After making significant trades the past two summers, Thunder GM Sam Presti is hoping for a quieter offseason, writes Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman. Of course, that will largely be determined by Paul George, who is expected to opt out of his $20.7MM salary for next season and test the free agent market. George, who grew up in the Los Angeles area, has long been rumored to want to join the Lakers.
“We arrived here and haven’t turned the page because we haven’t rebuilt the team since 2008,” Presti said. “I’m happy about that. We’re trying to make it work as long as we can. Ultimately us, like every other team, is going to have to find ourselves in a position where we’ll have to rebuild.”
Whether George returns or not, OKC will be over the salary cap if Carmelo Anthony declines to use an early termination option on his $27.9MM contract for next season. Presti expects to spend the offseason looking for more free agent bargains like Patrick Patterson and Raymond Felton.
There’s more today from Oklahoma City:
- Coach Billy Donovan is safe for another year, but he needs to make changes to keep his job beyond that, according to Erik Horne of The Oklahoman. With two years and about $12MM left on his contract, Donovan is entering the danger zone for NBA coaches, who frequently get fired or extended heading into their final season. Donovan has two straight first-round playoff ousters working against him, but Presti understands the difficult position he has been in because of roster turnover. “If you think about the last three years for our organization, and the last three years for him, it’s been a little bit of a whipsaw in respect to just the team he inherited in 2016,” Presti said, “the performance of that team being within a couple minutes of going to the finals, then not being able to capitalize on that.”
- Jerami Grant, part of a group of minimum-salary free agents the Thunder will have this summer, sees a good chance of returning to Oklahoma City, tweets Royce Young of ESPN. “I definitely think it’s a possibility,” Grant told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. “I know it’s a lot of moving pieces but I definitely think it’s a great possibility me being there. There’s a lot of things they have to figure out but I think it’s a good chance.”
- The Thunder were among the teams to meet with Oklahoma’s Trae Young at this week’s draft combine, according to Ryan Aber of The Oklahoman. The Thunder, whose first-rounder belongs to the Timberwolves, would have to trade into the lottery to have a shot at Young.
The OKC experiment taught me three things:
1) It wasn’t just the New York environment, Melo truly is an idiot.
2) Given the sudden emergence of Oladipo, safe to say Donovan was doing a terrible job.
3) Presti is not the right man for the job.
Sam Presti is not a/the problem
100% agree.
Also agree with points 1 and 2 though
What are you looking at to grade Melo? His # of FGA were the lowest of his career. Obviously points go down with fewer attempts. He hasn’t played much defense the last 3 or 4 years, not a new phenomenon. He’s never been a great 3-pt shooter, league average. What were you expecting as the 3rd fiddle? Bosh’s stats dropped off too, but he was also 7 years younger than Melo when he went to Miami.
Presti is bad at making trades. He is great at drafting players though.
You had an idea that Dipo could be a scorer, he showed that in Orlando. He was given the keys to the car in Indy. He was the stand alone main option – no Afflalo, Fournier, Westbrook. Basically Dipo is Dion Waiters and Jr Smith when they were allowed to dominate the ball, but a better version of them. Great when there’s no one else.
Ah I got your comp – Michael Redd.
He gave away Oladipo and Harden. It’s not a good track record over there so far.
I don’t blame presti at all. He took a gamble and it didn’t work. We still didn’t give up much to get melo anyways. McDermott and kanter. It’s the salary that’s a killer. Still hoping they buy him out or he opts out when he finds out okc won’t be starting him.
George is gone.
With those 2 salaries off the books you might have some room to make some signings.
They should also trade up in the draft. 2 50s draft picks might get you into the 40s. Maybe someone falls like Wagner or you can get Jevon carter who might be able to help with defense.
I’m expecting 2018-9 to be a rough year as the roster outside of Russ, Adams and Dre needs to be retooled.
Teams, like OKC are going to find out how absurd it is to pay a guy 40M a year. OKC has 6 players under control for 2019-20 at 88M. Cap is 101M. If you’ve got 2 star players, you’re going to end up allocating 80M just to two players.
So Reflect, Melo gets moved to a team where he goes from option 1 to option 3, has to play with the most ball dominant player in the league and move to the four full time. While the season is happening, he doesn’t complain, show contempt for the way it’s going and has a good relationship with the other stars on the team. He plays unselfish, and is willing to put himself on the bench when someone else is playing well.
Yes, at the season he made it clear that he would not be interested in being a bench player next year, but to call him an idiot is ridiculous.
Melo should bounce back if PGeorge leaves and Patterson stays healthy. It would be foolish to stretch him. I hope the Cavs scoop him up if they do, with or without James.
If James leaves, the Cavs should gun for the playoffs one more time… and then all their salries clear!
Billy Donovan hasnt do e anything to differentiate from Scott Brooks, who was always their issue…therefore, he is their issue
But in reality, I always expected them to add a shooter or 2 at the deadline or through buyouts and they never did. That was the problem this year. To blame Melo is a joke. You also have to factor in not having Roberson significantly effected their defense…when OKC had Westbrook, Roberson, PG13, Melo, and Adam’s together, they were like 22-1. Stop with this narrative that Melo is some sort of problem. They need shooting to complement those 3 guys. I thought they’d be in on Belineli and ilyasova before Philly got them
If Ferguson can give them anything on the wing, and they add another guy, and if Patterson is healthier, I think they’ll be much improved next year if they can bring their guys back