Does the Alex Caruso trade make the Thunder the best team in the West? | Get Up

Does the Alex Caruso trade make the Thunder the best team in the West? | Get Up

a move got made yesterday that we may look back on and say this was the day that the NBA’s Western Conference was won so Zack low if I said Factor fiction the Alex Caruso trade makes the Thunder the best team in the west would it be Factor fiction this hurts me it hurts my soul I’m still going fiction uh and and that’s not a shot at the Thunder the Thunder could be the number one SE to again next year if they make the finals it wouldn’t surprise me I still think we go into next year as Denver with the team to beat in the west and get they just have the best guy they’re a little more veteran than the Thunder but this trade whether it’s fact Fiction Faction whatever makes the Thunder scary with a capital S let’s talk about that let’s talk about what Alex Caruso brings to the table again fans I think know Alex Caruso they know he’s a very good player they know he’s a very good Defender they know he can shoot they know he has been a contributor on really good teams but I don’t think people will look at that and say oh an Alex Caruso trade to Oklahoma City that could change everything why should they think that I mean I look at this trade and I kind of put it in the same class as the Drew Holiday trade when you get a chance to bring in a guy who can blow up offense by getting over get over get through on pick and rolls he doesn’t have to double he takes teams out of their offense you can stay at home you can take away triggers and he’s shooting the three at 41% he’s going to be open with SGA and with Williams and the way they drive the ball and get into the paint I look at this as a huge huge upgrade and once again I think this does put them at the top of the r let me get Wendy in here that was a strange tra like the bull Bulls traded him straight up for Josh GID you know I I got a lot of bulls fans you know close to me in my life who were a little shaking their heads at this one uh what what is your assessment of this trade all the way around winman well Josh giddy will be the franchise point guard I guess for the Bulls he’s 21 years old he’s very talented ball skills he can score he’s not a great shooter and that’s really where this is it’s not just Alex Caruso the player it’s what the swap out is which is what Zach talked about in the last hour they had a player on their team that the opposing teams didn’t guard in the playoffs and Josh giddy so much to the point that Mark dagal had to start I don’t think Josh keny ever come off the bench in his career as a as a member of the thunder until the playoffs because he had been forced into it now you take a guy who replaces him and upgrades at the defensive end and this is the other thing I got to point out they still have $30 million in cap space this trade it wasn’t like it zeroed out their offseason moves they’ve still got 30 draft picks in the next seven drafts all of those are still on the table for them to improve and I just want to point out one thing Zach mentioned Denver the the Thunder added an excellent Wing player Denver’s got a little problem that no one’s talking about and that’s cavius Caldwell Pope one of their core members of that championship team is expected to opt out of his contract within the next week and teams are going to flock to him now now they have his rights they can resign him but they’re deep into the luxury tax I don’t know what they’re going to be able to do there they can’t afford to lose him the the Thunder have added the the the the the nuggets have to play defense to keep their team together remember I mentioned Philadelphia’s cap space is the biggest story in the NBA kcp is a GU to keep an eye on there too oh that’s Allan get in here that’s a great fit there and again defensively for that but with the Caruso thing it is the exact thing that a team like the Thunder has to find yes is the experience of somebody who has been there a veteran you need veteran presence that’s not easy to find in the NBA but when you have a young team that looks like they’re right on the verge that’s the very next thing you do this is a smart move this shouldn’t be the only veteran experience addition they should make though all right again they were the one seed last year with the second youngest team in the entire NBA and now they’ve added exactly the kind of glue guy that ones that making a difference like like Andrea Gala Once Upon a Time in Golden State speaking of them Allan yours is next Factor fiction if someone were to say it’s just time it’s time to break up the Splash Brothers in Golden state with that fact or fiction I’m going to say fact here mainly because it seems like clay wants more than what the Golden State Warriors want to give him we’ll start with that and also it’s probably time for you know Kingo to become a splash what nephew I I guess right he’s younger like he is really come a long way over the end of last season and you can’t emerge when there’s guys like that are there that you have great respect for you don’t want to overstep them Klay Thompson should be a six-man of the Year candidate somewhere in the NBA and when I talk about experience and Championship pedigree and shooting the Thunder I love a a potential fit of Klay Thompson in OKC let me ask you just on the Golden State piece of this all because there’s probably nothing harder in sports than seeing it end right this has been such a great Dynasty they’ve been such a they’ve been so good for the NBA well beyond how you know they’re an all-time great team but they’re also so beautiful to watch and the Splash Brothers they they have brought so many fans to the sport and they’ve been so important for the market and everything else so how do you handle that at the end of a player’s career do is it is it the right thing to do to give him a little more if he wants it just because of what he’s meant to the organization even if you’re robbing a little bit of Peter to pay Paul how how should a franchise handle the end for a player who has meant as much as Klay Thompson has I mean sometimes it’s just time I think about the run of the big three that we had and when you get to the end of that run and you still have an amazing amount of respect for those guys and you appreciate the time that you have together but sometimes it’s just time for guys to go elsewhere and then I take it a little bit further in today’s society when you unfollow somebody on Instagram when you unfollow somebody on Instagram you have checked out so when I’m looking at that situation it might be better mentally physically and emotionally for both teams to move on and for clay to have a clear mind and just start from there yeah there there are hurt feelings here that need to be repaired one way or another look my basketball soul my soul wants Steph play and Draymond to play Forever they should never play apart from each other they should just run out the string even if it’s just 45 wins 46 wins I can’t imagine it but UD just pointed out like we couldn’t imagine Dwayne Wade leaving in a salary dispute to go to Chicago and then he had to find his way back to Miami I’m sure that was not easy to live through as his lifelong teammate basically we both shed a little tears I mean it was a situation where we never thought we would be separated we thought we’ probably play from the beginning to the end of our career and uh we didn’t see that coming it was it was a situation where it was unfortunate but I supported him and he supported me and and it worked out the way it did we end up playing back together and finishing our careers together anyway [Music]

Does the Alex Caruso trade make the Thunder the best team in the West? | Get Up
On Get Up, Zach Lowe, Udonis Haslem and Brian Windhorst react to the Chicago Bulls trading Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma Thunder.
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