Thunder Offseason Thread Part Deux: Rebuild

[ThunderBolt]

there's a lot of talk that no other team would have interest in him. why would minnesota want him?

They can't attract free agents. He's still at least really good even if he isn't what he once was. Teague is in the last year of his deal.

They just had their best shot at getting one w/ De'Angelo Russell. They have to trade for something if they want to get better.

Ya Minnesota’s clock is ticking on keeping towns.

[Old Man Game]

They can't attract free agents. He's still at least really good even if he isn't what he once was. Teague is in the last year of his deal.

They just had their best shot at getting one w/ De'Angelo Russell. They have to trade for something if they want to get better.

Ya Minnesota’s clock is ticking on keeping towns.

I really don't think its a totally nuts idea. Its not ideal but we know how it is, when you're a small market team trying to make the leap to the next tier of teams you have to roll the dice and hope for the best to a certain extent. Lot probably depends on what they think their chances are of retaining Teague though I guess.

[ThunderBolt]

They just had their best shot at getting one w/ De'Angelo Russell. They have to trade for something if they want to get better.

Ya Minnesota’s clock is ticking on keeping towns.

I really don't think its a totally nuts idea. Its not ideal but we know how it is, when you're a small market team trying to make the leap to the next tier of teams you have to roll the dice and hope for the best to a certain extent. Lot probably depends on what they think their chances are of retaining Teague though I guess.

A lot what I read is that most wolves fans don’t like Teague and hope he isn’t retained.

[Balkman32]

What? the 2021 miami pick is unprotected. The 2023 gets top 15 protection.

2021 first round draft pick from Miami and/or Houston (two most favorable incl. Oklahoma City)
Oklahoma City will receive the two most favorable of its 2021 1st round pick, Miami's 2021 1st round pick and Houston's 2021 1st round pick protected for selections 1-4

The Heat pick maybe unprotected if they're bad but if they're good, they will retain the pick being the least favorable of the 3.

That's the incentive to make a play to be better, encourage Miami to potentially trade for Paul.

From what I understood, the pick swap is with Houston so if we take our pick and the Houston pick, Houston gets the miami pick. Am I wrong?

Houston still has a 2021 first round pick. Not Miami.

This is a correct statement.

[Balkman32]

Damn this is terrible. Second round pick if Houston hits a top 4? damn

Huge incentive for Houston to tank hard in 2024 and 2026 if they have to.

The new Lottery system makes that a bad strategy. Houston is just protecting themselves from giving up a top 5 pick if they happen to be bad. Harden will be 34.

What's interesting of the protections is in 2021, Heat can retain their pick if they're better than Houston. It appears to me that OKC/Houston arranged the swap that way to entice Miami to try & be better, trade for Paul... It will come as though Houston traded their 2021 pick to Miami if they found a way to be good.

What? the 2021 miami pick is unprotected. The 2023 gets top 15 protection.

The 2023 Miami pick is lottery protected in 23, 24, and 25. Then unprotected in 2026.

[Dadouv47]

Do you think we roll with this team or do we make a trade , Gallo and cp3 will be midseason trade , but adams , schroder, patterson?

I think Presti will roll with this team if a trade can’t be made. I think woj’s tweets yesterday were true but also a negotiating tactic. Whatever the negotiations stalled over, Presti isn’t willing to cave and will wait it out. Lots of people in the media want to trash OKC right now and I just don’t get it. Zach Lowe said we would be lucky to trade russ without giving up assets. We got two potentially good picks and two pick swaps.

Everyone acts like the CP3 contract is some kind of a problem for us. What if we kept this team and made the playoffs? Maybe Presti would realize that shooting is important. What is most likely is that even if Paul starts out with this team, we miss the playoffs. I can’t imagine that in the event we can’t trade Paul that Presti lets Gallo walk away for nothing. We may start out with a decent team but will be tanking before the end of the year. Finishing in undisputed last place isn’t a huge deal.

i think the only way that cp3 staying becomes bad for us is if the team performs well and we make short term moves using long term assets to try and stay relevant. if we don't do that it's not a big deal. and it could be beneficial.

gallinari might be another story. he's expiring and he could be super useful to a lot of teams. rolling the dice with his injury history and playing him to start the year is more or less gambling a 1st round pick, since that's probably what he's worth.

Agree but it's pretty difficult to find a team right now (they all just signed free agents etc). Hope he won't get injured and we find a trade partner in December.

[ThunderBolt]

Royce on the radio talking about lineups next year, “look for Donovan to scratch his creative itch next year.”

[Dadouv47]

Can't wait for the CP3/Billy Donovan memes next year

[Balkman32]

How many games can this team win?

I think the front court is pretty solid, the Noel & Muscala back up big pairing might be able to get us a couple of picks at the deadline.
If Ferguson and Roberson are on the wings, I think the defense will be solid but Robersons shooting will always be suspect.
With CP3 manning the point and SGA the point is covered, and some. I think having SGA play off the ball w/ Chris will be beneficial for Shai.

SGA starts at the 2 if CP3 is on the roster and I think Roberson comes off the bench as we want Ferguson and Shai to work together

[Old Man Game]

Royce on the radio talking about lineups next year, “look for Donovan to scratch his creative itch next year.”

God help us. Maybe CP3 can teach him how to coach.

[Old Man Game]

How many games can this team win?

I think the front court is pretty solid, the Noel & Muscala back up big pairing might be able to get us a couple of picks at the deadline.
If Ferguson and Roberson are on the wings, I think the defense will be solid but Robersons shooting will always be suspect.
With CP3 manning the point and SGA the point is covered, and some. I think having SGA play off the ball w/ Chris will be beneficial for Shai.

SGA starts at the 2 if CP3 is on the roster and I think Roberson comes off the bench as we want Ferguson and Shai to work together

35-40 games? Seems plausible if Roberson comes back and is his old self and Gallo and CP3 can stay somewhat healthy.

[Pillendreher]

Royce on the radio talking about lineups next year, “look for Donovan to scratch his creative itch next year.”

[Kizz Fastfists]

How many games can this team win?

Assuming they try to win and keep CP3 and Gallinari they can win 55 games as a ceiling. I’d guess 50 wins as they stand. Yes, they would make the playoffs. They would likely lose in the first round. Pretty bad that the highest ceiling team Presti has put together the last 3 years is the on that is “tanking”.

[Dadouv47]

How many games can this team win?

Assuming they try to win and keep CP3 and Gallinari they can win 55 games as a ceiling. I’d guess 50 wins as they stand. Yes, they would make the playoffs. They would likely lose in the first round. Pretty bad that the highest ceiling team Presti has put together the last 3 years is the on that is “tanking”.

The West improved way too much in the offseason for that. Would be like winning 60+ games last year.

I would say 45+ wins as a ceiling, which means an healthy squad (almost impossible with CP3/Gallo/Roberson) and SGA to keep improving.
I think we will start with a decent record then I hope we trade Gallo or CP3 (or both) to get a lower seed.

[thekaoswithin]

So what do y'all think Russ's first game back is gonna be like? I wonder if he'll get the same type of announcement the Thunder players get, or even something similar...

[Woerzboerg]

2021 first round draft pick from Miami and/or Houston (two most favorable incl. Oklahoma City)
Oklahoma City will receive the two most favorable of its 2021 1st round pick, Miami's 2021 1st round pick and Houston's 2021 1st round pick protected for selections 1-4

The Heat pick maybe unprotected if they're bad but if they're good, they will retain the pick being the least favorable of the 3.

That's the incentive to make a play to be better, encourage Miami to potentially trade for Paul.

From what I understood, the pick swap is with Houston so if we take our pick and the Houston pick, Houston gets the miami pick. Am I wrong?

Houston still has a 2021 first round pick. Not Miami.

Houston 2021 is a swap pick, they keep their 2021 swap if they're the least of OKC & Miami.

Miami keeps their 2021 pick if they're the least of OKC & Houston.

OKC get the most favorable of the 3 picks

If OKC is the least of the picks, Houston swaps with OKC & they get the OKC 2021

If Houston is the least of the picks, Miami doesn't get a pick. Miami only gets to keep their pick if they're the least of OKC & Houston of the 3 picks. OKC basically used the Houston swap to potentially give the Heat their 2021 pick back, only if they're better than OKC & Houston.

No. Out of these three picks - HOU, MIA, OKCs own - OKC will get the two most favorable. Houston will get the least favorable. Miami will get nothing.

[Dadouv47]

So what do y'all think Russ's first game back is gonna be like? I wonder if he'll get the same type of announcement the Thunder players get, or even something similar...

It's going to be weird. Crowd will applaud him when he does his pregame routine running and raising his hands

Could Adam Silver allow him to play in a Thunder uniform that night? We make a CP3/Westbrook trade for that game only. We can send Nader to Houston in that trade if it's required.

Pretty sure Russ is going to try to dunk on Adams. Going to be funny.

[Kizz Fastfists]

Russ will get a standing ovation. Russ will try to chase a triple double. OKC will win.

[retrobro90]

Something I've been thinking about in regard to the ongoing "Will CP3 be a malcontent/hinderance on young players in OKC?" conversation:

How many guys have made enough of a stink in our locker room for it to be a known and talked about discussion amongst media members? Reggie, of course. You could probably count the speculation about KD and Russ' relationship through their years together but even in those times when Russ or Kevin were facing tough questions they both had each others' back. Even when Melo left he stayed on good terms with Russ and PG.

OKC is pretty notably tight lipped. I think most times when there is a player v. player dispute they're quick to mediate it in a way where no party seems out of line and any juicier details are played close to the vest. In some sense I think it makes Paul's unorthodox situation a little easier on him. He can deal with any professional or personal matter without a twitter barrage knowing his every move.

[Old Man Game]

Interesting that CP3 hasn't tweeted anything about playing in OKC yet. Makes me wonder if there's really as much finality to the determination as Woj's report from a couple days ago led us to believe.