The CBA has created an unstoppable monster in OKC

[the sea duck]

the CBA didn't make OKC this good. it will, however, hurt them.

[Shaka_Zulu]

Iasiah Joe (sniper)
Cason Wallace (future best guard defender)
Ajay Mitchell (future star)
Aaron Wiggins (sniper)



If you can acquire talented cheap depth like this despite paying 3 maxes and other starters. That's just hell of a competent peak leadership and overall scouting prowess. It has nothing to do with with CBA.


Like other said, in year or 2 they may he forced to make some tough decisions, but they can live with it if they draft this damn well wether its a top 10 pick, top 20, or second round.



Basically Ousmane Dieng seems their only recent miss for drafts. And jury not out on him yet, long term raw project.

[crows2]

Essentially what you’re trying to say is that, unlike in the past, the big market teams can’t just buy their way to a championship. That’s a good thing.

[Chuck Everett]

Basically Ousmane Dieng seems their only recent miss for drafts. And jury not out on him yet, long term raw project.

Tre Mann, Dillon Jones, Poku. All first round picks. Jury still out on Topic and Sorber who are both injured and haven't played a single minute. The thing is, Presti makes sure to have a lot of picks. They can't all be hits.

[sisibilio]

I just wish the CBA would have some sort of provision to discount the cap hit from players you drafted and extended. They allow you to pay a player more than any other team, then penalize you for doing so and it effectively works against itself by making top heavy rosters with big financial penalties.

We see it now with Brown & Tatum which is what it is and unfortunately OKC will be penalized by drafting, developing and rewarding Williams and Chet as well. Hopefully they'll rethink it next time around.

The solution is simple, you're allowed to pay the supermax but the cap hit is just that of a regular max contract

[slick_watts]

i don't see what the cba has to do with anything. the thunder just did a proper teardown and rebuild just like they did in 2008. a couple of down years earned them the flexibility to shotgun blast the draft and also the wherewithal to have three max contracts at the same time. whatever impositions the cba and the cap has on the thunder moving forward doesn't really matter since they've come close to maximizing whatever window they have already.

[bonita_the_frog]

Houston are the true monster of the NBA, absolute GIANTS and ATHLETIC with ELITE shooting, I bet my house on Houston eliminating the Thunder.
Houston are the scariest team in NBA history, and KD is headed for A LOT of rings.

[Shaka_Zulu]

Basically Ousmane Dieng seems their only recent miss for drafts. And jury not out on him yet, long term raw project.

Tre Mann, Dillon Jones, Poku. All first round picks. Jury still out on Topic and Sorber who are both injured and haven't played a single minute. The thing is, Presti makes sure to have a lot of picks. They can't all be hits.

Oh yeah Poku was recent pick, it was a Wolves pick we traded to them actually. Same traded we got Lakers pick 28th to pick Mcdaniels, huge rare win for us. And huge miss for OKC. Terrible pick.


And Tre Mann being OKC drafted I completely forgot. But I consider him a good combo guard actually, talented scorer. But his small size and lack of D wouldn't suited their guard heavy defense style.


Dillon Jones I remembered, but wasn't sure he is worth remembering, 2nd round chance draft rarely works out. Thats why Ajay Mitchell is such a unicorn.


Sorber and Topic I remembered. But they cant be mentioned yet, as you said, injury and health issues is hard to account for.


Especially poor Topic, first ACL tear, comes back, and gets diagnosed with cancer. Tough breaks

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

I don't have an issue with OKC. They did this on their own. (No major FA signing or creating a super team) The new CBA will get them sooner or later and the team will end up losing some key players.

[cupcakesnake]

OKC was well positioned to be competitive under the new CBA, because their core was young guys on cheap contracts, and they have a strong supply up and coming young guys on rookie deals via their draft picks.

OKC also reacted decisively to the CBA with their strategy, immediately recognizing their window and timeline. Caruso and iHart on team friendly deals was huge, because J.Dub and Chet were guaranteed to make rookie maxes. Even bigger, they've used their draft picks primarily to maintain flexibility, while other teams quickly find they have zero wiggle room after making moves or signing their own guys to big deals.

Other teams were a little less reactive, seemingly waiting a season or 2 and seeing first hand the brutal nature of the second apron. Boston did amazing and won a championship, but giving all their guys really big contracts meant it was guaranteed to be a very short window. Minnesota raced into an expensive roster, and then had to pivot, sending out their expensive one-time franchise player. Teams that were used to spending big (the LA teams and Warriors) were essentially saying WTF for a long time before being forced to change.

[og15]

The CBA has nothing to do with creating OKC, that was some things working out much better than expected (SGA becoming a superstar and MVP candidate) and then good drafting and team building.

Then CBA will cause them to have to lose some guys, but they have also acquired enough pick swaps, etc to be able to hopefully (for them) replace those guys are they go.

That's the whole logic of the CBA, you can build a great team, but you will have to disperse the expensive complimentary talent around after some time.

Listen to Presti talk about this sometime. The team is built and contracts are structured to weather the 2nd apron by swapping out cheap talent. Started with acquiring distant draft picks. Then getting the core players on rookie deals. Giving the players below market extensions with options. It’s all about it the CBA, we just haven’t seen the hard part yet. But Presti built it so there’s a three year run before that even becomes a question.

Yea, it makes sense, and you just have to hope that enough of your younger guys work out to replace the talent you ultimately have to get rid of because of the apron's.

So far it looks like they have a good amount of options of guys to fill in roles, but of course we'll have to see after the really hard decisions have to be made, how things shake out for the overall roster.

[peZt]

Why shouldnt they be rewarded for good management? I dont get it. They earned being an unstoppable monster by their own merit

[Chuck Everett]

Basically Ousmane Dieng seems their only recent miss for drafts. And jury not out on him yet, long term raw project.

Tre Mann, Dillon Jones, Poku. All first round picks. Jury still out on Topic and Sorber who are both injured and haven't played a single minute. The thing is, Presti makes sure to have a lot of picks. They can't all be hits.

Dillon Jones I remembered, but wasn't sure he is worth remembering, 2nd round chance draft rarely works out. Thats why Ajay Mitchell is such a unicorn.

Jones was actually a first rounder. Overall OKC used 5 second round picks to get and then dump him. You're right though. Ajay Mitchell, Aaron Wiggins, Jaylin Williams make up for it. All rotation players. All 2nd rounders.

[liquidswords]

To those saying that the CBA will hurt OKC...they have 7 FRPs in the next 3 years. Some of those will likely be flipped for future FRPs. Long story short, they will have the draft capital/assets to constantly restock the team and manage larger salaries while filling in team around those salaries. Its an absolute master class in GMing.

[jpengland]

Good.

OKC have been the best run team in the league, they are reaping the rewards.

[Johnston797]

OKC doesn't pay the repeater tax until 2029-30. If they won every year prior, that's a 5 peat. A new CBA comes in at that time too.

Even if they are over the 2nd apron next year, they don't have a permentely frozen pick until the 2035-2036 season. They could compete for a 9 peat and tank for 2 years before that.

Balmers or the Lakers new owners would just pay out the ear and keep this team together. I'm sure OKC will be a bit more frugal but likely not enough to stop OKC from being a juggernaut given Presti magic.

[druggas]

The Clippers are most responsible for OKC.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Presti is the best talent evaluator in the NBA.

[lethalizer]

Tre Mann, Dillon Jones, Poku. All first round picks. Jury still out on Topic and Sorber who are both injured and haven't played a single minute. The thing is, Presti makes sure to have a lot of picks. They can't all be hits.

Dillon Jones I remembered, but wasn't sure he is worth remembering, 2nd round chance draft rarely works out. Thats why Ajay Mitchell is such a unicorn.

Jones was actually a first rounder. Overall OKC used 5 second round picks to get and then dump him. You're right though. Ajay Mitchell, Aaron Wiggins, Jaylin Williams make up for it. All rotation players. All 2nd rounders.

At this point I think our first round picks are guaranteed to be cursed even. Sorber immediately getting a season ender, Topic getting cancer of all things(?!).

Luckily, we seem to have a very high hit rate when it comes to the second round so those are getting "masked", so to speak.

[Chuck Everett]

Dillon Jones I remembered, but wasn't sure he is worth remembering, 2nd round chance draft rarely works out. Thats why Ajay Mitchell is such a unicorn.

Jones was actually a first rounder. Overall OKC used 5 second round picks to get and then dump him. You're right though. Ajay Mitchell, Aaron Wiggins, Jaylin Williams make up for it. All rotation players. All 2nd rounders.

At this point I think our first round picks are guaranteed to be cursed even. Sorber immediately getting a season ender, Topic getting cancer of all things(?!).

Luckily, we seem to have a very high hit rate when it comes to the second round so those are getting "masked", so to speak.

Strangely enough, the second rounders end up being cheaper in the long run than if the first rounders had hit. So it has helped the Thunder's balance sheet. Not many teams could have a five year stretch where six first rounders (Mann, Poku, Dieng, Jones, Sorber and Topic) may not work out and it's like "yeah, no biggie. We're still elite."