The Thunder remind me of the Drexler Blazers. SGA is Drexler, Jalen W. is Terry, Chet is Buck, etc. Them getting Caruso and Hartenstein was like us getting Ainge. They're just lucky that they're in a time with no Jordan-Pippen-Jackson Bulls
Both teams fast break a lot and have very good defense. Blazers were 3rd-4th in the league while Thunder are #1 defense. Both teams were pretty deep. Yeah Blazers had Ainge off the bench but also Cliff Robinson, Drazen, Strickland, etc.
OKC looks like a team built as sustained contenders for the title. It’s too early for me to say they’re a dynasty in the making. Too much luck with health is involved. No rings — yet. They do look like the team best positioned to become a dynasty. With Tatum’s injury and huge team salary, that window is iffy for Boston. Bench depth can take a hit. Minnesota needs to replace Conley. Ant needs to work on shooting with a foot in the paint — he’s at the rim or from 3 without being awesome from 3. Indiana > New York. Both as contenders. The Spurs need their generational player on the court.
Dallas going to be tough next year (with the usual caveat about the health of Kyrie and AD). If AD can get back close to his peak (and he'll have plenty of incentive given the way he was dismissed this year) he's a top 10 (close to top 5) talent.
Spurs could draft Harper plus cash in picks for a veteran all-star. With Wemby, Fox, Castle thats going to be a ridiculous starting 5. The next decade of OKC/Spurs might be like early 2000s Spurs/Lakers where the West basically crowned the champ and the East was an exhibition.
his health is the only thing that will prevent the spurs to dominate the next ten years. If healthy, Wemby will be ten-folds the dominance we're seeing from Jokic, and the spurs will supply him with help much better than the Nuggets did Jokic
I agree that you ever know. If you told me OKC would have to wait 13 years to get back to the Finals, I would’ve wondered what went wrong. They were set with young KD/RW/Harden. So you never know. I disagree the Nuggets were supposed to lose in the first round. They had HCA and a championship core. As for Jordan’s Bulls, they nearly blew a 3-0 lead in the Finals in their 72-10 year. And Steph’s Warriors blew a 3-1 lead despite having only lost 9 games in the regular season.
Or they ARE the Jordan-Pippen-Jackson Bulls! I disagree with the Blazers comparisons. Those players are nothing like the players you compared them to.
Let’s not get carried away. Wemby will be awesome but hardly TEN FOLD better than Jokic. He’ll have a 300.00 PER?
Btw- are we responsible for OKC’s success? If Dame hadn’t hit that shot and we lost the series, would they have still traded peak PG?
Obviously their games are different, but in terms of "level of star" then I would say SGA is Drexler-level, etc. I hated the Bulls. And I hate anachronistic comparisons. But the only reason OKC might win against those Bulls is because of modern training methods, not sheer talent and will. Do you really see the Bulls being pushed to seven games by Denver? It's possible that OKC will be a dynasty, but I honestly don't see it. Boston last year had more of a look of inevitability than this Thunder team. I think the streak of "new champion every year" will continue next year.
Bulls lost for three years in a row to the Pistons then later to Shaq. Jordan never won a title until he was 28 - SGA is 26. Even years Jordan won a title they had game 7 against the Knicks and Pacers. I'd certainly take the field over OKC next season - but they probably have a better chance than any other single team. The thing that makes them a possible dynasty isn't the talent in their starting lineup today, that is comparable to many title winners. Its all the youth and picks they have to get even better throughout the next decade.
