RealGM

Was listening to the Sports Animal today and they had Doug Gottlieb on as a guest. Gottlieb mentioned that the Thunder have had a hard time attracting free agents because they don't want to live in Oklahoma City.

However Doug also said we've had a hard time attracting coaches because their families don't want to live in Oklahoma city. I had not heard that. Has anyone else heard that before or is Gottlieb full of crap?

Hadn't heard it either. TBH it's Gottleib, who's at best a toned down Skip Bayless so I lean no, but .

At the end of the day you only play 41 games @ home in OKC plus the playoffs. Your family will be in school during the season. You are there to work. I would think that it is a benefit to be somewhere where you don't have that constant temptation and are able to concentrate on your task. Plus the only FA that i remember us being interested was Gasol and he choose Chicago because of the Opera.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

We've had mo cheeks and Monty Williams both come on as assistants, highly respected guys that have been head coaches elsewhere. We are the team that lured Donovan who a lot of NBA teams have had interest in (idiots), and he brought a bunch of his Florida guys. I actually think we've been able to get pretty much whoever we want coaching wise.

It's pretty clear that we don't attract free agents ''because'' of Oklahoma City. About coaches? I doubt it WAS the case. Maybe now but almost every coach would try to win a ring with Russ/Ibaka/Cupcake, so it's probably a lot of crap

(If we want to attract some FA we need to play better than yesterday omg )

Old Man Game wrote:Gottlieb mentioned that the Thunder have had a hard time attracting free agents because they don't want to live in Oklahoma City.

Can somebody telle me what's so terrible about OKC? The way this sounds, it's like OKC is the worst city on Earth.

I found this on pinterest

Also this. It seems Oklahomans are ready for anything thrown at them.

oken wrote:I found this on pinterest

I can relate to that. Sounds an awful lot like Bavaria. Well, not the guns and natural disasters, but the overall feel. Maybe that's why I never think nobody would ever want to live there.

I prefer living here



to living in Munich. Never been one for big cities.

Maybe all good shooting coaches don't want to live at OKC. That would explain a lot about the current season.

Bergmaniac wrote:Maybe all good shooting coaches don't want to live at OKC. That would explain a lot about the current season.

Savage

Pillendreher wrote:

Old Man Game wrote:Gottlieb mentioned that the Thunder have had a hard time attracting free agents because they don't want to live in Oklahoma City.

Can somebody telle me what's so terrible about OKC? The way this sounds, it's like OKC is the worst city on Earth.

I'm not a young multi-millionaire so I could be wrong, but I think the biggest issue is just lack of entertainment options. We don't have a great club scene or strip clubs. Also the city isn't very diverse compared to other NBA cities which I suspect may play a role in its image amongst free agents.

Old Man Game wrote:

Pillendreher wrote:

Old Man Game wrote:Gottlieb mentioned that the Thunder have had a hard time attracting free agents because they don't want to live in Oklahoma City.

Can somebody telle me what's so terrible about OKC? The way this sounds, it's like OKC is the worst city on Earth.

I'm not a young multi-millionaire so I could be wrong, but I think the biggest issue is just lack of entertainment options. We don't have a great club scene or strip clubs. Also the city isn't very diverse compared to other NBA cities which I suspect may play a role in its image amongst free agents.

Doesn't that apply to most other cities as well? I've never been to the US, but from what I gather, 'cool NBA cities' are LA, NY and Miami. It'snot like Portland or SLC are known for their entertainment industry, are they?

Pillendreher wrote:

Old Man Game wrote:

Pillendreher wrote:
Can somebody telle me what's so terrible about OKC? The way this sounds, it's like OKC is the worst city on Earth.

I'm not a young multi-millionaire so I could be wrong, but I think the biggest issue is just lack of entertainment options. We don't have a great club scene or strip clubs. Also the city isn't very diverse compared to other NBA cities which I suspect may play a role in its image amongst free agents.

Doesn't that apply to most other cities as well? I've never been to the US, but from what I gather, 'cool NBA cities' are LA, NY and Miami. It'snot like Portland or SLC are known for their entertainment industry, are they?

Nope, and I'm not from OKC either but it's still waaaaay smaller than those places. Those places are to OKC what NY and LA are to them.

It's not going to be based solely on city attraction but also team culture and the draft itself. The NBA draft exists for a reason; talent will be coming in year in and year out. Gotta be patient. And yes I agree, it's hard to find KD like talent in any draft but superstars do come in the NBA.

bondom34 wrote:

Pillendreher wrote:

Old Man Game wrote:
I'm not a young multi-millionaire so I could be wrong, but I think the biggest issue is just lack of entertainment options. We don't have a great club scene or strip clubs. Also the city isn't very diverse compared to other NBA cities which I suspect may play a role in its image amongst free agents.

Doesn't that apply to most other cities as well? I've never been to the US, but from what I gather, 'cool NBA cities' are LA, NY and Miami. It'snot like Portland or SLC are known for their entertainment industry, are they?

Nope, and I'm not from OKC either but it's still waaaaay smaller than those places. Those places are to OKC what NY and LA are to them.

Yeah, those places are pretty cosmopolitan compared to OKC. I live here but even I can admit OKC doesn't have a lot going for it beyond low cost of living, which, generally isn't something an NBA free agent will care about.