What did Sam Presti say about OKC Thunder Future?

What did Sam Presti say about OKC Thunder Future?

on today’s locked on Thunder podcast what we learned from Sam prey’s exit interview including about Josh giddy SGA Gordon Hayward and the future of this Thunder team you are locked on Thunder your daily Oklahoma City Thunder podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day let’s get it going on the lock on Thunder podcast on the lockdown podcast Network your team every day I am your host Med member and beat writer for insidethe thunder.com Ryland Styles follow me on Twitter Ryland stylesall the show on Twitter at L thunderpod email the show L thunderpod g.com on today’s show brat T by game time we’re diving into the OKC Thunder holding their annual exit interview with Sam presty what will the thunder do with Josh giddy what happened with the G Hayward is there’s more controversy stirred up over this blip of a move at the trade deadline uh and some interesting looks at the off season including sga’s future in OKC but Tuesday was Sam prey’s annual end of season press conference which lasted two and a half hours it was over 40 pages long uh the transcript was this took forever because Sam pry hit on a billion topics and he took every single Le question and was as transparent as you possibly can be at this stage obviously you’re not going to go up there and reveal all of your company Secrets but uh for what he could uh you know talk about and what he could reveal he did a lot in this uh in this time so much so that you know your head’s still spinning a little bit uh with all the you know information thrown at you I think that this is a really cool thing and something that uh allows you know everyone to to be better right that you can be better uh you know hearing right from the journal manager which do not happen in every NBA Market especially not to the degree of a two and a half hour press conference uh with the top decision maker of these teams uh as Sam presty is but one of the biggest talking points this summer uh and you know for this press conference is going to be and was the Thunders you know future plans this summer and and what the future looks like for OKC you know you you you go and win 57 games this year the youngest number one seed of all time uh what happens next and I think that people look at this off season and they’re just curious what are the moves what’s the aggression level who are the targets whatever you thought on Monday I think that you still think today after Sam pry uh talked on Tuesday so on Monday if you thought that they would just just run this thing back and uh you know be a relatively unchanged roster you know looking to build on that success there were many many many quotes for you to pull from and say see that’s exactly what they’re going to do if you thought this team was going to go on Monday and make these sweeping moves to really bolster their rotation and bolster their roster there were opportunities in this press conference for you to say well this quote here supports that argument and I think that he talked about aggressiveness and it was a really interesting you know Peak behind the curtain of of the Thunder are always aggressive they’re always evaluating players and and evaluating what options are out there you know it’s why that they call around on all these guys that become available and and maybe nothing materializes because it’s so important to remember it takes two to Tanga you cannot just force these 29 other teams to give you their Premier Talent maybe the guys who you think best fit on this Thunder roster aren’t actually available or the asking price is so Steep and so ridiculous that even though you have a massive treasure SST of assets that cannot that cannot let you go make bad moves right just because you have the money to blow doesn’t mean you should go spend it recklessly that’s how you go broke is whenever you do that so so those things matter of of who’s truly available what true truly is the asking price and that there’s many things that had it been public right of what they were trying to do behind the scenes that did not quite come true you would no longer be questioning uh what the Thunder’s aggressive level is with building this roster and some of that stuff just never comes out and you never see it so from the outside looking in right with with only the information that you have presented to you it makes you wonder what’s going on why don’t they just simply go do this what’s not as simple uh as it may sound for example even with the with the free agan you can’t just force a free agent to sign an OKC you are still GNA fight an uphill battle with location with Market with everything about getting a free agent you know to come to Oklahoma City so I believe the Thunder will do their due diligence on everything I I believe that you know as as non hot takish as it is no one knows the true answer of what they’re going to do until August 1st once the dust settles on the off seon then you’ll know you what transpired but until then Sam pry has left himself open and has left this this path open to do a multitude of things and you can check that off as number one the first and foremost thing is unlike some of these other teams you have the the capability of doing multiple things right there’s there’s other you know NBA teams that you can look at and say well they have no shot of adding talent because they don’t have draft picks they don’t have cat space the Thunder have both those things they have c space they have draft picks they have sweeteners and deals that we talk about all the time of like what can get a deal over the hump they have guys that can get deals over the hump they have uh the luxury of roster spots like they have all the necessary tools to go make a move but they also have such a young core that still growing together still finding their identity still looking to uh take the next leap in their individual games that a lot of their Improvement can come internally and you can make it the the strong case that the Thunder aren’t quite there to burn the boats as Sam pry said you know burn the boats is a fantastic philosophy with the Art of War it’s it’s great uh I don’t think that the Thunder are there yet of burning the boats and not looking pack this was still their first postseason appearance this was still their first playoff appearance after they’re play in last year they go have a Series this year like it seems like everything is so accelerated in this society and and in the way the NBA works but you are still looking down the barrel of that minimum a half decade of postseason opportunities right and I think that um one way that that gets spun is that like well what if blank happens and it’s just the most UN unrealistic thing like it’s just the most UNC controllable thing I should say for example what if your MVP candidate gets hurt as John Morant got hurt this year from Memphis like the reason Memphis is bad is not because that magically their core forgot how to play basketball they were decimated by injuries and they lost their head of the snake guy yeah if if if Shay does not play the majority of the games next year the Thunder are not gonna be good and that would be the case no matter what they do in the tradem market because you’re not going to get a guy who equates and offsets losing Shay so all cards on the table so long as Shay is healthy and this core is healthy with JB and Chad uh and as many as much health as you can have in a season they got they got extremely lucky for for health this season that might not be the case next year but as long as they are uh fortunate in the injury Department the Thunder going to be incredibly good for for the next five years minimum so after your first playoff run is not the time to go and do something crazy however they also have such an opportunity on the table here to go and you know improve their roster with these resources but I don’t think that that was wiped off the table either so I I think that Sam pressy did a really good job of illustrating that both options are good ones because what they’re not going to do and I and I feel confident what they’re not going to do is they’re not going to go make a move for the sake of making a move or for the sake of proving that they’re aggressive or for the sake of proving that they want to improve this roster the move has to be logically sound both thought process wise implementing on the court wise and the assets that it takes they’re they are not going to be forced into forking over a billion assets for a player that it doesn’t make sense to do that for and we’ll see what happens this is all relatively out of the Thunder control a little bit as far as this season goes because they’re not that desperate so the right player with the right contract and the right market price asked for him has to become available to them that’s three check marks you’ve really got to hit for them to go make a massive move and those things could happen but it’s not a guarantee uh I do think that by the end of the summer you will think that this roster is improved what’s the scale on that though what’s the what’s the sliding scale of of of improvement is it something as massive uh as a woe bomb at 1:00 am that keeps you awake the rest of the night or is it tying up the rotation but I think that somewhere in there you’ll be happy with the result of the Thunder off season coming up let’s talk Josh let’s talk SGA let’s talk Gordon Hayward and more all from Sam prey’s exit interview but first one’s here right now but your friends over at game time folks game time is fantastic it’s a ticking app that I think is the very best so game time makes NBA Finals tickets even faster and easier prices on Game Time app actually go down closer to tip off and so with these killer last minute deals all in uh Allin prices views from your seat and the lowest prices guaranteed game time takes to guest work out of buying NBA tickets I think it’s a phenomenal 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downloading the game game game time app today last minute tickets lowest pric is guaranteed we’re back on the lockdown Thunder podcast on the lockdown podcast Network your teams every day thank you so much for making us your first listen every single morning every single day we’re here for you talking Thunder basketball Sam pry had a lot to say at his exit interview uh we’ll continue on talking about that with Josh kidy so you know Josh kiddy was he was very complimentary of Josh KY and seem seems still very confident in the player that Josh Kitty can turn into uh both parties you know Sam pry and Josh himself were very open about you know this season was filled with ups and downs it didn’t necessarily go the way that you you know anticipated or you thought it could go you know like it it was a it was a season full and bookended by bad spells right there was that stretch in the in the middle you we’re from March 1 through that New Orleans series really uh Josh played really really good basketball but he started the season slow he ended the season slower and he got benched in Dallas to snap a 218 game starting straight uh and then you were left at a kind of a fork in the road at a crash of like where are they going to go from here and once again I think that Sam presty left it the door open for either option right if I had to place money down right now the smart money would be that you know Josh Kitty is just on the open night roster because of how many moving Parts it would take for that not to be the case however he also you know still allowed uh for your mind to wander so let’s just get into what he said so so he is really hammering at the beginning like you know Josh is 21 21 year olds have ups and downs no one had no one person has the same path as the other uh and so that he loves Josh Kitty’s toughness and his clutch ability uh and the stuff that Josh Kitty’s really good at uh he also mentioned you know how they’ve seen players before go through these ups and downs and he compared it to L Dort who who uh made the biggest change of his career this year of becoming more efficient becoming a better player overall at age 25 uh you know and that was in large part from understanding how to use him both Lou Dort internally as he’s talked about understanding what a good versus bad shot is and the Thunder understanding how to use him more um in a role that’s more efficient so like the the Thunder have to do a good job with with finding a role for Josh Kitty should he be back on this team and so the Josh giddy conversation is a multi-layered one I I think that it was also really interesting to point out from Sam that like through all of this Josh giddy never went and asked the team for more touches or or different role or anything and and I think that that stood out the most to me of like just embodying who Josh kidy is as a player because if anyone in the world had the right to go into Sam’s office or go into Mark’s office and demand a new role or demand more touches it was Josh giddy if anybody had a right to go into their uh you know exit interview and just berate the franchise it was Josh giddy not Gordon Hayward right because Josh giddy when he was drafted in in 2021 things looked totally different and now he’s played three seasons with three straight unbelievably different you know roles and expectations both team expectations and individual expectations and each season you’ve gotten further and further and further away from a role that suits Josh giddy which is not Josh giddy’s individual fault right you can get mad at Josh giddy for not threes in the corner you can get mad at Josh giddy for not uh being a high LEL Defender he was never supposed to be those things like when you were dreaming up the the the ideal outcome for Josh giddy on draft night 2021 it was this huge playmaker with the ball in his hands uh setting the table and really orchestrating offenses it was never his catch and shoot ability it was never his defensive ability it was never his ability to play off the ball and as his his career has progressed you’ve gotten further and further and further away from his identity and and what he was initially and what he is still really good at and and will thriven in the Olympics here uh in the next month or so so like that all matters that in of itself that that he that he took that head on didn’t complain about it and you know is still trying to work that out that should all contextualize a 21y old struggle uh and I think that again overall the sentiment of Sam prey’s Josh giddy answers whenever he was asked about Josh giddy repeatedly was a a very confident was a very um you know appreciative if you will layout and evaluation of Josh kidy and it goes back to the first segment if he’s on the op night roster you will point to five different quotes from Sam prey’s exit interview that would lead you to that result but by the same token whenever he was asked about a contract extension uh Sam prey mentioned that you know they another year that they’re they’re going to have those discussions at the appropriate time but you know there that nothing has to be done right now because they have another year to go well the one thing uh that we always repeat and we always uh you know seem to have figured out about s pry is that he doesn’t let his players hit restricted free agency well guess what happens if you don’t sign Josh KY this this summer you will hit restricted free agency that is a massive talking point uh you know you a recent example of this although these are two different players in two different styles and in two different um aspects of their career Josh gidy much better than Darius basley but is Darius basley like the entire way is final season in Oklahoma City you were almost counting down the DAT of the trade line because you knew that like s pry does not keep around uh upcoming restricted free agents so if they really do don’t get a deal done this summer then that makes you wonder that makes you raise an eyebrow but again this is a very different circumstance than what we’ve seen before and there’s always an ability to adapt and to change and to you tweak philosophies depending on a case-by Case basis but that’s a clear point of like if they do make a move this summer which at this point would be a bit you know surprising not like shocking not like floored you know but it would be okay they really did that if they were to make a move this summer then we’d be pointing to that quote of like see well whenever he said that they weren’t going to extend them then like yeah you know we should have known right so like the basis of this entire exit interview was that no matter what happens this summer you’re gonna point to Something in the exit interview and say we should have known because s PR did a really good job of leaving everything open now I want to talk about uh Sam press giving us a peak into sga’s future and kind of what he believes uh you know I think that same prey we give him all this credit for being very calculated very intentional and not very speculative speaking in facts and for him to talk about SGA whenever he was asked about the ability to sign him to a supermax extension and assign him to an you know an extension that would make him the first ever $80 million a year player right he talked about how how awesome that’ll be in like you know that they they’re going to put themselves in a position to make that deal for him without sacrificing other players on the team and like that the the contract stuff was all good that was all all gravy what stuck out the most was that this quote from Sam prey when talking about SGA I think he’s really proud of what he’s built here you’re always going to sleep better at a house you built a big part of his Ascent was born with handing him the ball with without any promises I think he’s proud of it I don’t think he has anyone in his ear telling him not to be proud of it that’s what Sam prey said about SGA and I I just get this sentiment from Sam and when SGA himself speaks from SGA that like this is a really good marriage and that SG is secure and confident and and wants to see this thing through it goes back to what we’ve said in this podcast before whenever all that trade noise got loud about about Shay and about his future there’s only 30 opportunities to be the face of the franchise and somebody’s got to be the face of Charlotte somebody’s gonna be the face of New Orleans somebody’s gonna be the face of actual title contenders and to be handed the keys to being a face of one of 30 franchises is special no matter if it is Charlotte or if it is wherever the Kings or whoever Detroit but it’s especially special if you’re handed the keys as a face of the franchise of a team that can win a championship and from here on out this Thunder team is a franchise that can win a championship and to be a player who’s seen the franchise through these evolutions and has led the way the entire time it makes that you know next step so much more gratifying and I think that Shay the second that the clock strikes midnight on the new league year next offseason is going to sign that supermax extension because no matter what like even if even if a player hates it in their environment if you get offer the supermax you’re going to sign it and then worry about that stuff later that’s why we’ve seen the increase of you know trade demands and in trades versus uh leaving free agency but I really do believe as of this moment you know May 29th in the year of Our Lord 2024 I do believe that the intent behind signing that supermax extension for both sides for the Thunder and for and forrier will be to play out the length of that contract on OKC and now uh you know five years is very long time it’s especially long in the NBA uh and especially when you tack on the two years they’ll still be left on his current contract before you get to those years in advance um that’s a really long time but that would be the plan and I think that they’re G to get that done um I I I think that you have to take what Sam said if we’re going to give him the if we’re going to give Sam his entire career this this Mystique about him that he just only talks about what’s what’s true and uh is calculated and everything else that was very Point coming up what do you say about Gordon Hayward what happens next with OKC all coming up we’re back on the lockdown ther podcast on the lockdown podcast Network your teams every day thank you so much for making us your first listen every single morning every single day we’re here for you talking Thunder basketball folks let’s talk about Gordon Hayward oh my goodness never in my life that I think we’d still be talking about Gordon Hayward on this day but Sam pry was very open about Gordon Hayward trade and I don’t think that you ever really hear an executive talk this way of just flat out saying quote I missed on that that’s on me but I’m learning trying to learn this team just trying to be a great Observer of this team as it’s going through its Paces I don’t think I read that one perfect that’s what Sam pressy said about the Gordon haward trade and then Gordon her’s wife goes on Instagram and and and dishes about Gordon Hayward told Sam presty it wouldn’t work but the Thunder still made the move this is just a mess and if Gordon Hayward would have just had a bland answer at his exit interview nobody would have cared nobody would have even truly um Badger Sam prey by Gordon Hayward V by the trade deadline in general and then Sam would have been able to answer it in general um but who cares anymore the Thunder did make a mistake trading for Gordon Hayward in the sense of he was not the player that that he was build as he didn’t get get back from you know injury he didn’t get integrated into this team but I think that that’s you know some some interesting like excuses to use so to say because I I do think that Gordon Hayward understood the team’s concept and was able to um you know play that that special defensive style very well with OKC he was able to rebound very well he did everything very well except for shoot the basketball he did not shoot and and that’s the bottom line he understood the team Concepts he understood his positioning on the floor defensively and offensively he had many open chances that he passed up whether that’s injury related or what I don’t think that it was the cause of just throwing a gun onto a moving train as they as they repeatedly said but let this be the last day we ever talk about courton Hayward uh in in respect to uh the trade deadline acquisition because as Sam pointed out too that was a multi-layer thing of you free up roster spots you free up salary cap space you free up a lot of stuff with that move another thing I want to point out before we get out of here of like we lean on S press’s being calculated and everything else he was very bullish about Chet holr and Jay dub and both of them having star power both of them having what it takes to be uh at that upper echelon of player and this is a guy who’s been around many elite players in his in his tenure and a guy who you know in a way your job is to you know temper expectations I guess but it’s Full Speed Ahead on sh hren and JB he said that JB is coming and he’s a no- numbers guy who OKC wants to you know continue to be him and then for for Chad he’s a No Agenda player who whenever he’s on the floor it’s winning time and I think that was really interesting like obviously chat has all these hopes and aspirations and and every player wants to be the very best version of themselves they want to push their game further they want to unlock these new avenues of their of their game but when it’s on the court when when the ball’s tipped and there you are you’re running for your life you’re a shining star um how are you gonna help the team win you know when’s the time in place to try to expand your game versus make winning plays and I think that Chad has that balance you know down to a science and he’ll be in the gym this summer with Kevin Durant and all these other NBA superstars and uh he’ll take from them he’ll learn from them he’ll grow his game and I just I’m excited to see chat homegun play next year I mean you you see what JB did from year one to two on the court what can chat do from year one to two on the court it’s exciting it’s exciting uh Sam pry also discussed the team identity and rebounding uh he he mentioned that the Thunder are not set in any way and that uh the way that they think is is open-minded and they’re not trying to prove any anyone wrong with this style of play or whatever but I think that he did have a really good analogy of if the Thunder were awful like just Dreadful at forcing turnovers but we’re top but we’re top five defense as they are right now nobody would care like they just say oh that’s great you’re a top five defense because they’re off that rebound thing which they did get better in the second half of the Season at rebounding because they’re not good at rebounding it is like the worst thing in the world when in reality it’s the same in result you’re still getting the same amount of stops your stops are coming differently the way you end possessions is different you’re ending possessions with turnovers and not rebounds but you’re still ending possessions to the tune of a top five defense and that’s what it comes down it does not matter what formula you you use as long as you get to the same answer and the answer you want is the top five defense you also mentioned that like you don’t want to turn one problem into three so you know when you look at the NBA you’re never going to craft a very perfect team that has zero zero flaws so far this team has one massive one which is like the rebounding you don’t want to turn that one massive one into three or four smaller ones like three or four problems that now you’re chasing your tail you’re chasing your tail because you’re never going to make a perfect roster and then I think that he took the opportunity whenever asked about the Boston Globe letter that resurfaced where he was campaigning for the Celtics to draft Jason kid uh to dunk on Twitter users and he said that Twitter users uh you know are frequently wrong but never in doubt and they have 100% of the confidence in their opinion with 10% of the information uh and that he was a Twitter user back in 1993 three yeah I mean again I I think that you know fans can only go off of what’s made public and you gota you gota have to take that right you gotta take that like fans what Fans Say and like what fans tweet and what people say on Twitter they’re they’re only privy to what they’re privy to so it’s it’s by the same token not necessarily their fault for not knowing because it’s just not out there it’s not public but you also again the confidence thing and the and the way it’s discussed can come from a place of very uh disingenuous habits and nature but that’s what Sam PR had to say for the most part on uh his exit interview we’ll talk more on tomorrow show uh and what are your takeaways did you listen to S pry presser did you consume it on Twitter what were your takeaways from this uh presser drop them down below on YouTube subscribe like on YouTube uh subscribe anywhere you should podcast from it’s to free we’re here for you every single day talking thiner basketball until next time be good and be good to one another

The Oklahoma City Thunder saw Sam Presti hold his annual end-of-season exit interview on Tuesday, what did learn about OKC Thunder’s future from Presti? Why you should feel much better about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Oklahoma City future, what will the Thunder do with Josh Giddey and Gordon Hayward’s trade is still a topic…What will the Thunder do about their lack of rebounding? Will Oklahoma City make a massive move this summer?

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