Grades: Spurs vs. Thunder - July 16, 2023

[spurraider21]

I compared him to Chris Duarte, who you may know if you follow the league. Williams came into his rookie season big, strong, and skilled for a rookie, unsurprising given his age. Does he have more room to improve? Probably. But teams will gameplan for him now. Sometimes players get figured out and it wouldn't be surprising to see Williams remain a good player around his current level. I'd be surprised if he becomes an All-Star, but I guess he could.

If you want to become a Thunder fan, by all means, we won't miss you.

thinking that a team is good or has a bright future means you have to become a fan of them

noted

right up there with chump's "are you going to stop being a spurs fan" retort to FO criticisms

[Atl Spur]

Okc should roll with sga, giddy, Jw, chet, and a rim protecting center. Use some of those picks for vet specialist. Nice core but not the correct blend of vets.

[Atl Spur]

Indiana…. Will be top 5 in the east very soon if not this year.

[Mr. Body]

Okc should roll with sga, giddy, he, Chet, and a rim protecting center. Use some of those picks for vet specialist. Nice core but not the correct blend of vets.

Presti doesn't use centers. They often ran four guard sets last year with a guy like Jaylin Williams, who the OKC hype machine is now calling an incredible steal. He is also allergic to drafting shooters.

They'll probably run four guards/wings and Chet, or possibly go with what they had last year with Williams and then Chet as a 4-type.

And spurraider can masturbate furiously over them.

[Dejounte]

SGA… an All NBA player… MVP Candidate… great accolades. Still likely a similar result: catch fire and then sizzle a couple years later, tbh

[spurraider21]

SGA… an All NBA player… MVP Candidate… great accolades. Still likely a similar result: catch fire and then sizzle a couple years later, tbh

how many guys who made all nba first teams at or before age 25 sizzled out a couple of years later?

[Dejounte]

how many guys who made all nba first teams at or before age 25 sizzled out a couple of years later?

My apologies, I should have made my post clearer: I’m referring to his team. When the team has him as their number one guy, the team is what I’m referring to as catching fire (happened this past season and may continue this year) and then will sizzle later.

[CorrectCrusader]

It’s just my opinion that that team’s ceiling is akin to the Grizzlies we’ve seen. Lot of would-be solid players, but none truly to build around. They have players that are easy to root for, and play eye-pleasing basketball— but in the end, franchise players is what this league is all about and I see none on that roster. Call it an unpopular opinion.

Even with the gazillion picks they have, their scouting dept seems more skilled in finding good players than they do in finding actual franchise players.

They have a billion glue guys and secondary stars and zero jokic's giannis' or curry's

[Ariel]

My apologies, I should have made my post clearer: I’m referring to his team. When the team has him as their number one guy, the team is what I’m referring to as catching fire (happened this past season and may continue this year) and then will sizzle later.

Those teams rarely have the kind of ammo OKC does. Presti has been stockpiling assets with shrewd trades for years, if he plays his cards right there's no reason OKC can't sustain a deep playoff run for a while, especially if Chet can remain healthy. They can easily trade for the next couple disgruntled stars.

[sfernald]

I compared him to Chris Duarte, who you may know if you follow the league. Williams came into his rookie season big, strong, and skilled for a rookie, unsurprising given his age. Does he have more room to improve? Probably. But teams will gameplan for him now. Sometimes players get figured out and it wouldn't be surprising to see Williams remain a good player around his current level. I'd be surprised if he becomes an All-Star, but I guess he could.

If you want to become a Thunder fan, by all means, we won't miss you.

Dude Williams is really good. Last year unlike most all rookies he blew through the rookie wall without blinking. Then he played one summer league game but was too good in it to go on any further in summer league. Anything to the contrary is just bias talking. You can live in a cloud if you want of course.

[Dejounte]

Those teams rarely have the kind of ammo OKC does. Presti has been stockpiling assets with shrewd trades for years, if he plays his cards right there's no reason OKC can't sustain a deep playoff run for a while, especially if Chet can remain healthy. They can easily trade for the next couple disgruntled stars.

Disgruntled stars, as we’re seeing this offseason, only want to get traded to cities with proven history or teams with players they have relationships with. I could be wrong, but I don’t see any star saying they want to be traded to OKC for the next decade. And I think OKC even prefers it that way, with how they are building the team with diverse foreign talent. Again, I don’t have much faith in their ability to make those types of trades or draft selections. They do wow you with the smaller types that don’t amount to much in the long run. I bet we’ll still be saying the same thing five years later.

[Ocotillo]

I think OKC has tons of potential. What I see as a bump in the road for them is the owner cheaping out when these guys need to be paid. This is the guy that shipped Harden out back in the day when they had the three headed monster of KD, Russ and the Beard. Have they learned their lesson? Let's hope not.