Reacting to the Thunder’s deadline: What is OKC building?

Reacting to the Thunder’s deadline: What is OKC building?

Um I want to swing I want to swing uh to to Charlotte uh and start with OKC though so OKC picks up Gordon Hayward so they make a good move it’s a great fit for them if he plays if he can be healthy he’s got good size they need

Some size especially on the wing they just need a guy a bigger body and mo I want to go to you first because you’ve been H you’ve been hollering all season they need a big they need a big they need some size they didn’t get it is

This is this a failure at trade deadline day for them I mean I think failure is probably a strong word but they just didn’t get done what they needed to get done like listen Gordon hayward’s fine if he plays he’s only played 25 games this year he hasn’t played more than 70

Games since freaking 1982 I don’t know like a 2019 but like it’s it’s he rarely plays he’s he’s very unreliable in terms of health and all that stuff and the prime of Gordon Hayward yeah that is great and I think we all love what that would have been but I don’t know if

That’s what you’re getting there and they don’t necessarily even need that from him but look man like I watch this team up close against the Clippers they looked out outmatched sizewise I think when you’re in a conference when you got to go up against Denver and yes they’re

One and three vers or they’re three and one versus Denver this season I still don’t think that matters come playoff time you you’re up against the Lakers the Lakers have beaten them twice already and that’s a really pretty bad team I think you know you’re you’re up

Against so much size in the Western Conference like C can’t do it at all alone in that sense there were so many guys I wish and maybe their possib maybe the trades weren’t there but I wish they went after guys and they had enough assets there I

Didn’t feel like they needed to make a massive trade but they needed to go get a big guy in that sense a guy that can get rebounds for them a guy that can help them board help them defend a little bit more at the rim and kind of

Just helped ched out so he doesn’t have to do it all uh just a quick aside I think that the that there’s been some research in the past that them being three in one versus the nuggets uh historically that indicates a slightly higher percentage chance than if you just took the teams

Overall like I think it’s probably gives them about a two two% higher chance of winning a series than you would just based on sort of who has home court and the team’s overall resume so it’s not nothing but it’s not as you say it’s not

A massive deal um I think that uh that you know the the uh a move that we liked for the team that made it was the Xavier Tillman pickup and that like OKC doing something like that I think a guy who would have been really interesting for

Them uh and speaking of teams that that you know are not you know kind of the opposite of Detroit who’s mashing buttons a team that’s kind of has unplugged the controller is is the Bulls and Andre Drummond would have been I think a really interesting uh you know

Option Mo got me on the yaka purle train and I think that that could have been a really good pick I mean Mo Mo just said that I was like oh yeah that fits that actually is is kind of right because he doesn’t have to start you know it still

Allows them to play their way and you know Andrew look all year long you’ve said the Thunder they like who they are they like their guys they like how they play and if they brought someone in it needed to be maybe a Kelly linic type that could fill that you know stretch

Rooll move the ball stuff like that you still feel good about that I mean they’re at the top of the West right now I mean you have to feel pretty good about it they’ they’ve been really good and they and they know it’s not like you ask the front office like

Hey what are you guys going to do about the rebound they know that the rebounding is a problem they the thing is they were never going to deal for an Andre Drummond Xavier Tillman type of guy like they just never were they want to play the way they play and you have

To be that kind of guy and that’s why Hayward makes sense for them because like he can shoot past dribble he can play Within the flow of their offense that’s what they they wanted more of that and basically they dealt away guys that weren’t going to play in the

Playoffs or a guy that could potentially play in the playoffs now is this like a home run for them I don’t think it’s a home run for them I think it’s a good trade for them because they traded guys that weren’t going to play plus a couple

Seconds to get a guy who could potentially fill a role for them if he’s hurt would anybody be surprised no no one would be surprised but they have guys that they still like there mostly what they wanted to do going into this year for the playoffs is to see what

They have they want to see what these guys are in the playoffs not I mean this group has not been in a playoff game together yet you know sh Gil Alexander has been in the playoffs twice but not as the main guy and so what do what does

That look like how does Chad Faire in the playoffs what what does this look like they want to play five out they want to just dribble drive people to death that’s what they want to do if you put a big guy in the middle of that honestly we don’t even know what it

Looks like because they just have never even done it like and they don’t want to do it and so if you want to be a if you want a big man in Oklahoma City make it a big man that can shoot because that’s that’s what they want there

That’s how they want to organize their offense they don’t want a like traditional Clint capella purle Rim running kind of big that’s going to be in the paint but they just don’t yeah I think that’s short sided on a lot of levels and I want to break it down on a

Couple ways because it’s this sense of like I’m with you they don’t need to like everybody who was saying they needed to make a massive trade I thought was out of their dep they do need to see what these guys have but also give yourself a chance to hey man maybe we

Can have a big run you’re you just said it you’re on top of the west but we’re going to use this playoff as an exploratory sort of situation you don’t know what’s on the other side you don’t know what next season breaks you don’t know where that stuff goes when you have

The chances you go for it I think the one thing that they’re missing and that I think that everybody in OKC is missing is playoff versatility matters and it’s huge you cannot play One Way in the NBA Playoffs you can’t we’ve seen it too many times from guys because this this

Is what they’re going to learn teams are going to lock down they’re going to figure out how they go it’s a big difference when you get to play a lot of teams on the second night of a backtack or whatnot or you know whatever like it’s it’s playoffs are so different in

That environment it’s much more controlled and teams get to scout a lot harder and a lot tougher and you’re right they don’t know what they have in these guys but you’re already on top of the West you’re it’s a three-way almost four-way Tie by half a game for that so

You don’t know where you’re going to end up in that sense but you’re probably going to have home court advantage in the first round at the very least if not more give yourself a chance and again not you didn’t have to make a massive Hall in that sense and if the idea is

Hey we’re only looking at bigs who can shoot threes they’re going to shoot themselves in the foot because I think you need to have a rimrunner you think it makes a big difference it also makes Shay’s life a little bit easier it also makes guys like giddy’s life a little

Bit easier uh uh jayen Williams life easier when they come off to pick and roll and having a lob threat it also sucks in the defense and it kicks out out to your Shooters in all those situations like there’s a lot of things there just have an idea and that and

Having one big won’t clog the lane I promise you I promise you I’ve done enough scouting I’ve done it I’ve done the homework it won’t it won’t it won’t clog the lanes where there will be no driving lanes for Shay I promise and also it’s a curveball right like it’s if

You if you’re playing smaller stretch the floor faster having a big that you can bring in that you can trust I mean it’s a it’s a curveball it it means that you know like when you go against the Denver Nuggets you’ve got someone to throw at

Joic because Chad is not going to be able to do that and I don’t think they’ve got a four like Gordon Hayward if he’s playing the four not gonna be able to do it so again like it’s not about this season I understand not giving up stuff right yeah but they

Weren’t gonna give up anything and they also weren’t going to they also don’t deal with joic with one guy you know it’s always by committee and that’s how their their paint defense has been for the last few years it’s like all by committee it’s all like double and

Scramble it’s like the way that they do it I mean it the way they defend too I mean I just don’t think and and maybe they eventually will do this is acquire somebody who plays different than they do I don’t think they were going to do

That at this deadline and I don’t and I certainly don’t think they were gonna acquire a big who doesn’t play the way that they play at this deadline I I mean I’m I I I I get what you’re saying and I and I think Mo was very astute in

Pointing out that and you guys were both in that you know figuring out okay how does this style look how does Shay look like as the dude in a playoff series how does Chad like hold up to the physicality of of the playoffs that’s valuable information I think that uh

Some of the better moves we saw like a lot of the better moves we saw aside from the Knicks were sort of kind of small ball situational put the club in the bag moves and I think Boston made a couple of those and I think that’s much

More what we’re we’re talking about then like send a you know send a a first round pick I mean it’s a team that’s a wash in first and second round picks would it would what does it really what would it really have cost them if they had made

The same offer that Boston did for Xavier Tillman for example just to have that club in the bag uh to say all right Chad we’re gonna give you 10 minutes tonight where you don’t have to get get banged on by by joic in in the post on defense every possession like just

Having that I think would have some value to them and I do think that they are smart to like be a little bit circumspect because uh the Clippers and the nuggets are right there at the top know who they are that’s not going to be forever now they have an opportunity

This year but they have several years of opportunity so I understand not like well if we backed up the truck could we get Scotty Barnes or something like that um right I also think they want to go the complete other direction that everybody thinks they should go and they and they

Kind of have done this when they they played the Timberwolves and it’s worked sometimes and it hasn’t worked other times but instead of like a big spelling chat they just play kenri at the five and they and they like that look and like statistically that look that look

Has been really good for them over the last two seasons and so they would almost like rather just go the exact other way than what everybody thinks they should do and and I think there’s just like a genuine curiosity of what happens when we do

This does it and maybe the answer is it doesn’t work you know and I think that there’s a distinct possibility that it won’t and honestly if the Thunder don’t win the championship the the inclination is this that everybody’s GNA say the rebounding and the size is the problem no matter

What happens that’s going to be where people turn when the Thunder inevitably lose in the playoffs at some point this year like that’s going to happen and it may be right it may be the right answer but I’m just curious to see the way that

It plays out I would just say just look at Toronto trying to play last season without a center I think we know the answer yeah and it by the way it it I I will say this of of the organizations that are doing experiments I mean I

Think OKC has probably like earned the right to be able to experiment a little bit without too much scr not that we don’t scrutinize it but you know what I mean it’s just they’re it’s a longer term process and they’ve made good decisions I just think they could have

Given themselves more of a chance without it actually affecting anything long term and I think that was and and you know it’s it was a simple move and if you didn’t like the way it looked don’t play the guy like I think that’s totally fair I think

It’s totally fair I think the guy that I would have gone after and it didn’t cost a whole lot to get him and thunder actually ended up moving one of these picks anyways was for Kell linic like if they were instead of like trying to get

Involved in this Mavs deal which I think they actually ended up in a really good spot with what they got pretty absurd we’ll go there but I think you could have also like if you wanted to push in a little bit more this year you could have flipped that pick for oen

Because obviously that’s that’s what it cost you know it cost them it’s that other pick which nobody wants apparently it’s been flipped like five times since last summer um but it f finally ended up in Utah but you could have gotten him and I think he’s the kind of guy who’s

He kind of is the intersection of all these things like size you know he can shoot he can pass he can handle a little bit he can do all these like little things that the Thunder want their big guys to do uh but he ends up where all

The Canadians go so that one doesn’t make any sense um the other side of this Trade Charlotte um Seth this was uh not a not a good trade for charl it feels like it feels like negative value for for an expiring contract um I mean I guess give or take

What you think of of Trey man as you know with again one like you know upfront extension starting next season with half a season to evaluate him and then taking on money like not a ton of money but still taking on money next year from Berton and and and uh it was

Miss MIT um um so like you know it we we often say well it’s better to get something for nothing than an expiring sometimes you can get less than nothing and from from where I sit it feels like they got negative value uh for for moving off of haywards expiring

The Athletic NBA Show react to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s trade deadline.