Are the Thunder a dynasty in the making?

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in

Are the Thunder a dynasty in the making?

  • Yes

    Votes: 21 67.7%

  • No

    Votes: 10 32.3%
  • Total voters
    31

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
So yes I agree they are looking very good. Most likely very good for a while. Lots of praise for Presti.
One thing however is always involved and that is a bit of luck. Chemistry with that team looks good. Without it they are just a group of really good players.
How much praise should the coach get?
 
kjironman1 said:
So yes I agree they are looking very good. Most likely very good for a while. Lots of praise for Presti.
One thing however is always involved and that is a bit of luck. Chemistry with that team looks good. Without it they are just a group of really good players.
How much praise should the coach get?
Click to expand...
Coach should certainly get credit too. However I'd say the thing that sets the Thunder apart is the talent, youth, 2 way players, clear cap sheet, and boatload of draft picks. Those are all primarily from the GMs actions.

I'd say Thunder kind of lucked out that SGA was this good. They might have projected him to eventually be an all-star but I doubt they planned for him to be the MVP.

But this Thunder roster is so good they don't even need an MVP at the level of SGA to win a title. Put Garland in his place or any of a dozen all-stars and their still the title favorite this season plus next.

Ownership certainly should get some credit too for letting Presti execute a long term roster building plan. Many or most NBA owners don't have that patience. We've seen with the Blazers how we collected these worthless vets in Ayton Grant Ant Timelord Thybulle Brogdon Nurkic Hart all after Olshey was fired. The Thunder instead only brought in vets if they helped build future assets or were vet minimums. Then last summer when they were ready to contend they brought in Caruso & Hartenstein as the final vet pieces.

I'm not sure if the Blazers made their dumb decisions from Cronin or Bert or Jody. Either way Bennett and Presti have been much better management.
 
STOMP said:
The Thunder led the league in forced turnovers at 17 per game and had the 2nd lowest rate of turnovers themselves at 11.8

STOMP
Click to expand...
Yeah holding Minnesota to NINE points in the first quarter of a conference finals elimination game was unreal.

I never thought with the 3pt and scoring increases of the last decade we'd ever see an NBA defense again at this level.

If OKC cruises through the finals it will make Denver and Jokic year even more impressive.
 
No doubt the Thunder are set up for a nice run. But we did say the same thing about a few other teams recently. Boston, SA, Minnesota, Denver, NY, Cleveland.....and you never know how a simple trade or injury can affect each team moving forward.
 
JFizzleRaider said:
So crazy how many posters here shit on Presti. Dude is the man. I wish we had a gm like him.
Click to expand...
Name ONE. Nobody thinks he's a bad GM. What I don't get is why he's still in Oklahoma. Why would the best GM in the country stay in the shittiest state to have an NBA team? It's not like the owner is a Mark Cuban/Steve Ballmer, either.
 
Let's remember that a Denver team that wasn't supposed to get out of the first round took the Thunder to 7 games. And the T-Wolves beat them by over 40 points. Maybe my memory's shot, but I don't remember things like that happening to the Jordan Bulls or even the peak Curry Warriors. I also have my doubts that Chet Holmgren is going to be available every playoff run...

Whenever a team is looking unstoppable AND has draft capital, that's when things go South. Think Boston getting Len Bias. Detroit winning the title and having the #2 pick in the best draft ever (and taking Darko Milicic when Dwyane Wade was right there).

Or: think of Orlando making the finals with a young Shaq and Penny, and everyone assuming they would win the next five.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
Let's remember that a Denver team that wasn't supposed to get out of the first round took the Thunder to 7 games. And the T-Wolves beat them by over 40 points. Maybe my memory's shot, but I don't remember things like that happening to the Jordan Bulls or even the peak Curry Warriors. I also have my doubts that Chet Holmgren is going to be available every playoff run...
Click to expand...
OKC is younger than those teams. They're getting better. Denver has the best player in the world.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
Name ONE. Nobody thinks he's a bad GM. What I don't get is why he's still in Oklahoma. Why would the best GM in the country stay in the shittiest state to have an NBA team? It's not like the owner is a Mark Cuban/Steve Ballmer, either.
Click to expand...
You aren't new brother. Simply go to the search mechanism, type in "Presti" and find comments where people shit on him. In fact, you were involved in those very threads giving kudos to Presti so you should remember.

Here is one comment
Ive wondered for a while now why it is people think Prestie is such a great GM? Under his management they've lost Harden, Durant & Westbrook, plus gets kick out of the playoffs, but yet he survives?
Click to expand...

And another

Bravo! He's got all this draft capital , but most of it will have to go towards re-acquiring proven NBA TALENT. The draft is a crapshoot. Especially the later picks. You can luck out on a 2nd rounder, as much as a late 1st round choice. And a lot of those picks are from Good teams, not lottery bound teams. How long till Shai gilgeous-alexander says, "I'm outta here. But everyone licks his jock like he's a freakin' genius.
Click to expand...
 
OKC has the same problem, on a bigger scale, that a lot of young teams have. They are fine with their payroll next season...no hitch in their get-along

but for the 2026-27 season, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren will be in the 1st season of their 2nd contracts. That could be adding 80-90M to their payroll. And the next off-season, Hartenstein, Dort, and Cason Wallace will all be getting new contracts

will the OKC owner be willing to dive into 2nd apron hell for a few years while paying 250-300M/year in luxury tax?
 
wizenheimer said:
OKC has the same problem, on a bigger scale, that a lot of young teams have. They are fine with their payroll next season...no hitch in their get-along

but for the 2026-27 season, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren will be in the 1st season of their 2nd contracts. That could be adding 80-90M to their payroll. And the next off-season, Hartenstein, Dort, and Cason Wallace will all be getting new contracts

will the OKC owner be willing to dive into 2nd apron hell for a few years while paying 250-300M/year in luxury tax?
Click to expand...
I expect they'll keep some of these guys but flip a couple for picks. They won't keep them all.

With the 2nd apron I don't think we'll ever see a team blow past the luxury tax like the warriors and clippers did. Maybe for a season - but then they'll drop below it.

Despite having the NBA best record which should be the 29/30 pick they're picking 15th. They'll have more picks next year. Topic in the lottery last year will be a high upside rookie. They have plenty of cheap replacements coming.
 
I wouldn't even be shocked if OKC considered trading away SGA at some point in a few years. If they can get a young talent plus 4 unprotected picks or such they might believe that has more value long term than SGA in his 30s on a huge supermax contract.
 
SharpesTriumph said:
I wouldn't even be shocked if OKC considered trading away SGA at some point in a few years. If they can get a young talent plus 4 unprotected picks or such they might believe that has more value long term than SGA in his 30s on a huge supermax contract.
Click to expand...
That's exactly what he should do. I become fans of players too, but I want my team to WIN above all. If that's what the new CBA requires, then that's what it might require in order to stay a contender.

No player should be above the team.
 
The Thunder remind me of the Drexler Blazers. SGA is Drexler, Jalen W. is Terry, Chet is Buck, etc. Them getting Caruso and Hartenstein was like us getting Ainge. They're just lucky that they're in a time with no Jordan-Pippen-Jackson Bulls
 
Rastapopoulos said:
The Thunder remind me of the Drexler Blazers. SGA is Drexler, Jalen W. is Terry, Chet is Buck, etc. Them getting Caruso and Hartenstein was like us getting Ainge. They're just lucky that they're in a time with no Jordan-Pippen-Jackson Bulls
Click to expand...
Both teams fast break a lot and have very good defense. Blazers were 3rd-4th in the league while Thunder are #1 defense. Both teams were pretty deep. Yeah Blazers had Ainge off the bench but also Cliff Robinson, Drazen, Strickland, etc.
 
OKC looks like a team built as sustained contenders for the title. It’s too early for me to say they’re a dynasty in the making. Too much luck with health is involved. No rings — yet. They do look like the team best positioned to become a dynasty.

With Tatum’s injury and huge team salary, that window is iffy for Boston. Bench depth can take a hit.
Minnesota needs to replace Conley. Ant needs to work on shooting with a foot in the paint — he’s at the rim or from 3 without being awesome from 3.
Indiana > New York. Both as contenders.
The Spurs need their generational player on the court.
 
Dallas going to be tough next year (with the usual caveat about the health of Kyrie and AD). If AD can get back close to his peak (and he'll have plenty of incentive given the way he was dismissed this year) he's a top 10 (close to top 5) talent.
 
inconceivable said:
Spurs will be the next dynasty, not OKC
Click to expand...
Spurs could draft Harper plus cash in picks for a veteran all-star. With Wemby, Fox, Castle thats going to be a ridiculous starting 5.

The next decade of OKC/Spurs might be like early 2000s Spurs/Lakers where the West basically crowned the champ and the East was an exhibition.
 
Natebishop3 said:
I don't think Wemby is going to stay healthy enough to win a chip.
Click to expand...
his health is the only thing that will prevent the spurs to dominate the next ten years. If healthy, Wemby will be ten-folds the dominance we're seeing from Jokic, and the spurs will supply him with help much better than the Nuggets did Jokic
 
Charcoal Filtered said:
I think of the teams that are contenders, they have the best chance to do so. As Sly said, the CBA rules will make it tough but they have the draft capital to make it work. The Spurs will be tough as well.
Click to expand...
Don’t forget Dallas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top