Post Mortem 2023/24 - Oklahoma City Thunder (Eliminated in West Semis)

[Chuck Everett]

Good progress for first year playoff team, but obviously some work to do. They have lots of young talent, assets and cap space, so while I support Presti not making knee jerk impulse moves at the deadline , now Presti needs to begin tweaking.

Overall highly successful season given expectations at the beginning of the season.

If Kevin Love ops out - they should go after him. He would be so perfect and has another year left in the tank for a PO run

No he does not. Love is washed. Great career, but it's over.

[Chuck Everett]

Grant Williams? Seriously? The Mavs got rid of him and improved. Celtics let him walk and improved.

[___Rand___]

They need more physicality from the front court. Need 2 bigs who can play center or PF. A starter, and a backup or both. Otherwise they aren't going to survive the West with all the skilled bigs they face in playoffs.

[TheNewEra]

lot of options out there to boost them at C. Mark Williams or Nick Richards from the Hornets if you overpay. Obviously Capela and claxton are options and Orlando always has a glut of bigs from Issac to WCJ. After that swing for a star if you want

[Capn'O]

Thunder probably win the series if they had gotten Gafford instead of Dallas.

Keep everyone but they need real size.

[OE_Thunder]

Thunder probably win the series if they had gotten Gafford instead of Dallas.

Keep everyone but they need real size.

Ah yes the same Gafford who was -58 the entire series. And never had a postive +/- in any game this series. I think PJ Washington shooting 48% from three and DJJ going nuclear the last 2 games had a bigger reason of Dallas winning then needing "real size".

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[NO-KG-AI]

Fantastic season, love the vibe and culture there. They are way ahead of schedule, and Shai is a real stud you can build around.

They need a real PG in the lineup to help keep the offense fluid, and they need some rugged/banger guys as a change of pace too.

Giddey is the odd man out, and they should start consolidating talent and picks to strengthen the margins, but always keep enough ammunition to stay flexible.

[Fencer reregistered]

Grant Williams? Seriously? The Mavs got rid of him and improved. Celtics let him walk and improved.

Grant has his strong points, but rebounding isn't one of them.

[TheNewEra]

Thunder probably win the series if they had gotten Gafford instead of Dallas.

Keep everyone but they need real size.

Ah yes the same Gafford who was -58 the entire series. And never had a postive +/- in any game this series. I think PJ Washington shooting 48% from three and DJJ going nuclear the last 2 games had a bigger reason of Dallas winning then needing "real size".

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Getting demolished on the glass would do that to you. OKC needs to add size and physicality and it’s not even up for debate at this point. Thunder gave up double the offensive rebounds in a do or die game and it was only going to get worse the deeper they went into the playoffs if they advanced. Unless you are getting a Josh Hart type rebounder then yeah size is the main fix.

[OE_Thunder]

Thunder probably win the series if they had gotten Gafford instead of Dallas.

Keep everyone but they need real size.

Ah yes the same Gafford who was -58 the entire series. And never had a postive +/- in any game this series. I think PJ Washington shooting 48% from three and DJJ going nuclear the last 2 games had a bigger reason of Dallas winning then needing "real size".

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Getting demolished on the glass would do that to you. OKC needs to add size and physicality and it’s not even up for debate at this point. Thunder gave up double the offensive rebounds in a do or die game and it was only going to get worse the deeper they went into the playoffs if they advanced. Unless you are getting a Josh Hart type rebounder then yeah size is the main fix.

I agree with you here, just not the Gafford part. Chet is the perfect 5 but the real size upgrade is at the 4. An Aaron Gordon type is ideal. Would love to go after Lauri.

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[Mrakar]

Even though i was rooting for OKC in game 6 so we can see a game 7 i think that was a perfect way to end their season. SGA making a bull foul after bullshitting his way to so many free throws the season is just right. I think a lot of defenders in NBA looked at that play and chuckled a bit, i for sure know Herb Jones did, after he got massacred by refs against SGA.

As for the future, i like their team, i like their roster balance and they have all the ingridients. Just dont make a stupid move, and i think Presti is smart enough. I think they should swap Giddey with a 4 that can rebound and shot. Funny thing is Washington would be perfect for them (and they went for Hayward...). Im not sure who will be availible this summer. They can go either for small upgrade or try to go all-in for guy like Markkanen.
Guy i would really like to see on this team is Deni Avdija. He is great rebounder for his size and is really good decision maker/playmaker, and his shot improved by a lot this season. Not to mention he is great defender which will be perfect. Switch Giddey with him and its a huge upgrade IMO. On top of that his extension kicks in and sallary is declining over the years which is perfect for OKC since young guys will have to get paid soon. Question is what will it take to get him.

[TheNewEra]

Ah yes the same Gafford who was -58 the entire series. And never had a postive +/- in any game this series. I think PJ Washington shooting 48% from three and DJJ going nuclear the last 2 games had a bigger reason of Dallas winning then needing "real size".

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Getting demolished on the glass would do that to you. OKC needs to add size and physicality and it’s not even up for debate at this point. Thunder gave up double the offensive rebounds in a do or die game and it was only going to get worse the deeper they went into the playoffs if they advanced. Unless you are getting a Josh Hart type rebounder then yeah size is the main fix.

I agree with you here, just not the Gafford part. Chet is the perfect 5 but the real size upgrade is at the 4. An Aaron Gordon type is ideal. Would love to go after Lauri.

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Yeah even though the stats show the Gafford minutes didn’t pan out I still think him being able to buy them some time worked in their favor. They didn’t have to overload the Lively minutes as a rook really until the final game. Just imagine if they had Kleber the series probably would of been even more difficult.

[Bobbymcgee]

They need a guy who wants to rebound the ball for them.

They need another point guard. Maybe even a veteran.

They need to get rid of Giddey. He is not built for the playoffs.

They need to decide on which role players to keep. Some of them let the team down and weren't up to the task for a deep playoff run. Which of these guys can hit the three consistently when under pressure in the playoffs?

They must decide if J. Williams is their true number-two guy on the wing. He had his moments, but he also was a big drop-off from their number-one guy in SGA.

[MrGoat]

Keep, keep, better, rising.

They now have some playoff lumps they can stew over all summer. Find a little more size up front and this team is set to be a major contender next season

[LoveMyRaps]

Poeltl would be a terrific fit in OKC.

[Hugi Mancura]

They are in a good spot for next year. Now they know what works and what not, and Giddey is something that doesn't. Even if Giddey is only 21 it seems he doesn't fit next to SGA and OKC shouldn't keep anyone who doesn't fit next to SGA.

They also need some size. Lot depends what kind of size they want. Do they want a shooting big or do they want a rebounding center. There are lot of centers available. Trade Giddey for size (Allen from Cavs or WCJ from Orlando) or try to get from free agent pool (Claxton / Hartenstein). Getting Markkanen you would have to over pay in trade and then have to play his new contract as well and I'm not sure is Utah interested on picks anymore and I do think Markkanen would be over qualified for OKC's needs. So players like Kyle Andersen from Minnesota or Rui Hachimura/Taurean Prince from Lakers could fit too and would be cheaper and would not be mad if their role would be small. But OKC has lot of picks so they can trade for lot of players.

[FarBeyondDriven]

Keep
Keep
As expected
Plateau

armed with just the 12th pick and given Presti's history of being cavalier about draft picks I don't believe he'll hit on the player that will fix their issues. He has assets and future picks to work with but I don't think for a second he's going to overpay (which is what it will cost) to get the help they need via trade. I see very little chance of them outdoing this 67 win season that got them to Game 7 of the semi-finals which is why I voted plateau.

[Decipher]

Having Giddey stand in the corner is just a complete waste of whatever he brings to the table

[Mavrelous]

They will be extremely inexpensive for next year, and very expensive in 2 years (SGA supermax, JDub + Chet close to max money).
Their owner should decide, is he willing to go wild with payroll? If he is, I'd trade for Markannen and sign Claxton, next year, max Markannen, the year after, the owenr will start to really pay for this team, but it'll be perfect team.

[Johnny Tomala]

Keep, keep, better than expected, rising.