basketballRob wrote:
I like how OKC does it. They get rid of the players that don't pan out and draft other players. I'm not a fan of Da Silva or Jett and think they could be added in a consolidation trade.
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You're close to following OKC's worldview...but they don't
just jettison players that can't play well. They make difficult moves with near-future finances in mind. They knew Giddey was going to cost more than his value TO OKC, so they moved him for a better-fitting, less expensive rotation role player before extension conversations even started. Compiling talent through the draft and, most significantly, acting DECISIVELY once their value (not just as a player, but most importantly to OKC) is determined. This is the team that moved Harden because they could see that he was going to command a massive deal and they already had Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka signed long-term and they felt they could still contend without Harden and avoid the luxury tax that small-market, frugal ownership OKC just wasn't going to pay...get ready to see similar mentality in ORL or just get comfortable on the treadmill and pretend that not having an offensive player in the backcourt is working out perfectly. Today, versus when the Harden decision was made, the CBA is incredibly punitive and not just in terms of money. OKC set the standard for building step by step, making hard decisions quickly and moving forward towards building a team rather than just fanboys clinging to every player on the roster who shows a flash of promise once in a while. The way that Weltman has continually extended extremely limited players seems more like cowardly "rewards" for "family/loyalty/nice guys" than having any kind of vision for the team.
I'm not suggesting that OKC's FO has a perfect crystal ball...they just MAKE THE BEST DECISIONS THEY CAN and keep moving forward. No way did they know that Harden would become the best player in the league the day after he got to HOU. The Paul George thing didn't work out - but they didn't cling to him forever, hoping not to take a loss. No way did they realize that SGA would be an MVP candidate, rather than just a really good player....but it wasn't dumb luck either - just calculated risks and action at the right time.
KCP is like the opposite scenario...ORL overpays a free agent that doesn't even really fill a need, regardless of how good or bad he is (he's good) and then realize we've got too many of the same thing and, now, he's a year older and won't necessarily have even the same value he had when we "stole" him from DEN. On the other hand, DEN loved KCP, but saw that an overpay was coming and that Christian Braun was (hopefully) capable of filling the void for a fraction of KCP's new salary. Braun didn't have to be better than KCP - just good enough. Smart bet. AB should be OUR Braun, rising to take the place of the costly KCP, rather than seeing all of our backcourt players (and Centers too) as individual investments valued in a vacuum. None of our Centers are necessarily overpaid, but collectively, we've got way too much salary tied up in that position - especially when we've got Isaac, who is capable of picking up 3rd string minutes if needed. In our backcourt, we've basically got 4 3&D SG's on the books (accounting for $72m next year- not even counting Jett and Queen) and our best/only PG is a 33yo making $3m who'd probably be unemployed if he wasn't here.
