Post-Mortem: 2021-22 Oklahoma City Thunder

[vege]

They should fire Presti and hire Dany Ainge, so he can almost trade for every available star with his war chest.

[Warriorfan]

One player away from being playoff relevant with picks and cap flexible. Best option for OKC draft and trade for a PG level player again.

[dc]

Not major mortage the future moves, but at least using their cap space to get some quality rotation players rather then just selling it for even more late 1sts. Try for .500 with upside going forward rather then another non-competitive year.

I could see them just basically sending a bushel of picks to a team with a disgruntled star or borderline star.

They're obviously going to bundle their picks at some point. They literally wouldn't have the roster space to draft and keep every player with every near future pick they have, and there's only so many rookies/projects you could develop at the same time. They already tried that trying to trade up for the #1 pick last year. Some even questioned Detroit for turning that down, but I think they made the right choice.

I think what's surprised Presti these past couple seasons is that they haven't been able to tank as well as he thought they would have. Fortunately it was a deep draft last year and Giddey looks pretty legit.

[timO]

the plan A is draft top3, if there are not lucky they can do plan B

Put a max on Ayton or Bridges.

[rzzzzz]

Move the team back to Seattle, where it belongs. The basketball gods have deemed you will never win until you right this wrong.

[wegotthabeet]

One player away from being playoff relevant with picks and cap flexible. Best option for OKC draft and trade for a PG level player again.

I think the roster looks pretty gutted. They're multiple moves away from being competitive. Maybe that changes if they hit in the lotto.

Best option for OKC is to keep building through the draft, use the boatload of picks to move up when possible.

[payton2kemp]

Its crazy how Presti can go scorched earth yet Hinkie got crucified

Why? OKC has only tanked two years, thats it. It seems a lot longer but its only been two years since they were 5th place team in the playoffs.

[djsunyc]

at this rate, you probably can start 2022/23 and 2023/24 post mortem threads for them too.

[leo7]

Who do you think OKC should draft if they had the #1 pick?

Chet/Paolo/Jabari are all 6'10'' or taller and OKC loves tall players so this would be a tough decision.

[Dadouv47]

at this rate, you probably can start 2022/23 and 2023/24 post mortem threads for them too.

which rate? we just had our first lottery pick in our rebuld in Giddey.

[Dadouv47]

Who do you think OKC should draft if they had the #1 pick?

Chet/Paolo/Jabari are all 6'10'' or taller and OKC loves tall players so this would be a tough decision.

I would go for Chet. Probably more bust potential than Paolo and Jabari but higher ceiling as well and with Giddey passing ability, he could really help our team in his rookie season.

[cupcakesnake]

Who do you think OKC should draft if they had the #1 pick?

Chet/Paolo/Jabari are all 6'10'' or taller and OKC loves tall players so this would be a tough decision.

I would go for Chet. Probably more bust potential than Paolo and Jabari but higher ceiling as well and with Giddey passing ability, he could really help our team in his rookie season.

Is the world ready for a Giddey-Chet-Poku lineup?

[TroubleS0me]

good rebounding team
average on defense

they need some shooting

[Madhouse]

at this rate, you probably can start 2022/23 and 2023/24 post mortem threads for them too.

which rate? we just had our first lottery pick in our rebuld in Giddey.

I mean, I think everything comes down to the 22 draft pick. If it's a hit and he can hit the ground running, OKC can compete for 40 wins and the play-in with some other moves.

If they pick the wrong guy, SGA might want out a year later and they are in a mess.

[1bigfan13]

I'd have voted to change the GM and keep the coach.

Presti gets entirely too much credit for being a genius GM. The guy is living off the reputation of draft picks from over 12 years ago. Over the last decade he's been a middle of the pack at best GM when it comes to personnel. That's why I'm not excited like the average Thunder fan about all the draft picks we've acquired. OKC's drafts since 2009 have typically been disappointing. And Thunder fans please save the "that's because we were drafting in the late teens and 20s" excuses. Other GMs manage to find Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, Khris Middleton, Dejounte Murray type players in the draft.....but unless Presti has a top 4 pick to work with he never comes out of drafts with good-great players. The one exception was Sabonis who he quickly traded away for a 2 year Paul George rental.

I give Mark Daigneault an 'incomplete'. He hasn't been given a decent roster to work with so it's hard to fairly judge him as an NBA coach. My only real complaint about him is that there were too many games this season where he didn't have his team ready to play at the start of games. It felt like in over half of OKC's games they'd fall behind by 15 or more points in the 1st qtr then would have to spend he rest of the game trying to dig themselves out of that big hole. Other than that I had no real issues with him.

[Dadouv47]

at this rate, you probably can start 2022/23 and 2023/24 post mortem threads for them too.

which rate? we just had our first lottery pick in our rebuld in Giddey.

I mean, I think everything comes down to the 22 draft pick. If it's a hit and he can hit the ground running, OKC can compete for 40 wins and the play-in with some other moves.

If they pick the wrong guy, SGA might want out a year later and they are in a mess.

Well we don't know if SGA is willing to stay long term or not so right now I only care about him playing at a high level because if he wants out, we can have a lot of value in return. Would rather keep him but I don't think we should make crazy moves because of Shai because he isn't a franchise player/guy you want to build around no matter what (even if I think he's an all star kind of player and good #2 option on a contender team).

The 2022 draft is obviously important for us but it's a weak draft so it's unlikely we will find a franchise player this year unfortunately.

[cupcakesnake]

I'd have voted to change the GM and keep the coach.

Presti gets entirely too much credit for being a genius GM. The guy is living off the reputation of draft picks from over 12 years ago. Over the last decade he's been a middle of the pack at best GM when it comes to personnel. That's why I'm not excited like the average Thunder fan about all the draft picks we've acquired. OKC's drafts since 2009 have typically been disappointing. And Thunder fans please save the "that's because we were drafting in the late teens and 20s" excuses. Other GMs manage to find Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, Khris Middleton, Dejounte Murray type players in the draft.....but unless Presti has a top 4 pick to work with he never comes out of drafts with good-great players. The one exception was Sabonis who he quickly traded away for a 2 year Paul George rental.

This seems wildly pessimistic. You're judging a GM solely off of his drafting ability and comparing his lottery picks from when they were bad to the wheeling a dealing of late first-round picks typically done by a contender. Tons of Presti picks over the past decade were made as part of trades and so they're hard to assess.

Giddey was a nice pick. JRE was a very good second-round pick. Lu Dort was an undrafted free agent. Presti's late-round drafting is difficult to assess mostly because so many of those picks were traded.

Presti is very likely to be making a ton of draft selections over the next few years. There's almost zero chance Presti is parting ways with the Thunder anytime soon. We'll likely be able to re-assess his draft acumen quite soon.

[1bigfan13]

This seems wildly pessimistic. You're judging a GM solely off of his drafting ability and comparing his lottery picks from when they were bad to the wheeling a dealing of late first-round picks typically done by a contender. Tons of Presti picks over the past decade were made as part of trades and so they're hard to assess.

Giddey was a nice pick. JRE was a very good second-round pick. Lu Dort was an undrafted free agent. Presti's late-round drafting is difficult to assess mostly because so many of those picks were traded.

Presti is very likely to be making a ton of draft selections over the next few years. There's almost zero chance Presti is parting ways with the Thunder anytime soon. We'll likely be able to re-assess his draft acumen quite soon.

I'm not saying he's a bad GM. I just think he's a middle of the pack caliber GM.

I'm just not as impressed with his body of work as others.

[Maf]

I love to watch them. I mean when they give Vít Krejčí 20+ minutes a game. So right now GM is genius for drafting him. Coach is great for giving him minutes. And if Krejčí keeps playing they are rising team full of promises!

Maybe a little homerism towards a player from our country but I'd say very, very little.

[MoneyTalks41890]

I love to watch them. I mean when they give Vít Krejčí 20+ minutes a game. So right now GM is genius for drafting him. Coach is great for giving him minutes. And if Krejčí keeps playing they are rising team full of promises!

Maybe a little homerism towards a player from our country but I'd say very, very little.

He leads all rookies in 3pt percentage (he has only taken 60 something)