It’s 12:05 on a nice September Saturday morning, and then I heard it. The Woj bomb. This is when I knew all hell was going to break loose on twitter. From KD memes to deranged Oklahoma City fans saying this is the best team to ever be assembled. This will be the sports buzz for the next few days before KD’s secret Myspace is found. Are the OKC Thunder next up? Can they compete for years to come?
Because I’m a reasonable NBA fan, I’m still going to question how good this Thunder team will really be and the longevity of the team. To start off, not every single “all-star team” works together, just ask the Clippers how they’ve done the past few years. So even if Russ, PG, and Melo are all buddies off the court, they might not play very well together. Not to mention all three of the superstars are used to taking close to 20 shots per game, so they need to find the right mix of sharing the ball.
On the subject of taking shots, who is going to take the final shot? Well you can go with the 0-15 of last 20 seconds shots in Paul George, Westbrook, Melo, or Kyle Singler. I believe that as the season goes on they can find a nice balance, but the beginning can be a little rough. It’s hard to call the playoffs this early, but I can see the Thunder playing to at least May 2018.
Okay, now what?
So, let’s say that OKC gets knocked out in the WCF, there are a couple different things that can happen. Westbrook still hasn’t signed his contract extension, Paul George’s contract expires the end of year, and Carmelo is aging with an expiring contract. Westbrook and George are your main targets to bring back. These players determine how the Thunder will be for the next 10 years, so if I’m Sam Presti I’m planning on either getting these players back or calling some teams and seeing what they have to offer.
Sam Presti – A top GM in the NBA?
Sam Presti has turned the Sonics/Thunder around since 2007 when he was hired. He’s also become a top GM in the league in his time. First, he moves a dying franchise with a good looking young superstar to a new market with a great fan-base. Then, he shows love to Kevin Durant after he left and even in wake of his burner tweets. Now, he’s turning players who are young or have bad contracts like Oladipo, Sabonis, Payne, Ibaka, McDermott, and Kanter into superstar players. Presti put Oklahoma City on the map for the NBA and is showing the league he isn’t afraid to make moves.
All in all this trade makes the Thunder interesting and more fun to watch. But does it really let them compete against the Warriors? Let me know what you think about how the Thunder will do this year on Twitter! @IanRPerSources