As the season creeps closer–I’m not sure what anyone should be writing other than this season provides the Thunder with a chance to land a high lottery pick of their own if they choose to go into full tank mode. A pick that would translate into being SGA’s running mate in the years to come.
I don’t see any point in predicting number of wins or where the Thunder will finish given that once Chris Paul is traded you would assume Gallanari will be gone soon after as well.
Fair or not—Billy Donovan will be in the final year of his Thunder contract and even he doesn’t know what his team will look like after Dec. 15th.
The Fox telecasts should be interesting to say the very least. I hope someone explains to Michael Cage the Thunder will be trying to lose games at some point. The Thunder bloggers will have their work cut out for them to keep their writing on the team interesting.
I’m going to be fair and patient in that I would have traded Russell Westbrook just as Sam Presti did for the simple reason it didn’t make any sense to spend that type of money for a forty something win level type of a team.
I’d also write the fans in OKC shouldn’t bitch because ownership in Oklahoma City did everything they could to keep the team relevant after Kevin Durant escaped from Oklahoma City.
You can’t say Sam Presti didn’t push some buttons. Oladipo, Sabonis, Carmelo, Alex Abrines, Ray Felton, Jerami Grant, and Paul George. It wasn’t like Sam Presti didn’t try everything to make Russell Westbrook work in OKC after Durant’s escape to Golden State.
I have no idea how the college market fans in Oklahoma City will handle this season. This won’t be like the Hurricane Katrina season or the 23-59 team that first year after the Sonics move here from Seattle.
This will have a different feel. This is when we find out about the staying power of the Thunder season ticket fanbase in the real world of major league sports.
How ironic Chris Paul won NBA Rookie of the Year back in that first Hurricane Katrina season and he now is back waiting for his agent to move him to a relevant team with a chance to contend. It’s the perfect exclamation point to the rise and fall of the Thunder as they attempt to reset the franchise.
Otherwise…the West in the NBA will be fascinating to witness for NBA junkies like myself. I’ll watch the Thunder games—but the real interest will be in watching the Clippers, Lakers, Warriors, Rockets and Jazz. And don’t discount some teams even beneath them as the West is loaded like never before.
On my little blog, I’ll still follow the Thunder, but it will clearly be in a different way than ever before.