oreon wrote:AirP. wrote:oreon wrote:Its insane to think SGA is already a MVP candidate but in 2- 3 years Chet gonna be better than him while SGA is in his prime. If Chet stays healthy OKC should be a dynasty otherwise it's a failure. I don't how they had KD, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka and never won a chip. Its never talked how they botched that era
It's talked about a lot (I'm in OKC). One of those years Pat Bev undercut Russ and knocked him out for the year. There was the game 6 Klay game where he went nuts and OKC never recovered. There was also the retro activation of the D.Rose rule to give supermaxes for 2nd contracts that changed Russ' contract for a small market team and that's the reason Harden was given a specific number he could sign for or be traded, he declined and they moved him to Houston.
The year KD left, their offseason plan was resign KD, trade Ibaka for Oladipo and Sabonis(which happened) and the fill the vacant PF position with signing Horford, once KD committed to GS Horford signed with Boston.
Maybe in OKC it is but not nationwide. We hear a ton how Nets were a failure. I put OKC in same category. The Harden thing was on them, if you want to contend you gotta be willing to go deep in luxury tax.
And even with Harden trade, they had a great roster and great pieces but never could put it together. Presti biggest mistake was not getting an elite coach and never seemed to have enough shooting. Durant and Westbrook should have won atleast one or gotten to one finals.
Well, OKC kept Scott Brooks as head coach because KD wanted him there, only 1 year before KD jumped ship did they finally make a change with KD's blessing.
If you want to contend you gotta be willing to go deep in the luxury tax? Interesting perspective from a fan of a team who got to the conference finals 3 of the last 4 years and to the finals 2 of the last 4 years that just refused to go into the tax to retain talent until this season. Even now it looks like instead of strengthening the roster, Lowry will just be kept and allowed to expire to get this roster back under the tax.
Here's a story with a good account of what went wrong in the OKC KD, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka era which documents the 2 times the NBA made salary cap changes that uniquely screwed a small market like OKC trying to retain max level players and of course some key big injuries. I think with all that, that happened OKC got a pass from the national media because a lot what happened was out of their hands. It was like the perfect storm and should be something every franchise should learn from, just because you have great young talent, it doesn't mean everything works out. If you have a shot at a championship you need to do whatever it takes to get that championship! Something Miami just refused to do the last 4 offseason and it may have cost them 1 championship, then again it may not have, we'll never know.
https://www.sbnation.com/2019/7/17/20691262/oklahoma-city-thunder-history-timeline-russell-westbrook-kevin-durant-james-hardenI get possibly prioritizing getting both Ibaka and Harden over getting the better talent locked up as a misstep, but they thought they had them both at the numbers they offered both.
Making matters worse, this dilemma arrived the summer after the NBA installed newer and harsher penalties for exceeding the luxury tax, including an exponential scale for every dollar over and additional penalties for being in the luxury tax repeatedly. The new rules didn’t kick in until the following season, but new contracts for Harden and Ibaka would have pushed Oklahoma City well over the tax line.
And like I mentioned before, the Pat Bev causing Westbrook an injury...
Their first playoff series came against a familiar foe in the Rockets and Harden. In the second quarter of Game 2, Westbrook went to call a timeout and slowed down towards the bench, as is custom before a stoppage in play. Houston guard Patrick Beverley lunged for the ball at the same time, colliding with Westbrook’s knee. The incident would end up sparking years of beef between the duo.
Weeks before the start of the season, Oklahoma City announced Durant suffered a Jones fracture in his foot, which would sideline him for the first month. But that was only the beginning of KD’s injury woes. Durant sprained his ankle in December, his big toe a month later, and then had another procedure for a foot injury in February. On March 27, Presti announced Durant would miss the rest of the season to undergo a third surgery.
And of course being up 3-1 on GS and ending up losing that series. I remember that game 4 and how Klay and the Warriors basically broke the OKC team.
But the Warriors stormed back. After narrowly winning Game 5, Golden State received a Klay Thompson performance for the ages in a Game 6 thriller. Thompson scored 41 points while shooting 11 of 18 from three, an NBA playoff record, and outscored the entire Thunder team in the fourth quarter in a 108-101 win.
Had KD not have left that next season here's what OKC's starting 5 would have looked like....
Westbrook, Oladipo, KD, Horford, S.Adams with Sabonis, Roberson, Kanter and Payne on the bench, they would have been set up for the present and the future, OKC did the right moves they just got screwed by unique salary cap situations. It's pretty crazy how bad the salary cap changes blew up that team.