Sam Presti on Hayward Trade: "I missed on that. That's on me."; Hayward's Wife Responds

[og15]

Surprised by the shade he’s throwing at a known classy player. It was a low risk move i thought? His wife is known to be a little outspoken, but I can’t say I blame her for defending her husband here. He’s too nice to do it himself.

Personally I think that is pretty unprofessional by Presti

I agree- borderline Doc Rivers-like

We live in a very unprofessional world now. You got CEOs wearing slippers and a shirt to conferences and smocking weed on podcasts. This doesn't surprise me anymore.

I know it's the internet age and all, but did you guys watch this? He just says that trade wasn't the right move for the team's chemistry, it didn't provide the new element what they needed to level up. Then he spends like 15 sentences trying to rephrase it to capture that it's hard but it's his job etc.

He doesn't actually say a word about Hayward and definitely doesn't throw any shade at him as a player. The whole thing is him trying to be real/honest about his struggles tinkering with an already good roster. If anything he's kinda over-performing accountability here with the emphasis on how the whole thing was his fault. 'I tried but these things are really unpredictable but it's also still my fault' is basically what he said.

Yea, I read the comments, then I watched the clip and I was confused lol

[KamikazeK]

gotta be honest, I don't really care what a trump supporter thinks about anything.

Please keep the discussion related to NBA basketball and avoid political derailing thanks. -b

[JellosJigglin]

gotta be honest, I don't really care what a trump supporter thinks about anything.

It's ok. One day you'll grow up. Today is not that day.

[Above The Rim]

Surprised by the shade he’s throwing at a known classy player. It was a low risk move i thought? His wife is known to be a little outspoken, but I can’t say I blame her for defending her husband here. He’s too nice to do it himself.

Personally I think that is pretty unprofessional by Presti

I agree- borderline Doc Rivers-like

We live in a very unprofessional world now. You got CEOs wearing slippers and a shirt to conferences and smocking weed on podcasts. This doesn't surprise me anymore.

I know it's the internet age and all, but did you guys watch this? He just says that trade wasn't the right move for the team's chemistry, it didn't provide the new element what they needed to level up. Then he spends like 15 sentences trying to rephrase it to capture that it's hard but it's his job etc.

He doesn't actually say a word about Hayward and definitely doesn't throw any shade at him as a player. The whole thing is him trying to be real/honest about his struggles tinkering with an already good roster. If anything he's kinda over-performing accountability here with the emphasis on how the whole thing was his fault. 'I tried but these things are really unpredictable but it's also still my fault' is basically what he said.

He was blunt to say the very least. A guy like Hayward needs chemistry with new team as a selling point for his next contract. Team chemistry isn’t only on the GM. Furthermore, I wouldn’t feel good if my former boss said that hiring me was a miss for all my prospective employers to hear. It’s unusual imo.

[Ssj16]

Personally I think that is pretty unprofessional by Presti

We live in a very unprofessional world now. You got CEOs wearing slippers and a shirt to conferences and smocking weed on podcasts. This doesn't surprise me anymore.

You realize there are CEO who wear suits and ties who act professional who burn businesses to the ground? The recession of 2008 was caused by bankers who I'm pretty sure go by the "professional look".

This is such a ridiculous comment. Success should be bases on merit and what value you bring to a company, not how you dress. If you're able to dress casual and still close business deals or you need to wear a suit to do it, why does this matter?

The so called suits of the world are already messing up the world (imo).

[JayMKE]

Presti should tread lightly, players take notice of things like this. Being “the smartest man in the room” won’t get you very far if players don’t trust or want to work with you.

[Deivork]

Keep your wife out of it cmon Gordon

His wife is her own person to decide. Just saying.

[Airmiess]

That was very unprofessional to say in public. Unless Gordon was in the arena making terrorist threats or something..

[Ayt]

Personally I think that is pretty unprofessional by Presti

Why? A GM can't talk about mistakes? It isn't like he called him a scrub.

[Bobbymcgee]

Not a good look by Presti.

He also really messed up last year's draft and at the trade deadline.

Just because you have a bunch of draft picks doesn't guarantee success.

[cupcakesnake]

None of that explains why GH was afraid to shoot the ball in the playoffs.

Regular season too. I was watching the game live against Toronto, and my friend and I played a drinking game: drink anytime Hayward actually does anything on the court... it was a very sober experience.

He got touches that game, but would just abort drives to reset the offense, and passed up almost every open shot.

I'm sure there are some legitimate complaints to how he wanted to be used in the offense, but what this really comes down to is Hayward becoming a much more reluctant 3-point shooter in his mid-30s. Prime Hayward was taking about 7-8 attempts per 100 possessions. Even after the injury in a lower usage role, he was getting up 6-7. That number has steadily dwindled down to 3.

Gordon wants to drive and pass (I think?) but it's hard to kickstart that in a low-usage role when you aren't drawing a hard close out because the defense knows you don't want to shoot it.

[7r5ur]

I'm more offended by his comment on them being "early in this thing" and saying that he's basically just passively watching the team. Brother, you could have won a chip this year if you weren't more infatuated with your stash of draft picks than winning rings. We could all see that OKC was primed for a run well before the trade deadline. We could also see the glaring flaws that wouldn't cost a ton to improve.

It's malpractice not to go for a title when it's right there for the taking and you wouldn't even have to give up core pieces to do so. At the trade deadline he had THREE playoff runs of JDub and Chet left on rookie contracts, before their payroll is going to out of control. You don't have an infinite amount of time to take advantage of star players on rookie scale deals. You spend some of those picks to bring in top tier complimentary pieces while you can afford to do so. It's much much harder to pull off when you've got 3 guys on max/supermax deals. Presti seems oblivious to this.

[ThunderBolt]

Surprised by the shade he’s throwing at a known classy player. It was a low risk move i thought? His wife is known to be a little outspoken, but I can’t say I blame her for defending her husband here. He’s too nice to do it himself.

I agree- borderline Doc Rivers-like

We live in a very unprofessional world now. You got CEOs wearing slippers and a shirt to conferences and smocking weed on podcasts. This doesn't surprise me anymore.

I know it's the internet age and all, but did you guys watch this? He just says that trade wasn't the right move for the team's chemistry, it didn't provide the new element what they needed to level up. Then he spends like 15 sentences trying to rephrase it to capture that it's hard but it's his job etc.

He doesn't actually say a word about Hayward and definitely doesn't throw any shade at him as a player. The whole thing is him trying to be real/honest about his struggles tinkering with an already good roster. If anything he's kinda over-performing accountability here with the emphasis on how the whole thing was his fault. 'I tried but these things are really unpredictable but it's also still my fault' is basically what he said.

Yea, I read the comments, then I watched the clip and I was confused lol

Ya he even went as far as to say that Hayward was right about what he said. Acknowledged that this group of thunder players might not be good at intergrating new pieces midseason. After watching this myself, I think it's being taken out of context.

[ThunderBolt]

He also really messed up last year's draft...

That's a bit of hyperbole...

Read on Twitter

?r

[chuck_wagon44]

This is probably why players like KD didn't like playing for OKC, Presti was just an odd-ball.

Much like Sam Hinkie and even Daryl Morey, just awkward people who think they're smarter than everyone else.

[nomansland]

Did anyone really think Hayward was the last remaining ingredient to push Oklahoma into the finals or something?

[HotelVitale]

He also really messed up last year's draft...

That's a bit of hyperbole...

Is anyone mad at Cason Wallace? Thought he was universally seen as a really solid pick that has plenty of chances to become better than that.

[Texas Chuck]

He also really messed up last year's draft...

That's a bit of hyperbole...

Is anyone mad at Cason Wallace? Thought he was universally seen as a really solid pick that has plenty of chances to become better than that.

He's really good. It's probably just short-sighted, Lively was really good against OKC and they traded up with Dallas and blah blah blah silliness.

Their draft was good. Identified a player they really liked, ensured they got up by moving up, and he exceeded expectations. This is exactly how you want a draft to go lol.

[HMFFL]

This is a knock on Hayward. He's bcoming a journeyman at this point. How many teams will he end up playing for by the time he retires?!

GM's are expecting to acquire a veteran leader when they pursue Hayward but maybe they should reconsider. He needs a more dominate role than OKC could offer even if he doesn't deserve it.

[HotelVitale]

Did anyone really think Hayward was the last remaining ingredient to push Oklahoma into the finals or something?

Kinda straw man-y way of putting it, Presti was just saying that particular move didn't really help the Thunder at all and some other potential moves could've at least done something.