Offseason Grades - Oklahoma City Thunder

[bondom34]

K_Chile22's offseason grade:

Oklahoma City Thunder transactions

Front office
none.

Draft
Drafted Josh Giddey at pick #6.
Drafted Tre Mann at pick #18.
Drafted Jeremiah Robinson-Earl at pick #32 (acquired from NYK).

Trades
Traded Al Horford, Moses Brown and future 2nd to Boston for Kemba Walker, pick #16, and future 2nd.
Traded pick #16 to Houston for protected 2022 1st rounder (DET) and protected 2023 1st rounder (WAS).
Traded picks #34 and #36 to New York for pick #32.
Traded future 2nd, cash and capspace to Utah for Derrick Favors and protected 2024 1st rounder.

Free agency
Extended Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, 5/max.
Waived Kemba Walker (gave back $20M, $53M "dead money" remaining).
Re-signed Mike Muscala, 2/$7M.
Offseason Thoughts
Don't really like any of their picks all that much. Luckily, I don't weigh the draft in a ton, but think Giddey was a reach, struggle to see much upside with Mann or JRE and with where okc is in the process, think they need to swing for upside. Did well to just take more bad money to get #16, generally prefer not to buy guys out with multiple years, but they got back a lot of money so that's fine here. Shai is worthy of that contract, so good on them there (tho not like he'd say no). Think they got pretty good, kind of high variance, value for #16, but don't love the process there from a team thats soon going to have too many picks and not enough roster spots, should be moving up or grabbing guys who fall, not stocking up on more protected picks. 34 and 36 for 32 is just kinda weird. Taking on favors for a future first is great.

Grade
B-? Like the value they got for 16, Horford, taking on Favors, and keeping Shai is good, but just didn't really like anything they did with picks once they got them
2022 Prediction
Around where they were last year, bottom of the west
Offseason in gif form



Mamba4goat's offseason grade:

Oklahoma City Thunder transactions

Front office
none.

Draft
Drafted Josh Giddey at pick #6.
Drafted Tre Mann at pick #18.
Drafted Jeremiah Robinson-Earl at pick #32 (acquired from NYK).

Trades
Traded Al Horford, Moses Brown and future 2nd to Boston for Kemba Walker, pick #16, and future 2nd.
Traded pick #16 to Houston for protected 2022 1st rounder (DET) and protected 2023 1st rounder (WAS).
Traded picks #34 and #36 to New York for pick #32.
Traded future 2nd, cash and cap space to Utah for Derrick Favors and protected 2024 1st rounder.

Free agency
Extended Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, 5/max.
Waived Kemba Walker (gave back $20M, $53M "dead money" remaining).
Re-signed Mike Muscala, 2/$7M.

Offseason Thoughts
Waiving Kemba is a move I disagreed with--I think there was still a chance to flip him down the road. Locking up SGA was a no brainer too. That being said, every other move is a chess, not checkers type move where Presti is galaxy braining the entire NBA while we excitedly wait for him to trade the expiring contracts of John Wall, Kevin Love, and Al Horford (all of whom they acquired with picks attached) along with a ton of picks for 3 stars like we've all dreamt of.

On a serious note, they may have been a tad giddy on Giddey, but I really liked everything else.

Grade
B+? I haven't figured out how to grade the Thunder.
2022 Prediction
Last in the West
Offseason in gif form


bondom34's offseason grade:

Oklahoma City Thunder transactions

Front office
none.

Draft
Drafted Josh Giddey at pick #6.
Drafted Tre Mann at pick #18.
Drafted Jeremiah Robinson-Earl at pick #32 (acquired from NYK).

Trades
Traded Al Horford, Moses Brown and future 2nd to Boston for Kemba Walker, pick #16, and future 2nd.
Traded pick #16 to Houston for protected 2022 1st rounder (DET) and protected 2023 1st rounder (WAS).
Traded picks #34 and #36 to New York for pick #32.
Traded future 2nd, cash and capspace to Utah for Derrick Favors and protected 2024 1st rounder.

Free agency
Extended Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, 5/max.
Waived Kemba Walker (gave back $20M, $53M "dead money" remaining).
Re-signed Mike Muscala, 2/$7M.

Offseason Thoughts
Well, as a fan the lottery made this feel worse but looking at it now it really wasn't bad I don't think? The Horford trade was fine and post-buyout spending ~$15M for a mid first is fine if not better value. Walker giving back that much in the buyout was surprising to say the least and marks the end of the cycle of trading for vets and trying to rehab value. Think many expected more action, but as the big non-draft day trade this felt solid. Taking on Favors for another first also felt pretty solid.

Draft day threw people off (including me until I really had time to digest/think) I think, Giddey seems to fit more with what OKC has been doing the last few years in terms of prospects who are more capable passers/playmakers who are multipositional and even if he wasn't who I expected I'm kind of interested in putting a playmaker next to SGA. The Mann and JRE picks I was fine with, and though I would have also been fine taking a player at 16 (I was higher on Garuba), the value in the trade was solid. That said trading 34 and 36 for 32 was rough value wise, though as stated for other teams' draft deals if you get the guy you wanted sure.

A final note with regards to trading 16 (since I'm assuming early this will be discussed), but the strategy seems to be hoping to get the best ultimate return. If we're assuming this, and assuming that nobody available at 16 was ultimately a player who could be the 1/1a on a contender in the future (I don't think that's unreasonable), looking in 2-3 years there are decent odds that the picks received are worth more via trade than whoever was taken here, due in part to the idea that in general draft picks lose value after they're used.

Free agency wise the only one of real consequence was SGA and from reporting this is the only max rookie extension that didn't get a player option on the 5th year which feels like a win.

Offseason Grade
Not sure if I'm being a homer and started thinking this would be like a B- but thinking B/B-. Everything non-draft felt pretty good. The draft felt weird real time, but felt like they pretty much hit on everything non-draft and I was OK with trading 16.

This was the inverse of Detroit where they got Cunningham and everything else felt kinda mediocre/bad. And again an offseason where I can't grade moves not made, though this one lacked the same urgency as some others. It felt "fine" overall. The lottery stunk, but I'm more tempted toward B than B- I think.

2022 Prediction
Bottom 2 in the West

Offseason in gif form

[MoneyTalks41890]

I’ve been dreading this thread. I think you are all more optimistic on the Giddey pick than I am. Feels like they should’ve tossed like 5 picks to move up. They might have and it didn’t work I guess.

[babyjax13]

C+
I think they drafted Giddey earlier than they needed to, but there is something to be said for getting your guy. He has some terrible lowlights and some amazing highlights - I think people are expecting him to be extremely cerebral and will be surprised when he's a bit more out of control than they expect. That said, his body transformation is great and bodes well for his development. I still have Kuminga a tier above him as a prospect, but I don't think it was terrible. I do wish they had tried to squeeze an asset out of a team looking to move up for Kuminga and still gotten Giddey.

Where I have a problem is the Tre Mann pick. I don't think there is anything he does at a high level, and he looked really small in summer league. On top of that, why in the world do you need him when you already have SGA + Maledon (who is a better prospect) and just drafted Giddey? That makes no sense to me and I wish they would have just taken a shot on either Jalen Johnson or Keon Johnson, either of which fit Presti's MO (JJ as the big playmaking guy, KJ as the very raw athlete). Of course these NBA teams have more information than me, and Presti's track record can't be argued with - so he could end up being the next D'Lo - who knows? Really like the JRE pick, and I like the accumulation of assets they were able to do.

[Dn4sty]

No respect for the gigantic offseason re-signing of Mike Muscala

[Dn4sty]

I personally wasn’t a fan at all of trading pick 16 and it’s not because I wanted Sengun. I wanted Murphy.

I’m not convinced those picks convey.

[bondom34]

I’m not convinced those picks convey.

Its incredibly unlikely neither conveys. Protections on them are fairly weak toward the end and it's basically saying neither WAS or DET is even a back end playoff team until 2028. It's nearly impossible to be that bad that long (and it also means Cunningham was probably a pretty massive bust).

I'd be pretty surprised if neither did, and it keeps the powder a little drier.

[K_chile22]

I’m not convinced those picks convey.

Its incredibly unlikely neither conveys. Protections on them are fairly weak toward the end and it's basically saying neither WAS or DET is even a back end playoff team until 2028. It's nearly impossible to be that bad that long (and it also means Cunningham was probably a pretty massive bust).

I'd be pretty surprised if neither did, and it keeps the powder a little drier.

Could easily see the Wash one not convey, but the Detroit one would really really surprise me

[cjmcallist]

How do we grade poor lottery luck?

I think the moves were generally fine. Giddey was out of the blue, but not sure there was another obvious choice.

Trading 16 was interesting. In a vacuum the value play is fine. But for this particular team in this particular draft it seemed off to me. Even if both picks turn into the #16 pick x2, I’m not sure that we’re better off that way.

Shai’s extension is great. But, now I’m not sure what we do. Is he really cool with tanking for 2+ more years? Can we even tank with him on the roster?

I wanted those questions answered this off-season and I don’t think they were.

[HornetJail]

This is definitely the biggest "wait and see" offseason of every team in the league.

The Kemba move was good, dead money of player they weren't going to play for roughly the same amount of dead money of a player they weren't going to play + #16.

The #16 trade where they got two picks that are pretty likely to convey in the teens years down the road seems favorable for OKC but impossible to tell now.

Getting a weakly protected 1st for taking on Favors' not-that-bad contract is arguably the fleece of the offseason.

I have no idea what to make of any of their picks, though passing on Kuminga seems odd. It's clear this is just the tip of the iceberg on a long rebuild with a crazy crazy crazy amount of assets and OKC set themselves up better for the future.

I'll give it a A-. Don't think I can go higher mainly because they got screwed in the draft lottery and likely failed to pick up a franchise player in a draft that had about 5 potential ones.

[BlazersBroncos]

I still dont understand people saying Giddey was a reach. If you didnt have him valued high, thats one thing. But by all accounts both GSW at 7 and MEM at 10 were tremendously interested in him. I think he would be gone the pick after OKC if he wasnt taken 6, and certainly gone at 10 if still on the board.

Josh was in that 2nd tier after the top 4, people need to accept that was near consensus w/ NBA GM's. He is a excellent talent.

[Texas Chuck]

I'm more down on this off-season that most it appears. And its not so much about the deals they made which were mostly good imo. But that they didn't do more with resources they had. They didn't try and add young talent to the core. They didn't use TPE's to facilitate trades/take on dumps--and we know those were out there to be had.

I just don't think taking a full off-season off like this can be justified. I get they want to tank, but you could have done things and tanked. I get that some claim they will wait until the deadline where as the only game in town they have more leverage and that may be true, or it may be you get left with nothing.

IDK, feels like a team that still only has one piece of its future in place and then a couple maybes. They had too many paths to adding more for that to be true.

[Dadouv47]

Such a weird feeling. I loved every non draft day trade/moves OKC made (Horford trade, Favors trade, Kemba buy out etc.) but when you are a rebuilding team with 6 picks and you have such a bad draft night, it's difficult to say that you had a good offseason. It was obviously the most important day of the year for us.

Presti is a master of finding good value in trades but I can't find a good reason to trade #16 in a deep draft for two distant heavily protected FRPs when u badly need good players to develop. I wanted Sengun but would have understood if he picked another player. Also 34+36 for 32 is bad value even if I like Jre. Don't think his ceiling is high enough to justify that move.

I don't blame Presti for Giddey though. It was the only pick of the draft that I was fine with (even if badly wanted to move up to get Mobley).It was a 4-5 players draft and think Kuminga/Giddey/Bouknight(?) were on the same tier. Giddey's ceiling is still very high due to his BBIQ and skill but I'm a bit skeptical if he can be strong enough to become a very good NBA player. I also don't like the fit with SGA. Didn't like Mann at 18 either so it was basically a nightmare draft night for me

The lack of moves with the TPEs and salary cap is a fair criticism but maybe Presti thinks he can find something better during the season and the value wasn't good enough. Time will tell.

Would grade draft night as a D and give an A for the other trades so...think a C overall is fair.

[MoneyTalks41890]

I'm more down on this off-season that most it appears. And its not so much about the deals they made which were mostly good imo. But that they didn't do more with resources they had. They didn't try and add young talent to the core. They didn't use TPE's to facilitate trades/take on dumps--and we know those were out there to be had.

I just don't think taking a full off-season off like this can be justified. I get they want to tank, but you could have done things and tanked. I get that some claim they will wait until the deadline where as the only game in town they have more leverage and that may be true, or it may be you get left with nothing.

IDK, feels like a team that still only has one piece of its future in place and then a couple maybes. They had too many paths to adding more for that to be true.

Yeah for a team prime to make a splash, that felt so underwhelming, but as others have said it rests on Giddey.