Calinks wrote:TimberKat wrote:Calinks wrote:We might not finish first, I want to but as long as we finish top 4 I will be satisfied. I think right now the Clippers and Thunder playing better ball than us. We are not even at the halfway point of the season yet though and I think we have a lot of room to grow, I don't know if the Clippers and OKC do. I think we can play a lot better than we are right now and we can certainly be battling for the top seed all year.
OKC is in the best position and grow after getting lucky with SGA and Holmgren. They can outbid anyone on the big name trade and they all can fit - Markkanen, Saikam, Zack, Wiggins
I meant this season more specifically, for sure in the long term OKC has the best potential for growth, they can be a dynasty, we are already facing major cap issues and this could possibly be our last season with this core which sucks because I think they need 1-2 more years to really be major title threats.
I agree. OKC is already playing at a higher level than us, more consistently, and has probably the deepest rotation and best shooting in the league. They have so many roleplayers who can both defend and sniff 40% 3 point shooting.
They are not a great rebounding team so they are vulnerable on nights when the shooting is not up to their usual standard.
But we have been weak all season at defending the 3 point line.
They don't have to pay Giddey until '25-'26, and then have to pay Chet and Jalen the year after.
That's a 3 year window for contention without even having to worry about going into the luxury tax.
And then 9 bazillion draft picks they can use to reload, or use to trade up to target any player they want outside the top 5 of the draft.
If they got Markaanen it would effectively be lights out for the rest of the league.
Fortunately, I think Utah is too smart to trade him.
The Clippers, I agree they are playing better than us.
I don't think their playstyle or current level of play is sustainable though.
Too many egos, too many injury prone guys, and age are all factors.
Zubac is playing out of his mind right now, and now that Kahwaii got his extension I expect another big injury before the end of the season.