Did OKC mismanage the former Euroleague MVP?

[Dirk]

I've wondered about this for a while and was kind of shocked the Thunder just threw the guy away to the Hornets while never having really given him a chance to settle and play consistently.

Today I was trying to check in on some Grant Williams lowlights... and Vasilije Micić just jumps out of the screen and again makes me wonder as to why the Thunder have a guy with a tremendous pedigree... and never played him.

Some random plays.

I notice that this is kind of similar to this game winner in the Euroleague semis. I had to double check, but this guy along with another Euroleague demigod, Shane Larkin, destroyed the competition.

Watch on YouTube

This is quite an impressive CV.

2× EuroLeague champion (2021, 2022)
2× EuroLeague Final Four MVP (2021, 2022)
EuroLeague MVP (2021)
Alphonso Ford EuroLeague Top Scorer Trophy (2022)
2× EuroLeague Finals Top Scorer (2021, 2022)
All-EuroLeague First Team (2021)
2× All-EuroLeague Second Team (2019, 2022)
ABA League champion (2016)
3× Turkish Super League champion (2019, 2021, 2023)
Turkish Super League Finals MVP (2023)
Turkish Super League assists leader (2019)

Did the Thunder badly mismanage this guy? Why did they never really give him a chance?

Looking at the game log, he barely had any chances. His stats are bad, but again, never really given a run. I suppose he isn't very athletic or good on D, but... the Thunder do role out a tall dude from Australia that has a hairstyle that you can't take seriously as basketball player, that can't shoot, can't finish at the rim, can't defend either. I guess he's much younger and taller though.

What are everyone's thoughts? Why didn't a guy with this CV not play with the Thunder and will he be able to carve out a good career in the NBA with the Hornets?

[Mavrelous]

Just posted on the game thread, this is going to be a very interesting situation.
OKC is guard heavy and their group was tight after last year success, Micic being older and new comer got left out, but he has the finishers to play with in CHA, a P&R partner in Williams, should be very interesting.

[timO]

charlotte played another scrub of okc a few years

Théo Maledon

now they got tre mann and micic

enjoy them

[Braggins]

I don't think they mismanaged him as much as they are just a stacked team with a bunch of good guards and had to make tough decisions not playing guys that could get minutes for other teams. He looked solid in his minutes for OKC, but they just didn't need really need him for more than like 10 minutes a game.

[KembaWalker]

Shows the absolute incompetence of Charlottes former front office that guys with this skill level are rotting away on benches available as throw ins whilst we start Ish Smith, who brought literally nothing to the table

Charlotte gonna end up with the best rookie PG this season after all

[CodeBreaker]

Heat should get this guy

[timO]

I don't think they mismanaged him as much as they are just a stacked team with a bunch of good guards and had to make tough decisions not playing guys that could get minutes for other teams. He looked solid in his minutes for OKC, but they just didn't need really need him for more than like 10 minutes a game.

he started like a total scrub and a total deception

then he played pure PG thing with securing a few safe shots per game for not destroy his TS%, and he ups it from 40% to 50%

he can be the backup PG, but okc has Cason who is already better in all

[lonzo_pelota]

very impressive find and example of his recent play

[jbk1234]

Heat should get this guy

Probably cost the Heat two first round picks to get a PG who's actually solid.

[FinnTheHuman]

I don't think they mismanaged him as much as they are just a stacked team with a bunch of good guards and had to make tough decisions not playing guys that could get minutes for other teams. He looked solid in his minutes for OKC, but they just didn't need really need him for more than like 10 minutes a game.

he started like a total scrub and a total deception

then he played pure PG thing with securing a few safe shots per game for not destroy his TS%, and he ups it from 40% to 50%

he can be the backup PG, but okc has Cason who is already better in all

Micic will prove to be one of the best backup PGs in the league. You don't give that away easily only because you're one of the rare teams in the league that have a better backup PG on the team than he is. And no, he did not start like a total scrub and a deception, he was very solid in his rare minutes he got from the very start. You're coping with your posts in this thread imo.

For OKC:
on: +15.6
off: +6.2
on-off: +9.4

How is this staggeringly great +/- along with the eye test not enough to call this move a blunder? He probably had an unwritten agreement that they'll move him if they don't find minutes for him until the deadline, it's the only reasonable explanation to me.

[JDR720]

Hope so. We haven't had a good backup PG for more than 1 year at a time since Jeremy Lin.

[Nuntius]

As Braggins said, OKC is absolutely loaded with young guards. SGA, Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey all work a lot better with the ball in their hands and Cason Williams is a damn good prospect as well (Cason also works off ball but still).

Micic is a very good player but he was never going to get a big chance in OKC. OKC has so much young talent that it would be a shame to not use it. Micic is 30 and he should probably be playing in a team that aims to contend right now.

[JayMKE]

Probably not, a lot of these euro MVPs aren't really playable in the NBA; Juan Carlos Narvarro, Vassilis Spanoulis, Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Nando de Colo

[Jellybeans]

As Braggins said, OKC is absolutely loaded with young guards. SGA, Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey all work a lot better with the ball in their hands and Cason Williams is a damn good prospect as well (Cason also works off ball but still).

Micic is a very good player but he was never going to get a big chance in OKC. OKC has so much young talent that it would be a shame to not use it. Micic is 30 and he should probably be playing in a team that aims to contend right now.

Not everyone on the OKC is Wiliams Cason is Wallace

[UcanUwill]

Probably not, a lot of these euro MVPs aren't really playable in the NBA; Juan Carlos Narvarro, Vassilis Spanoulis, Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Nando de Colo

How was Navarro unplayable? He was just fine. Good NBA rookie. Also Nando wasn't EL MVP when he was in the NBA, he became one long after NBA stint, when he improved and hit his prime. Same with Spanoulis, won MVP in 2013, he was in the NBA in 06...

But what does that even mean, guy is Euroleague MVP, so he can't be playable in the NBA? We all know you dont care for EUroleague, you dont need to show trolish animosity.

[Chuck Everett]

Where were the minutes going to come from? Even playing small ball, the Thunder have at least four guys who play with the ball in their hands (J-Dub, Shai, Giddey, Cason). Now aside from Giddey, they can also play without the ball, but if Micic didn't know when he would play from night to night, this is the best thing for him.

Tre Mann is talented as well, but in OKC, he was never going to get the minutes to really improve. This has happened so many times with guards. Eric Bledsoe, Steve Nash, Kevin Johnson, Isaiah Thomas (the 5'7 one), Kyle Lowry. Not saying, he will prove to be as good as those guys, but I would not be shocked to see him carve out a niche in Charlotte and become a good player. To me, one of the reasons they traded him is because they knew they wouldn't be able to pay him moving forward (as they need to keep an eye on their cap balance). If he was a second player like Chet and J-Dub, I believe he would still be on the roster.

[Nuntius]

As Braggins said, OKC is absolutely loaded with young guards. SGA, Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey all work a lot better with the ball in their hands and Cason Williams is a damn good prospect as well (Cason also works off ball but still).

Micic is a very good player but he was never going to get a big chance in OKC. OKC has so much young talent that it would be a shame to not use it. Micic is 30 and he should probably be playing in a team that aims to contend right now.

Not everyone on the OKC is Wiliams Cason is Wallace

You are right, I have no idea how I screwed this one up

[Nuntius]

We all know you dont care for EUroleague, you dont need to show trolish animosity.

He doesn't but, sadly, this is what happens anytime a EuroLeague player, prospect or team is mentioned on the GB. There will always be animosity and trolls.

[UcanUwill]

We all know you dont care for EUroleague, you dont need to show trolish animosity.

He doesn't but, sadly, this is what happens anytime a EuroLeague player, prospect or team is mentioned on the GB. There will always be animosity and trolls.

Yep, we know why these comments are even made, it is not even technically incorrect, because yes, some of these players really flame out, but like yeah, not every player, especially veteran pan out from lower level, what a revelation... Not every top Duke, Arizona or Kentucky star hit either.

[KembaWalker]

Hopefully he’s happy in Charlotte getting to actually show his talent. He’s stilll young enough to hope for another contract.

Charlotte bringing over guys with actual high end skills like Curry/ Bertans to replace bums that literally bring nothing to the table at all like Ish/Bouknight/Ntilikina/Thor/McGowens and bringing Micic and Mann to run the units…very low key incredible deadline for us.