All things Offseason of Champions Thread

[Clav]

Yeah... Oh Doris, your favourtism bites you back. I actually don't mind her on the call as much as others, but her analysis and cast are forgettable. [It's better than Mark Jackson's cast by a fair margin to me]. I think during the Finals, as a trio, she wanted to differentiate herself from Jefferson and Breen. Overall I think she did an OK job [if we set aside these foul merchant comments] in terms of pacing and rapport with the team, and when not talking about SGA it was relatively fair.

I don't know if there's some team of line-by-line writers for the broadcast team behind them, or if there's a list of talking points to hit on, or mostly ad-lib with stats to poke at (probably a mix of the three) -- but whatever the case, it matters not. Burke either read what was in front of her or came up with it on her own, or just repeated drivel from twitter she read.

Bottom line, she seems to have forgotten that ESPN is a partner of the NBA, and SGA is the NBA's reigning MVP. Using the Finals broadcast to call that #1 rated player -regardless of the team- a foul merchant is absolutely unprofessional. The NBA surely did not appreciate it.

Oh yeah btw Legler is a solid choice, definitely has good pitch, and cadence with his cast, and we all know he's a basketball junkie.

[Devilanche]

I guess we will see SGA being the face of the NBA now given ESPN is fully on board ..

[Dadouv47]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

crap

Gonna need to find anoher mid term solution...

[Devilanche]

Waive Dieng sign Poku . The solution has been in front of us all along and yet we never see the obvious .

[Kizz Fastfists]

Gonna need to find anoher mid term solution...

I don't expect them to make another move because of this. They showed no signs of consolidating the roster before and losing a rookie with no defined role doesn't seem like a reason to change plans.

[Xatticus]

Yeah... Oh Doris, your favourtism bites you back. I actually don't mind her on the call as much as others, but her analysis and cast are forgettable. [It's better than Mark Jackson's cast by a fair margin to me]. I think during the Finals, as a trio, she wanted to differentiate herself from Jefferson and Breen. Overall I think she did an OK job [if we set aside these foul merchant comments] in terms of pacing and rapport with the team, and when not talking about SGA it was relatively fair.

I don't know if there's some team of line-by-line writers for the broadcast team behind them, or if there's a list of talking points to hit on, or mostly ad-lib with stats to poke at (probably a mix of the three) -- but whatever the case, it matters not. Burke either read what was in front of her or came up with it on her own, or just repeated drivel from twitter she read.

Bottom line, she seems to have forgotten that ESPN is a partner of the NBA, and SGA is the NBA's reigning MVP. Using the Finals broadcast to call that #1 rated player -regardless of the team- a foul merchant is absolutely unprofessional. The NBA surely did not appreciate it.

Oh yeah btw Legler is a solid choice, definitely has good pitch, and cadence with his cast, and we all know he's a basketball junkie.

It didn’t bother me at all. Perhaps I read it wrong, but it seemed to me that she picked it up somewhere and didn’t realize it carried a negative connotation.

[Devilanche]

Gonna need to find anoher mid term solution...

I don't expect them to make another move because of this. They showed no signs of consolidating the roster before and losing a rookie with no defined role doesn't seem like a reason to change plans.

Between ihart , Chet , Jaylin and Carlson we got our C minutes covered anyway . Between Jalen , Kenrich and Dieng ….

[Mr Thunder Nick]

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/281989/Fred-VanVleet-Suffers-Torn-ACL

wow...bad news for the Rockets. It will be huge to see what the franchise reaction will be.

[Kizz Fastfists]

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/281989/Fred-VanVleet-Suffers-Torn-ACL

wow...bad news for the Rockets. It will be huge to see what the franchise reaction will be.

They can't trade him until December and it would be difficult for them to package enough salary to make a significant move at this point. I was expecting the offense to run through KD anyway and Sengun and Sheppard give them other ball handlers along with Thompson. They might sign a vet minimum PG, but anything significant is unlikely at this point.

[Clav]

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/281989/Fred-VanVleet-Suffers-Torn-ACL

wow...bad news for the Rockets. It will be huge to see what the franchise reaction will be.

I had FVV as a pretty important piece of their offense, especially for being a floor general and POA help. Brooks is also gone so their wing defense is turned to their younger complement. That's not a bad thing, but FVV has range and clutch scoring that will be missed. He helps offensively and to calm to team in moments.

It's a pretty significant loss but Sheppard will have to step up -- he needs to prove his place as a #3 pick. They can't sign anyone or they will be hard capped I think ?? Remains to be seen how it plays out but it wouldn't surprise me if they rotate in some TW players as PG or find a trade / etc to acquire a cheap veteran PG. This team is still dangerous

[Dadouv47]

What's up champs?

Sorry for no content lately. I guess we all needed a long offseason break after such an amazing but stressful season

Still have to watch the Presti and players preseason interviews (yeah I know most hate Presti's interviews but he has some great quotes IMO)

Watch on YouTube

[Clav]

What's up champs?

Sorry for no content lately. I guess we all needed a long offseason break after such an amazing but stressful season

Still have to watch the Presti and players preseason interviews (yeah I know most hate Presti's interviews but he has some great quotes IMO)

Watch on YouTube

I put it on, but I wasn't paying attention 100%, but caught some good bits. Basically, Presti emphasized the point that we didn't get to play our normal lineup in the RS much, we had a lot of moving parts and had an excellent season, but can actually be even better with trusting their process and not definitively "aiming for the same result." Though personally that seems a little silly to say, "don't aim to repeat, aim to repeat the ways we got the title." It is just convoluted lol. That's Presti's word salad for ya!

OKC really instills an approach that is neither high or low on one result, even if we had... for instance, lost the Finals, he'd probably have said that we did a lot of correct things, but still need to trust our process to arrive there. Same spin, if you wanna call it that.

Overall he's an enjoyable listen for me because he does have insight to the game and inner workings of our team. There's a lot of patience that he exhibits in his interview, even if I think he uses his diction to obscure some points. Worth a listen, but if you have heard him before, it will come across as pretty similar.

The interesting tidbits for me to comb through are how he talks about certain players because I feel like it shows his true feelings for that player's future in OKC. He mentions that JWill lives his best life every day and has positive energy in spades, Presti loves that. He mentioned Hartenstein is always in OKC, being a great community member, and could be here another 10 years. {my tea leaves indicate Hartenstein may have his TO declined, when that time arrives, and offered a longer term contract to remain here at lower AAV}.

Cheers, the season begins soon! We play [preseason G1] on Sunday.

[Big nick]

So where can we watch the game Sunday I can’t seem to figure it out. I did read it’s on the thunder app, is that right.

[Clav]

So where can we watch the game Sunday I can’t seem to figure it out. I did read it’s on the thunder app, is that right.

yes & league pass

[Clav]

We start preseason in about 1hr... time for a new games thread eh, my friends ? OKC @ Charlotte!

[Big nick]

So I haven’t heard exactly what happened to topic, did he take a shot to his nads at that first preseason game or what.

[Xatticus]

So I haven’t heard exactly what happened to topic, did he take a shot to his nads at that first preseason game or what.

Trauma isn't required. Things can get tangled up down there and require emergency surgery. I have no idea what the specifics are of the procedure and why the time frame is so long.

On the plus side, Wallace got a lot of time on the ball in the last game, which pleases me. He decision-making instincts are terrific and it has surprised me that he hasn't been put in more situations to develop as a creator.

[Dadouv47]

Ajay and Joe got injured? Hope nothing serious. Ajay got such a great offseason...would be sad for him to miss more time.