So yes I agree they are looking very good. Most likely very good for a while. Lots of praise for Presti. One thing however is always involved and that is a bit of luck. Chemistry with that team looks good. Without it they are just a group of really good players. How much praise should the coach get?
Coach should certainly get credit too. However I'd say the thing that sets the Thunder apart is the talent, youth, 2 way players, clear cap sheet, and boatload of draft picks. Those are all primarily from the GMs actions. I'd say Thunder kind of lucked out that SGA was this good. They might have projected him to eventually be an all-star but I doubt they planned for him to be the MVP. But this Thunder roster is so good they don't even need an MVP at the level of SGA to win a title. Put Garland in his place or any of a dozen all-stars and their still the title favorite this season plus next. Ownership certainly should get some credit too for letting Presti execute a long term roster building plan. Many or most NBA owners don't have that patience. We've seen with the Blazers how we collected these worthless vets in Ayton Grant Ant Timelord Thybulle Brogdon Nurkic Hart all after Olshey was fired. The Thunder instead only brought in vets if they helped build future assets or were vet minimums. Then last summer when they were ready to contend they brought in Caruso & Hartenstein as the final vet pieces. I'm not sure if the Blazers made their dumb decisions from Cronin or Bert or Jody. Either way Bennett and Presti have been much better management.
The Thunder led the league in forced turnovers at 17 per game and had the 2nd lowest rate of turnovers themselves at 11.8 STOMP
Yeah holding Minnesota to NINE points in the first quarter of a conference finals elimination game was unreal. I never thought with the 3pt and scoring increases of the last decade we'd ever see an NBA defense again at this level. If OKC cruises through the finals it will make Denver and Jokic year even more impressive.
No doubt the Thunder are set up for a nice run. But we did say the same thing about a few other teams recently. Boston, SA, Minnesota, Denver, NY, Cleveland.....and you never know how a simple trade or injury can affect each team moving forward.
Name ONE. Nobody thinks he's a bad GM. What I don't get is why he's still in Oklahoma. Why would the best GM in the country stay in the shittiest state to have an NBA team? It's not like the owner is a Mark Cuban/Steve Ballmer, either.
Let's remember that a Denver team that wasn't supposed to get out of the first round took the Thunder to 7 games. And the T-Wolves beat them by over 40 points. Maybe my memory's shot, but I don't remember things like that happening to the Jordan Bulls or even the peak Curry Warriors. I also have my doubts that Chet Holmgren is going to be available every playoff run... Whenever a team is looking unstoppable AND has draft capital, that's when things go South. Think Boston getting Len Bias. Detroit winning the title and having the #2 pick in the best draft ever (and taking Darko Milicic when Dwyane Wade was right there). Or: think of Orlando making the finals with a young Shaq and Penny, and everyone assuming they would win the next five.
You aren't new brother. Simply go to the search mechanism, type in "Presti" and find comments where people shit on him. In fact, you were involved in those very threads giving kudos to Presti so you should remember. Here is one comment And another
OK: nobody who isn't either crazy or just an intentional contrarian thinks he's a bad GM. Better @JFizzleRaider ?
As somebody who loves at least two of their albums I have to say that the Flaming Lips don't entirely suck.
OKC has the same problem, on a bigger scale, that a lot of young teams have. They are fine with their payroll next season...no hitch in their get-along but for the 2026-27 season, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren will be in the 1st season of their 2nd contracts. That could be adding 80-90M to their payroll. And the next off-season, Hartenstein, Dort, and Cason Wallace will all be getting new contracts will the OKC owner be willing to dive into 2nd apron hell for a few years while paying 250-300M/year in luxury tax?
I expect they'll keep some of these guys but flip a couple for picks. They won't keep them all. With the 2nd apron I don't think we'll ever see a team blow past the luxury tax like the warriors and clippers did. Maybe for a season - but then they'll drop below it. Despite having the NBA best record which should be the 29/30 pick they're picking 15th. They'll have more picks next year. Topic in the lottery last year will be a high upside rookie. They have plenty of cheap replacements coming.
I wouldn't even be shocked if OKC considered trading away SGA at some point in a few years. If they can get a young talent plus 4 unprotected picks or such they might believe that has more value long term than SGA in his 30s on a huge supermax contract.
That's exactly what he should do. I become fans of players too, but I want my team to WIN above all. If that's what the new CBA requires, then that's what it might require in order to stay a contender. No player should be above the team.
