Not enough TALENT. PERIOD.

[kraytinprime]

How many more mistakes can KD take?
How many more mistakes can OKC fans take?
I'm about had it with this ownership group and Presti. They are constantly messing up.

1. Not okaying the Tyson Chandler trade in 2009. Presti stopped the trade because the OKC doctor was afraid of a toe injury. All OKC was giving up was Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox. Instead Chandler went to Dallas to anchor a championship team in Dallas. If we had Chandler we would have no need to trade for Perkins and his crappy contract. Imagine a front line of prime Chandler, Ibaka, and Durant.

2. Kendrick Perkins trade and contract. So Presti is not willing to sign Chandler because of a toe but trades a valuable asset at the time (Jeff Green) for Perkins who's coming off of major knee surgery? And then signs him to a 4 year $36 million contract.

3. Refusing to hire an elite coach. Instead of going on a full coaching search ownership decides to go cheap and hire Brooks as the head coach after his stint as the substitute teacher. This was 100% a money move. Elite coaches like Phil Jackson were available.

4. Cole Aldrich draft disaster. OKC traded Aldrich for Eric Bledsoe and Quincey Pondexter. See a pattern? Imagine having Bledsoe/Pondexter on rookie contracts during 2010-2014?

5. Drafting Josh Huestis. Total waste of a first round pick. What an absolute joke this pick was. The only reason OKC drafted him was because they made a deal with him before the draft that he would not demand the regular rookie scale contract. Basically OKC didn't want to pay their first round pick first round money and Josh was the only player willing to do that. Ridiculous that OKC didn't trade this pick for a proven player. But of course it all comes down to saving money.

6. Drafting Perry Jones. Another wasted first round pick. OKC could have gotten Ezeli or Draymond Green. Or of course trade the pick for a proven veteran. But again OKC wants to save money. Same story different year.

7. Drafting Alex Abrines. Another first round pick doing nothing. Again OKC should have traded the pick for a vet or at least draft someone who could help the team.

8. Trading James Harden. It wasn't so bad that OKC traded James. Its the total crap they got for him. Remember the context. OKC just lost in the finals with a core of 22 year olds. They were the favorites to win the title in 2013. Harden was signed for one more year at $5 million. Harden wanted the max. Presti's highest offer was $1.5 million less than the max. Presti gave Harden one hour to make the biggest decision in his life. After the hour passed, Presti traded James without warning. Traded him for crap.

Jeremy Lamb a totally unproven rookie who already was showing motivational issues in college. Kevin Martin rental - a guy who already a lifetime loser who only cared about scoring. And two future draft picks. OKC traded a key piece of their 2012 Western Conference Championship team for CRAP. Remember OKC would not have beaten the Spurs if it wasn't for Harden's massive games in the WCF.

The bottom line is you don't sacrifice a key piece of a championship level team for draft picks that won't help you for 4 years. And that is exactly what OKC got. Lamb was a total lost cause in OKC. Martin got his stats than bolted (plus OKC paid him $12 million). Adams is good but did not help OKC till 3 years later and McGary is trade bait. But the bottom line is Presti/Ownership were too cheap. They did not want to pay the additional $3 million salary/tax to Harden. So very sad.

9. Not anmestying Perkins.

10. Letting Thabo Sefolosha go. Hawks signed him for $4 million a year. OKC did not want him.

11. Reggie Jackson disaster. Dude has talent. Dude was better than players starting ahead of him. Why couldn't Brooks figure out a way to keep Jackson happy? The guy proved himself against the Spurs in the WCF. He clearly stated he wanted to start ahead of Roberson. He is clearly the superior player to Roberson. Yet Brooks was stubborn and nailed Jackson to the bench. This is a common theme in the Brooks era. Starting and playing guys who are worse players. Then benching clearly superior players. Of course Jackson was at fault also. But who can blame a guy? The man was clearly better than guys who were starting ahead of him. So we trade him and get nothing much in return. The dude is a boarderline all-star and we doing nothing.

12. Signing Enes Kanter to a max deal. Is this some type of sick joke? So OKC was not willing to sign James Harden to a max deal? Yet they are willing to sign Enes Kanter who has done ZERO for OKC to the max? This contract may prove to be just as diasterous as the Perkins contract. Kanter is a good player. But no way on earth does he deserve a max contract.

13. Dion Waiters trade. Trade away a valuable 1st round pick for maybe the worst shooting guard in the entire league. How the hell does that make any sense? Even worse is in the SAME TRADE Cleveland got JR Smith and Shumpert. Both far superior to Waiters. So why didn't OKC just trade directly with the Knicks? They didn't want to pay JR Smith. Again a move made because they were cheap as hell.

14. Drafting BJ Mullens instead of Taj Gibson or DeMarre Carroll

15. Drafting Mitch McGary instead of Rodney Hood. Jesus Christ. We all knew OKC needed wing help. And instead of drafting a solid wing they drafted an injury prone weed smoking 'center'. Or they could have packaged their 2 first round picks (Huestis was their other 1st round pick) and moved up a couple spots to draft Zach Lavine or TJ Warren.

16. Acquiring no difference making players in 2016 trade deadline. In the most important year in OKC history Presti decides to cut salary instead of getting a player like Lee who can help us. Absolutely pathetic.

As you can see it has been one horrible move after the other for OKC. And many of these moves were chain reactions to other bad moves. Not signing Chandler lead to signing Perkins, which lead to not having money to sign Harden. OKC has let one mistake mushroom into more mistakes. I think the Kanter trade may be the next chain reaction to disaster. Not being able to keep Jackson happy lead to trading for Kanter, which lead to signing Kanter to a ridiculous max deal, which lead to OKC not having money/assets to do a trade in 2016, which lead to KD leaving, which lead to Russ leaving, which lead to........CRAP.

To be fair OKC has done some good moves.

1. Drafting KD. But of course that was a no brainer. No one was even close to KD at the #2 pick.

2. Drafting Westbrook. Gotta give Presti props on this one. Almost no one had Russ that high.

3. Drafting Harden. Most boards had Harden at that spot.

4. Drafting Ibaka at #24. Amazing pick.

5. Drafting Reggie Jackson at #24. Another amazing pick.

6. Drafting Cameron Payne, looks like another winner.

So yes Presti has made some amazing picks. Especially getting Ibaka and Jackson at #24. But Presti has had so many high picks it was kinda hard to miss. In his first 4 years Presti had 8 first round picks. Including the #2, #3, and #4 picks. And many of his great picks were offset by horrible trades. He made a great pick with Harden but then traded him away for crap. He made a great pick with Jackson but traded him away for crap.


Bottom line is OKC has made horrible move after horrible move since drafting Harden in 2009. This is magnified by OKC's cheap ways.

[bondom34]

Edit: NM, everyone complain.

I hope Durant and Russ leave too. I'm doing this right I think.

[spearsy23]

Yeah, anyone cam see KD is unhappy here. Also, why are you even here if you hate the team so much?

[slick_watts]

sam presti has devoted his tenure as gm to doing things differently than most others. it's debatable if the thunder would have won a title or been better had he taken a more traditional approach. would we be in a better situation now? who knows. does kd like the direction sam has taken? who knows.

we have two teams ahead of us with 11+ SRS at the moment which makes everything feel a lot worse than it is. the thunder team today is probably not as good as it could have been had presti done things differently in the last 1.5 years, but it's still around the same strength as a lot of past title winners-- and would probably be a conference favorite in many seasons.

personally, i think the results sam has attained after espousing the benefits of frugality over the years leaves a lot to be desired. our supporting cast is probably not what was envisioned we'd have with the #2 payroll four years after trading james harden because we had to maintain flexibility to support this payroll in the future. does that mean kd is 'fed up'? who knows.

[tha6side]

I have been a fan of this team for 5+ years now and it's disappointing Presti couldn't get KD and Russ more help. Lets get this straight, the bench sucks. You are not beating anyone with this bench in the playoffs. Outside of KD and Russ no one can really score consistently. We need a legit starting 2 Guard. A guy like Shumpert would of been an upgrade. Dion Waiters is just terrible. With that being said, I hope KD stays though. It would be weird to see him in another market.

[kraytinprime]

My main complaint is Presti has not surrounded OKC's big 4 (KD, Russ, Ibaka, Adams) with quality players.

Look at our teams #5-#9 players versus other contenders:

OKC:
Kanter
Roberson
Waiters
Singler
Payne

Spurs:
Manu
Danny Green
David West
Diaw
Patty Mills

Golden State:
Iguadala
Barnes
Livingston
Ezeli
Barbosa

Cavs:
JR Smith
Shumpert
Mozgov
Delladova
Jefferson

Our #5-#9 guys are two levels below GSW/CLE/SAS.

Lets switch places. Imagine if OKC got GSW #5-#9 guys:

Russ
Barnes
Durant
Ibaka
Adams

Bench - Livingston, Iguadala, Ezeli, Barbosa

Friken Crazy.

Golden State would be:

Curry
Klay
Singler
Green
Bogut

Bench- Payne, Waiters, Roberson, Kanter.

Now tell me which team would be better?

[Andre Roberstan]

My main complaint is Presti has not surrounded OKC's big 4 (KD, Russ, Ibaka, Adams) with quality players.

Look at our teams #5-#9 players versus other contenders:

OKC:
Kanter
Roberson
Waiters
Singler
Payne

Spurs:
Manu
Danny Green
David West
Diaw
Patty Mills

Golden State:
Iguadala
Barnes
Livingston
Ezeli
Barbosa

Cavs:
JR Smith
Shumpert
Mozgov
Delladova
Jefferson

Our #5-#9 guys are two levels below GSW/CLE/SAS.

Lets switch places. Imagine if OKC got GSW #5-#9 guys:

Russ
Barnes
Durant
Ibaka
Adams

Bench - Livingston, Iguadala, Ezeli, Barbosa

Friken Crazy.

Golden State would be:

Curry
Klay
Singler
Green
Bogut

Bench- Payne, Waiters, Roberson, Kanter.

Now tell me which team would be better?

Now post contract numbers.
Spurs and Warriors have at least one guy, some multiple guys, on massively below-market deals. Curry. West. Duncan. Ginobili. Except for Cleveland, and Cleveland will burn out in 2 years because they'll run out of ways to put talent around their guys within the rules of the CBA.

[kraytinprime]

My main complaint is Presti has not surrounded OKC's big 4 (KD, Russ, Ibaka, Adams) with quality players.

Look at our teams #5-#9 players versus other contenders:

OKC:
Kanter
Roberson
Waiters
Singler
Payne

Spurs:
Manu
Danny Green
David West
Diaw
Patty Mills

Golden State:
Iguadala
Barnes
Livingston
Ezeli
Barbosa

Cavs:
JR Smith
Shumpert
Mozgov
Delladova
Jefferson

Our #5-#9 guys are two levels below GSW/CLE/SAS.

Lets switch places. Imagine if OKC got GSW #5-#9 guys:

Russ
Barnes
Durant
Ibaka
Adams

Bench - Livingston, Iguadala, Ezeli, Barbosa

Friken Crazy.

Golden State would be:

Curry
Klay
Singler
Green
Bogut

Bench- Payne, Waiters, Roberson, Kanter.

Now tell me which team would be better?

Now post contract numbers.
Spurs and Warriors have at least one guy, some multiple guys, on massively below-market deals. Curry. West. Duncan. Ginobili. Except for Cleveland, and Cleveland will burn out in 2 years because they'll run out of ways to put talent around their guys within the rules of the CBA.

Huh?

KD, Russ, Ibaka, Adams = total salary = $51.2 million.
Curry, Klay, Green, Bogut = total salary = $54.8 million.

Our top 4 guys are CHEAPER than GSW top 4 guys. You say GSW/Spurs have massive discount deals. But OKC has massive discounts on Ibaka at $12 million and Adams at $2 million. No excuses.

Are #5-#9 guys suck because we are paying Kanter $16 million and guys like Waiters and Singler $5 million each when they are trash.

Again there is no excuse for OKC to have such weak supporting cast for our BIG 4. This is especially true since we traded away massive assets (Harden and Jackson) our bench should be 10x better than now.

[slick_watts]

posting the same thing over and over is accomplishing what, exactly? yes, sam presti could have done better. yes, maybe a different gm could have done better. no, we don't know what kevin durant wants or thinks.

[Andre Roberstan]

My main complaint is Presti has not surrounded OKC's big 4 (KD, Russ, Ibaka, Adams) with quality players.

Look at our teams #5-#9 players versus other contenders:

OKC:
Kanter
Roberson
Waiters
Singler
Payne

Spurs:
Manu
Danny Green
David West
Diaw
Patty Mills

Golden State:
Iguadala
Barnes
Livingston
Ezeli
Barbosa

Cavs:
JR Smith
Shumpert
Mozgov
Delladova
Jefferson

Our #5-#9 guys are two levels below GSW/CLE/SAS.

Lets switch places. Imagine if OKC got GSW #5-#9 guys:

Russ
Barnes
Durant
Ibaka
Adams

Bench - Livingston, Iguadala, Ezeli, Barbosa

Friken Crazy.

Golden State would be:

Curry
Klay
Singler
Green
Bogut

Bench- Payne, Waiters, Roberson, Kanter.

Now tell me which team would be better?

Now post contract numbers.
Spurs and Warriors have at least one guy, some multiple guys, on massively below-market deals. Curry. West. Duncan. Ginobili. Except for Cleveland, and Cleveland will burn out in 2 years because they'll run out of ways to put talent around their guys within the rules of the CBA.

Huh?

KD, Russ, Ibaka, Adams = total salary = $51.2 million.
Curry, Klay, Green, Bogut = total salary = $54.8 million.

Our top 4 guys are CHEAPER than GSW top 4 guys. You say GSW/Spurs have massive discount deals. But OKC has massive discounts on Ibaka at $12 million and Adams at $2 million. No excuses.

Are #5-#9 guys suck because we are paying Kanter $16 million and guys like Waiters and Singler $5 million each when they are trash.

Again there is no excuse for OKC to have such weak supporting cast for our BIG 4. This is especially true since we traded away massive assets (Harden and Jackson) our bench should be 10x better than now.

Ibaka is not a massive discount. It was market value at the time. And Adams is a rookie contract.

Who said anything about the top guys on the roster? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that if some guys are getting paid less, there is more money for other guys. You picked the salaries that fit your narrative.

And you didn't even MENTION the Spurs, which is because they prove your point wrong.

[kraytinprime]

Now post contract numbers.
Spurs and Warriors have at least one guy, some multiple guys, on massively below-market deals. Curry. West. Duncan. Ginobili. Except for Cleveland, and Cleveland will burn out in 2 years because they'll run out of ways to put talent around their guys within the rules of the CBA.

Huh?

KD, Russ, Ibaka, Adams = total salary = $51.2 million.
Curry, Klay, Green, Bogut = total salary = $54.8 million.

Our top 4 guys are CHEAPER than GSW top 4 guys. You say GSW/Spurs have massive discount deals. But OKC has massive discounts on Ibaka at $12 million and Adams at $2 million. No excuses.

Are #5-#9 guys suck because we are paying Kanter $16 million and guys like Waiters and Singler $5 million each when they are trash.

Again there is no excuse for OKC to have such weak supporting cast for our BIG 4. This is especially true since we traded away massive assets (Harden and Jackson) our bench should be 10x better than now.

Ibaka is not a massive discount. It was market value at the time. And Adams is a rookie contract.

Who said anything about the top guys on the roster? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that if some guys are getting paid less, there is more money for other guys. You picked the salaries that fit your narrative.

And you didn't even MENTION the Spurs, which is because they prove your point wrong.

Parker/Aldrige/Leonard/Duncan are making $54 million combine. More than OKC's big 4.

I don't care what the contract was when it signed. We are talking about NOW. When Curry signed the deal many thought it was a foolish move by GSW because of his ankle injuries. So no it was not a discouted deal when it was signed. Yes the Duncan deal is a discount by the dude is 40 years old. And when you win championships you get discounts. Fact of life. That's why it was so important to keep Harden to win in 2013 even if he walked for nothing. Because once you prove you can win titles you will get discounted free agents

Bottom line is OKC is paying just as much as GSW/Spurs for their #5-#9 players. Money isn't an excuse. Picking the right guys is the problem.

[Andre Roberstan]

Congratulations, you completely ignored what I'm saying again

[bwgood77]

I think Durant will stay because he is loyal. I know from being a big time Suns fan that it's easy to remember every mistake, but when you start comparing your team to the Spurs and Warriors as measuring sticks you might be disappointed. Just remember there are 25+ other teams out there that have made MORE mistakes and many have been in purgatory or fringe playoff teams forever.

Just be careful what you wish for.

[spearsy23]

I think Durant will stay because he is loyal. I know from being a big time Suns fan that it's easy to remember every mistake, but when you start comparing your team to the Spurs and Warriors as measuring sticks you might be disappointed. Just remember there are 25+ other teams out there that have made MORE mistakes and many have been in purgatory or fringe playoff teams forever.

Just be careful what you wish for.

This is a big point. Not building a historically great team isn't a failure, those only come along very rarely and with a lot of really lucky circumstances. If the team was actually bad around KD and Russ that would be one thing, but we're a great team stuck behind two all time great teams.

[bwgood77]

I think Durant will stay because he is loyal. I know from being a big time Suns fan that it's easy to remember every mistake, but when you start comparing your team to the Spurs and Warriors as measuring sticks you might be disappointed. Just remember there are 25+ other teams out there that have made MORE mistakes and many have been in purgatory or fringe playoff teams forever.

Just be careful what you wish for.

This is a big point. Not building a historically great team isn't a failure, those only come along very rarely and with a lot of really lucky circumstances. If the team was actually bad around KD and Russ that would be one thing, but we're a great team stuck behind two all time great teams.

Exactly...with advanced stats and margin of victory, the Spurs and Warriors are two historically great teams. In a normal year OKC would be meeting the Cavs in the finals. You guys still have two of the best 5 or so players in the league and they are both still young. You guys have time for years. If you start to click I wouldn't count you out against anyone, but against those two teams you may need that guy. I actually really think PJ Tucker would be perfect for your team...he really agitates the best player on any team the Suns face. He's a little like Draymond Green defensively and from 3, but not as good all around with passing and all the other stuff...but solid defender, and great 3/d guy.

[HeartSouloma]

I think Durant will stay because he is loyal. I know from being a big time Suns fan that it's easy to remember every mistake, but when you start comparing your team to the Spurs and Warriors as measuring sticks you might be disappointed. Just remember there are 25+ other teams out there that have made MORE mistakes and many have been in purgatory or fringe playoff teams forever.

Just be careful what you wish for.

This is a big point. Not building a historically great team isn't a failure, those only come along very rarely and with a lot of really lucky circumstances. If the team was actually bad around KD and Russ that would be one thing, but we're a great team stuck behind two all time great teams.

Exactly...with advanced stats and margin of victory, the Spurs and Warriors are two historically great teams. In a normal year OKC would be meeting the Cavs in the finals. You guys still have two of the best 5 or so players in the league and they are both still young. You guys have time for years. If you start to click I wouldn't count you out against anyone, but against those two teams you may need that guy. I actually really think PJ Tucker would be perfect for your team...he really agitates the best player on any team the Suns face. He's a little like Draymond Green defensively and from 3, but not as good all around with passing and all the other stuff...but solid defender, and great 3/d guy.

I wanted OKC to trade for PJ Tucker- but too bad we don't have the right assets to trade for him. I thought he would be the PERFECT guy for this team.

[Thundershock88]

How many more mistakes can KD take?
How many more mistakes can OKC fans take?
I'm about had it with this ownership group and Presti. They are constantly messing up.

1. Not okaying the Tyson Chandler trade in 2009. Presti stopped the trade because the OKC doctor was afraid of a toe injury. All OKC was giving up was Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox. Instead Chandler went to Dallas to anchor a championship team in Dallas. If we had Chandler we would have no need to trade for Perkins and his crappy contract. Imagine a front line of prime Chandler, Ibaka, and Durant.

2. Kendrick Perkins trade and contract. So Presti is not willing to sign Chandler because of a toe but trades a valuable asset at the time (Jeff Green) for Perkins who's coming off of major knee surgery? And then signs him to a 4 year $36 million contract.

3. Refusing to hire an elite coach. Instead of going on a full coaching search ownership decides to go cheap and hire Brooks as the head coach after his stint as the substitute teacher. This was 100% a money move. Elite coaches like Phil Jackson were available.

4. Cole Aldrich draft disaster. OKC traded Aldrich for Eric Bledsoe and Quincey Pondexter. See a pattern? Imagine having Bledsoe/Pondexter on rookie contracts during 2010-2014?

5. Drafting Josh Huestis. Total waste of a first round pick. What an absolute joke this pick was. The only reason OKC drafted him was because they made a deal with him before the draft that he would not demand the regular rookie scale contract. Basically OKC didn't want to pay their first round pick first round money and Josh was the only player willing to do that. Ridiculous that OKC didn't trade this pick for a proven player. But of course it all comes down to saving money.

6. Drafting Perry Jones. Another wasted first round pick. OKC could have gotten Ezeli or Draymond Green. Or of course trade the pick for a proven veteran. But again OKC wants to save money. Same story different year.

7. Drafting Alex Abrines. Another first round pick doing nothing. Again OKC should have traded the pick for a vet or at least draft someone who could help the team.

8. Trading James Harden. It wasn't so bad that OKC traded James. Its the total crap they got for him. Remember the context. OKC just lost in the finals with a core of 22 year olds. They were the favorites to win the title in 2013. Harden was signed for one more year at $5 million. Harden wanted the max. Presti's highest offer was $1.5 million less than the max. Presti gave Harden one hour to make the biggest decision in his life. After the hour passed, Presti traded James without warning. Traded him for crap.

Jeremy Lamb a totally unproven rookie who already was showing motivational issues in college. Kevin Martin rental - a guy who already a lifetime loser who only cared about scoring. And two future draft picks. OKC traded a key piece of their 2012 Western Conference Championship team for CRAP. Remember OKC would not have beaten the Spurs if it wasn't for Harden's massive games in the WCF.

The bottom line is you don't sacrifice a key piece of a championship level team for draft picks that won't help you for 4 years. And that is exactly what OKC got. Lamb was a total lost cause in OKC. Martin got his stats than bolted (plus OKC paid him $12 million). Adams is good but did not help OKC till 3 years later and McGary is trade bait. But the bottom line is Presti/Ownership were too cheap. They did not want to pay the additional $3 million salary/tax to Harden. So very sad.

9. Not anmestying Perkins.

10. Letting Thabo Sefolosha go. Hawks signed him for $4 million a year. OKC did not want him.

11. Reggie Jackson disaster. Dude has talent. Dude was better than players starting ahead of him. Why couldn't Brooks figure out a way to keep Jackson happy? The guy proved himself against the Spurs in the WCF. He clearly stated he wanted to start ahead of Roberson. He is clearly the superior player to Roberson. Yet Brooks was stubborn and nailed Jackson to the bench. This is a common theme in the Brooks era. Starting and playing guys who are worse players. Then benching clearly superior players. Of course Jackson was at fault also. But who can blame a guy? The man was clearly better than guys who were starting ahead of him. So we trade him and get nothing much in return. The dude is a boarderline all-star and we doing nothing.

12. Signing Enes Kanter to a max deal. Is this some type of sick joke? So OKC was not willing to sign James Harden to a max deal? Yet they are willing to sign Enes Kanter who has done ZERO for OKC to the max? This contract may prove to be just as diasterous as the Perkins contract. Kanter is a good player. But no way on earth does he deserve a max contract.

13. Dion Waiters trade. Trade away a valuable 1st round pick for maybe the worst shooting guard in the entire league. How the hell does that make any sense? Even worse is in the SAME TRADE Cleveland got JR Smith and Shumpert. Both far superior to Waiters. So why didn't OKC just trade directly with the Knicks? They didn't want to pay JR Smith. Again a move made because they were cheap as hell.

14. Drafting BJ Mullens instead of Taj Gibson or DeMarre Carroll

15. Drafting Mitch McGary instead of Rodney Hood. Jesus Christ. We all knew OKC needed wing help. And instead of drafting a solid wing they drafted an injury prone weed smoking 'center'. Or they could have packaged their 2 first round picks (Huestis was their other 1st round pick) and moved up a couple spots to draft Zach Lavine or TJ Warren.

16. Acquiring no difference making players in 2016 trade deadline. In the most important year in OKC history Presti decides to cut salary instead of getting a player like Lee who can help us. Absolutely pathetic.

As you can see it has been one horrible move after the other for OKC. And many of these moves were chain reactions to other bad moves. Not signing Chandler lead to signing Perkins, which lead to not having money to sign Harden. OKC has let one mistake mushroom into more mistakes. I think the Kanter trade may be the next chain reaction to disaster. Not being able to keep Jackson happy lead to trading for Kanter, which lead to signing Kanter to a ridiculous max deal, which lead to OKC not having money/assets to do a trade in 2016, which lead to KD leaving, which lead to Russ leaving, which lead to........CRAP.

To be fair OKC has done some good moves.

1. Drafting KD. But of course that was a no brainer. No one was even close to KD at the #2 pick.

2. Drafting Westbrook. Gotta give Presti props on this one. Almost no one had Russ that high.

3. Drafting Harden. Most boards had Harden at that spot.

4. Drafting Ibaka at #24. Amazing pick.

5. Drafting Reggie Jackson at #24. Another amazing pick.

6. Drafting Cameron Payne, looks like another winner.

So yes Presti has made some amazing picks. Especially getting Ibaka and Jackson at #24. But Presti has had so many high picks it was kinda hard to miss. In his first 4 years Presti had 8 first round picks. Including the #2, #3, and #4 picks. And many of his great picks were offset by horrible trades. He made a great pick with Harden but then traded him away for crap. He made a great pick with Jackson but traded him away for crap.


Bottom line is OKC has made horrible move after horrible move since drafting Harden in 2009. This is magnified by OKC's cheap ways.

Sadly, its all true.

[Thundershock88]

Pointless to beat a dead horse but its a fact, the Harden trade will haunt this team. Presti outsmarted himself.

[kraytinprime]

Watching the OKC get blown out by 25 points and I'm not even mad. Why? Because it has become painfully obvious that this team does not have enough talent. PERIOD.

Yes KD and Westbrook are amazing players. But this isn't 2012 anymore. 5 years ago you could get away with simply running iso after iso after iso and beat teams down. Not anymore. Today with advanced strategies you need FIVE GUYS playing in SYNCH on offense and defense to be elite. If you have any weakness on offense or defense the elite teams will exploit it. You are only as strong as your weakest link.

Bottom line is OKC does not have enough solid players to beat the elite teams. The elite keep exploiting those weak players.

Look at our roster. We just have too many weak points on offense or defense:

1. Roberson. Horrible on offense. Elite teams will use the Bogut on Allen defense to totally mess up our offense.
2. Waiters. Horrible. To think that Presti expects Waiters to be a key piece in a championship team is laughable.
3. Morrow. Good shooter but horrible on defense.
4. Kanter. Horrible on defense.
5. Singler. Just not good.
6. Payne. Just a rookie. Can't expect a rookie to be a key part of a championship team.

KD, Russ, Ibaka, and Adams are the only solid players on our team. They are only guys on the team that can actually play offense and defense. Four guys. That is not enough.

We still have a MASSIVE hole for the starting shooting guard, backup shooting guard, backup small forward, and back up center. Teams like Cleveland, Spurs, and Warriors don't have these kind of massive holes that other teams can exploit. Teams like Cleveland, Spurs, and Warriors have 9 or 10 quality players. We have 4. It does not matter how good our top2 guys are if more than half the team suck.


This lies squarely on Presti for not being able to build a good team around our core of KD, Westbrook, Adams, and Ibaka. Presti had FOUR years since we made the Finals and has failed.

How many quality players do the Spurs have that can play both offense and defense?

Parker
Manu
Duncan
Green
Diaw
Aldridge
Leonard
Mills
David West

And Golden State?

Curry
Klay
Green
Barnes
Bogut
Livingston
Iggy
Ezeli
Barbosa

And Cleveland?

Lebron
Love
Irving
Smith
Shumpert
Dellavdova
Jefferson
Thompson

And OKC?

Durant
Russ
Adams
Ibaka
...
...
..
..


Thats the difference right there. Half the guys on our roster have no business even playing a minute on a contending team.

[kraytinprime]

Pointless to beat a dead horse but its a fact, the Harden trade will haunt this team. Presti outsmarted himself.

But its not just the Harden trade. Teams had overcome one bad mistake. But its the repeated mistakes by Presti that is killing this team.

1. Drafting McGary when we obviously needed a Wing instead.
2. Trading away a valuable 1st round pick for Dion Waiters.
3. Expecting Waiters to be a key part of a championship team.
4. Signing Kyle Singer to a 5 year 25 million deal, when we know we need someone better on the wing
5. Signing Kanter to a max deal when we obviously need help in the wing.