OKC Thunder 2023-24 Regular Season Discussion

[Mr Thunder Nick]

from the Cavs

[Dadouv47]

Read on Twitter

that's what I like about Chet. Lots to work on in the summer.

[cjmcallist]

Tough loss last night. Mavs defense was great most of the series, they should get some credit. The first half showed me that our identity works in the postseason - when we execute.

Great time to be a Thunder fan!

I'm even more convinced that Lauri would be a great addition for us.

[Zagor]

We won't find a better coach than Coach D. He really adjusted pretty well even if it took too long.

Now it's all on Presti this offseason. He gotta make the right moves. It's not true that he didn't make moves in the 2012-2016...he did but most of them were terrible ones (Kanter/Singler/Waiters and some bad vets PGs). Gotta make a way better job this time.

Everybody knew even then that those were bad moves. I mean, it's ok to make mistakes, it was new situation for him.

But this time, at the trade deadline he knew this is a great team that just needs a little bit of a push.
If SGA is like 23-24 years old, I wouldn't say anything. But SGA is in his prime, and Presti was ok with going to playoffs with Giddey and Jaylin Williams. And he had assets and oportunity to change that.
And what is explanation? That we had to see what we have, so that in the summer some decisions could be taken.
But absolutely everyone knew what we had and what are the main problems.

Most of us saw before playoffs that Giddey will probably struggle on both sides of the floor. Most of us knew that you can't enter playoffs with Jaylin Williams as your second big.

Replace Josh Giddey and Jaylin Williams( move him to be third big) with Dorian Finney-Smith and Kelly Olynyk and Thunder are probably in conference finals, maybe even NBA finals.
And we would still have tons of picks to improve roster in the summer.

This year was a great chance because team was healthy. We don't know what will happen next seasons and how our opponents will get better.

[Devilanche]

We won't find a better coach than Coach D. He really adjusted pretty well even if it took too long.

Now it's all on Presti this offseason. He gotta make the right moves. It's not true that he didn't make moves in the 2012-2016...he did but most of them were terrible ones (Kanter/Singler/Waiters and some bad vets PGs). Gotta make a way better job this time.

Everybody knew even then that those were bad moves. I mean, it's ok to make mistakes, it was new situation for him.

But this time, at the trade deadline he knew this is a great team that just needs a little bit of a push.
If SGA is like 23-24 years old, I wouldn't say anything. But SGA is in his prime, and Presti was ok with going to playoffs with Giddey and Jaylin Williams. And he had assets and oportunity to change that.
And what is explanation? That we had to see what we have, so that in the summer some decisions could be taken.
But absolutely everyone knew what we had and what are the main problems.

Most of us saw before playoffs that Giddey will probably struggle on both sides of the floor. Most of us knew that you can't enter playoffs with Jaylin Williams as your second big.

Replace Josh Giddey and Jaylin Williams( move him to be third big) with Dorian Finney-Smith and Kelly Olynyk and Thunder are probably in conference finals, maybe even NBA finals.
And we would still have tons of picks to improve roster in the summer.

This year was a great chance because team was healthy. We don't know what will happen next seasons and how our opponents will get better.

It’s summer now so some decision can be taken .

[Kizz Fastfists]

This is all on Presti, maybe some on Mark also with silly decisions, but I blame Presti.

Kizz is right, with Olynk here, Thunder would be in Conference finals. You could paired him with Chet and also played him as center when Chet is off the floor. Very good rebounder, passer and solid shooter.
But Presti choose not to improve roster but take washed injured player.

I don't have faith that Presti will make right moves in the summer. He didn't make them in period 2012-2016, he didn't make them this deadline.

I approve this message.

[Dadouv47]

Read on Twitter

I really think Presti thought Hayward to OKC might have worked and I hope I'm wrong and it was only a cap space move.

[Clav]

Read on Twitter

I really think Presti thought Hayward to OKC might have worked and I hope I'm wrong and it was only a cap space move.

I've been watching the end-of-season interviews (well, listening as I'm doing stuff rly) but Hayward's was the most immature they've posted so far. "I needed more touches". He wasn't aggressive with his touches and played poorly, sometimes barely taking a shot, and not scoring much. Dont bring him back.

[Kizz Fastfists]

I really think Presti thought Hayward to OKC might have worked and I hope I'm wrong and it was only a cap space move.

If it was Presti's idea of a move to help put OKC over the top then he is still looking for low impact players instead of difference makers. Who will the next Perkins, Kanter, Waiters, Singler, etc. be? The only excuse for the move was to clear the cap space for a big move this off-season. If Presti doesn't make a big move this off-season then it will mean he genuinely thought Hayward was a difference maker and will just be added to the pile of evidence that Presti has no clue about how to finish off a quality roster. If I were to inherit an NBA team that was not a contender I'd give Presti a four year contract to build my core. I'd then find a GM that I felt could finish off the roster after a core was in place that could be turned into a contending team.

[Clav]

Biyombo's interview - maybe 30% for me that he might be back as a veteran's minimum next season as he had a "summer plan from coach" on the table with him. That may also be an end-of-season plan up until the official end of the NBA calendar year, we can probably interpret it both ways. Biyombo was very respectful in his responses, and seemed to have enjoyed his time here.

Muscala's interview - he has not had conversation's to return with OKC next season and will go to Minnesota and get on the lake before talking with his agent for the future, so I'm unsure if he'll be offered a vet-min with us again either. Impressed with the team and thankful for being able to return after moving around a lot. Mentioned he and Gallinari bonded as they were traded together, too.

[Clav]

Lu Dort had a nice interview - highly regarding the team's improvement, but wanting to get better. He had funny moments too talking about beating his friends in sprints, some boxing and jiu jiutsu he's done in the past, and that he'd prefer to be an NFL offensive player than a defender.

[Clav]

Giddey says #1 priority is work on his game (shooting and '10 other things') in off season. Loves the team they have and enjoys playing for us, accepts that his bench role in POs was warranted and "that's a tough pill to swallow", but doesn't want that to happen again so he'll work extra hard before Olympics with Aussie. Also a childhood dream to play in the Olympics so he's motivated there.

He had a tumultuous season with his play and with off-court junk, so I think he's gonna be strapped down and nose to the grindstone as to have a quieter offseason.

[Dadouv47]

I really think Presti thought Hayward to OKC might have worked and I hope I'm wrong and it was only a cap space move.

If it was Presti's idea of a move to help put OKC over the top then he is still looking for low impact players instead of difference makers. Who will the next Perkins, Kanter, Waiters, Singler, etc. be? The only excuse for the move was to clear the cap space for a big move this off-season. If Presti doesn't make a big move this off-season then it will mean he genuinely thought Hayward was a difference maker and will just be added to the pile of evidence that Presti has no clue about how to finish off a quality roster. If I were to inherit an NBA team that was not a contender I'd give Presti a four year contract to build my core. I'd then find a GM that I felt could finish off the roster after a core was in place that could be turned into a contending team.

He still has way more assets and financial possibilities to add better players than during KD/WB era so it should be easier to add talent.

I do think the playoff run with this core was good for our FO to see clearly who's worth what and what should be done. I think the first step is to recognize that our playing style during the regular season works for the playoffs and that's pretty good: our defense was elite and our offense lacked better shooting and play from guys that should be replaced but it works Giddey should be gone even if I like the guy and also that Wiggins was kind of overrated from the fan base and shouldn't be a top priority even if he can stay and be your 9th guy coming off the bench. Chet was sometimes great and sometimes struggling so you obviously gotta get a better back up than Jwill even if he did better than I expected.

So ultimately we should add a good PF to replace Giddey, a good scorer coming off the bench and a back up big. Do I expect Presti to do all this? Nah. I think he's too scared because of our success this season to make so many moves. I will be glad enough if he add a good starter and a decent bench player. Third piece can come at the deadline. The most important is obviously to find the right guy to replace Giddey since I don't think Isaiah Joe or even Cason should be starters and we need a full regular season for our team to adapt with a new starting five.

[Dadouv47]

Giddey says #1 priority is work on his game (shooting and '10 other things') in off season. Loves the team they have and enjoys playing for us, accepts that his bench role in POs was warranted and "that's a tough pill to swallow", but doesn't want that to happen again so he'll work extra hard before Olympics with Aussie. Also a childhood dream to play in the Olympics so he's motivated there.

He had a tumultuous season with his play and with off-court junk, so I think he's gonna be strapped down and nose to the grindstone as to have a quieter offseason.

I don't mind resigning him if he's willing to take a huge pay cut and become a bench player but even in that case it's gonna be tricky with our rotations. I do think that he wants to stay in OKC but ultimately he should be able to get more money elsewhere and be able to develop his game too. I really don't blame the kid for not reaching what we expected from him in OKC...he's still very young and the fit with Shai/JDub is terrible.

[kdthunderup]

Barring heath, this will be the worst this team will be for the next 3-4 seasons. I don’t think we need to make any crazy moves this offseason - just sure up front court depth and maybe get another productive wing.

[bbms]

i am still really pissed about on court player's and coach decisions

how this team fared against a more physical and exploitative defensive scheme is frustrating.

it's so annoying to be the one taken by surprise by a good schematic exploits, not the other way around. kudos to kidd.

it's well in the prognosis layed a while ago but it's still infuriating to see.

hope presti can get some help. i think this team desperately needs a championship winner in the locker room.

still, this is a positive season.

[RunOKC]

Going to be rough reading all the casual hot takes this off-season

Great season, entertaining series, but it's hard to shake the feeling that we blew a big opportunity. The total score ended up 636-636 across the 6 games. Pretty much every loss it could be argued that if a few plays go our way things could have turned out different. Found it interesting that Woj mentioned pre-game that Presti did try to get a big man at the deadline.. Not sure how it didn't get done, but the way he said it made me think teams just didn't want to make a deal with us for whatever reason. Idk. May have to resort to drafting someone like Lively (pain) to fill that need. Over the years I've learned that cap space means nothing for a team like OKC so not overly optimistic about what we're going to do with the 30M+ we have available.

I know JDub/Chet/Cason/Giddey are going to let this fuel them and come back even stronger. A lot to look forward to in the next 3-4 years (and hopefully longer) as a Thunder fan. See you guys around.

[Devilanche]

Going to be rough reading all the casual hot takes this off-season

Great season, entertaining series, but it's hard to shake the feeling that we blew a big opportunity. The total score ended up 636-636 across the 6 games. Pretty much every loss it could be argued that if a few plays go our way things could have turned out different. Found it interesting that Woj mentioned pre-game that Presti did try to get a big man at the deadline.. Not sure how it didn't get done, but the way he said it made me think teams just didn't want to make a deal with us for whatever reason. Idk. May have to resort to drafting someone like Lively (pain) to fill that need. Over the years I've learned that cap space means nothing for a team like OKC so not overly optimistic about what we're going to do with the 30M+ we have available.

I know JDub/Chet/Cason/Giddey are going to let this fuel them and come back even stronger. A lot to look forward to in the next 3-4 years (and hopefully longer) as a Thunder fan. See you guys around.

If we are making a call to a claxton or harstenstein at the start of free agency and sell him as being part of our final piece we might still have a chance.


I wouldn’t hope for a true star though.

[Big nick]

For all of us screaming for a big at the trade dead line it was reported sam tried to get a big just couldn't make a trade for one. We don't know what goes on behind the scenes. Hope to get one this summer.

[Kizz Fastfists]

For all of us screaming for a big at the trade dead line it was reported sam tried to get a big just couldn't make a trade for one. We don't know what goes on behind the scenes. Hope to get one this summer.

Considering that it was OKC's 2024 FRP that was sent to Dallas then flipped to Washington an hour later for Gafford we all know that report is propaganda. There was no big traded at the deadline that Presti couldn't have easily beaten the offer on. He didn't try to get a big at the deadline. He had one of his propagandists put the story out there because he knows most fans can not figure out the obvious lie. If it were true, give the assets Presti had at his disposal and the trades that went down, then Presti is even more incompetent than I have ever given him credit for.