Presti has seemed to prioritize defensive versatility over floor spacing and playmaking in the recent additions of Victor Oladipo and Jerami Grant both of whom were costly in terms of trade price. Oladipo has so far only given the Thunder a similar level of inconsistency as Dion Waiters at a substantially higher price with his four-year, $84 million extension. It is difficult to envision the Thunder re-signing Roberson long-term in this economic climate after committing to Oladipo; trading for Grant, who is signed until 2018, felt like direct protection against losing Roberson. Unlike Oladipo and Grant, at least Roberson is consistently very good at one NBA skill. The additions of Alex Abrines, Semaj Christon and Joffrey Lauvergne have given no indication of working out. Josh Huestis is a 24-year-old D-Leaguer. Cameron Payne can’t stay healthy and it’s hard to see the logic of that pick when the scenario of maximized talent still led to an under-capitalized trade in Reggie Jackson.
We're 12 games in & this guy is already calling it. Oladipo is garbage, Grant is garbage, Robes is already gone, & Abrines & Christon are never going to be any better than they are right now 12 games into their NBA career. I guess Lauvergne hasn't worked out if you expected more than a 10-15 minutes a night backup big. Huestis is a project 15th man on the roster like pretty much every team has regardless of how good or bad the team is so that's a dumb point to me. Payne as a pick was a luxury lotto pick at the time when we were pretty much set every where else roster wise & somehow comparing that to the Reggie thing is a stupid way to look at things, unless Payne suddenly gets a huge ego & stops trying because he isn't getting his way.
Since he didn't mention him I assume he thinks Singler is fine because if I was going to write about the failures of the Thunder, Singler & his contract would have made the list over the idea that 2 rookies have "given no indication of working out" 12 games in. The Thunder are such a weird team to read outside perspective on because it always feels like people just overlook things for whatever reason when they write about them.