[NashyMingParticipant]

It’s a great article about Kevin Durant and the Thunder and how Sam Presti rebuilt the Sonics into the current Thunder.

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/fran_blinebury/07/07/durant/?ls=iref:nbahpt1

This is why Sam Presti is one of the best GMs in the NBA and this is how to properly build a team for success.

This is the right way to make your super star happy and keep him with the team. The market size does not really matter as much nowadays with the current global economy (for the right superstar though!)

Thunder has quickly become one of my favorite teams while Raptors is sinking to the bottom of my fav5 list (may eventually be out of it soon depending on the management).

[Malik-UniversalParticipant]

I believe sam presti came from the spurs organization… but he’s hands down a top 5 gm rite now, he has a keen for talent

[NashyMingParticipant]

——————————————————————————————————————
Durant is also a long way from where he was just two seasons ago when in their first season in OKC, the Thunder started out 1-16 and 2-24 on their way to a 23-59 record. Now they’re coming off a 50-win season and pushed the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.

…

“There is more of an accomplishment this way,” Durant said. “We started at the bottom. We didn’t go and get a free agent. We didn’t make a big trade with different guys. We started at the bottom, took a lot of losses and then started progressing here. I think that’s the best way to do it.
——————————————————————————————————————

BC, please take notes and do a proper rebuild. Don’t just keep patching the Raptors into years of barely missing playoffs or 1st round exits.

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

Here is the problem with the praise of GMs who get lucky in the lottery. The team who tries to build through the draft and doesn’t get lucky enough to take the franchise talent like Durant, Duncan, Howard, LeBron, etc. is the Minnesota Timberwolves. They are the Los Angeles Clippers. They are Toronto when they got the first pick and had to choose Bargnani, Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, Tyrus Thomas, or LaMarcus Aldridge.

Seattle/OKC got lucky in the lottery, tanked a couple years by selling off Ray Allen, let Lewis leave, and all the rest, and then because one-time “genius” Pritchard took Oden over Durant got hope. The rest of that roster, and the rest of his moves have not been that good. They can’t win unless Durant goes off. It is no different from LeBron in Cleveland, and if you think backs Danny Ferry got praised for Varejao, Boobie Gibson, and Mo Williams over the past three years. Then, they lost in the playoffs and nobody remember it happened. Now, he is fired and those same people who praised him for the stealing of Mo Williams and discovery of Varejao and Gibson are now blaming him for not giving LeBron a chance. There is far more weight that needs to be given to chance than genius in Presti’s success.

[John-Bryant-54]

You guys know it’s REALLY difficult and you must be REALLY lucky to rebuild the way OKC did.

Drafting the right players is hard.

The only championship teams that has done that recently are the San Antonio Spurs
All the other ones sign or trade for very good players.

Look at the Bulls, it took they over a decade to finally draft the right players in Noah, Rose, Gibson, and Deng.

Look at a team like the Clippers, it seems as if they have been rebuilding for the last 30 years.

[the I in winParticipant]

You need luck in the lottery. The Bulls would have been in that hole for a lot longer if they didn’t get Rose. (They were suposed to get the ninth).

[NashyMingParticipant]

The Thunder built the team properly and actually has great scouting to fit their strategy.

Instead of overpaying role players every year, they use their cap to absorb unwanted contracts (yet not terrible) from other teams to accumulate young players / picks.

E.g. Took on Kurt Thomas contract and got 2 first round picks from the Sun, then they traded Kurt Thomas to the Spurs for another 1st round pick. Just be efficiently using their cap space, they got 3 1st round picks and turned them into Serge Ibaka, BJ Mullen (via Beaubois trade), and #26 this year (packed with #21 for Cole Aldrich).

Instead of hanging on to the stars (Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis) who wouldn’t be able to lead them anywhere, they traded them away for rebuilding. Ray Allen is a 2nd/3rd option, Lewis is a 3rd/4th option, both of them would not lead a team to championship.

They start off with drafting Kevin Durant and Jeff Green in 2007.

Drafting Russel Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, DJ White in 2008. Westbrook wasn’t seen as a 4th overall pick during the draft, but the Thunder identified his talent and took him #4. Serge Ibaka was a high risk high reward player to leave in Europe, and he turns out to be pretty solid in his rookie season. I think he would turn into a near all-star level player in a few years. DJ White is a solid backup big man.

They drafted James Harden and BJ Mullen in 2009. Harden will be a very good player and BJ Mullen has a lot of potential.

Traded a conditional 2009 pick to get Thabo Sefolosha and then sign him to a bargain extension.

Traded for Eric Maynor just by absorbing Matt Harping’s expiring contract.

These are not lucky moves. Sam Presti actually knows what he’s doing. The worst signing he did so far is Krstic’s 3 years deal at around 18mil. It’s a solid deal. He didn’t waste the cap space for gap filler and take advantage of other team financial issues.

The may be lucky to get #2 in 2007 to get Durant, #4 in 2008 to get Westbrook, and #3 in 2009 to get Harden, but they first need to put themselves in the position to be lucky (by taking the pain of losing for 3 years) and also did a great job in scouting to identify the talent.

Are you saying Westbrook, Harden, Jeff Green, Ibaka are not good players?

Are you saying Boobie Gibson, Varejao, and Mo Williams are better?

In 2 years, those 3 Thunder would be much much better than the 3 Cavs you mentioned.

Kevin Durant is obviously the centerpiece, but the thunder has a lot of good young players around him to build a successful team. You have to remembered, the Thunder young core are all under 24 and they are far from reaching their full potential.

Mo Williams, Varejao and Gibson are as good as they will ever be.

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

Those moves aren’t why they are good. The reason they are good is Kevin Durant. When he isn’t having a good game, they aren’t any good. It is the same story as with LeBron in Cleveland, which is my point. Going from bad to pretty good is a nice accomplishment, but you can put it in stone that Oklahoma City isn’t winning a championship without getting a real second option. Jeff Green is not anything special. He can play in a rotation, but really isn’t that good. Russell Westbrook can’t shoot. He is a great athlete, but he is getting the same rep bump that Mo Williams has gotten by playing next to one of the best. He isn’t that good, certainly not on the level of the elite point guards in the league who actually carry teams. As for Ibaka, you have to be kidding me if you think he is a good player. He is a big athlete who doesn’t know how to play the game. Those kind of guys make a lot of money from dumb teams, but you can’t win win with them. We will see what kind of GM Presti is when it comes time to make a decision on whether to pay or move guys like Green, Ibaka, Harden, Sefolosha, Westbrook, etc. As is, they’ll never be good enough. That is where the skilled GMs are found, not in amassing picks, getting lucky in the lottery, and going from bad to decent.

[OhCanada-Participant]

COME ON YOUVE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME

Twolves got thier chance and picked the wrong guys. They traded Roy and Mayo, passed up Jennings and Curry twice, stocked up on late 1st and 2nd round draft picks where they picked up multiple euro players which of asll only Pekovic has come over. Do you even remember what craap they traded Lawson to Denver for?They couldve easily picked up Aldrich won out OKCs bid.Aldrich is from Minni and they still decided to sell picks or pick up European players or players they dont really need.Some orginizations just make the wrong decisions others dont.Give credit where its do Presti deserves credit.

[OhCanada-Participant]

BTW Brandon Roy was picked up by a GOOD GM Kevin Pritchard. Its not all about luck.

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

When did Minnesota have the chance to draft a first team All-NBA player? Brandon Roy is a nice player, but he isn’t leading anyone to a title. For as much as everyone loves San Antonio, everything was predicated on them winning the lottery the year a lock NBA star was in the draft. Without Duncan, nothing else matters. The same for LeBron in Cleveland, Howard in Orlando, Durant in OKC, etc. This is how the NBA works. If you build through the draft, you better get lucky enough so that when you are bad the ping pong balls fall your way when the draft has a star. Why is this so hard to grasp? Plenty of teams get nice players in the draft, but only the lucky ones get high enough to pick the guys who can lead them to a title.

[mgreener_34Participant]

BothTeamsPlayedHard you have got to be the most negative person on this site. Honestly did you even watch the OKC Lakers series? Durant was sub par, and it was the play from the bench and Westbrook that really kept them in it, not Durant. The Thunder have stock piled decent picks, got great young talent from late in the draft and even got a steal in Westbrook when no one else thought he deserved that high of a pick. The only two mishaps by Presti so far have been Harden *could have drafted someone more deserving or at least traded the pick* and trading Roddy for BJ Mullens which didn’t matter anyway because they got one of the best pg’s in that draft anyway. You gotta be kidding me if you say its all luck because it’s not. Aldrich, Green, Westbrook, and Maynor weren’t just given to the Thunder.

[OhCanada-Participant]

How do you know Roy wouldnt take more shots at Minnesota due to its lack of depth and average 30 ppg?Portland has depth throughout which makes Roy more laid back.Who knows how his development would have worked in Minni.

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

mgreener_34, if you want to praise people for the peripheral stuff, fine. If Portland drafted Durant and OKC came away with a constantly broken Oden, then none of those picks or moves that you cited would matter at all. Seattle wasn’t the worst team, they got lucky in the lottery and moved up. It lucked them into Kevin Durant. None of this is being negative. It is called FACT. Now, they have the star and have a chance, but the supporting cast is not that good. It might not be as bad as the cast Iverson or LeBron carried to the Finals, but I don’t know how much better it is. I know it is horrible to be anything less than impressed by a starting lineup of Westbrook, Green, Krstic, and Sefolosha but I have seen enough contending teams to know that isn’t going to cut it. If you think James Harden and Serge Ibaka are going to change anything, I think you are mistaken. I wish I was impressed by Ibaka’s great stat padding effort when the Thunder were down 25 in Game 5, but I’m not. I wish I was unaware of Jeff Green’s 33 percent shooting, or that it was still much better than what Thabo shot. And I am sure that every point guard Westbrook will face from here forward will be as old and slow as Derek Fisher. He did shoot a wonderful 11-33 once Kobe took him, right? I love Durant’s game, but he isn’t Iverson in 2000 or LeBron in 2007. He won’t carry that cast to the Finals, and I hope Presti is sharp enough to get him the second option he really needs.

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