Presti news conference

jambalaya · Post #41 » by **jambalaya** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 5:47 pm

Schroder was better at rebounding and defense compared to previous season but flat to worse at most everything else. He was one of the worst backup PGs (#2s, not third string or lower PGs) in league by RPM and one of the highest paid, if not the highest. He was a poor addition. There is little basis to expect he will get better with Thunder or will be acceptable.

Adams is an average starter, paid more than most.

Grant was pretty good and a pretty good value.

Ferguson was perhaps the worst rated staring SG in league by RPM. They hid that, but I'd say it still hurt them.

Dn4sty · Post #42 » by **Dn4sty** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 5:53 pm

ThunderBolt wrote:
slick_watts wrote:
Dn4sty wrote:Anything looking for anything of substance in a press conference like this is fooling themselves. It’s easy to nitpick what was said, but drawing sweeping conclusions from this is maddening.

I think the biggest thing from this interview is not what was said, but how it was said. Presti answers looked frazzled in the sense that he genuinely knows that he can’t talk his way out of or around the issues.

I think that is a good thing.

sam joined the thunder with a clean cap slate, a patient fanbase which didn't know better, and superstars drafted in three consecutive seasons. the thunder have little to show for it. he's going to leave the thunder (i'm guessing) during the 2nd half of westbrook's crippling extension, with resources depleted in a vain attempt to remain relevant as long as possible post-kd.

That might be a best case scenario.

I guess it’s kinda become the thing around here to want Presti to go. I guess I might be in the minority, but that’s the last thing I want to happen.

Post #43 » by **ThunderBolt** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 5:57 pm

Any chance Presti goes to LA?

Pillendreher · Post #44 » by **Pillendreher** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 6:04 pm

ThunderBolt wrote:Any chance Presti goes to LA?

I don't think so. That city would not fall for his talking points. You can't go to a city with that history of winning and woo them with "The city can come together over the Thunder" and "Our play represents Oklahoma". If you don't deliver, the fans will call for your head, period.

Kizz Fastfists · Post #45 » by **Kizz Fastfists** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 6:05 pm

ThunderBolt wrote:Any chance Presti goes to LA?

I'm not sure. Would he trade a drastically declining Russ for a declining LeBron? The difference is LAL has assets and cap space while he has blown through everything OKC had.

Ideally, Presti goes to LAL and Hinkie gets hired by OKC. Hinkie comes in and trades PG and Russ and gets a rebuild underway with a coach that can develop youth.

Post #46 » by **ThunderBolt** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 6:15 pm

Pillendreher wrote:
ThunderBolt wrote:Any chance Presti goes to LA?

I don't think so. That city would not fall for his talking points. You can't go to a city with that history of winning and woo them with "The city can come together over the Thunder" and "Our play represents Oklahoma". If you don't deliver, the fans will call for your head, period.

He doesn’t have to convince a city, just Jeanie Buss. This is the lady that hired Magic Johnson.

jambalaya · Post #47 » by **jambalaya** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 7:03 pm

Presti plays a smart control game. He does not want anyone of equal stature challenging him. I could possibly see him in Washington or Minnesota. Portland or Utah down the line if they choose to reset management. If they gave him assurance of total control. But there is little reason or sign for him to want to move on. He isn't sufficiently upset with Russ or no championships or low prospects. He is in a very safe spot. To move, he'd probably want a 5-7 year contract at double the pay. If he'd even do that. Probably won't. At least for another 3-5 years.

Kizz Fastfists · Post #48 » by **Kizz Fastfists** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 7:38 pm

Unfortunately that is probably the case. Presti is content to stay put because he is in a position of no expectations. Despite fans feeling the team should be performing better there are not mass cries for his firing like there would be if he were with other teams. OKC still thinks of themselves as a minor league team just happy to have a NBA team. Until the fans accept they are a NBA city and expectations are not a bad thing nothing is likely to change.

Post #49 » by **ThunderBolt** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 11:54 pm

The only optimistic take I can come up with from this press conference is if Presti is intentionally waiting until after today to fire Donovan so he doesn’t have to address it to the media. In regard to other changes, the thunder never leak their plans. I really am ready for some good surprises.

Kizz Fastfists · Post #50 » by **Kizz Fastfists** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 12:17 am

He is clearly not firing Donovan. He kept repeating that Russ will shoot better next year and kept bringing up his career year at 34% from 3 like Presti actually believes Russ will have a career shooting year next year and it will fix everything. He also mentioned Adams becoming a 3pt shooter and Roberson coming back to fix everything. Somehow they are going to become a top FT shooting team with the same players. He said they only need to find one shooter to replace Alex. He also seemed caught up on Wes Matthews choosing Indiana over OKC. Like that would have solved OKC's problems.

Either Presti is completely delusional or this was just propaganda for the idiots who buy everything he says. I love how he talked about how stupid the fans and media were. His exact words were something like the same thing people love when we win they hate when they lose. He did have a point there. Most fans love the sloppy and terrible play when they win. They call it exciting. Then when it doesn't work against good teams they are critical of it. If they were critical of the play style when they won maybe it would wake up Presti.

It really seems like Presti is just trying to appease fans and keep money flowing and doesn't really care about the product on the court as long as the finances are right. It also seemed to be clear that a rebuild will not happen until this team crashes to the point that they can't find excuses. Meaning a fully healthy season and them missing the playoffs might not be enough if they can say that PG and Russ can shoot better. He still thinks Patterson will become the Toronto version of himself. The press conference was just terrible unless you believe that OKC is in position to win the way they are and they were just unlucky.

It is possible this was just talk that everything is staying the same and a complete blow up is coming. If a complete roster rebuild is coming I don't think Donovan gets fired until at least a few moves are made because getting rid of Donovan and then bringing a coach and telling them they are going to be leading a young rebuilding team and then expecting them to lie about it would be insane. I expect Donovan to be the coach next season and then to be gone after next year no matter the direction OKC goes after that.

RalphSampsonJr · Post #51 » by **RalphSampsonJr** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 1:00 am

Kizz Fastfists wrote:He is clearly not firing Donovan. He kept repeating that Russ will shoot better next year and kept bringing up his career year at 34% from 3 like Presti actually believes Russ will have a career shooting year next year and it will fix everything. He also mentioned Adams becoming a 3pt shooter and Roberson coming back to fix everything. Somehow they are going to become a top FT shooting team with the same players. He said they only need to find one shooter to replace Alex. He also seemed caught up on Wes Matthews choosing Indiana over OKC. Like that would have solved OKC's problems.

Either Presti is completely delusional or this was just propaganda for the idiots who buy everything he says. I love how he talked about how stupid the fans and media were. His exact words were something like the same thing people love when we win they hate when they lose. He did have a point there. Most fans love the sloppy and terrible play when they win. They call it exciting. Then when it doesn't work against good teams they are critical of it. If they were critical of the play style when they won maybe it would wake up Presti.

It really seems like Presti is just trying to appease fans and keep money flowing and doesn't really care about the product on the court as long as the finances are right. It also seemed to be clear that a rebuild will not happen until this team crashes to the point that they can't find excuses. Meaning a fully healthy season and them missing the playoffs might not be enough if they can say that PG and Russ can shoot better. He still thinks Patterson will become the Toronto version of himself. The press conference was just terrible unless you believe that OKC is in position to win the way they are and they were just unlucky.

It is possible this was just talk that everything is staying the same and a complete blow up is coming. If a complete roster rebuild is coming I don't think Donovan gets fired until at least a few moves are made because getting rid of Donovan and then bringing a coach and telling them they are going to be leading a young rebuilding team and then expecting them to lie about it would be insane. I expect Donovan to be the coach next season and then to be gone after next year no matter the direction OKC goes after that.

Yea the Wes Matthews mention wss weird. Wes didnt exactly get the Pacers over the hump. In fact he single handedly lost game 4 for them.

Its like he truly believes okc is just a shooter away from being a top 3-5 team..

jambalaya · Post #52 » by **jambalaya** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 5:24 am

Presti: "We just don't have the liberty to be momentary problem solvers."

Tempting to try to characterize others who might disagree in an unfavorable light, if your ethics allow or internal focus / perspective does not allow you to see or avoid.

But some who disagree are not momentary problem solvers or erroneously "emotional".

You tried though.

Pillendreher · Post #53 » by **Pillendreher** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 8:06 am

RalphSampsonJr wrote:
Kizz Fastfists wrote:He is clearly not firing Donovan. He kept repeating that Russ will shoot better next year and kept bringing up his career year at 34% from 3 like Presti actually believes Russ will have a career shooting year next year and it will fix everything. He also mentioned Adams becoming a 3pt shooter and Roberson coming back to fix everything. Somehow they are going to become a top FT shooting team with the same players. He said they only need to find one shooter to replace Alex. He also seemed caught up on Wes Matthews choosing Indiana over OKC. Like that would have solved OKC's problems.

Either Presti is completely delusional or this was just propaganda for the idiots who buy everything he says. I love how he talked about how stupid the fans and media were. His exact words were something like the same thing people love when we win they hate when they lose. He did have a point there. Most fans love the sloppy and terrible play when they win. They call it exciting. Then when it doesn't work against good teams they are critical of it. If they were critical of the play style when they won maybe it would wake up Presti.

It really seems like Presti is just trying to appease fans and keep money flowing and doesn't really care about the product on the court as long as the finances are right. It also seemed to be clear that a rebuild will not happen until this team crashes to the point that they can't find excuses. Meaning a fully healthy season and them missing the playoffs might not be enough if they can say that PG and Russ can shoot better. He still thinks Patterson will become the Toronto version of himself. The press conference was just terrible unless you believe that OKC is in position to win the way they are and they were just unlucky.

It is possible this was just talk that everything is staying the same and a complete blow up is coming. If a complete roster rebuild is coming I don't think Donovan gets fired until at least a few moves are made because getting rid of Donovan and then bringing a coach and telling them they are going to be leading a young rebuilding team and then expecting them to lie about it would be insane. I expect Donovan to be the coach next season and then to be gone after next year no matter the direction OKC goes after that.

Yea the Wes Matthews mention wss weird. Wes didnt exactly get the Pacers over the hump. In fact he single handedly lost game 4 for them.

Its like he truly believes okc is just a shooter away from being a top 3-5 team..

I think it was a (pathetic) attempt by him to destract from his complete and utterl failure to bring in reinforcements yet again. It has been two full seasons and all he hs done was bringing in non-rotation-level wings since the George trade (TLC, Burton, Diallo, Brewer). Meanwhile other teams aquire NBA level wings without having to spend everything they have on those deals. Hood got traded for two 2nds. So did Holiday. Temple and Green got traded for a scrub in Bradley, etc. You don't need to go all in just to aquire a wing. Presti hasn't done anything in that regard in two straight seasons and is now once again looking for ways to deflect from his own shortcomings. Our backup wings in the postseason were Dennis Schröder and Raymond Felton. But sure, we were just one player away!

Presti has been our GM for 11 years. In 10 of those 11 years, we had a great SF starting for us. In which season did we have a competent backup SF on the roster? I can't come up with a single one.

Post #54 » by **Andre Roberstan** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 1:06 pm

Pillendreher wrote:Temple and Green got traded for a scrub in Bradley, etc.

I know I'm never convincing you, but Bradley's reputation around the league is a lot higher than it is here.

Post #55 » by **slick_watts** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 2:43 pm

Andre Roberstan wrote:
Pillendreher wrote:Temple and Green got traded for a scrub in Bradley, etc.

I know I'm never convincing you, but Bradley's reputation around the league is a lot higher than it is here.

he's spoken about reverently by lots of stars re: his defensive capabilities.

Pillendreher · Post #56 » by **Pillendreher** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 2:50 pm

Andre Roberstan wrote:
Pillendreher wrote:Temple and Green got traded for a scrub in Bradley, etc.

I know I'm never convincing you, but Bradley's reputation around the league is a lot higher than it is here.

So you're saying we can get a pick for Schröder?

Post #57 » by **slick_watts** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 2:51 pm

rodney hood could veto a trade since he was playing for the qualifying offer. so who knows if we could have got him even if we had interest.

i think the main limiting factor for the thunder in trades this season was not going further into the tax. our tax position is basically trade cancer.

Thundershock88 · Post #58 » by **Thundershock88** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 3:45 pm

We need more than 1 shooter. Besides, he failed to even get 1. Tired of Presti, tbh. I don't hate the guy, I just think he's run his course. It's time to move forward, on all accounts. As I said, I will not spend a dime watching this team next season with the same lineup and coach. What's the point?

Post #59 » by **slick_watts** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 3:58 pm

Thundershock88 wrote:We need more than 1 shooter. Besides, he failed to even get 1. Tired of Presti, tbh. I don't hate the guy, I just think he's run his course. It's time to move forward, on all accounts. As I said, I will not spend a dime watching this team next season with the same lineup and coach. What's the point?

you don't want to watch russell westbrook? i thought part of the reason westbrook's extension was warranted was because no matter how good or bad the team is, we get to watch one of the most dynamic players in nba history?

Thundershock88 · Post #60 » by **Thundershock88** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 4:05 pm

slick_watts wrote:
Thundershock88 wrote:We need more than 1 shooter. Besides, he failed to even get 1. Tired of Presti, tbh. I don't hate the guy, I just think he's run his course. It's time to move forward, on all accounts. As I said, I will not spend a dime watching this team next season with the same lineup and coach. What's the point?

you don't want to watch russell westbrook? i thought part of the reason westbrook's extension was warranted was because no matter how good or bad the team is, we get to watch one of the most dynamic players in nba history?

Westbrook is fine. He just never had the proper team built around him. He's stuck with a 1990's team. Presti had no foresight for this. You can't surround the guy with terrible shooters. It's going to be even worse with Andre **** Roberson next year.