sam presti

[slacker77]

So my coworkers and I were talking about last nights game.One of them brought up the fact that presti is the thunders GM and were still have RC.We pretty much went round and round with the,"what if presti had replaced rc?"subject.Of course it went nowhere,but it did get me wondering how our team would have looked if RC had stepped down and presti had taken over.Just wondering if this has crossed anyone else's mind.Thoughts?

[ajballer4]

It'd be the same. Presti has been rewarded for making good lottery picks, which most of the time isn't too difficult. The one good trade he has made so far was for Perk. Otherwise, he hasn't really done that much.

[cheguevara]

prestigiacomo has durant. rc doesnt

/thread

[TimmehC]

It'd be the same. Presti has been rewarded for making good lottery picks, which most of the time isn't too difficult. The one good trade he has made so far was for Perk. Otherwise, he hasn't really done that much.

Ibaka was a great find well outside the lottery(24th).

[timvp]

RC's track record >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Presti's track record

Presti took Durant and then didn't blow a couple lottery picks and then got Ibaka late in the first round. Pretty damn good. But Presti still has a way to go to replicate what RC/Pop did when they transitioned from the 1999 team to the Big 3 era using little to no resources. And then RC/Pop almost transitioned the Big 3 era into yet another championship-level era that featured an offense-first approach.

Presti could have drafted Kevin Love instead of Westbrook and Stephen Curry instead of Harden and have the next dozen championships on lock. (Damn, that's a scary team to think about.)

[slacker77]

Ibaka was a great find well outside the lottery(24th).

Was just about to post this.Also,didn't he pretty much have to beg pop and rc just to take a look at tony.Something along the lines of having to put together a highlight video.

[baseline bum]

Buford's track record with draft picks makes me think the Spurs made the right choice, as amazing a GM as Presti is. It wasn't a situation like Duncan/Robinson where you could have both doing their jobs at their peak together. :lol

[slacker77]

RC's track record >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Presti's track record

Presti took Durant and then didn't blow a couple lottery picks and then got Ibaka late in the first round. Pretty damn good. But Presti still has a way to go to replicate what RC/Pop did when they transitioned from the 1999 team to the Big 3 era using little to no resources. And then RC/Pop almost transitioned the Big 3 era into yet another championship-level era that featured an offense-first approach.

Presti could have drafted Kevin Love instead of Westbrook and Stephen Curry instead of Harden and have the next dozen championships on lock. (Damn, that's a scary team to think about.)

I can see your point,but isn't he pretty much on that championship track with this current roster?Which is still(at the core)in their early twenties?Granted they have not won anything yet,but they are only going to get better.One last thing,isn't this just their fourth year in the league?

[AFBlue]

The rebuilding this team has done on the fly has been nothing short of amazing. The two biggest gaffes have been renewing the RJ deal and signing Matt Bonner for four years. But, somehow he managed to turn RJ into Stephen Jackson (a far more well-rounded player) and I'm hopeful he'll be rectifying the other decision this off-season (hello amnesty!).

Presti has been great, but RC has been better.

[baseline bum]

Didn't RC press Pop into drafting TP, or am I remembering wrong?

[cd98]

Sam Presti would probably have been fired if he had the first pick in 2007. Fortunately for him, he had the second and the obvious choice of Durrant. If he'd have had the first, he'd have drafted Oden and the Thunder would suck.

[heyheymymy]

Didn't RC press Pop into drafting TP, or am I remembering wrong?


You remembered wrong. Pop wasn't sold on Parker, and it was actually Sam Presti that convinced Coach Pop to try Tony Parker.

[baseline bum]

You remembered wrong. Pop wasn't sold on Parker, and it was actually Sam Presti that convinced Coach Pop to try Tony Parker.

Wow, thanks for correcting me. Buford has done some masterful work, but drafting Tony was probably the best move in franchise history. I know Manu was a much lower pick, but he was a complete luck move while Parker was someone the team badly wanted by draft day.

[PublicOption]

You watch , the guys in the rafters will go to the finals pierce/durant. If lebron and durant go it will be obvious. They will do like they did lebron in 07. Celts vs durant. They'll get there shot and durant will get run. Though the league may get desperate and think there chances of a micheal jordan is slipping and give durant and title. I also think stern is trying to give seattle the buisness for making it so difficult to leave.

[Richie]

Sam Presti would probably have been fired if he had the first pick in 2007. Fortunately for him, he had the second and the obvious choice of Durrant. If he'd have had the first, he'd have drafted Oden and the Thunder would suck.

This. You need a certain element of luck when drafting, even up in the high lottery.

Who could have known that 5 years down the road, the Thunder are counting thier blessings they missed out on the #1 pick

[coyotes_geek]

Presti deserves props for hitting on his draft picks, but it's a different ballgame when you go from building a contending roster with young stars on rookie contracts to maintaining a championship caliber roster when those young stars start asking for max contracts.

[Russ]

Was Presti responsible for Mahinmi?

[rascal]

RC's track record >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Presti's track record

Presti took Durant and then didn't blow a couple lottery picks and then got Ibaka late in the first round. Pretty damn good. But Presti still has a way to go to replicate what RC/Pop did when they transitioned from the 1999 team to the Big 3 era using little to no resources. And then RC/Pop almost transitioned the Big 3 era into yet another championship-level era that featured an offense-first approach.

Presti could have drafted Kevin Love instead of Westbrook and Stephen Curry instead of Harden and have the next dozen championships on lock. (Damn, that's a scary team to think about.)

RC got the lottery no brainer gifts of Robinson and Duncan to build around. Presti took a weak lottery team and turned them into title contenders( maybe even a title this year) in a short time. Give Presti more time and he will outdo RC. Presti is off to an impressive start.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

Didn't RC press Pop into drafting TP, or am I remembering wrong?

would Pop have any say on whether to pick someone or not? i thought that was all front office dealings.

[rascal]

The rebuilding this team has done on the fly has been nothing short of amazing. The two biggest gaffes have been renewing the RJ deal and signing Matt Bonner for four years. But, somehow he managed to turn RJ into Stephen Jackson (a far more well-rounded player) and I'm hopeful he'll be rectifying the other decision this off-season (hello amnesty!).

Presti has been great, but RC has been better.

Scola trade was the worst move and another big mistake was going after Kidd when you had parker and ending up with Rasho.

[mudyez]

Funny thing:

Imagine Presti having the #1 not the #2 pick in '07! He would have taken Oden (nobody will say otherwise)!

Now imagine him having the #2 and not the #4 pick in '08! He would have taken Beasley (at that point a sure shot top-2-pick)!

...I'll spare you '09 (Harden/Thabeet?) because here is where I don't know if he would have hesitated after bulding an Oden/Beasley frontcourt ;)

Presti is doing good but after all he also had a lock of luck (yeah, like we had with Timmy too).
I'm not sure R.C. is better than Presti, but he isn't worse neither!

(and yes, Presti was the guy beeing responsible for drafting TP)

[mudyez]

Scola trade was the worst move and another big mistake was going after Kidd when you had parker and ending up with Rasho.

Presti will make his mistakes as well!
We will see how he manages the contracts of the 2 max guys + the 2 frontcourt guys + Harden + something else with a cap thats heading towards something like a hard cap (at least for a small market team like OKC).

[coyotes_geek]

RC got the lottery no brainer gifts of Robinson and Duncan to build around. Presti took a weak lottery team and turned them into title contenders( maybe even a title this year) in a short time. Give Presti more time and he will outdo RC. Presti is off to an impressive start.

Presti's weak lottery team had tradeable assets and an ownership group that was only interested in slashing payroll so that the team could be sold. He had the luxury of not being under any immediate pressure to put a competitive team on the floor. Let's see what Presti does when his draft picks all come late and his best players aren't locked up on cheap rookie contracts.

[KaiRMD1]

The thing about Bufored is he's been good for YEARS, far longer than Presti. i'll give Pesti a great "golf clap" for putting that powerhouse of a squad together in OKC but he's still got many years until you can really compare him to Buford

[cd98]

RC got the lottery no brainer gifts of Robinson and Duncan to build around. Presti took a weak lottery team and turned them into title contenders( maybe even a title this year) in a short time. Give Presti more time and he will outdo RC. Presti is off to an impressive start.

Give RC three top 5 picks over the next three years and we'll be a dominant team again.

RC's record sans a lottery pick has no equal in the NBA.

[KDtrey5]

So my coworkers and I were talking about last nights game.One of them brought up the fact that presti is the thunders GM and were still have RC.We pretty much went round and round with the,"what if presti had replaced rc?"subject.Of course it went nowhere,but it did get me wondering how our team would have looked if RC had stepped down and presti had taken over.Just wondering if this has crossed anyone else's mind.Thoughts?

Obviously he has a reason why he wanted to go to OKC than stay in San Antonio so it doesn't really matter. It's like when people say what if jordan didn't retire, how many rings would he have got? lol it doesn't matter move on :rollin

[T Park]

Didn't RC press Pop into drafting TP, or am I remembering wrong?

You remember right.

Buford also favored Derrick Dial over Raja Bell in his prime though...

[Johnny RIngo]

Was Presti responsible for Mahinmi?

As bad as that pick was, it was made worse with the way the Spurs wasted years waiting on him to be healthy only to find out he sucked.

[senorglory]

As bad as that pick was, it was made worse with the way the Spurs wasted years waiting on him to be healthy only to find out he sucked.

I'm not convinced we are any good at developing bigs.

[rascal]

Give RC three top 5 picks over the next three years and we'll be a dominant team again.

RC's record sans a lottery pick has no equal in the NBA.

Robinson and Duncan were hall of fame franchise lottery picks.

[timvp]

Didn't RC press Pop into drafting TP, or am I remembering wrong?


You remembered wrong. Pop wasn't sold on Parker, and it was actually Sam Presti that convinced Coach Pop to try Tony Parker.

RC is the person who "found" Parker. The story goes:

-RC falls in love with Parker.

-RC sets up draft workout so Pop can see him.

-In the workout, Lance Blanks beat up Parker and Pop thought Parker was too soft. Pop told RC he never wants to see him again.

-RC asks Pop to reconsider. Pop says no.

-RC tells Presti to make a highlight reel tape of Parker's best work in Europe.

-Presti makes the highlight reel. Pop watches it and agrees to hold another workout for Parker.

-Parker plays much better and Pop tells him that they'll draft him if he's still on the board.






So, yeah, Presti did a good job compiling a highlight reel of Parker before the invention of YouTube but he was an RC "find".

[mudyez]

RC is the person who "found" Parker. The story goes:

-RC falls in love with Parker.

-RC sets up draft workout so Pop can see him.

-In the workout, Lance Blanks beat up Parker and Pop thought Parker was too soft. Pop told RC he never wants to see him again.

-RC asks Pop to reconsider. Pop says no.

-RC tells Presti to make a highlight reel tape of Parker's best work in Europe.

-Presti makes the highlight reel. Pop watches it and agrees to hold another workout for Parker.

-Parker plays much better and Pop tells him that they'll draft him if he's still on the board.






So, yeah, Presti did a good job compiling a highlight reel of Parker before the invention of YouTube but he was an RC "find".

Is "Lance Blanks" some kind of porn actor?

[cd98]

Robinson and Duncan were hall of fame franchise lottery picks.

RC had one lottery pick: Duncan. Robinson and his prime came well before. And most of RCs ody of work came after Duncan with no draft picks and small market money limitations to deal with.

Presti has three lottery picks in a row...all at the same time and in their prime.

[K-State Spur]

You remember right.

Buford also favored Derrick Dial over Raja Bell in his prime though...

?

Bell was 23 when the Spurs cut him - still 4 years shy of what would constitute his "prime" years.

[K-State Spur]

I'm not convinced we are any good at developing bigs.

Carlisle's no better then. Because Mahinmi basically does for them what he did for us, just with more regular minutes.

[dunkman]

Durant was #2 pick later resigned to the maxi, Harden #3, Westbrook #4, Collison #12, nothing exceptional there.
Thabo for the #26 pick, Ibaka at #24 were excellent moves.
They overpaid for Perkins, with most players still under rookie contracts, not that difficult.
Finally signed Fisher who got cut mid season, that was a great move, better then Mills in the short term.

And that's their rotation. Many consecutive seasons of being one of the worst franchises in bball tbh.

[kskonn]

would Pop have any say on whether to pick someone or not? i thought that was all front office dealings.


I believe that POP is also the President of basketball operations(correct me if I am wrong), which would give him say in who is drafted.

Plus I think in the NBA the coaches have a lot more say due to the size of the roster, vs lets say NFL.

[kskonn]

Obviously he has a reason why he wanted to go to OKC than stay in San Antonio so it doesn't really matter. It's like when people say what if jordan didn't retire, how many rings would he have got? lol it doesn't matter move on :rollin

Yea his reason was that he was the Assistant GM in San Antonio and he was offered the GM position in OKC(Seattle).

If the Spurs orginization had decided to keep Presti and get rid of RC then RC would have probably been the GM in OKC and we would all be sitting on here saying, "how would our team look different if we had kept RC?"

[Sandman52]

Scola trade was the worst move and another big mistake was going after Kidd when you had parker and ending up with Rasho.

Yes. Our chasing of JKidd also resulted in the Hedo trade, which means Cactus Jack is no longer needed. I was so disappointed because we did such a great job in developing Stevie only to see him shine on other mediocre teams. If we were to chase someone, it shoulda been full court press on Jermaine O'Neal. At the time, we was the perfect replacement Tower.

[dunkman]

JONeal got a 7 years max contract from Indy, the Spurs would have offered $30M less. It was similar situation to Kidd, those players were never to leave $25-30M on the table to sign with the Spurs.

However Sterling is cheap, and I liked Heat's strategy. The Clippers signed Maguette to a bigger contract, then the Heat signed Brand to an offer sheet which the Clippers matched. Immediately, the Heat signed Odom to an offer sheet, which the Clippers declined to match.

The Spurs could have re-signed Jack and Odom that season, plus Horry. Or Brad Miller as Duncan didn't want to play C. Instead, they went with Horry, Rasho, Hedo and Mercer. For a championship team, with the NBA best player and with massive cap space, that off-season was ridiculous.

[cd98]

?

Bell was 23 when the Spurs cut him - still 4 years shy of what would constitute his "prime" years.

Raja Bell is a role player. There are hundreds of him out there.

[cd98]

Durant was #2 pick later resigned to the maxi, Harden #3, Westbrook #4, Collison #12, nothing exceptional there.
Thabo for the #26 pick, Ibaka at #24 were excellent moves.
They overpaid for Perkins, with most players still under rookie contracts, not that difficult.
Finally signed Fisher who got cut mid season, that was a great move, better then Mills in the short term.

And that's their rotation. Many consecutive seasons of being one of the worst franchises in bball tbh.

Thabo was drafted by 76ers, traded to the Bulls, who traded him to the Thunder for a draft pick that turned into Taj Gibson. I prefer Thunder have Thabo rather than Gibson, who would have made them a much better defensive team.

[KoryK1]

Sam Presti would probably have been fired if he had the first pick in 2007. Fortunately for him, he had the second and the obvious choice of Durrant. If he'd have had the first, he'd have drafted Oden and the Thunder would suck.

You might be right about this.

I actually had to disagree with people who were saying that OKC is just like the Spurs. I think for the most part they have solid guys, but OKC has four players who were lottery picks (Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Collison) including numbers 2 (Durant), 3 (Harden), and 4 (Westbrook). They also have Ibaka who was picked earlier than any of the Spurs except Duncan and Leonard.

At the same time, there's something to be said for Presti just getting those picks right. Just because teams pick early doesn't mean it helps them. see: Olowakandi, Michael, et al.

[pjjrfan]

Ibaka was a great find well outside the lottery(24th).

But Durant, Westbrook, and Harden were the rewards of teams with losing records. What RC and Pop have done is nothing short of phenomenal.

[ploto]

They also have Ibaka who was picked earlier than any of the Spurs except Duncan and Leonard.

Diaw.

[dunkman]

You might be right about this.

I actually had to disagree with people who were saying that OKC is just like the Spurs. I think for the most part they have solid guys, but OKC has four players who were lottery picks (Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Collison) including numbers 2 (Durant), 3 (Harden), and 4 (Westbrook). They also have Ibaka who was picked earlier than any of the Spurs except Duncan and Leonard.

At the same time, there's something to be said for Presti just getting those picks right. Just because teams pick early doesn't mean it helps them. see: Olowakandi, Michael, et al.

The Clippers were notorious for wasting their picks. Olovokandi was picked because he had upside "like Olajuwon". Supposedly he was athletic 7', solid defensively and was to develop his offensive game later. But the problem is that he never played bball prior to college, had no bball iq, was injury prone, very soft and lacked work ethic.