Completely Fake (sorta), But Fun 2021 Offseason: OKC wins lottery, drafts Cade and decides to compete

[Dn4sty]

After winning the draft lottery, And drafting Cade, OKC decides to pivot and compete next season.

They don’t have to go all in, as they want to still save some assets for future trades when they are good again. They want to be good now, and great in a few years as their young core grows up alongside more win now players.


They are armed with the following

Two max slots (it would be a bit difficult to accomplish this, but they could do it).

TPEs (should they decide to go the non cap space route and do some sort of S&Ts). Here are their TPEs

- 27,528,088
- 10,100,000
- 12,800,000
- 9,590,602

Over 30 future draft picks.

[loserX]

The good news is that with those kinds of tools, OKC can land pretty much anyone who hits the market. On the other hand, if they want to be competitive, they have a *lot* of spots that need to be filled with capable players.

Assuming no stars magically present themselves (DeRozan could be available if they go that route; his scoring and passing would help those young guards)...

You could clean out Houston: get Wood (starting PF), Augustin (backup PG), and House (backup defensive wing), all three fitting into that biggest TPE.

Terrence Ross fits into the second one, and could be a good 3&D piece on the wing. See if Toronto's willing to cash out on Boucher; he fits into the fourth one.

I assume Horford is pulled off the shelf; re-sign Bradley and Mykhailiuk with Bird rights.

Horford/Bradley/Pokusevski
Wood/Boucher/Bazley
Ross/House/K. Williams
SGA/Dort/Mykhailiuk
Cunningham/Augustin/Jerome

It's not a contender but it's deep and versatile and competitive. No one is locked into long deals and you still have the $10.1M TPE plus whatever picks are left over to wait for more opportunities.

[Mike lorenzo]

this won't be very popular ...
Let's say Pistons gets Green in the draft.

Cade to Pistons
Green + Grant to Thunder ..

I think Green has the highest superstar ceiling in the draft, I'll take a chance ..
Pistons gets his franchise boy ..

Trade 2 ..
Horford to Kings

Bagley + Miami21 to Houston

Wood to Pacers..
Get a more natural 4, and gain some flexibility

Turner + Hield to Thunder ...

Thunder looks like this ..

SGA / Maledon
Dort / Hield
Green / K. Williams
Grant / Poku / Bazley
Turner / Brown ...

2 Star Boys to Build (SGA / Green) ..
3 sword, bidirectional (Grant).
Defender Tops (Dort / Turner) ..
Elite Marksman (Hield)
High potential youth (Maledon, Poku, Brown, Bazley ...

[Wolveswin]

Most likely if Presti really wants to compete it is trading #1, so...

#1 + Horford + Filler
FOR
Fox + #9 + Barnes

Then I am going value shopping.

#9 + Pokusevski
FOR
Isaac + 2023 Bulls 1st owed

Then a way too big offer for Allen, but needs to be done.
*To preserve cap, Barnes could be traded later for top 55 protected 2nd absorbed into TPE (or Isaac trade agree upon and completed after free agency).

Allen | Bradley
Isaac | Bazley
Barnes | Williams
SGA | Dort
Fox | Jerome | Maledon

2022 trade deadline (or fallback 2022 offseason) use Barnes as salary filler + substantial picks owed for a disgruntled star.

[jayjaysee]

OKC can’t trade Cade. No team should trade Cade.

But OKC does own enough future picks to trade a couple and still have enough to keep cheap talent around Cade/SGA.

I wouldn’t push in on a trade until I see the duo together, but I would offer Collins an ugly max.

If not Collins maybe;

I would do Barnes and Bagley for two TPE’s, Denver and Phoenix firsts? Barnes as a nice fitting young vet? Hope Bagley models himself after Horford? Sacramento opens plenty of money for Holmes and gets a couple future picks?

[MoneyTalks41890]

Yeah if OKC gets Cade they aren't trading him. They're more likely to try to get back up into the top 5 again. And OKC could acquire Grant without needing to do something silly like move down.

In this hypo, though, I'm probably bringing back Horford and then throwing everything at the Celtics not named Cade or SGA for Brown. He'd be a great fit. But definitely focused on forwards from there.

Collins would also work, but guys like Bagley aren't "win now" that's kicking the tires on someone else's struggling prospect, which is the route I tend to like better overall, at least for one more year.