An average or above GM does not deliver and maintain a championship caliber team especially for a small market in the Western Division. If they did, they, by definition, wouldn't be considered average or above average. Since 2007, only two teams with a top 5 pick in the draft has made an appearance in the Finals. One is OKC. The other is Miami, whose pick, Beasley, was traded away for peanuts to clear cap space for LBJ and Bosh.
I think so too. I'm not sure if he's overrated when it comes to drafting though. I mean he drafted 3 all-stars (or superstars if you consider them that) in a row. I mean sure those draft picks are all top 5 lottery picks but how can you nail a franchise player (I'm sure we all consider them franchise players) three times in a row? I would love to see what Morey does with 3 top five draft picks in a row. However, Presti's top 2 worst decisions by far was trading Harden and Jeff Green IMO. But according to hoopshype his worst decision is: Worst transaction - Traded the draft rights to guard Rodrigue Beaubois and a future second-round pick to the Dallas Mavericks for the draft rights to center BJ Mullens on June 25, 2009 http://hoopshype.com/general_managers/sam_presti.htm
That's because Presti had the honor of having top picks in some of the most loaded draft class recently. In 2007, Durant was a given. I COULD'VE made that pick. Then Jeff Green was an okay pick. Not the best, because he should've gone with Noah. In 2008, OKC picked Westbrook over Lopez. But picking Lopez wouldn't have been that bad either. Neither would've the picked after that, Love. An "average" GM would've probably gone big and gotten one of them. In 2009, OKC picked Harden, who was mocked in the top 5. Basically they were picking among Harden, Rubio, Curry, and Evans. Well, it was a 50/50 proposition in hindsight, but you'd expect a good GM to pick the right ones(Curry or Harden). So let's say an average GM doesn't find Ibaka, the only true gem of Presti's tenure. And rolls out with Durant, Love, and Curry as his core. Seems pretty damn okay to me.
I've been saying this for over a year now. Once I heard he was picking ibaka over Harden. Tis was a year before the trade Dude was handed a dying franchise and Portland wrongly picked a big man again Kings fans also now scream at their GM. But he's still better than presti
How many times did GM draft the best player in the draft three years in a row(without #1 pick)? I respect Presti for having an approach that he sticks to. The organization as a whole benefits from this, top-down. I don't think Presti gets nearly enough credit for this. Former Sonics fan were used to organizational battles, drama, GM's not getting along with coaches, players calling out management, coaches calling out players. OKC is Shangri-La in this aspect. Very similar to San Antonio. As a GM you're not going to hit on everything. Cole Aldrich was a miss. Perkins' health hasn't held up. Presti's misses don't hand cuff the team. You've got GM's that give maximum contracts to Joe Johnson, or MLE contracts to Luke Walton. San Antonio even flubbed with what they did with Jefferson and then Jackson. $10m dead weight last year. They gave away Scola for nothing. I don't agree with everything he does but Presti is a Top 5 GM in the league and maybe the best.
Overrated. Struck gold with KD and RW, but letting Harden go instead of amnestying Perkins, or not giving all that money to Ibaka will cost them a lot in the future. I don't think they can win with that group. Perkins is horrible. Now they have no bench. I think Clippers are better than them this year. Moray is the best GM in the league without a doubt.
Asik's signature defensive skill is P&R defense, IMO. Ibaka's is shotblocking which is also Howard's.
There is nothing wrong with having two shot blockers. Howard by himself is versatile enough that we'd be a top defensive team regardless. Any concerns with playing another defensive big man next to Howard is due to spacing on the offensive end. Ibaka would be absolutely perfect next to Howard. Ibaka is one of the best shooting big man who has some range and versatility. Look at his shot chart: http://stats.nba.com/playerShotchart.html?PlayerID=201586&Season=2012-13
Ibaka is better than Asik, and a much better fit with Howard. Don't agree with you on this one. We'd be lucky to have Terrence Jones turn into Ibaka, and I'm sure you would be thrilled beyond words if that happened. So, don't try to downplay Ibaka just to cling to a false point here. As for money, Morey has said he will go over the Luxury Tax on a next key piece. That will be either a PG or PF, we can assume. Ibaka might not be worthy of that, but he's close.
It depends on what you've been given, no? In Presti's case Durant was already a given, with Oden off the board who else are you gonna pick? I consider him above average because while he picked WB, Harden and Ibaka, he's also whiffed on Jeff Green, Cole Aldritch, overpaid Perkins and IMHO chose the wrong sidekick. Add all that up and I think he's above average, feel free to disagree I think an argument can be made for him being very good as well. It's just, if you compare it to Morey, OKC had full capspace, KD and a top 6 pick in a deep draft, and it took them 5 years to reach the NBA finals. Rox started rebuilding with Yao retiring, Tmac being traded for scraps, capped out, the oldest team in the league and it only took us 4 years to get to this state. The Rox not only had the tougher road, they ended up with a better team and in a shorter time.
Umm we haven't gone to the finals yet. We haven't proven we're better at all. We could be a first round exit for all we know.
I agree with you there it could have easily been Love instead of Westbrook. Ibaka Love Durant Harden Jackson Not a big fan of Russell Westbrook at PG.
Well by this logic LBJ and Sasha Vujacic haven't played 1 on 1 either, clearly LBJ hasn't proven he's better than the machine. The OKC team that went to the finals is not the OKC team that is currently playing right now, which is all the people saying we're not better than OKC until we reach the finals doesn't really make sense, maybe we're not better than OKC in 2011, but this isn't 2011 this is already 2013. If you want another example, this would be like us claiming Houston is better until OKC wins 2 rings back to back. Fact is, OKC has gotten significantly weaker than 2 years ago because they essentially traded Harden for Jeremy Lamb and Steven Adams, both prospects which show potential but are still very raw and unlikely to contribute much this season. If you want a more realistic comparison, we took OKC to 7 games last year without DH and them without WB. Now, add WB and substract KM from OKC, and add DH to the Rox. Who do you think has a bigger positive impact, us or OKC? I'm not saying we're finals material, but unless Jeremy Lamb turns into Kobe 2.0 OKC isn't exactly finals material either next year.
Actually, it should be 2 out of 4 times. Durant doesn't count, as 99% of clutchfans would've taken him. Remember that Presti also had a #5 pick the same year and got Jeff Green. When it was technically possible for him to draft Noah instead.
Asik might be a better defender but Ibaka is a much better offensive player. I love Asik but no GM in the league would give up Ibaka for Asik even with Ibaka making 4MM more unless they had a huge hole at the center spot or already had a really good PF.
Presti is a good drafter...but has not been good at much else. Including hiring personnel and Trades...his trading history seems to just get worse and worse.
