There’s a saying that goes: In the event you stand nonetheless, you lose floor.
Or one thing like that.
For these of us with a sports activities IQ, let me dumb it down a bit:
In the event you can’t cease T.J. McConnell, you actually shouldn’t be elevating any banners.
If we discovered something from the not too long ago accomplished NBA season, it’s that what occurs within the first 82 video games actually doesn’t matter. It’s all concerning the postseason.
The Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder had been about as dominant in meaningless video games as any crew in NBA historical past. They had been such an enormous favourite to win the championship, Mattress Mack needed to wager a king-size simply to win a few feathers.
Yeah, the Thunder prevailed and Mack’s daughter can costume as Pocahontas for show-and-tell. However the champs misplaced greater than they received over the course of their surprisingly tough playoff journey.
Oklahoma Metropolis was declared legendary even earlier than the primary battle of the postseason had been fought. Twenty-three video games later, the dynasty is over.
For one factor, the Thunder didn’t play just like the Celtics or Lakers or Celtics or Spurs or Warriors throughout their championship run. They had been, ultimately, slightly abnormal.
For crying out loud, if Tyrese Haliburton doesn’t blow out his Achilles seven minutes right into a tied Sport 7 that had the basketball world mumbling, “Oh my goodness, this REALLY may occur,” effectively … it actually may have occurred.
The Thunder may have misplaced to the fourth-best crew from the light-weight convention.
It will have ranked as one of many biggest embarrassments within the historical past of vivid lights. Some have gone so far as to counsel the coach would have been fired.
Three weeks later, we now see that the coach wasn’t the issue. It was his boss.
Sam Presti labored 13 years making an attempt to reconstruct the greatness of 2012, when the Thunder had been overpowered by LeBron James and Dwyane Wade within the NBA Finals.
He bought off Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Chris Paul and dozens of others, turning most into the best assortment of draft picks within the historical past of mankind. Even Patton had fewer five-stars at his disposal.
The plan labored brilliantly, if slowly. By 2025, Presti created not solely a crew that received extra video games within the common season than any beforehand in Thunder historical past, but in addition one which wound up successful the franchise’s first championship since Seattle.
All whereas, remarkably, constructing a warfare chest of picks that someway is larger than ever.
Presti had an opportunity this offseason to personal the draft, to personal free company, to personal the quick lane to a different championship and, with it, that slippery dynasty factor.
As an alternative, he fell in love. Fell in love with an important regular-season crew that hardly made it to the end line within the playoffs.
And that units him up for heartbreak.
With a creating celebrity, a second star within the making, a fragile huge man, some good function gamers and so little depth that his bench was outscored 291–205 by the Pacers within the Finals, Presti has, because the saying goes, stood nonetheless to this point this summer time.
He had two first-round picks, as much as 5 extra subsequent yr, not less than 5 on high of that within the subsequent 4 years, and three first-round swaps which are prone to convey. He may have dangled all of them for an actual, reside celebrity co-star, or unfold them round three or 4 at a time among the many many groups hoping to make use of his personal roadmap to success, trying to find guys higher than his personal that struggled with the likes of Bennedict Mathurin, Andrew Nembhard, Obi Toppin and Aaron Nesmith.
As an alternative, he threw away his greatest first-round decide on a man unlikely to be something greater than a spectator come playoff time and added to the G League Oklahoma Metropolis Blue lineup along with his second-round choice.
Presti additionally dealt his different first-round decide for a 2027 first from Sacramento, which simply added to his arsenal that might have overpowered each different crew within the league within the commerce market.
The Thunder have spent most of their time this offseason re-signing their very own, assuring they are going to as soon as once more have the deepest roster within the NBA subsequent season.
That’s nice … when amount issues. However within the postseason, as they need to be fairly conscious by now, it’s high quality that wins out.
When the Thunder don’t repeat 11 months from now, some will blame Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for not having the ability to duplicate his exceptional 2025 season. Some will cite yet one more Chet Holmgren damage, this on the finish of the yr slightly than the start. Others will say they instructed us that Jalen Williams was overrated, that Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso are thought of journeymen for a purpose, that Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe predictably couldn’t step up after they obtained a better alternative.
Heck, some will counsel they need to have fired their coach, which at that time they most likely would.
And so they’ll all be improper.
It’ll be the fault of Sam Presti and his summer time trip.
