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Sure they didn’t make it past the second round but nothing to be ashamed of. I was highly critical of Presti’s strategy of accumulating draft picks and trading picks for more picks, but it’s obvious the man had a plan and the Thunder have already shown that plan works. First seed in the West, MVP calibre player, multiple future allstars and they have the Mavs hell, all this with an average age of 23. The present is bright, the future is bright.

This season was a massive step, and their future looks incredibly bright. That said, can't help but feel they could have done even more THIS season without much cost.

They should've done something at the deadline.

This season was magical. Only up from here. Shai definitely did his thing tonight.

rapstarter wrote:This season was a massive step, and their future looks incredibly bright. That said, can't help but feel they could have done even more THIS season without much cost.

I thought Presti should've gone after Alex Caruso at the trade deadline, but Lu Dort seems to play that role for them so I can understand why he didn't do that.

However, who else could he have gotten?

We all thought the same thing when Presti had KD. Look at how that turned out

vege wrote:They should've done something at the deadline.

They needed to see what this version looks like in the playoffs. If they dont make any significant moves in the offseason, or use their cap space to get 2nd round picks, then we can get critical of Presti

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We see it time and time again that just because a team is young it doesn’t mean that they will have a better season next year. There are teams on the come up and some haven’t made trades. Also there is the health factor so you have to take your shot when you have it.

Presti traded for Hayward and he had 0 points in the series. The mavs traded for pj and gafford which Presti also helped facilitate with the pick manoeuvre.
Sometimes you can get too cute and you get a dose of reality.

They are 1 rebounding big away from a title imho. Future looks bright!

Nice post. They’ve definitely arrived. I don’t agree but lots of people will second guess the trade deadline decisions, especially since Gafford and Washington hurt us this series.

But, either way we’re in great shape. Excited to be a fan.

vulture wrote:We see it time and time again that just because a team is young it doesn’t mean that they will have a better season next year. There are teams on the come up and some haven’t made trades. Also there is the health factor so you have to take your shot when you have it.

Presti traded for Hayward and he had 0 points in the series. The mavs traded for pj and gafford which Presti also helped facilitate with the pick manoeuvre.
Sometimes you can get too cute and you get a dose of reality.

What's crazy is all of the Thunder fans on the Thunder board begged for a PJ trade all season. I think I'm the only one that wasn't that crazy about him. Big pickup for Dallas.

My memory may be scrambled, but didn't he trade Sengun for Giddy?

Dan Z wrote:

rapstarter wrote:This season was a massive step, and their future looks incredibly bright. That said, can't help but feel they could have done even more THIS season without much cost.

I thought Presti should've gone after Alex Caruso at the trade deadline, but Lu Dort seems to play that role for them so I can understand why he didn't do that.

However, who else could he have gotten?

Cheapish 4 who can hit shots and guard. PJ Washington ironically

But still. They have Giddy to think about in the off-season

vege wrote:They should've done something at the deadline.

Not to jinx things, but they have at least half a decade of being good ahead of them. I don't think they were in the same kind of hurry at the deadline that older "all-in" teams are.

And big, big props for asking for SGA in that trade. What a find. If they had just traded George for him straight up, without the 4 FRPs, it still would've been worth it. Crazy to think that a top 3 player in the league was given away twice within 12 month just 4 years ago.

Pointgod wrote:Sure they didn’t make it past the second round but nothing to be ashamed of. I was highly critical of Presti’s strategy of accumulating draft picks and trading picks for more picks, but it’s obvious the man had a plan and the Thunder have already shown that plan works. First seed in the West, MVP calibre player, multiple future allstars and they have the Mavs hell, all this with an average age of 23. The present is bright, the future is bright.

The guy turned Serge Ibaka into SGA and a bazillion picks. Assuming he doesn’t make another Perkins like mistake by giving a massive contract to an unnecessary player like Giddey, they should be contending for quite some time.

dc wrote:

Pointgod wrote:Sure they didn’t make it past the second round but nothing to be ashamed of. I was highly critical of Presti’s strategy of accumulating draft picks and trading picks for more picks, but it’s obvious the man had a plan and the Thunder have already shown that plan works. First seed in the West, MVP calibre player, multiple future allstars and they have the Mavs hell, all this with an average age of 23. The present is bright, the future is bright.

The guy turned Serge Ibaka into SGA and a bazillion picks.

He's obviously done a great job.

Sam Presti has some incredible decisions to make. Like the Mavs with Luka, SGA is 100% ready and Presti needs to get a second star. There no excuse either, they are stacked with assets and need to play this right.

Jonas would help okc

Dominator83 wrote:My memory may be scrambled, but didn't he trade Sengun for Giddy?

They drafted and traded Sengun for the pick that ended up being Dieng. Rare L for Presti.

There's a bit of... part 1, Presti did well to find a good bunch of players to succeed around Shai [JalenWilliams/Holmgren/Joe/Wiggins/Wallace]. The RS was above expectations as the emerging big3 is capable of taking over games.

On the other side.... there was always a glaring need for size to matchup with other WC opponents so the inaction to do so set this team up for mismatch problems in the playoffs, which is exactly what happened. The playoffs reduced the impact of those role players, as it always does, as teams have more time to prep and strategize. Jalen and Jaylin Williams, Joe, Cason Wallace, Chet Holmgren, and Giddey all just did their first PO run, so that's alright in a sense, it was going to be a long-shot to win it all anyways without major deep-playoff runs under their belt.

part 2, there were opportunities to improve, but a patient strategy is what Presti was opting for as ...the targets available this year might not have been in the OKC long term plans. Still, it's not the greatest strategy IMO because in sports your chances are very limited and next year - injuries, seeding, you never know what happens. So it's kind of a mixed bag here. Giddey's fit and effectiveness was up and down all year, he seems the odd-one out. His value is kind of up in the air to me.