This will be fun as we now see the opening day roster for the tanking Oklahoma City Thunder as they embark upon getting a top five player from the NBA draft this summer. Plus, if I have all these first round draft picks OKC has coming their way one of the Houston picks which is only protected 1-4 is OKC’s this summer as well.
In all Oklahoma City has 18 first round picks stockpiled thru 2027, but with assets like Al Horford and Trevor Ariza still listed on OKC’s roster—the mountain of first round picks could get even higher.
Let’s put Trevor Ariza in what I’ll call asset escrow for right now before I list the rest of the roster.
Guard position…SGA, George Hill, Lu Dort, Theo Maledon, Hamidou Diallo, Ty Jerome–as ranked by me.
Forward position… Darius Bazely, Mike Muscala, Justin Jackson, Isiah Roby, Darius Miller, Kenrich Williams, Josh Hall (Ariza escrow) as ranked by me.
Center position… Al Horford, Aleksej Pokusevski aka as The Siberian Express, Moses Brown as ranked by me.
Let’s assume Trevor Ariza doesn’t play. Who are my top eleven players tomorrow night in Houston which itself could be tanking at some point this season?
My top eleven would be in this order… SGA, Al Horford, George Hill, Theo Maledon, Darius Bazely, Lu Dort, Siberian Express, Mike Muscala, Hamidou Diallo, Justin Jackson, Isiah Roby.
SGA, Lu Dort, George Hill, Big Al Horford, and Darius Bazely are my starting five.
Theo Maledon is my sixth man. I actually like Theo Maledon. He could be a nice player.
The Siberian Express is my project for the time being….which means he get twenty plus minutes a game no matter how many times he throws the ball away or clanks iron or looks like he should be in the G League. Remember–those turnovers will turn into Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, BJ Boston or Jalen Suggs at some point. Glass half full… plus Siberian Express might turn into something as a player himself two to three years from now when he has a more mature body.
Mike Muscala would get extensive minutes to maximize his three point shooting skills. If you’re going to lose big at least have some fun with your better shooters.
Then I’d use Diallo, Jackson, and Roby as minute fillers depending on the night and the opponent and the need to make sure and lose the game in the last eight minutes.
If I were coaching these guys and wanted to have some fun going 10-62 this is how I would do it.