Thunder Offseason Thread

[Revived]

Westbrook isn’t a player that will age well based on his playing style. OKC needs to sell high ASAP imo before its look at like a Wall type contract.

[ThunderBolt]

I just can't with this team anymore.
I stayed optimistic after the harden trade. Even after KD left, I tried to look on the bright side. I done with that **** now and looking at the glass half full.

**** Presti. **** the FO.
This is the end of this franchise in any positive light. The rebuild was inevitable, but the compounding of horrible decisions that Presti made over the last 6 years finally came to a head and this was the only way out. The terrible return on the Harden trade, draft miss after miss after miss. Hiring Billy Donovan. Not pivoting after KD left. Now the team is stuck between directions without any sort of clear pivot point unless Russ gets moved and that seems impossible. Otherwise this is a team that will still be over the cap, have an overpaid center, a supermax point guard, a backup point making starter money... and this trade is supposed to fix anything?

This team is still doomed. Billy Donovan is still the coach. The team still has bloated contracts that prevent a pure tear down. The picks are years down the road and won't be any good until at least 2024 unless something wacky happens. This teams picks will be pretty good. Presti has not shown the ability to draft consistently well in ages. The last lotto pick was Cam Payne. The FO has shown they can't sustain paying the tax over a protracted period of time so even if they draft 3 HOFs in a row again, which won't happen, they won't pay to keep them together. Presti can't survive this fiasco. He traded all those first round picks that hamstrung the team and prevented it from getting any better to just pull a 180? Why didn't he trade Russ after his MVP year? Why make all of these short sighted win-now moves when the window for contention was narrowed when Harden got traded and shut when KD left? I have no faith in this FO going forward because they haven't shown the competency up until this point. All of the assistant coaches leaving should have been a sign that something was amiss, but now that all of the cap space is drying up there aren't many subsequent moves to make.

This is **** awful. The western conference has basically become an LA civil war now and OKC is now the Washington wizards with some extra picks down the road, but a still **** up cap situation. Holy **** this sucks

The new nba means you build for a chance at a 2 year window and then blow it up. You don’t think the return for George was a little bit impressive?

[wco81]

Toronto should have done the deal.

Sure they would have had to take on Westbrook and give up a lot of assets.

But they lose Kawhi for nothing. All those assets they kept won’t come close to Kawhi any time soon.

They would have had Kawhi, PG and WB and if things don’t work out at least KL and PG are on tradeable contracts.

They may still be a 4-8 playoffs seed in the East now. IOW, treadmill.

This deal with the Clips is undoubtedly better than anything Toronto could have given.

Maybe.

Toronto couldn't give the Thunder these picks but they would have taken on Westbrook's contract, which will be an albatross going forward.

Also an emerging all-star in Siakam, who's probably better to have than SGA or Gallinari.

[ThunderBolt]

Toronto should have done the deal.

Sure they would have had to take on Westbrook and give up a lot of assets.

But they lose Kawhi for nothing. All those assets they kept won’t come close to Kawhi any time soon.

They would have had Kawhi, PG and WB and if things don’t work out at least KL and PG are on tradeable contracts.

They may still be a 4-8 playoffs seed in the East now. IOW, treadmill.

This deal with the Clips is undoubtedly better than anything Toronto could have given.

Maybe.

Toronto couldn't give the Thunder these picks but they would have taken on Westbrook's contract, which will be an albatross going forward.

Also an emerging all-star in Siakam, who's probably better to have than SGA or Gallinari.

Um no. SGA is 20 years old. Siakam is 25. Let’s wait and see before we decide that russ’ contract is untradeable. We hear that every year about guys that eventually get traded.

[Thunder Up]

Russ / SGA / Dennis
Ferguson / Roberson / Burks / SGA
Gallo / Roberson / Bazley
Grant / Gallo / Moose
Adams / Noel

Run it or flip Gallo / Roberson / Ferg / Dennis + some of these new picks for a quality ball player or two

[slick_watts]

Russ / SGA / Dennis
Ferguson / Roberson / Burks / SGA
Gallo / Roberson / Bazley
Grant / Gallo / Moose
Adams / Noel

Run it or flip Gallo / Roberson / Ferg / Dennis + some of these new picks for a quality ball player or two

what no. if they go into the season with that nonsense then sam presti loses all the dap he got for making this trade in the first place. even worse if he wastes some of these assets trying to 'flip for a quality ball player or two'. this era is over. it's rebuild time.

[RalphSampsonJr]

Russ / SGA / Dennis
Ferguson / Roberson / Burks / SGA
Gallo / Roberson / Bazley
Grant / Gallo / Moose
Adams / Noel

Run it or flip Gallo / Roberson / Ferg / Dennis + some of these new picks for a quality ball player or two

If Russ wants to stay you have to move Dennis.

Pariing him in a Gallo package could make taking him far more attractive

[jambalaya]

Westbrook to Heat or Knicks is quite possible. Mavs? Conceivable. Pelican unlikely. Somebody else? Lakers? Perhaps, later. Don't see any others, yet.

[RalphSampsonJr]

Whats this discontent that shams is putting out there?

How can Russ be discontent with the Thunder? Sam has gone out of his way to get him a 2nd star. Its Russ that hasnt turned up in the post season and now hes on the decline.

They need to go full rebuild. Get Russ to miami or new york and just start from scratch.

[Thunder Up]

Russ is not getting traded and the Woj report is BS

howbowdah?

[acheema0]

This deal with the Clips is undoubtedly better than anything Toronto could have given.

Maybe.

Toronto couldn't give the Thunder these picks but they would have taken on Westbrook's contract, which will be an albatross going forward.

Also an emerging all-star in Siakam, who's probably better to have than SGA or Gallinari.

Um no. SGA is 20 years old. Siakam is 25. Let’s wait and see before we decide that russ’ contract is untradeable. We hear that every year about guys that eventually get traded.

Agree here. I think we'll get more back for Russ than most people think. He'll still be valuable to some teams that don't have any hope with free agents and he's a star that they can sell to fans. I think Charlotte and Orlando make sense. You never know with New York either.

[ThunderBolt]

D2D podcast saying George might not play until December. Didn't realize it was potentially that late.

[acheema0]

Whats this discontent that shams is putting out there?

How can Russ be discontent with the Thunder? Sam has gone out of his way to get him a 2nd star. Its Russ that hasnt turned up in the post season and now hes on the decline.

They need to go full rebuild. Get Russ to miami or new york and just start from scratch.

Maybe they asked him to practice shooting free throws.

[Pillendreher]

Whats this discontent that shams is putting out there?

How can Russ be discontent with the Thunder? Sam has gone out of his way to get him a 2nd star. Its Russ that hasnt turned up in the post season and now hes on the decline.

They need to go full rebuild. Get Russ to miami or new york and just start from scratch.

Or maybe the fact that we didn't go after a single NBA level wing in two full seasons.

[thekaoswithin]

How do buyouts work? Is there any chance of that for Russ at all? Logically I want to say now but it's worth exploring everything.

[Pillendreher]

They should retire Russ' jersey today.

[Thunder Up]

I love Russell Westbrook

[Pillendreher]

Read on Twitter

I'll save my tears for when a deal is made.

[slick_watts]

if westbrook is unhappy he only has himself to blame. would the thunder be better if they had rodney hood instead of abdel nader? sure, a bit. would they be better with a deadline acquisition using expirings instead of dennis schroder? probably, a bit. but there's no feasible acquisition sam could have made post-melo trade (the trade westbrook and george pushed for, by the way) that would make up for westbrook's steep cratering the last two seasons. whether or not he's upset he can't win or upset he's not getting the same accolades, it mostly rests on his decline as a player and seemingly obstinate refusal to alter how he plays to accommodate the changes to himself physically and the league.

is westbrook going to come back next year with an improved jump shot? will his free throws be fixed? even the most ardent westbrook fans are probably unsure at this point. and that's on him.

[ThunderBolt]

Watch on YouTube

Nothing too insightful but worth a watch, I guess.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27133948/sources-westbrook-talking-next-steps-okc