I’m not concerned about OKC’s record because they’re tanking. I have the Thunder slated for something like a 30-52 record with Gallanari for sure being traded as soon as we reach December 15th or so and not quite sure how long it will take to find a taker of Chris Paul’s contract.
I don’t even know what the final score of this game was even though I watched parts of the second half in between play stoppages of the O State-TCU football game. If OU hadn’t been idle…I probably wouldn’t have watched what I did.
The Thunder are tanking. They need at some point point to rid themselves of the three salaries of Chris Paul, Steven Adams, and Andre Roberson which this season add up to just around $70 million for this season alone.
One is too old, one can’t shoot beyond six feet, and one tragically suffered an injury which is hard to come back from for an NBA player. I love all three of these players as guys, but this is a business.
I will actually start going to Thunder games once the resale value of tickets plummets even further for season ticket holders.
If I’m Sam Presti–I would follow the Lawrence Frank-Jerry West model with the Clippers the previous two seasons in honing my team for two seasons down the road.
This is what I want…I want to have three young stars as my core moving forward. All three need to be able to score the ball and be decent from outside the arc. No more big contracts for guys who can’t shoot the ball. SGA is a player. Sam Presti now needs to start using his assets and put two other young core players around SGA.
I then want hungry, tough role players making up the rest of my roster. No stars. I want guys like Pat Beverly and Nick Collison. I want guys with a chip on their shoulder who have something to prove. I want guys that want to prove they belong in this league and can be signed for contracts with some real value for the team.
As I see it the Thunder already have four of these in Diallo, Ferguson, Bazley, and Noel. Possibly—Nadar and Burton, but I would need to see more out of both of them as the talent level on the roster starts to rise again this late spring and into the NBA draft next summer. BTW…in case you didn’t notice Adams and Ferguson didn’t even play versus the Pels.
Centers in the NBA have become like running backs in the NFL. That being, you don’t need to pay a lot of money for a center to win a championship. Find a center who can run, rebound, play off the pick and roll…and be at the least a 68% free throw shooter. I love Steven Adams as a mate, but c’mon…. he’s to the Thunder as to what Todd Gurley is to the Rams…. too damn expensive for what he does. NBA centers are the running backs of the new style of play in the league…Jokic being an extreme exception.
And of course I’d probably part ways with Billy Donovan. You couldn’t find a nicer coach in the league. I don’t want a nice coach. I want a coach who can extract the maximum out of my roster and monetize the investment I’ve made in my team per wins and per high basketball IQ culture once they set foot on the floor.
This is the template I’d want if I were Sam Presti and Clay Bennett moving forward.
So at 2-4 and probably headed for the cellar in the Northwest Division along with the Timberwolves the Thunder are right where we thought they would be.
I’m actually much more upbeat than I was two months ago. Diallo is a high energy role player. Bazley appears to have much more upside than I thought he would have. Noel should have been played much more last season and we already knew that.
And here’s another thing..Jerami Grant is averaging 9 points a game shooting the three ball at 22% for Denver so far in his option year. Who’s to say last season at 38% Jerami Grant had an outlier high season shooting the three. Maybe Presti got lucky and sold higher than we thought he did originally.
This is the second decade of NBA ball in Oklahoma City. The fans and the local writers need to grow up. It’s a business. It’s not all fuzzy warm with butterflies and rainbows at times.
Actually–in hedge parlance…I’m bullish on the Thunder moving forward and my guess is Sam Presti would like what I just wrote.