Some great games yesterday…especially the Atlanta thiller over the NY Knicks and the Memphis Grizz win over the Jazz without Donovan Mitchell.
Before I get started on what will be Sam Presti Week on my blog… I have to give a shout out to Atlanta coach Nate McMillan. One could very well make the statement he should be in the conversation for Coach of the Year. Since he took over in early March the Hawks have been one of the better teams in the league and former Sooner Trae Young has been percolating.
As I watched this game it made me remember how last season I literally begged Sam Presti on my blog to trade Chris Paul for either Tyler Herro or RJ Barrett. Of course…Tyler helped get the Heat to the Finals last season and RJ is blossoming into a star in New York.
RJ would have been a great fit for the Thunder being he’s Canadian like Shai and Lu Dort. Maybe these three Canadians kids would have bonded was my thought and been the trifecta moving forward in Oklahoma City was as well part of what I was thinking. But no…we have a starving emaciated Kid Poku instead from Serbia. Also…with the three Canadian kids their skill sets don’t overlap per se. They would have given us three uniquely talented young guys. We should have actually tanked last year truth be known. We could have thrown Gallanari into the trade as well.
The Milwaukee Bucks got Giannnis back in the day as the 15th pick in his draft class. Kawhi Leonard was the 15th pick in his class. Jrue Holiday was the 17th pick in his class….just like Kid Poku was last summer.
My point? There is and has been excellent value beneath the top ten picks in the NBA’s draft if you have the right basketball people with you in the room.
Quite frankly—you and your people had it completely wrong back in the days of Kevin Durant. Your people built a team to beat Andrew Bynum and the Lakers instead of a team which could beat Steph and Klay. Clay Bennett and that tea sipper ownership group you work for might not notice such things… but a grinder from John Marshall knows exactly how much you missed the mark.
Kyle Singler, Josh Huestis, and Alex Abrines…really?
Since it’s become obvious to me Berry Tramel, Royce Young, or even Jenni Carlson are never going to ask you a tough question… I feel the need for having a Sam Presti Week on my blog….kind of like Shark Week.
Nothing personal….you just need to be better evaluating talent beyond what a player’s length is.
Can a player shoot? Can he think and read and react? Does he have vision? Is he coachable? Will his game evolve because of his work ethic? Should we have really ever put shooting guards around Kevin Durant who couldn’t shoot?
LeBron is almost done and AD without LeBron won’t be that much of a deal…so what we need to be doing in OKC with all this draft capital currency is making sure we’re the next ‘it ‘ team in the NBA. Sometimes you have to be ruthless. It’s a ruthless league. If we have to steal a player like Jerry West stole from you…then so be it.
‘We’ have thirty-four combined first and second round picks in the next six years. Let’s make sure we get the maximum juice from the pulp.
I hope you take this the right way because I’m pretty sure we both want Oklahoma City to win a championship.