[FiveThiryEight] The Thunder Weren’t Built For The Modern NBA

They weren't built for any NBA.

Are you asking me to bump the Presti= overrated thread that is nearly legendary in its forecasting acumen?

You are, right?

 

They were made for the iverson 2001 sixers era.

 

They are built for the future NBA where the games will be 36 minutes of full court 1 on 1 battle.

 

didn't we shoot worse than them? at least in the last game we were a scorching 6-37!

and our only 3&D guy (ariza) couldn't make a shot most of the series

 

Make all the excuses for westbrook. A new one a day. No amount of 3 & D players matter if the bulk of the shot is handed to one inefficient player.

 

We did. But that does not fit the narrative. We beat them without our 3p shot.

 

Westbrook's game is bad for shooters because the best shooting teams play in a motion offense (Spurs, Celtics, Jazz, Rockets and Warriors). OKC is last in passes per game and bottom 5 in team assist.

 

This was a team build for Durant and Westbrook. If you take away durant well its not a good team. They were a few minutes away from going to the finals last year.

 

I think it's a little unfair to judge Presti so harshly. He (by all accounts) made good moves trading for Oladipo, Sabonis, Gibson, and McDermott in the aftermath of KD leaving. It hasn't even been a year since Durant left them, and their roster is still in flux. Because of that, I'm not going to criticize the job Presti is trying to do to get them back into contention for home court in the playoffs.

I will, however, criticize Westbrook for creating an atmosphere where I think it's doubtful another star would ever want to go there. OKC is in a tough place because on one hand, they absolutely NEED Westbrook to go full Rambo and take on the NBA by himself for relevancy's sake; on the other hand, it's that mentality that's going to keep them in the bottom half of Western Conference playoff teams for the foreseeable future. It's your prototypical Lose-Lose-Win-Lose-Lose situation.

 

The OKC roster around Westbrook look better as a collection of assets than an actual team on the court. It is the reverse for the Rockets.

Take Steven Adams: I am not sure there is anything that the Rocket can offer OKC (short of Harden) that would make OKC trade him to Houston.

After Durant's departure, it just seems that OKC made good "value" transactions but they don't all fit on the court yet. I think OKC can improve by moving some of assets for better fitting pieces.

 

Presti blew it with the harden trade. That can never be forgiven. He broke up a dynasty of dudes all under 24 or so.

 

This is an undeniable fact. A historic mistake that will haunt the franchise for years.

However, people who pee on Presti about everything else and act like he's never done anything right since then are just silly.

 

The reason why I value Westbrook's loyalty for signing the extension but unfortunately its to a team that doesn't deserve it.

 

but their skills were overlapping

 

I just posted this in another thread, but ... this article about their future seems more cheerful... by the way, this is the guy that wanted Steven Adams to answer his question despite Russell trying to take over the entire press conference and wouldn't give up the mic :

http://newsok.com/article/5547614

 

Yup.

I have been saying this for years now. I would be in depression had this happened to the Rockets.

OKC would have already been a dynasty and racking them rings up.

And I dont buy into the WB-Durant-Harden would get in the way.

They went to the finals just fine and lost to Lebron's Heat. They were all getting their numbers. They would grow and keep getting better just like they had been till that point.

They would still get their numbers, not as gaudy as individual heroes, but more importantly they would be racking up the rings.

This man is the reason that dynasty never happened....

 

Go back and read the Presti = Overrated thread - it's never fair/always too early to judge Teflon Presti.

His list of Post Harden draft moves is a nearly uninterrupted list of lateral moves and franchise-alterin, cascading mega disaster..

Even the decent moves always have a lousy undercurrent. Like Steven Adams is a nice pick up....except they gave up Harden to get him and now are throwing big dollars at him to be Russ box out dummy once Russ gets to 10 assists

Or Reggie Jackson. Picking him up late in the draft is always cited as the shining example of a post Harden bit of Presti acumen...of course he didn't play nicely with the Russ/KD clique, they had to move him after it was obvious he was going to go...and they got Enes "can't play" Kanter, compounding the mistake by throwing a max deal at him.

Presti is obviously a talented hard working guy who also obviously was OUTRAGEOUSLY LUCKY for a 3 year span, and this bought him a lot of deference that is probably undeserved.

It happens. It's just life. But we should recognize it.

 

...And, they still reached the NBA Finals and would've continued to destroy the Spurs. If the Thunder had Harden 2012-2013, 2013-2014...they win both years, even beating the SA team that blasted Miami in the Finals. It could've worked with the right coach. Kawhi can't guard three superstars.