if you’re forced at the last minute to blow up your team, not by management but a single player’s unexpected request, you’re normally screwed. But he managed to get 8 first round picks and 4 pick swaps and saved his team $40+ million. On top of that, he picked up bonus points with agents and players for dealing with it quietly and giving their free agent signings a chance to back out. Not too shabby for 10 days work. And technically they aren’t that awful a team even afterward. They’d probably make the playoffs in the east. 15 first round picks in the next 7 years is crazy even if some fall later in the rounds.
Presti did a good job, but getting picks back when you trade players like George and Westbrook isn't exactly a miracle, now the hard part starts for him, he's usually pretty good with drafting good prospects but building a contender is not easy. The good thing for him is that he already has Shai, dude can become a great player.
The dude had THREE eventual MVP winners at one point and couldn’t squeeze even one ring out of them. That, to me, is unforgivable no matter how great he is at the draft.
Did’t the 76ers tank for four years to get that many 1st round picks ? Not bad work by Presti. If OKC can get 2 young players like Simmons and Embiid from those picks it would make the rebuild so must easier
Yes, he did the best he could. But I'm hoping, really hoping, that one day he'll regret the Westbrook trade as much as he regrets the Harden trade.
I dun think he regrets it as much because OKC has been a much smaller market than Houston. They can't really keep their stars happy over longer time.
Presti's draft history track record isn't a gold mine. OKC Thunder fans would know. OKC might get less in return for CP3 now than if the Rockets used a 3rd team.
He "regrets" the Harden decision because Harden exceeded expectations, and what he got in return was nowhere near as good. Perhaps given his market he did the best he could, but it still made him look bad. So I'm basically hoping Westbrook/Harden win a championship and CP3 becomes a worthless albatross
True but I think CP3 resents being in OKC soon and will want to be bought out or stretched.....he can go to Los Angeles finally.
Unprotected clippers draft picks is nice with top four protected from us... the Rockets mortgaged everything and is betting on Murray to stay semi good for the years beyond prime harden. It would be nuts for any other team. That shows how locked in Murray is with Tillman. Rocket fans just assume it, but if Murray quits for whatever reason in the next two-three years, it’ll be a double reaming as bad as how ainge fleeced the Nets.
Yeah thats cuz 76ers didnt start with WB and Paul George. If you already got assets on the roster then dealing them for picks isnt that hard. Dont get me wrong Presti did a good job getting all those assets but he got it from the Clippers and the Rockets, two teams that have championship aspirations. Getting two 20-30th picks every year for 4 years isnt exactly gonna turn their franchise around. Getting a Simmons and Embiid from those picks would be hard AF, esp considering Presti picks scrubs if he isnt picking in the lotto. The haul Pelicans got for AD is still way better than what Presti got for WB and PG combined.
And maybe (ahem, maybe) in 7 years, they get 3 young players possibly as good as KD/Westbrook/Harden.... that's a big what if. When the ultimate pay-off of this is simply to get you back to where you were... it doesn't seem as optimistic.
How is giving 2 top 4 protected picks mortgaging everything? Lol Clippers gave 5 picks thats mortgaging everything. Our picks could very well be low first rounders we havent picked in the first round for a long ass time anyway hardly makes a diff. The picks also arent consecutive so the only way the Rox get "fleeced" is if they get a top 5 pick in 2024 and 2026 and somehow get a worse record than OKC in 2021 and 2025. For the roster as constructed the team will either be great or horrible by 2024, if they are horrible they are gonna tank for the top 4 or higher pick and if they are still good then the picks are no biggie. I still would have preferred to run it back but we didnt pay too steep a price for the WB gamble. It might be even better long term as our window just got extended by 5 years.
This is straight up Twilight Zone B.S. to me. Why does Presti get a pass, even though some posters were ready to dose Morey with gasoline for not making any moves? Yet, calls for his head when he does. Morey has not lost 4 superstars or tank to get quality players. If the roles were reversed with other GMs, besides Presti. New Yorkers would burn the Garden down, as would Boston. Staple what in LA? Drafting well defeats the purpose, if you cannot keep superstars.
???? KD, Westbrook, the Beard, Steven Adams no GM has accumulated more talents, for more than a decade, and yet still unable to win a ring in view of the fact that he drafted well and he traded well, one can only conclude that he was not good in hiring the right coach; he has no analytics for coaching
He also drafted ibaka, and was the main guy for drafting Tony Parker. Westbrook and Harden were not no brainier picks either. That is 3 MVPs and 4 hall of framers.
