Djoker wrote:So I've been thinking about this team, the way they played on the court, and their legacy.
I took the period from 2012-2016 when the team was a contender.
Both stars' volume stats dropped a lot when they were on the court together and efficiency dropped as well.
In terms of the success of the lineups, the Thunder were marginally better with both on the court (+9.8) than with just Durant on the court (+8.4).
Although it's interesting that with both on the court, they got very little help from the rest of the supporting cast. And the rest of the cast actually had a negative impact on offense (-1.2). It's not that surprising IMO when considering that Ibaka was nothing special on offense and apart from one season of pre-prime Harden in 2012 and an old Derek Fisher who was a fringe rotation player by that point, they had no one who could shoot the ball when they passed it out.
So here are some questions that I've been pondering:
1) How many positive impact players did that team have outside of Durant and Westbrook? I'm only certain about 2012 Harden and Ibaka. Maybe Adams for a couple of seasons.
2) How well did the pieces fit? Talking about Durant and Westbrook fit but also the lack of shooting and potentially other factors.
3) Did this team ultimately underachieve all things considered?
westbrook kd duo was the most iconic duo of it's era, second to the splash bros
kd was quoted as saying "we are getting YOUNGER not better." referencing okc building from the draft rather than making trades. so basically, okc didn't hit it's ceiling, by kd's accounting. they drafted a lot of players we all know, prolly cuz they've all gone on to have a career in the nba
the diff between that okc and the current okc was THAT westbrook team was an anomaly. they were the youngest since walton's blazers in an era when the spurs and lebron(and lakers, mavs,celts before them) were running the league
the current okc is young IN A LEAGUE THAT IS ALSO YOUNG or moving to youth.
so presti's time back then was yet to come. he came from the spurs who were built organically and had since been doing so for 20yrs. it's just that now is his time when back then,,,it wasn't
so here's my hot take. given that okc (and later gsw) was the best young team in the nba, if the environment back then 15yrs ago was as it is today we might have been seeing 20yr okc dynastic lean much like the spurs, or,,,given presti's history, okc might be at the door of something similar right now
if so,,presti is a goat genius gm/exec
