Fall of 2020-21 OKC Thunder Offseason Thread- Rebuild or Maintain?

Post #341 » by **ThunderBolt** » Mon Nov 30, 2020 12:49 pm

"Media week" starts tomorrow.

getrichordie · Post #342 » by **getrichordie** » Mon Nov 30, 2020 3:07 pm

Is this an accurate account of the roster? I get that the Horford trade isn't official yet, but we are looking at 21 players on the roster. Who are the roster cuts?

2020-2021
thunder

1-2

s. gilgeous-alexander
t. maledon
f. jackson
t. jerome
j. gray
g. hill

2-3

l. dort
h. diallo
d. miller

3-4

t. ariza
d. bazley
a. pokusevski
ju. jackson
k. williams
z. cheatam
a. schofield

4-5

a. horford
t. leaf
i. roby
v. poirier
m. muscala

--

m. brown (2W)
j. hall (2W)
o. yurtseven (X10)
v. krejci (STASH)

thedoppelganger · Post #343 » by **thedoppelganger** » Mon Nov 30, 2020 4:13 pm

getrichordie wrote:Is this an accurate account of the roster? I get that the Horford trade isn't official yet, but we are looking at 21 players on the roster. Who are the roster cuts?

2020-2021
thunder

1-2

s. gilgeous-alexander
t. maledon
f. jackson
t. jerome
j. gray
g. hill

2-3

l. dort
h. diallo
d. miller

3-4

t. ariza
d. bazley
a. pokusevski
ju. jackson
k. williams
z. cheatam
a. schofield

4-5

a. horford
t. leaf
i. roby
v. poirier
m. muscala

--

m. brown (2W)
j. hall (2W)
o. yurtseven (X10)
v. krejci (STASH)

Poirier is supposedly heading to Philly in the Horford trade - think a French outlet reported that recently? If that's the case, need to make 5 more cuts/trades.

The players that were signed just to be traded to us from NOLA - Cheatam/Gray/Williams - all seem to be likely cuts, with maybe Williams sticking. After that I'd rank in order of most likely to be gone by 12/22:

Miller
Hill - would be a trade of course
Leaf
Roby
Schofield - unsure if Washington was trying to get rid of him, or if we actively wanted to have him included in the draft day trade

Post #344 » by **ThunderBolt** » Mon Nov 30, 2020 9:39 pm

A few notes from Sam's media day. I didn't listen live.

Spoiler:

Post #345 » by **Dadouv47** » Mon Nov 30, 2020 11:53 pm

Read on Twitter

Worth a try? struggling with injuries?

Old Man Game · Post #346 » by **Old Man Game** » Tue Dec 1, 2020 3:32 am

ThunderBolt wrote:A few notes from Sam's media day. I didn't listen live.

Read on Twitter

I love that.

ThunderBolt wrote:

Read on Twitter

I love that too. "he's Lu Dort." You're G.D. right he is.

jambalaya · Post #347 » by **jambalaya** » Tue Dec 1, 2020 5:40 am

If that "is" Lu Dort, I am not that impressed. Terrible from 3, almost no assists or rebounds. Ok but low frequency finisher / foul getter. Defensive efforts and some steals but not much DRAPM to show for it. Overall LA-RAPM basically neutral. Sounds a lot like Ferguson.

I am hoping for more. Hoping that the real Lu Dort is more. He will be, but how much more? I was very hopeful before he played, less so after. But I'll be somewhat hopeful again for awhile and see.

Post #348 » by **ThunderBolt** » Tue Dec 1, 2020 1:14 pm

Dadouv47 wrote:

Read on Twitter

Worth a try? struggling with injuries?

I think he gets another shot but I doubt it's with us. We have too many players on the roster as it stands.

Post #349 » by **ThunderBolt** » Tue Dec 1, 2020 6:18 pm

Read on Twitter

getrichordie · Post #350 » by **getrichordie** » Wed Dec 2, 2020 6:00 am

So these are my projected cuts:

Josh Gray
Zylan Cheatham
Kenrich Williams
Justin Jackson
Admiral Schofield

Don't know who the 5th one is if no other players are going out but I'd imagine it would be between Leaf, Roby, and Poirier. I can see a world where Ariza is imminently flipped and we keep 2 of them.

Post #351 » by **retrobro90** » Wed Dec 2, 2020 6:51 am

Bazley was real bad vibes at his media day interview. He's normally pretty smiley with reporters but this was pretty far in the other direction. Testy with Andrew Schlecht's dorky but well-meaning question. He's 20 and allowed to have bad days but on his IG post from today he liked and responded to EVERY notable comment EXCEPT the okcthunder official IG account. Feels like he's either freshly unhappy with the teardown or something else recently happened/was said to him that made him at odds with management.

Post #352 » by **ThunderBolt** » Wed Dec 2, 2020 10:31 am

retrobro90 wrote:Bazley was real bad vibes at his media day interview. He's normally pretty smiley with reporters but this was pretty far in the other direction. Testy with Andrew Schlecht's dorky but well-meaning question. He's 20 and allowed to have bad days but on his IG post from today he liked and responded to EVERY notable comment EXCEPT the okcthunder official IG account. Feels like he's either freshly unhappy with the teardown or something else recently happened/was said to him that made him at odds with management.

I noticed his attitude too. Oh well. I like bazley but I’m not too worried about the organization going out of their way to keep him happy.. Sam gave him tons of praise on Monday so maybe he’s was just in a bad mode.

Old Man Game · Post #353 » by **Old Man Game** » Wed Dec 2, 2020 1:19 pm

I don't think its unusual for players to resent being told they're rebuilding. You're expressly saying to them, 'hey, you aren't good enough.' I think its one reason its so hard to do this tanking strategy effectively.

If you recall the last time we did this Nick was basically the only holdover. That's a rarity for a guy to stay bought in through all of that and it was probably only facilitated by getting Durant and it becoming clear right away that something special was going on.

Post #354 » by **ThunderBolt** » Wed Dec 2, 2020 2:00 pm

Old Man Game wrote:I don't think its unusual for players to resent being told they're rebuilding. You're expressly saying to them, 'hey, you aren't good enough.' I think its one reason its so hard to do this tanking strategy effectively.

If you recall the last time we did this Nick was basically the only holdover. That's a rarity for a guy to stay bought in through all of that and it was probably only facilitated by getting Durant and it becoming clear right away that something special was going on.

I get it but he hasn't even started his second year. I realize every athlete has the "me against the world" mentality but quite frankly, he's not good enough and neither was last year's team. The only difference last year is OKC was the darling of the playoffs by losing in the first round instead of the annoying cocky team that lost in the first round. It's understandable to be disappointed but don't take in out on Schlecht. The guy seems like a genuinely nice guy and is one of Bazley's biggest fans.

Post #355 » by **Dadouv47** » Wed Dec 2, 2020 2:10 pm

I like Bazley's potential but I feel he's not the kind of hard worker kid that will reach his potential. I hope I'm wrong.

Post #356 » by **ThunderBolt** » Wed Dec 2, 2020 2:19 pm

Dadouv47 wrote:I like Bazley's potential but I feel he's not the kind of hard worker kid that will reach his potential. I hope I'm wrong.

I feel the opposite. I think he'll work hard and do what the coaches ask but I'm not sure about how high his ceiling really is.

Old Man Game · Post #357 » by **Old Man Game** » Wed Dec 2, 2020 3:27 pm

The more I think of it I wonder if Baze isn't a little bit miffed about the Poku pick. You look at them there's a lot of overlap in their skills and positions even if Poku is taller.

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Balkman32 · Post #358 » by **Balkman32** » Wed Dec 2, 2020 3:58 pm

getrichordie wrote:So these are my projected cuts:

Josh Gray
Zylan Cheatham
Kenrich Williams
Justin Jackson
Admiral Schofield

Don't know who the 5th one is if no other players are going out but I'd imagine it would be between Leaf, Roby, and Poirier. I can see a world where Ariza is imminently flipped and we keep 2 of them.

I think Miller & Roby get cut and Schofield & Justin Jackson hang. Miller is 30 and coming off a ACL tear. We really don't need the $7 million for matching purposes.

Poirier is on his way to the 6ers in the Horford deal. There might be another player coming back in that one, who you can expect be be cut.

Balkman32 · Post #359 » by **Balkman32** » Wed Dec 2, 2020 3:59 pm

Old Man Game wrote:The more I think of it I wonder if Baze isn't a little bit miffed about the Poku pick. You look at them there's a lot of overlap in their skills and positions even if Poku is taller.

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He is a 20 year old that just lost a BFF in Chris Frekin Paul. He's allowed to be sad.

Also he is going to take it to Poku every day. They get better together. They both each play 3-5, if you had 5 POKU's and Baze's you would play all FIVE.

jambalaya · Post #360 » by **jambalaya** » Wed Dec 2, 2020 5:21 pm

if I had 5 today POKU's and today Baze's I would play them a total of 35 - 45 minutes and expect to be in the lottery.