HartfordWhalers wrote:HartfordWhalers Review
Key Losses:
Kevin Durant
Serge Ibaka
A dynasty that never really fully happened has ended. Basketball fans could look at the amazing OC youth, ponder what it would be like when it hit its prime as perhaps one of the most dominant teams ever, watch Harden blow up in Houston, see injuries rob two runs, and wonder what might have been. If only those injuries never happened. If only the Harden trade never happened. If only they hadn't rescinded the Tyson Chandler trade. If only they had gone all in on trading 2 1sts earlier, and for a different return than Kanter and Waiters.
Losses:
Dion Waiters
Randy Foye
Nazr Mohammed
At 3m for 1 year, I wish they brought back Waiters.
Draft:
#11 Domantas Sabonis (traded for)
#56 Daniel Hamilton (traded for)
Sabonis everyone seems high on. Him versus Juan Hernangómez will be an interesting comparison going forward. #11 was kind of a dead spot in the draft. After pick 55, I stop caring. It is my pick protection range.
Trades:
Serge Ibaka to Orlando Magic for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the rights to Domantas Sabonis (11th).
Cash to Denver Nuggets for the rights to Daniel Hamilton (56th).
Well then. So, do you grade the Ibaka trade knowing Durant left, or do you grade it knowing he might have left? And did it make it easier or harder for Durant to leave?I like Oladipo a lot, and with Durant leaving it looks amazing. A straight swap would have been a great restocking move, but getting #11 alongside is, as Dario might say, like cherry on the cake. With Durant still there I'm not sure, as you want to win now asap while you can because those dynasty windows can close fast.
Free Agency:
Renegotiation and extended Russell Westbrook 3/$85.7m (PO last year)
Alex Abrines 3/$17.2m
Ronnie Price 2/$5m
Domantas Sabonis rookie scale
Great news on Westbrook. Besides that? Um. 17m or so in free agent money got Abrines and Ersan (contract gtd) and Price. Add on the left over cap room the team has, and OKC had close to 19m to use to get starting forwards. Could ~19m get a better forward rotation than Abrines/Ilyasova?
It really depends on Abrines, but with ~21m in cap holds for Adams and Oladipo next offseason the time to get a long term piece at one of the forward slots was now. And signing price now for the room exception versus waiting feels silly. I do wonder if OKC is somewhat payroll constrained (again), as they didn't go up to the cap, or use the over the cap exception and that is extremely rare for a playoff team to do. The problem is the sf crop this year was crap outside the very top guys. Abrines might just have been the best realistic option, unless you believe Wes Johnson was worth more than 6m a year.
Still, I would have been pretty tempted to take that ~19m and offer Ryan Anderson the same contract he got from Houston to be a rich man's Ilyasova. And then just left sf a mess I suppose.
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Russell Westbrook, Cameron Payne, Ronnie Price
SG: Victor Oladipo, Andre Roberson,
SF: Alex Abrines, Anthony Morrow, Kyle Singler, Josh Huestis
PF: Ersan Ilyasova, Domantas Sabonis, Nick Collison
C: Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, Mitch McGary
I wiggled some guys around, but I'm not sure they will settle into great rotation for a while. I expect Morrow to get a weird amount of sf minutes for instance. Roberson shouldn't start at sf, but might.
Needs: Durant back?
Additional Thoughts: This lineup looks depressing considering where it was. But Westrook/Oladipo/Adams is a solid 3 person core. I cannot fit Payne with that positionally, or anyone else talent wise (sorry Kanter fans).
Projected Win/Loss: 45-37 I've moved this line all day, ranging from 41 to 48. If anything happens to Westbrook or Adams they are sunk. Depth is a huge issue here.
Off-Season Grade: B+ So, I don't hurt their grade for Durant leaving, I think that was out of their control. I would in theory hurt them for 'we had no idea, and he left us too late for us to backup plan' because that would be bad. But I don't see a great backup plan they missed. Afflalo at 12m a year as a 30 year old stop gap? Besides Durant leaving they aced a trade, got their star to sign on for an extra year, and did fair in free agency, it almost feels like an A-. However, I don't actually think enough of the Abrines/Ersan forward duo to get them into an A territory, and they desperately need a trade or two. Going in I thought this would be a C+, but looking at what else they could have done I just don't see a ton.
Oh, my trade: James Young for a TPE. {I would send McGary elsewhere to open the roster spot needed, but that roster spot isn't needed until the end of camp and I don't want to overcomplicate this.}
OKC has $1,739,033 cap room and James Young costs $1,825,200. AndIs that a coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe OKC likes reclamation projects of young 1st rounders, and James Young is a skill (shooter) at a position of need (sf) and should be available for free.CBAFAQ wrote:Teams under the salary cap may make trades as they please, as long as they don't finish more than $100,000 above the salary cap following any trade
bondom34 wrote:bondom34 Review
Key Losses:
Kevin Durant
Serge Ibaka
Losses:
Dion Waiters
Randy Foye
Nazr Mohammed
Draft:
#11 Domantas Sabonis (traded for)
#56 Daniel Hamilton (traded for)
Trades:
Serge Ibaka to Orlando Magic for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the rights to Domantas Sabonis (11th).
Cash to Denver Nuggets for the rights to Daniel Hamilton (56th).
Free Agency:
Renegotiation and extended Russell Westbrook 3/$85.7m (PO last year)
Alex Abrines 3/$17.2m
Ronnie Price 2/$5m
Domantas Sabonis rookie scale
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Russell Westbrook, Cameron Payne, Ronnie Price
SG: Victor Oladipo, Anthony Morrow, Alex Abrines
SF: Andre Roberson, Kyle Singler Josh Huestis,
PF: Ersan Ilyasova, Nick Collison, Domantas Sabonis, Mitch McGary
C: Steven Adams, Enes Kanter
Needs:
Depth at the 3 along with possibly a better starter. Depending on Sabonis's development a PF, though I think the SF is more a need. A shooter wouldn't hurt.
Additional Thoughts:
Overall, I looked to what I thought about Portland for how to grade this offseason. Will they be as good as last year? Nope. But outside of the loss of a major free agent did the front office doe everything else to put the team in a good situation? Yep, pretty much. The Oladipo trade was fantastic, and I think Sabonis will be starting by late season. They greatly upgraded the backcourt. Adams was the most important big on the team a year ago, and should be able to handle more minutes. Abrines is at the least an interesting prospect. Oh, and getting Westbrook to sign an extension was a great deal given the circumstances. So obviously they can't get a great grade for the offseason, but in the end the longterm health of the team is pretty solid. I went with about a C or so with Portland last year, and felt this was pretty similar or possibly slightly better due to the trade and extension.
Projected Win/Loss: 46-36
Off-Season Grade: C+
dbrandon wrote:dbrandon Review
Key Losses:
Kevin Durant
Serge Ibaka
I've already said enough about losing KD, so not going to rehash it here. But it's disastrous, especially considering that his timing meant there were no real stopgap SFs available.
I love Serge, but it was probably time to move on, whether KD came back or not. He's not a fit with Donovan's system.
Losses:
Dion Waiters
Randy Foye
Nazr Mohammed
I kind of hoped we'd keep Dion around on a reasonable deal, but that was before we picked up Abrines. Completely OK with all of this.
Draft:
#11 Domantas Sabonis (traded for)
#56 Daniel Hamilton (traded for)
SABONIS!
I love Sabonis. Maybe irrationally. If he lives up to his potential he's the perfect PF for this team—playmaking, rebounding, decent enough shooter, good in the post.
Hamilton is...IDK.
Trades:
Serge Ibaka to Orlando Magic for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the rights to Domantas Sabonis (11th).
Cash to Denver Nuggets for the rights to Daniel Hamilton (56th).
I LOVED the Ibaka trade. It's kind of funny, because pretty much that exact trade came up earlier in the year (think Skin suggested it). And I didn't like it then. But there were 2 things that changed my mind: the 11th pick being Sabonis and the fact that Dipo's a slightly better shooter than I thought.
Again, Hamilton...IDK. It's something I guess.
Free Agency:
Renegotiation and extended Russell Westbrook 3/$85.7m (PO last year)
Alex Abrines 3/$17.2m
Ronnie Price 2/$5m
Domantas Sabonis rookie scale
Outside of He Who Must Not Be Named, this is pretty decent. Getting Westbrook to renegotiate and extend is a coup. I've been excited for Abrines for a while now—he's going to get minutes straight away. Remains to be seen how quickly he adjusts to the NBA, though.
I wasn't high on the Price signing, but Phoenix fans keep telling me he was very solid for them. As a backup 2nd or 3rd string guard I'm OK with it.
Current Depth Chart:
PG: Russell Westbrook, Cameron Payne, Ronnie Price
SG: Victor Oladipo, Alex Abrines, Anthony Morrow
SF: Andre Roberson, Kyle Singler, Josh Huestis
PF: Ersan Ilyasova, Domantas Sabonis, Nick Collison, Mitch McGary
C: Steven Adams, Enes Kanter
Needs:
A 2-way starting-caliber SF. I'd love for Robes to become Bruce Bowen, but just don't see it. A little more frontcourt defense would be nice, too. Our bench is going to be laughably bad on defense, and it was bad last year.
Singler needs to remember how to be Detroit Singler.
We need Sabonis to be good right away. And it'd be nice if Mitch could stop smoking that good dank and contribute on the court.
Additional Thoughts:
This is a team built in Westbrook's image. No more of the slightly-schizophrenic contrast between efficiency and recklessness. This team is going to be balls-to-the-wall, never stops coming at you.
Spacing is obviously going to be a big issue. Ilyasova is the only real threat from outside in the starting lineup. I think we're going to see a lot of 3-guard lineups (the Don mentioned that in a radio interview).
This is a team in flux. I'm absolutely expecting midseason trades. Honestly I don't even think this is the final roster we'll have for training camp. Semaj Christon got a little guaranteed money—think they're worried about Cam being ready for the start of the year. That would put us with 16 players under contract.
Projected Win/Loss: 48 wins
This is probably on the high side, but we won 45 in a year where just about everyone got injured, and I think this team on the whole is better than that one was.
Off-Season Grade:C-
Losing KD automatically bumps that waaaaaaaay down. Keeping Westbrook and making the other additions bumps it up a little, but I really hope Presti has some sort of move for a SF in mind because that rotation gives my eyeballs cancer.
Slava wrote:Slava Review
Key Losses:
Kevin Durant
Serge Ibaka
Saying that the loss of Durant is huge is probably the understatement of the year. I don't think there's a franchise that can recover from losing an MVP caliber player right when he is entering his peak. The automatic question is, could they have done anything different to keep him? Will he have left if they had beaten the Warriors and made the finals? Its hard to tell and I think they should have beaten the Warriors if not for an untimely moment of frigidity from Durant on offense, things going bad for Westbrook and just too much Dion Waiters.
They did get some excellent contributions from guys like Roberson and dudes who are only going to get better like Adams so its hard to say if this is a situation where Durant felt he could not improve his chances by returning. Durant himself had a very poor post season by his high standards, being 5th in BPM among the starters while looking a clear second best alongside Westbrook. So I can get the OKC fans feeling that he left them after a year where he could have done more to help them reach the finals and may be win that elusive title the franchise clearly deserved for their sustained excellence since 2010.
More on Ibaka later.
Losses:
Dion Waiters
Randy Foye
Nazr Mohammed
It always puzzles me when good GMs make bad personnel investments like Morey dealing with Ty Lawson, Cuban/Nelson/Carlisle pursuing Rondo, Popovich/Buford buying into Stephen Jackson and Presti here deciding to invest in Waiters.
Waiters has been and continues to be a bad basketball player who never hit a 100 offensive rating or posted a positive BPM on both sides of the ball in any season of his career and brings negative energy onto the floor when he thinks things are not going his way.
Lebron preparing to play with JR Smith over him says all you need to know about him. So it came as no surprise when he possibly cost OKC games and they subsequently decided they wanted no part of him. Its just sad to have a dead-weight like that strapped to your legs when every second counts in a race.
My only regret is that Riley, another good GM has inexplicably bought into him and he continues to have an NBA career.
Draft:
#11 Domantas Sabonis (traded for)
#56 Daniel Hamilton (traded for)
I love Sabonis as a player but unsure about his fit here. He is not very athletic, long or particularly good physically but has a great motor, solid fundamentals, craftiness to finish from awkward shooting angles and an admirable tenacity to win. His prospective fit in the starting line up depends a lot on his ability to mature as a shooter and while he has a rigid shooting touch now, he seemed to improve from his freshman season so may be it can get better with enough repetitions and a good shooting coach. May be someone like Ellenson or Prince could have made more sense for them fit wise but this is a program that values character and tenacity of a guy like Sabonis.
While I don't much know about Hamilton, I think they missed a trick by neither drafting nor inviting Sabonis' teammate, Kyle Wiltjer to training camp considering the roster could use a shooter of that caliber.
Trades:
Serge Ibaka to Orlando Magic for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the rights to Domantas Sabonis (11th).
Cash to Denver Nuggets for the rights to Daniel Hamilton (56th).
I thought the timing of the Ibaka trade was great even if I'm not as bullish about the return they got now as when the trade was first announced. Ibaka was showing fatigue, signs of wear and tear and both his shooting and defensive stats show sharp decline over the past couple of seasons. So shifting him a year before he hits unrestricted free agency is a typical Presti move.
Oladipo is a nice addition to the backcourt and he is an improving shooter who fits into the age group OKC usually like to work with. Ilyasova is a very streaky player who couldn't fit in for Stan Van Gundy, who loves himself a stretch big or two so one has to think he is on trial here due to lack of better options as dipping into free agency for this skill set wasn't in Presti's budget when someone like Ryan Anderson got $20M per.
Free Agency:
Renegotiation and extended Russell Westbrook 3/$85.7m (PO last year)
Alex Abrines 3/$17.2m
Ronnie Price 2/$5m
Domantas Sabonis rookie scale
The Westbrook extension was brilliant business after Durant's exit. While there were rumors of discussions with Boston and Lakers, the asking price seemed a little too high to think Presti was showing any serious inclination towards entertaining a deal. It also got done in pretty good time for everyone to recover from the Durant exit.
Bringing over Abrines now seems a good move, his shooting stats are especially nice albeit in the Euro league and as this season more or less feels like a transitional year for the Thunder it could be a good time to let him acclimatize to the league and the franchise so he's primed for the upcoming challenges.
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Russell Westbrook, Cameron Payne, Ronnie Price
SG: Victor Oladipo, Anthony Morrow
SF: Andre Roberson, Josh Huestis, Alex Abrines
PF: Ersan Ilyasova, Nick Collison, Domantas Sabonis
C: Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, Mitch McGary
First thing you notice when looking at the roster is the lack of spacing in the starting line up. Its not easily fixable by going small either as none of the wings are particularly good shooters so I feel like they still have a trade in them for a player who could start at the 3 and slide to the 4 in some line ups.
That is understandable as the market passed by them while they were waiting for Durant's decision. Ilyasova doing well would certainly help but I'd expect them testing the Lakers for Deng around the trade deadline.
Otherwise you can imagine plays with Westbrook and Oladipo taking turns breaking down defenses only to swing the ball out and the other guard or forward just recycles the ball without confidence to launch.
Needs:
1. Ilyasova being a consistent shooing threat
2. Oladipo improving his catch and shoot ability
3. A trade for a starting 3/small ball 4.
Additional Thoughts:
This probably signals the end of the great dynasty that was promised with the Thunder's amazing consistency of hitting draft picks but the left over team around Westbrook will still be quite feisty and competitive. Westbrook proved that he is good enough to drag a bunch of stiffs to 45 wins and the playoffs when Durant and Ibaka both missed games so I don't think they are in any danger of missing out even if things might get a bit tight if a couple of teams like Memphis and Dallas hit the right gear.
I like the core with Westbrook/Oladipo/Adams and possibly Payne/Sabonis left here.
Projected Win/Loss: 47-35
Off-Season Grade:B+
+ 
= 
