OKC is doing everything right

OKC is doing everything right

the team that I thought had the best off season and is having the best off season by far is the OKC Thunder Sam presty is putting on a master class when it comes to his offseason moves because while OKC didn’t go and get a star even though they very well still could even though they didn’t go get a star they got two stars in their role starting off with Alex Caruso who now replaces Josh giddy’s minutes you’re now adding a 39 40% three-point shooter an elite point of attack Defender an elite Defender at playing passing Lanes an elite transition player an elite cutter I mean Alice Caruso is a do-it-all guy and for a defense that was just top three in in turnovers Force you’re adding a pest like Caruso it it just gives their SE the defense that much more of a boost with Caruso and Dort I mean that’s hell for any offensive duo or offensive player in general to deal with so that’s going to be amazing the addition of Alex Caruso and it hurt my heart but they sign Isaiah hartenstein I knew it was going to happen I mean I’m not oblivious I knew it was going to happen but I just don’t get the new CBA rules because OKC was able to offer him 12 million more annually than the Knicks because the new CBA limits the team that signs whatever player to like a certain raise level so because we signed hardenstein on a very cheap deal we could only offer him so much the same thing happened with the Sacramento Kings but Malik monk was willing to take a pay cut to stay with the team Isaiah hardenstein on the other hand when a team is offering you 12 million annually more when they’re offering to pay you 30 million a year most of his contract is front loaded they gave him 3 years 87 mil they gave Isaiah hartenstein a bag and deservedly so because Isaiah hardenstein is an elite Defender he’s an elite rebounder he is a great passer for his position he’s a great finisher he’s an elite player at getting that floater off that floater is patented by him and it’s automatic whenever he gets into that short row area OKC had an amazing off season and they were able to sign away Isaiah hardenstein because they had the cap space to do it and they had a massive need that they needed to address in the playoffs I think it was obvious to all of us that the biggest need was size was rebounding and Isaiah hardenstein is a true seven-footer whose skills I just mentioned all translate to OKC there is some worry about how does this affect Chad hren because now Chad hren is not a center he’s not they’re they’re not running a five out lineup so it’s now restricting his game I don’t think this restricts Chad hbr’s game in any way uh what’s the biggest difference you know the the only difference is now that you have like a true Center running pick and rolls and stuff but Chad hren you kind of want uh you want to maximize him as a wing too if that makes sense you want to get the ball in his hands you want him to have more pick and roll opportunities as a ball handler you want to maximize all his skills that he has at 7 foot I mean Chad hren is a 7f footer but he plays like a small forward he can handle the ball he can pass he can shoot off the dribble he has all those skills at his disposal so I don’t think moving him to a power forward spot is going to limit his game and even then because I think right now you know based off what they paid hardstein I’m just expecting he’s going to start you have a start on lineup of SJ Caruso L Dort Jay dub wait I’m sorry I mixed it up SGA Caruso Jay dub Chad and Isaiah hartenstein you can stagger minutes there can be times where Chad is playing the center spot where they’re running a five out system but there are times when when you need to play with more size now they have a bigger lineup out there and Chad is versatile enough to switch on every position and and so is is hardstein and able to keep his own so this just makes OKC that much more versatile they can run any sort of lineup I don’t think an exclusive five out lineup always works Boston made it work because they had the Personnel but OKC you got to know your personnel and Isaiah harinstein he was the best center available in my opinion on the market and you got him you PR him away from the New York Knicks and he was so important to the Knicks playoff run his rebounding was super important and that’s something that OKC struggles with so now you have a sure fire guy who’s going to get 10 plus rebounds a night if he’s playing 36 minutes he can get 15 rebounds and he can and six of those could be offensive rebounds that’s how huge he is to a team getting those Second Chance points and for a team like OKC that has Shooters Galore all over the floor it just now gives you more opportunities to to knock down your shots at a high clip OKC’s roster is stacked man OKC is stacked OKC has SGA Caruso Jay dub Chad hardenstein Lou Dort coming off the bench with K Wallace Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins I really do want to mention the fact that I think people are sleeping on the Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe contracts a little bit too much because they declined their qualifying offer to sign them to long-term extensions but that’s a power play from Sam presty because by signing them to bigger contracts by increasing their salary now they are more movable on the trade market they can match salaries much easier just for example Lori marinin is getting paid $18 million a year Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins salaries combined will be around 18 to 20 million you can offer those two players and all your first round picks that you have to trade for Lori marinan and easily get Lori marinin because you can match those those contracts and I think that’s a very underrated thing that people aren’t talking about enough when it comes to OKC Sam pry not only did he get two of the best role players available on the market but he also gave himself the ability to at any point trade for a star player by giving up role players on the team and still keeping The Talented players they have OKC to me is the second most talented team in the NBA they have five players that ranked top 50 in box plus monis SGA hardenstein Chad hren Caruso and Jay dub the only other team that has five players that rank top 50 in terms of BPM is the Boston Celtics and when you look at the Celtics and the OKC Thunders rosters they’re very much similar they have a similar Talent level they do I think the Celtics are a bit more mature and therefore I’d give them the edge on a talent perspective I think SGA is better than Tatum but when it comes to Jaylen Brown he’s easily the third best player amongst both those teams porzingis is a more mature version of Chad homr they’re just a more mature team but OKC has given themselves a chance to truly make the NBA Finals OKC was just the number one seed and they won 57 games they added Alex Caruso by trading Josh giddy who was a negative and added Isaiah hartenstein this team is easily going to be a 60- win team next season I think they’ll be the best team in the Western Conference yet again and mind you with all their inexperience they lost in the second round to Dallas the team that made the NBA Finals he lost to them in six games but in those six games OKC shot 32% on catch and shoot threes and 27% on open threes while the Dallas Mavericks got a great outlier series from PJ Washington as much as I love Dallas and how they played in the playoffs in that series shooting luck was not on OKC’s side and if they shot better you could argue that they could have very well won that series but OKC did an amazing job this off season I think they deserve a round of applause Sam prey is making great move after great move and we’ll see what happens next we’ll see if OKC decides to stack the deck even more or if they stay Pat and just rock out with the team they have I think either way it’s a win and it’s a good decision to make it’s a good it’s a it’s a good road to go down because they’re talented either way if they just go the route of trading for another guy they’re just stacking the deck that much more but they’re talented enough as is to make the NBA finals

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