Will Oklahoma City Be The Most Dangerous Team This June?
The TimberWolves have picks 2,17,29(presumably) and have the rights to Ricky Rubio. I think with the combination of them three they'll be able to get two quality players to build around Jefferson,Love, and Flynn/Sessions.
Obviously the Thunder are in better position because they have better players, but I see the Wolves doing the most in June.
the thunder are in a great spot becuase they have zero bad contracts on that roster. But without a top 10 pick, i dont see them getting someone in the draft that is gonna come in and be the big man that pushes them over the top. As for free-agency, its a wild card that everyone keeps bringing up. Apparently half the teams in the league are gonna become contenders this summer through free agency, lets see.
delfam you made a GREAT point about the Twolves doing the most and improving while the Thunder are in better position to make a more impactful move. llperez I agree with you totally how it's crazy how everyone thinks they are gonna sign every big name out there and become contenders lol. as you probably noticed, I'm careful to say that there are three scenarios that will improve the Thunder, instead of putting all our eggs in a LeBron/Wade/Bosh basket.
...go after David Lee.
Green Lantern you probably have more insight than I do on this but I follow OKC because I am a huge Gtown and Jeff Green fan.
I don't see the need for this team to get younger but now build around their young parts. i think Lee is the pefect fit because so much of what he does stays doesn't require the ball goiing through him. Durant and Westbrook could continue to get their shots and Lee would be that final piece down low.
I think even on top of that they could still trade up using their 2 first round picks, expiring contract like you mentioned (Collison/Kristic) and get somewhere around 12-14 with a shot at Aldrich. Aldrich doesn't have to produce right away and would allow them at times to play Lee at the 4 when Green is undersized against some line-ups.
They would boast Lee, Green, Aldrich, and Ibaka download - i think a really nice rotation.
I really like Lee a lot too but he actually has a lot of critics. The problem is Lee isn't the answer for the Thunder, even though he is a clear upgrade over Krstic. Everyone should learn from other teams' misstakes and not just sign players and ruin your cap space just to improve your team. The goal when signing any big fish free agent is to get to the NEXT LEVEL and not just "improve". The only way I would sign Lee is if I managed to align the stars in the sky just right on draft day and snagged an all star caliber frontcourt prospect to go along with him, which probably isn't gonna happen.
...that Thunder's fortunes rest more on last year's pick than this year's.
They need Harden, on whom they spent a third overall pick, to show some major progress and start contributing in a fashion justifying such a high lottery pick.
They passed up Evans, Curry and DeRozen to draft him -- he BETTER improve and improve a lot.
why not acquire lee an elite rebounder...and good scorer...and then acquire some unkown 7 footer that can block shots..or why not Darko.... he would be a good fit in the thunder..but most likely he would leave the nba but it does sound good
Westbrook
Harden
Durant
Lee
Darko
6th Green with him still bein able to play 30 min
This question is related to the June draft, not the NBA finals of course lol. When we look at the draft, we all know there are certain inevitabilies that happen every year: Teams looking to rebuild, teams looking for a "big fish" vet to upgrade their team, teams looking for cap relief, teams trying to get multiple picks, etc. When I assess my team OKC, we got a LOT of assets to make a draft day deal to fill the hole in our frontcourt. We have a ton of "touchable" contracts that will expire after next season, the most valuable of which are probably Krstic and/or Collison. We currently have max cap room, but there has been a consensus belief that cap room will be used to extend our major players a year early. We also have two first rounders that will probably be between pick 20 and 25. I truly believe that OKC has a legit shot to crack the lottery either at #13 or #14, and we DEFINITELY will get a pick in the teens if the lottery play doesn't pan out. Come to think of it, once we trade up for an impact big man prospect, we can (as I said in a thread weeks ago) convince Durant to hold off until later in the summer after we sign a one of the top tier big man free agents and then blow up our cap extending our young gun(s). One of these things if not a combination of these, is gonna happen this summer. This is the first guarantee I will make about the 2010-2011 season: The Thunder will have a major upgrade in the frontcourt to go along with the nucleus of Durant, Westbrook, Green, Harden, Ibaka and Thabo.