What do you see as the biggest mistakes the franchise has made over the years?

[spearsy23]

Problem is that when he got that contract, everyone loved it. Yeah in retrospect it was a mistake, but not really at the time.

Nah, nobody loved the contract at the time. He hadn't even suited up for us yet and Boston had been offering him around 5.5 million per year. It wasn't viewed as the colossal mistake it ended up being, but it was already a slight overpay. Fwiw here's the DT's take on it

The $35 million is probably more than Perkins’ was going to find in the open market this summer, especially with the uncertainty of the new CBA. But that’s not a massive price tag for the Thunder to pay to their starting center for the next five years.

It was a minor mistake that ended up costing the franchise an MVP caliber player. But the real point is that even if you only view it as a small mistake it's still one that probably kept us from having at least a championship by now. And I don't buy that you can't use hindsight to judge a move. Ultimately we judge gm's on what they accomplish, otherwise the only moves you can ever criticize are the absolute dumbest Billy king moves.

Darn it, I'm just ready to leave work, but Id really recommend looking back on this board when perk was extended. The contract was really really loved. I found the thread a few weeks back and can't right at the moment. Pretty sure slick created it back then. It was certainly a loved deal at the time.

Edit:

viewtopic.php?f=334&t=1142974

Found it.

That's many months after the fact and in the afterglow of a conference final appearance that was never supposed to happen. Also a really flawed premise because all of the players mentioned were better than Perkins then as well as moving forward. The general consensus was always that it was a slight overpay (actually ended up being a lot worse than that of course), even Slick's post says

at the time a lot of fans thought it was premature

[bondom34]

Nah, nobody loved the contract at the time. He hadn't even suited up for us yet and Boston had been offering him around 5.5 million per year. It wasn't viewed as the colossal mistake it ended up being, but it was already a slight overpay. Fwiw here's the DT's take on it

It was a minor mistake that ended up costing the franchise an MVP caliber player. But the real point is that even if you only view it as a small mistake it's still one that probably kept us from having at least a championship by now. And I don't buy that you can't use hindsight to judge a move. Ultimately we judge gm's on what they accomplish, otherwise the only moves you can ever criticize are the absolute dumbest Billy king moves.

Darn it, I'm just ready to leave work, but Id really recommend looking back on this board when perk was extended. The contract was really really loved. I found the thread a few weeks back and can't right at the moment. Pretty sure slick created it back then. It was certainly a loved deal at the time.

Edit:

viewtopic.php?f=334&t=1142974

Found it.

That's many months after the fact and in the afterglow of a conference final appearance that was never supposed to happen. Also a really flawed premise because all of the players mentioned were better than Perkins then as well as moving forward. The general consensus was always that it was a slight overpay (actually ended up being a lot worse than that of course), even Slick's post says

at the time a lot of fans thought it was premature

Fair, still wouldn't call it considering it taeks hindsight to do so and given all Perk actually did bring to OKC.

[miltk]

As an outsider, I'm just curious what you guys see as the biggest mistakes management have made during the Durant/Westbrook era.
?

not ponying up the money. imo, it's not what they've done,,, but HAVEN'T done

[oken]

not finding a decent enough coach to suppress the urge for the hero ball with 2 ultra-talented but average BBIQ guys. they have long lost the chance to rein them in proper Popovich style so they will have to bear with two spoiled children who will not give the ball to anybody else if they don't feel like it until they decide to leave home.

[Darren]

1. Awful contract length to KD and Wes. The management should manage to have them both expires at 9th season.
2. Matching Enes Kanter with trade kicker and no trade clause.
3. Signing Singler to a relatively big contract that make him unmovable while he lacks nba talent.
4. Letting go of Serge Ibaka in a lopsided trade in Orlando's favor.
5. Can't find a great coach to keep the team winning against elite teams.

[spearsy23]

1. Awful contract length to KD and Wes. The management should manage to have them both expires at 9th season.

Uh...they do both expire at 9 seasobs

2. Matching Enes Kanter with trade kicker and no trade clause.

There isn't a no trade clause and they already had a team lined up to take him if Horford agreed to sign.

3. Signing Singler to a relatively big contract that make him unmovable while he lacks nba talent.

Agreed that was dumb

4. Letting go of Serge Ibaka in a lopsided trade in Orlando's favor.

Only an Orlando fan or OKC hater would believe that. Consensus opinion is that Presti won that trade.

5. Can't find a great coach to keep the team winning against elite teams.

We already had one, and now our new one already beat a historically great spurs team and almost Golden State in his rookie year.

[SD2042]

I really don't understand the Jeff Green love.

I don't love him. Hated his rebounding, specially. He was misutilized by Brooks who made him a starting PF and a 40 MPG guy when he clearly didn't belong to the starting lineup with Ibaka breaking out. He was good against second units, though. Even on toxic offensive environments like the Grizzlies bench, he was serviceable. He could stretch defenses, was excellent in transitionand a solid perimeter defender and could create some off the dribble.

Don't get it twisted. Green was caught with being a tweener. Not good enough to play either position. He was the type of player that had talent, but never could put it together. When he got traded to the Grizzlies, he started out ok. But when the weeks rolled on, his fit with the Grizzlies no longer made sense. He would either be in the way of Z-Bo and Marc on the inside at times. If he's on the perimeter, he wasn't always consistent out there. Not respectable enough to be a threat against the defense. I'm glad that he's gone from the Grizzlies and mad because Rob Hennigan signed him up to be with the Magic for a season.

[cengizoezdemir]

I think not including Kendrick Perkins contract into the James Harden trade was their biggest mistake. Perkins was pretty useless after that and he was being paid quite significantly. Houston would have gladly taken perkins as well just to be able to get harden

[SF_Warriors]

1) Committing big money to perkins. Money that couldve been given towards harden.
2) Trading harden for a poo poo platter
3) Signing kanter to 17-18mill a year when he played 21 minutes per last season and even less in the playoffs. To top it all off, they have a younger guy who starts at the same position. That money couldve gone towards horford.

Those were the biggest mistakes, imo. Mismanagement of assets and a lot of shortsightedness.

[Andre Roberstan]

1) Committing big money to perkins. Money that couldve been given towards harden.
2) Trading harden for a poo poo platter
3) Signing kanter to 17-18mill a year when he played 21 minutes per last season and even less in the playoffs. To top it all off, they have a younger guy who starts at the same position. That money couldve gone towards horford.

Those were the biggest mistakes, imo. Mismanagement of assets and a lot of shortsightedness.

Kanter was never the problem with Horford. KD's inability to commit to staying long-term is the reason Horford's talks never got off the ground. Mozgov is on a 65mil contract right now. MOZGOV! Kanter's movable if it comes to that.

Not refighting the Harden trade again. Could've been better, but I'd rather have that than what happened with Reggie Jackson, which I have it on decent authority would likely have been brewing with Harden that year.

It was never just about money.

[bondom34]

1) Committing big money to perkins. Money that couldve been given towards harden.
2) Trading harden for a poo poo platter
3) Signing kanter to 17-18mill a year when he played 21 minutes per last season and even less in the playoffs. To top it all off, they have a younger guy who starts at the same position. That money couldve gone towards horford.

Those were the biggest mistakes, imo. Mismanagement of assets and a lot of shortsightedness.

1. This was a good signing at the time.
2. Not redoing that debate but not accurate.
3. Also they wouldn't have made it that far w/o Kanter. And he's not what stopped Horford from coming, that was the servant.

[richboy]

Thought about this last night. Biggest mistake to me was they weren't greedy. The organization wasn't starving for a title. It always felt like they ran the organization like they have all the time in the world. I have said in the past one problem I see in small markets is they don't have a sense of urgency. Often they run the franchise like they have time. Then one day there best player becomes a free agent and they want to start making moves left and right. It happened in Orlando with Howard. Otis Smith actually didn't think Howard would opt out of his contract. When he realized that he might he ran and made the Gilbert Arenas trade. Yet it was already too late. All the opportunities to be great had passed and now Howard was looking elsewhere.

OKC and GSW were pretty much in the same situation. Both organizations drafted really well and had this great core to build around. In the Thunder's case they did it even better than GS. The Warriors were really aggressive in adding proven veteran talent around there young core. Few years ago they nearly landed Howard and Iggy. They did bring in Bogut. They did bring in Barbosa and Livingston.

On the other side the Thunder have been we are contenders at the same time we are letting young players develop. No veteran backup PG like Livingston. No good quality 3d shooters or a big move to bring in a Iggy.

Then this offseason came and all of a sudden the Thunder are making a push for Horford. Making big trades for 3 quality players. Everything I have wanted in the past was happening. Apparently it seems it was happening because they realize perhaps they didn't have as much time with Durant as they believed in the past.

I guarantee Presti has a list of moves that he didn't do because he had a vision of the future. Moves that could have made the team truly special. Instead he just brought in more and more young guys and let them develop.

I heard someone say since OKC has made the NBA Finals they have had 6 lottery players on the roster play on there rookie contracts. Lamb, Waiters, Kanter, Dipo, Sabonis, Adams, Payne. Part of me likes that. Then part of me thinks did we loose an opportunity to really take the roster to the next level with proven players. Not players still trying to figure out where they fit in the league. How exactly to help a team win. Oh yeah none of them are much in terms of shooting. That doesn't even include the young guys like Roberson and Jackson who are raw or were raw. Also can't shoot.

The Thunder had so many assets and still are playing 3 on 5 basketball. Here comes Jerry West in this meeting and shows Durant the stat that he takes the most contested shots in the league. Ask aren't you tired of having to work so hard to score. GS takes the least amount of contested shots. A big part of the reason is Durant and RW has played his entire career with dead weight on offense. It isn't like we had any plans to really stop that. My bet Roberson was still going to start. I like getting Dipo but he isn't a great shooter. Just so many years of let Westbrook and Durant carry the offense and these others will make there pay check on defense. While developing what they are doing on offense. It came back to really bite the franchise. Durant won't have two guys on him and be kicking out to Roberson anymore.