Rest of league panicking about OKC having the Clippers pick

[HotelVitale]

You realize this upcoming draft is loaded with number 1 overall picks within the first 4 to 5 spots right?

You also observed what OKC's scouting just did in this past draft, yes?

If they aren’t scared now, they need to be. This may be their best asset of them all.

Cool, what you gonna do about it.

Just hope they swing and miss cause this ish is unfair at this point. Especially with how the lottery went last year, and OKC's luck, they could jump from 7-9 to picking top 3 thanks to jackass Silver screwing up the lottery process.

Right, so you don't 'panic,' just sit back and hope that something you have zero control over doesn't strengthen an enemy that much.

And I'm pretty sure everyone has really liked the lotto odds being flattened out, I don't think OKC getting lucky with one of their picks means Silver 'screwed that up' or whatever. OKC just made some good bets and another one of them might come in big, give credit to them. Gonna happen under any lotto system you could think of.

[Magic_Johnny12]

Sam Presti is criminally underpaid. If I’m a major market owner, I’m throwing that guy a $100m contact.

That ain’t enough.

What he’s doing and managed to do already is grounds for giving him a blank check and offering stake/ownership in the organization.

Nothing less and this is not meant to sound hyperbolic.

[Chuck Everett]

If Zubac or Harden go down, this is arguably the worst roster in the league. Those guys are vital to keeping the Clippers even remotely competitive.

[Slimjimzv]

Sam Presti is criminally underpaid. If I’m a major market owner, I’m throwing that guy a $100m contact.

That ain’t enough.

What he’s doing and managed to do already is grounds for giving him a blank check and offering stake/ownership in the organization.

Nothing less and this is not meant to sound hyperbolic.

Imagine the Mavs if they could get him. Presti building around Flagg with the pieces the Mavs have to trade would have the rest of the league "panicked".

[Magic_Johnny12]

Sam Presti is criminally underpaid. If I’m a major market owner, I’m throwing that guy a $100m contact.

That ain’t enough.

What he’s doing and managed to do already is grounds for giving him a blank check and offering stake/ownership in the organization.

Nothing less and this is not meant to sound hyperbolic.

Imagine the Mavs if they could get him. Presti building around Flagg with the pieces the Mavs have to trade would have the rest of the league "panicked".

Like restricted free agency, OKC will always have the upper hand in keeping Presti longterm unless Presti is ready for a new challenge.

Presti will get exactly what he wants, no negotiation and it will be dumb of him to look elsewhere. He is revered like a god in Oklahoma and will be part of a potential dynasty and cement himself as one of the best to ever do it.

It’s good to imagine though, but don’t hold your breathe

[Slimjimzv]

That ain’t enough.

What he’s doing and managed to do already is grounds for giving him a blank check and offering stake/ownership in the organization.

Nothing less and this is not meant to sound hyperbolic.

Imagine the Mavs if they could get him. Presti building around Flagg with the pieces the Mavs have to trade would have the rest of the league "panicked".

Like restricted free agency, OKC will always have the upper hand in keeping Presti longterm unless Presti is ready for a new challenge.

Presti will get exactly what he wants, no negotiation and it will be dumb of him to look elsewhere. He is revered like a god in Oklahoma and will be part of a potential dynasty and cement himself as one of the best to ever do it.

It’s good to imagine though, but don’t hold your breathe

Oh, I don't want him to leave. My biggest fear is that the Celtics will lure him away.

[Chuck Everett]

Imagine the Mavs if they could get him. Presti building around Flagg with the pieces the Mavs have to trade would have the rest of the league "panicked".

Like restricted free agency, OKC will always have the upper hand in keeping Presti longterm unless Presti is ready for a new challenge.

Presti will get exactly what he wants, no negotiation and it will be dumb of him to look elsewhere. He is revered like a god in Oklahoma and will be part of a potential dynasty and cement himself as one of the best to ever do it.

It’s good to imagine though, but don’t hold your breathe

Oh, I don't want him to leave. My biggest fear is that the Celtics will lure him away.

Presti literally has the best job security in professional basketball. If he enjoys what he does (and I don't see why he wouldn't), it makes no sense to leave. Real talk, he would have left already, if he was driven to rebuild another organization. And now he's proven he can win in OKC, forget about it. This dude is a made man.

[Prestige]

Presti is a proactive GM who is able to plan strategically for years down the line and also not fall in love with any of his players, including his stars. He also highly values draft picks.

If you’re a major market and desirable destination, you can probably get away with selling off picks, overpaying for contracts and making bad trades. But all other teams should be taking notes on how to build a contender.

[Larry_Russell]

Tanking works,

Trading away all your talent for as much future draft capital as possible works

You do need a good scouting crew though.

[dhsilv2]

Presti has aced his trades, aced his draft picks, aced his free agency pickups, and aced his choice of head coach. Absolutely incredible.

And other than Caruso they don’t even have a veteran they doing it with young guys.

It's mind blowing he's the only guy listed post his age 27 season...no guy on this team is going to be over 28 this year but him. That's mind boggling.

[tsherkin]

OKC ran away with the title last year

Well, no. They actually had to series go all the way to 7 games, which is the opposite of "running away with" the competition. And Denver's better this year than last year, presuming health in the playoffs. So while OKC is phenomenal, and certainly the favorite at the moment, the characterization in that remark is a little off. They're crushing the start of this season and they're an absolute dynamite defense again so far, and of course Shai remains a bonkers AF talent.

So they deserve loads of respect, but let's not re-author history trying to pump their tires.

[Patches Perry]

Presti took over as Thunder GM when he was 29yo, which is wild to me. As good as he's been, he has also seemingly improved and learned from his mistakes.

There was a lot of pressure last year from fans to "consolidate" assets by making a big trade for someone like Markannen. Presti seemed to understand that the deferred value will serve OKC better over time. Trading for another max guy just immediately traps you into salary hell.

My personal theory is that the Westbrook George Thunder team made him feel completely helpless. They had no financial flexibility and their ceiling was 1st round exits. When Geoege asked to be traded, it gave him a lifeline that he could trade his superstars for assets and rebuild from the ground up. He hasn't looked back.

[dhsilv2]

Like restricted free agency, OKC will always have the upper hand in keeping Presti longterm unless Presti is ready for a new challenge.

Presti will get exactly what he wants, no negotiation and it will be dumb of him to look elsewhere. He is revered like a god in Oklahoma and will be part of a potential dynasty and cement himself as one of the best to ever do it.

It’s good to imagine though, but don’t hold your breathe

Oh, I don't want him to leave. My biggest fear is that the Celtics will lure him away.

Presti literally has the best job security in professional basketball. If he enjoys what he does (and I don't see why he wouldn't), it makes no sense to leave. Real talk, he would have left already, if he was driven to rebuild another organization. And now he's proven he can win in OKC, forget about it. This dude is a made man.

Throw in have you seen the cost of epic houses in OKC? Dude can buy and pay off a 10k property with tennis courts and a pool with a view of an artificial lake by a golf course in a year.

[slick_watts]

Sam Presti is criminally underpaid. If I’m a major market owner, I’m throwing that guy a $100m contact.

there have been overtures a couple of times from other teams but it'd be difficult / impossible imo to steal sam presti from okc. his relationship with the community is very strong and he works for a hands-off ownership. the latter could change when clay bennett eventually dies but that probably still wouldn't be enough to tear him away. and i don't think he'd be interested in working for a real involved ownership if he was to go anywhere.

[Patches Perry]

Oh, I don't want him to leave. My biggest fear is that the Celtics will lure him away.

Presti literally has the best job security in professional basketball. If he enjoys what he does (and I don't see why he wouldn't), it makes no sense to leave. Real talk, he would have left already, if he was driven to rebuild another organization. And now he's proven he can win in OKC, forget about it. This dude is a made man.

Throw in have you seen the cost of epic houses in OKC? Dude can buy and pay off a 10k property with tennis courts and a pool with a view of an artificial lake by a golf course in a year.

Yep, his house is basically that. $2.7m, 8k square feet, 2 acre lot. Would easily cost $10m or more in bigger cities.

[Nate505]

They are building a great team the correct, honorable way, and not signing an MVP level guy in FA.

It's hard not to respect what they're doing. And hell, they might have two lottery picks if the Jazz can't get into the top 8. Absolutely brilliant management here.

[mg]

^ Yep OKC also owns the Jazz '26 FRP (top 8 protected). That could turn into another late lotto pick for them.

Presti was super opportunistic offering cap space for picks. Now the chickens are coming home to roost as they have a huge warchest of picks to replace roleplayers as they get too expensive. They could realistically be a contender for at least the next 6-7 years.

[MoneyTalks41890]

Presti has aced his trades, aced his draft picks, aced his free agency pickups, and aced his choice of head coach. Absolutely incredible.

And other than Caruso they don’t even have a veteran they doing it with young guys.

My favorite little stat is that Austin Reaves is older than everyone on the Thunder except for Hart, Caruso, and Kenrich.

[tsherkin]

They are building a great team the correct, honorable way, and not signing an MVP level guy in FA.

Do you also complain about Shaq signing in LA in free agency? Or Moses signing with Philly?

I'm sure you complain about Lebron and Durant, but there have been other examples over the past 40-some years about which no one was wailing or trying to paint as dishonorable. Free agency is exactly that, the player's freedom to do what they want. The PU fought for that right; bitching that people exercise it is somewhat non-sensical. It's like complaining about unions fighting for workers' rights in a conventional context.

[ShootersShoot]

Presti took over as Thunder GM when he was 29yo, which is wild to me. As good as he's been, he has also seemingly improved and learned from his mistakes.

There was a lot of pressure last year from fans to "consolidate" assets by making a big trade for someone like Markannen. Presti seemed to understand that the deferred value will serve OKC better over time. Trading for another max guy just immediately traps you into salary hell.

My personal theory is that the Westbrook George Thunder team made him feel completely helpless. They had no financial flexibility and their ceiling was 1st round exits. When Geoege asked to be traded, it gave him a lifeline that he could trade his superstars for assets and rebuild from the ground up. He hasn't looked back.

Equally insane that he was able to draft like he did at that age as a first time gm.