BirdmanPresents wrote:It was the same thing when they lost to the Heat. What people don't understand is, without making moves the Thunder will still improve because guys are developing. The opposite is true for most teams like the Heat, Spurs, Grizzlies. Time is on OKCs side, which is a huge factor when talking about how OKC improved without Harden this season.
Exactly, and that's why I think Presti hasn't been pressing real hard to make any big moves. For starters, I think he's doing his best to stay under the tax threshold so he doesn't have to get started on being a luxury tax payer until he absolutely has to in a few years when Durant, Russ, and Serge are up for new contracts; because when that happens, if all 3 stay here, he won't be able to avoid it. And due to the repeat offender penalties being so harsh under the new CBA, I can understand why he wouldn't want to unnecessarily go into the tax this year for someone unless he absolutely felt they could put us over the top.
He really is taking the San Antonio approach of letting your young players develop, while also collecting draft picks, layering players, and letting those young players develop overseas or in the D-League because, like you said, time is still on his side. I think once he sees Durant and Russ and Serge may be about to reach their peak, and it may look like they don't have enough to win a championship, he'll be more aggressive during the summers. But for now, we've still got more than half our rotation filled with players 25 years old or younger. I think some people have kind of forgotten how young Durant, Russ, and Serge still are because this will be the 4th season OKC has been a contender. They just forget that, when OKC broke onto the scene in 2011, all those guys were 21-22 years old; and if Westbrook hadn't gotten hurt, there's a really good chance (even after losing Harden) OKC would've wrapped-up a 3 year stretch of 2 Finals appearances and a WCF appearance all before Durant and Westbrook turned 25.
But our core is still young and developing:
Durant - 25 years old
Westbrook - 25 years old
Serge - 24 years old
Reggie - 23 years old
Lamb - 21 years old
Perry Jones - 22
Daniel Orton - 22
Steven Adams - 20
That's how old those players will be next year. I doubt Adams and Jones break the rotation, but we'll still have a 9 man rotation where 5 of the players are 21-25 years old. I list Orton, because it wouldn't surprise me if he's our back-up center this year.