrines is one of the team’s real keys this season. I ripped Abrines for his defense the first third of last season, but to his credit he worked his tail off and became a decent defensive player. If I were Donovan—I’d seriously toy with the notion of starting Alex Abrines if his defensive play continues to evolve.
I’d go maybe Westbrook, George, Adams, Grant, and Abrines as my five starters because I’m assuming it’s going to take some time for Andre Roberson to fully recover from his season ending injury in Detroit.
Dennis Schroder is the Sixth Man. He needs to come off the bench and score the basketball. He needs to be a content version of Reggie Jackson.
If Noels can stay healthy and Patrick Patterson can shoot the three ball at a 36-39% clip the Thunder have a nice top eight players without even taking Roberson into account.
Diallo and TLC should be able to help this team. There is some nice depth.
But in the end this is Russell Westbrook and Paul George’s team and as they go the Thunder will go. It’s a star drive league. Your stars have to play like stars in the goal achieving portion of the season.
It was a solid off season in Oklahoma City. The Thunder are still relevant without Kevin Durant heading into their second decade of existence.
The Thunder have proven to be sustainable.