2023-2024 General NBA Season Thread
- Thread starter BigSoxFan
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They definitely should. OKC should consolidate this summer. Their picks may start depreciating because everyone knows they can't make all of them. Presti has to find the exact opposite gear of what got him to this point with this team: likely overpaying for established talent.
Meanwhile Danny gets to stay in asset accumulation mode, which he loves.
Rumor has it that OKC is going after Hartenstein, which would certainly fill a need but will be interesting to see if he can play with Chet. https://nypost.com/2024/06/10/sports/thunder-could-seriously-complicate-knicks-isaiah-hartenstein-plans/
They should be shooting a lot higher than Hartenstein if they want to win the west. Presti shouldn't be hoarding assets for much longer.
I've always loved Hartenstein (when he signed w/the NYK) but OKC using a chunk of their $35M slot on him would be sub-optimal.
The 5-wide thing seems like a good idea when playing these top WC teams. IH is non non-threat from the perimeter
During the Bill Simmons/Doc Rivers podcast today, the big message was that *everyone knows their role* on the Cs. It took awhile for the Jays to know what each other were doing and to feel genuinely happy for each other and on the same page. The Thunder have their leader in SGA and Chet is their 2nd banana; Dort is another guy who seems comfortable in his role. But the negative in their ASSETS! approach is that everyone at or below the #3 level feels like they should be in the starting lineup, and you need some sort of hierarchy. Not even guys who are "more than" and "lesser than" but people who set the table in different ways and all feel like they are contributing regardless of the PPG. Finding a Jrue-level player will take OKC to the promised land and should be their #1 priority this summer. To the contrary, overpaying for a Hauser-level player who is on their first big contract and playing him as a #3/#4 will be fine for the regular season but backfire during the playoffs. Oddly in OKC's case, the older the better for established talent for their purposes.
Edit: As I write this, it feels like they acquired Al Horford one or two years too early for their trajectory...
I think this is a face-saving mover by the agents. JJ wasn't passed over for Hurley, he was a target after Hurley, etc. Doesn't correspond to the earlier reporting but they get to write a new story with new leaks now.
Good point. Boy could they have used Al Horford this playoffs.
Agree with the above posters that OKC should aim higher but as people have pointed out, it's a lot easier to build a team around 2 do-everything wings than it is with, for example, SGA and Chet.
They could get Tobias Harris pretty reasonably.
I think JDub will end up being their #2, but I agree with the rest of this. Target elite talent and make the deal, even if it hurts, pick the guys from the supporting cast you think fit the next evolution of the team best and deal the others for usable assets or more space.
Mad respect for Tobias Harris if he can squeeze another sizeable deal.Good point. Boy could they have used Al Horford this playoffs.
Agree with the above posters that OKC should aim higher but as people have pointed out, it's a lot easier to build a team around 2 do-everything wings than it is with, for example, SGA and Chet.
They could get Tobias Harris pretty reasonably.
JDub is awesome, he's already their #2
a consolidation/slight overpay for mature talent is on my OKC bingo card this summer
Huh. I get the appeal, but OKC is in better position than anyone to emulate the Celtics model of putting playmaking/shooting at every position.
Now, if they were signing IH and trading for someone like Lauri, things get interesting. I think that's the level of overpowered they need to go for to get to the next level.
OKC is in an interesting position. They are good but not good enough - and the issue with having all of those assets plus a roster that's very good (but not good enough) is that they have to make some tough decisions where to upgrade.
Getting Markkanen allows them to play a true 5-out but I don't think will solve their problems against Luka/DAL and I'm not sure they match up well against MIN's size either.
They have to figure out whether a couple of their players (J-Dub, Chet) are going to take another leap and if they don't, they have to upgrade - which is a really difficult decision. It's the same reason why BOS kept Smart around for a while - good player, good contract - but BOS didn't really blast off until they realized they needed to upgrade (and they got lucky that KP/Jrue were available).
Will be interesting to see how Presti handles this. I'm sure his biggest hope right now is that he can figure out how to get a high draft pick in next year's draft.
Getting Markkanen allows them to play a true 5-out but I don't think will solve their problems against Luka/DAL and I'm not sure they match up well against MIN's size either.
They have to figure out whether a couple of their players (J-Dub, Chet) are going to take another leap and if they don't, they have to upgrade - which is a really difficult decision. It's the same reason why BOS kept Smart around for a while - good player, good contract - but BOS didn't really blast off until they realized they needed to upgrade (and they got lucky that KP/Jrue were available).
Will be interesting to see how Presti handles this. I'm sure his biggest hope right now is that he can figure out how to get a high draft pick in next year's draft.
The challenge for OKC is that Chet and JDub definitely will get better, but
- NBA championship windows don't stay open forever
- you can't make all those picks
So you're stuck knowing you have some guys who will be better later, but the current level of the team and declining value of some picks means you need to improve now.
Agree with this (although we've been spoiled watching JT and JB - Chet and JDub could get better but also could quickly plateau - which is more common than what JB in particular has done).
And to add on, "improving now" is super tricky because if OKC adds someone that's going to take touches away from JDub and Chet, that could impede their development, but on the other hand, just by giving the same touches to SGA, Chet, and JDub doesn't mean that they're going to improve.
OKC really needs someone who is impactful but doesn't need the ball in their hands - like Jrue (doesn't everyone?), only bigger. Either that or they're going to have to go all-in for a star, but there's no real fit this year as far as I can see.
The other problem that Presti is going to face, as Ainge did, is that trade partners are well of aware of his war chest and will demand excess value simply because he has it. The cost of every Justise Winslow suddenly becomes seven picks, five of them firsts, etc.
While I think you are correct about the ask from trade partners, I don't see this as an issue for OKC. They just have so many moveable NBA assets that even if they "overpay" on a transaction they will still be fine. Presti has a lot of levers to pull and NBA windows can be reset via trade.
Presti doesn't even have to be Stevens-esque in his returns to win. He just needs to tweak the roster to make OKC much tougher.
Brad: here's a late 1st and some crappy ex prospects
"awww you're sweet"
Presti: I'll give you the LA Clippers' future draft rights in perpetuity
"uhhhh hello, human resources?!?"