The Thunder are clearly better than the Rockets. The Thunder have the second best point differential in the entire league. They have access to lots of cap space. The Thunder also have 4 first round picks in this draft, then in 2025 they have 3-4 first round picks, in 2026 they have 3-4 first round picks, in 2027 they have 4 first round draft picks. The Thunder already have a franchise perimeter player in SAG, they have an excellent near all star wing and a defensive anchor inside. The oldest rotation player on their team is 25 years old. So it would take a LOT for the Rockets to pass the Thunder, because the Thunder are better than the Rockets by a lot right now, and they have 14 first rounds over the next 5 years.
It’s not. Amen will be our starting pg by the trade deadline next year. His handles are way better than you guys are saying. It’s all confidence and the game is slowing down for him. Yule C.
Agreed. Had Stone taken Scottie Barnes or maybe even Evan Mobley at #2, then things would look at lot better. Hard to blame Stone entirely for that though, a lot of people had Green as the second best prospect in the draft. Still, a front line of: Segun/Barnes/Smith or Mobley/Segun/Smith would look pretty damn good. So far Stone hit a homer with Sengun, and the other top draft picks have been kind of drafting the consensus best player. He has done a poor job with handling the other first rounders, and over playing his hand in trades.
People can point to SGA being relatively older. But it's not an excuse, since there's no hard rules in a rebuild one must start with 18-19 yrs olds instead of 22-24 year olds. Stone's semi older young prospects: Kpj, KJ and Wood missed. KJ wasn't terrible, but far from a home run, barely any minutes on his current team. Mobley, Barnes in Jalen draft. Folks like Jabari here, and can point to uPsIdE, but can argue guys like Keegan fulfilling the draft archetypes (sooner than later). Same on Jacquez and Lively being immediately more useful than Amen. Some projects that could be promising but will take time. Thunder and Magic are ahead of us.
I'm in awe of how many guards they have shooting over 50%. They've drafted some hidden gems with later picks like Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace.
That is the interesting part. The Jazz are starting to win and not trying to do so. We could easily be 19-23 after the next two games.
The problem with OKC is that they will lose their superstars at some point and will never get to the finals. Oklahoma is the armpit of the NBA. Not only that the NBA will do everything in their power to prevent that ratings nightmare. The NBA is corrupt and if your not a top ten market, you won’t be allowed to make it unless you have a freak show like Wemby.
It isn't a matter of fair - because the Thunder are a team that the Rockets will have to beat over the next 5-10 years to get to a possible Finals. As far as the rebuilds - the biggest difference is that the Thunder front office has been incredibly good at pouncing at opportunity and the Rockets have been mediocre at it. The Thunder pounced on getting Paul George. The Thunder then dealt George and extracted everything possible out of the Clippers. The Thunder insisted that SGA be included in the Clippers deal. The Thunder then exploited TF and Morey was told to deal for Westbrook. The Thunder extracted a lot from the Rockets, only Morey kept TF from giving even more. Then the Thunder took on a lot of contracts to get future draft picks The Thunder made sure that their young players were well coached and developed. The Rockets held onto James Harden too long and selected to deal with the Nets and missed out on Maxey The Rockets lost a possible draft pick to get off some of the salary from the Nets trade. The Rockets did not take on salary to get back picks. The Rockets wasted first round picks. The Rockets did not ensure their young players were well coached and brought on bad guys like Wood and KPJ. The Rockets maximized very little - although, interestingly enough they DID get Sengun from the Thunder, who decided to pass on Sengun because he was sick when he worked out for the Thunder and had by his own admission a terrible workout. The Thunder were considering taking Sengun until that workout performance.
Honestly, it's going to take a ton of luck to win anything in the OKC peak era. Like they'll have to suffer major injuries while our guys pan out or we draft another real generational player (unlikely). I don't see us ever beating them even if Sengun and Jabari become all-stars if both teams are healthy. They are just so stacked and still own our picks as well as picks of a dozen other teams. The only reason we're still relavent is because Sengun has stepped up, otherwise this whole rebuild will be seen as a failure and we'd still be bottom 5 team in the league.
If a team doesn’t have the personnel to score then the offense doesn’t work. Now if the there is personnel to score, the right schemes and combinations I have been saying this lol. But again grass is greener syndrome reigns on this site
The central point I think is that OKC can’t hold on to their superstars, George, Durant, Harden. The NBA would be horrified if they made the finals. Their only hope is Chet becoming as intriguing as Wemby. Otherwise, they will never be gifted a final. SGA will get the Harden treatment in the playoffs.
15% from 3 is absurd. 17% turnover percentage is bad. He's a rookie I get it, but trying to prop him up against Jalen is dying on the wrong hill. Both players share assist percentages while one is supposed to be a "generational TRUE PG". We are living in a weird timeline. Im hoping big things from the kid too, but it would appear that our fans just cant help themselves when it comes to the amatuer scouting predictions, victory laps and flowers/cookies needed.
The Thunder have also drafted unconventional guys.... SGA signed a max deal and is low profile. Chet is not thought of as a guy that will push to get out of OKC if they are good, and Williams is another guy that seems content. I don't think it is coincidence that the Thunder have taken that route. You are right, they could lose one or more - but I am not assuming it with these guys.
SGA’s development was also different. He was on a vet Clippers team his first year with guys like Gallinari, Lou Will, and Beverly to guide and mentor not to mention Doc Rivers as a coach. They had a winning record their rookie year. He then had CP3 as a mentor for a year. He went through 3 losing seasons with OKC until this year. I believe this is where the Rockets went wrong the last 2 years in terms of having a team with almost no vets who understand winning to guide the young players especially the guards. But again comparing Houston to OKC is fruitless because the timelines are different. But one thing that can be gleaned from this is that building a contender takes time. This year is only the first step.
A lot of you are missing the point. This isn't about an apples to apples comparison of rebuilds. There are several teams around the league whose timelines match that of the Rockets, OKC is just one example.
We should have OKC as a benchmark. Is there any area of your life where you dont compare with the top competitors? To be the devil's advocate, they have a basketball man with a vision and experience. This is Presti's 2nd team from scratch (besides his previous experience) and as far as I know, he has stable ownership. We have an NBA unexperienced lawyer, who focuses on Twitter for PR and Hires and I won't go into our ownership. But let's call things for what they are. Stop using the timeline speech to move the goal posts. You can be optimistic and realistic.
Interesting chain of dominoes. The Thunder truly made the best of a team reboot-- holding the Clippers hostage because they needed to get an established star to pair with Kawhi, and then somehow inexplicably holding the Rockets over a barrel when everyone knew they had to trade Westbrook! The Rockets may back into an ok outcome -- Sengun, Eason, and Whitemore being available later than they should have, and the domino reaction for Brooklyn leading to at least 1 lotto pick headed our way. But they definitely missed on how good Maxey would be, and utilized Oladipo and co. poorly.
