Lauvergne to the Thunder

I was hoping McGary would finally get some minutes though. Anyway, solid signing. Lauvergne is a fringe starter/ good role player in this league. Good jumpshot + good rebounding skills= good opportunities.

 From one logjam to another. Lauvergne would have been a great fit for Miami. 

Interesting move by the Thunder. The two 2nd rounders they sent to the Nuggets are not too much to give up and a center backup for Adams and someone who can play the 4 for stretches is good to have with Ibaka gone. He turns 25 in a month and while that is not exactly young for todays standards, he has a nice improvement over the last couple of years. 

I have to admit I haven’t seen much of him until now but he had some of the best moments of his career against the Thunder and his per minutes scoring and rebounding last year in Denver were really impressive. My biggest concern is that he isn’t the defensive presence this frontcourt is missing but for sure brings more to the table than someone like Nazr Mohammed at this point. We’ll see how this works out even if I would like to see Mitch playing some more minutes and with Tibor most likely being waved by the Sixers he might have been another option to bring in without giving up draft picks. 

The Thunder roster is taking shape now and Lauvergne for sure can handle playing up to 15 mins per game. 

 Thunder have lots of good big men now, Adams, Kanter, McGary, Sabonis, Lauvergne. Could Kanter be on the move? 

Thoughts on Lauvergne: Love it! backup center to Adams. Allows Sabonis to be in D-League. This is what the Thunder love to do with players ALL THE TIME which lets Ilyasova be the PF for this year (expiring contract. not gonna get resigned to make room for Westbrook nest summer). Perfect buffer for Sabonis who can take over backup-4 next year. Back to Lauvergne, this was just a great trade.

Thoughts on McGary: He was recently suspended for 5-games due to a violation in the NBA’s anti-drug policy. That can’t sit too well with management. and if you were watching Summer League games, the announcers would always call out how gassed McGary was after 3-4 minutes. I had high hopes for McGary, but now he’s just expendable. Here’s to Presti trading him to get those 2nd rounders back!