[frogmanParticipant]

Very sad to think this franchise turned an NBA finals team which included three MVP’s under the age of 24 and a very impressive Serge Ibaka into 0 championships.

What went wrong?  They might have had the greatest young collection of talent at one time in NBA history.

I do really like Sam Presti but that James Harden trade was woeful.

[The GoatParticipant]

 Nothing went wrong – if you can build til you get to the finals, that’s about all you can do. The players have to win! They had a long playoff run and now they’ve bottomed out in the best way – 15 FRPs in the next 6 drafts. 

 

The day before the PG news I said "oh Presti has been quiet".. lol Ive learned my lesson

[Arc12345Participant]

1. You refuse to keep Harden because you wanted to avoid the tax – absolutely idiotic move from a small market team. One of the worst decisions ever actually when you consider that. He wanted like 8 million more – you should’ve done that.

2. You kept Westbrook instead of Harden. If you’re deciding you’re only going to pay for two max players, at least keep the right two. You saw them both everyday. At least pick the two that fit together better. I know Harden really broke out with the Rockets, but that’s on them.

 

 

3. You never set the tone with Westbrook and got someone to real him in. It should’ve been clear from Durant’s early success that EVERYTHING they do was going to be run through him. Period – anything else wouldn’t be tolerated. As long as you have Durant, you can compete for titles.

Along with giving Adams a ridiculous contract, not keeping Oladipo, and really not drafting well in recent memory, I’d say plenty went wrong.

 

[SubZeroParticipant]

Some of these are true but a lot of this is just totally off base.

1. No duh they should’ve paid him. I think they figured that out
2. Some serious hindsight here. Not many people were saying keeping Russ was the wrong move back when it happened. And even though we never won, Russ meant more to OKC than Harden ever would’ve
3. This point seems to imply Russ was the reason KD left, when he himself said “it was just him and Russ” and “imagine taking Russ off that team, see how bad they were.” No one besides Reggie Jackson has ever said a single bad word about Russ and everyone has loved being his teammate so as much as you want to blame him for us losing KD, it’s just not true at all

Us not keeping Oladipo was a mistake? I’m sure you weren’t one of the people that said Indiana got fleeced in the trade. If the thing as a small market is that we need to trade for stars because we’ll never sign one in free agency, how can you ever say trading Oladipo to get PG was a mistake?

Also, as much as you want to make it all the team’s fault, injuries played a huge role in every year between Harden leaving and 2016. Bev hurt Russ, KD gets hurt, Ibaka gets hurt in the playoffs, and then the next year we lose because Klay had the best playoff shooting game of all time. Yeah plenty went wrong, and some of it was stuff they could control. But a whole lot of it wasn’t

[Arc12345Participant]

First – “nothing went wrong.”

Second – “plenty went wrong.”

Regardless I was just responding to your idea that nothing went wrong. So don’t flip your script when someone points out your fallacy.

I don’t really have much to say about your responses to my first and second points, but I do believe Russ should’ve been reeled in with his decision making in OKC. I’m not saying he’s the total reason Durant left, but obviously he wasn’t going to be the reason he stayed either. He wanted a different brand of basketball than what Russ plays. 

[ZouldiersParticipant]

 A legacy of failure is upon us thanks to UrinatingTree

[khaled_a_dParticipant]

1-Miami & GSW happened. OKC good years wasn’t successful thanks to Spurs (better coach, more experience) Miami & GSW having even deeper and better teams
They had 2 years of growing as play-offs team in 2010 & 2011 where they have been beaten by the eventual champions, their oldest player during Mavs series of this 4 the oldest one was 22 so it was normal to get defeated by more play-off experienced teams.
Then through next 5 years before Durant leaving, they missed play-ff once due to KD injury. they were eliminated by Miami ,Memphis,GSW & Spurs. Miami had big 3, Spurs was eventual champions and had better coach and overall better team. GSW was a historically great team despite finals defeat.

2-They never had elite coach. Scott Brooks were underrated coach, Billy Donovan is a decent one too. But neither is better are the level of Steve Kerr,Pop,Carlisle etc. That hurt them.

3-Harden trade was wrong one, I thing they should have got more for him.

4-KD jumping ship practically ended their contention window. KD had the right to do it, but I think they could have challenged for the title if he stayed, they were finally more mature and more ready. They took GSW to game 7 etc.

At the end, this is a prime example that we shouldn’t take success for granted, I see plenty of fanbases who think that their young core is gonna be elite and will lead them to dynasty but how many of those are more talented than this OKC team with 3 future MVPs?

[SubZeroParticipant]

Bev hurt Russ in 2013 and a lot of people were picking us to win it all that year. Next year Ibaka got hurt in the playoffs which made us go down early in the Spurs series, plus they were on a mission after the year before. KD got hurt in 2015. 2016 was a little bit of a choke job but the fact that we were up on one of the greatest teams of all time and lost because of the greatest playoff shooting game of all time shows how great we were and how good of a chance they could’ve had running it back. Some of the stuff over the years was self imposed (obviously the Harden thing) but a lot of it was just bad luck. Every dynasty needs a lot of good luck and we wasted all ours in the 07-09 drafts

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

Can’t wait to see the 30 for 30 in a few years. 

[WetalkinboutpracticeParticipant]

What if I told you 3 MVP’s were drafted in 3 consecutive years and we lost it all…

[HobbyOGParticipant]

 And the assets they recieved back for these guys are terrible..the GM needs to be fired. That’s the best you could get for Westbrook???

[timinator1Participant]

so to swap bad contract, and pick up two first round pics and pick swaps is a steal. 

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

The first mistake they made was that they didn’t realize what they had in harden. He was starting to come into his own when they traded him, but he was still a sixth man who was coming off a finals appearance where he struggled in 2012. They bet that he would be replaceable. They bet wrong. Would he have developed the same way if he had stayed in okc. Would it have ultimately led to friction having to share the ball between him, Westbrook and Durant? Who knows? But that trade looks awful in retrospect. 

They never really hired a coach or put in place the correct supporting cast to maximize Durant and Westbrook’s potential. Even though they both put up big numbers and won a lot together, it never really evolved beyond your turn-my turn. The supporting cast was decent but they always seemed to be a step behind the lastest trends in the game (not embracing floor spacing and ball movement and starting traditional bigs who cramped spacing when the league was moving in the other direction). They never really had someone with a strong enough personality to reign in Westbrook’s worst tendencies ( ball hogging and stat-chasing). He was probably empowered way too much and it ultimately was a major factor in losing KD. 

 

[SubZeroParticipant]

“He was probably empowered way too much and it ultimately was a major factor in losing KD.”

Based on what? For the love of God, can any of y’all actually read what KD tweeted about the team summer 2016 instead of just believing what you want to believe because you don’t like Russ

“he didn’t like the organization or playing for Billy Donovan. His roster wasn’t that good, it was just him and russ”

“imagine taking russ off that team, see how bad they were.”

[doubledribblerParticipant]

I’m surprised they traded for CP3. I know they got picks, but this feels like another headache. No one that plays with him seems to like him. I wouldn’t want him anywhere near SGA. He’s pretty much washed up, gets paid like a superstar, always hurt, he’s annoying and NONE of his teammates like him. They just traded the one star they drafted that had wanted to stay. Say whatever you want to about him, he has been loyal (overrated I know) and he’s exciting to watch even if there is a better version of himself that he could be. You can’t buyout Paul because there are 3 years left at a whole bunch of money. The only way to make this something decent is to trade him again, but who has money and who is willing to spend it on him? I wouldn’t give up any big assets for him. Miami seems to be the only team interested and that’s because they are content to make the 8th seed every year.

[HeroescantdieParticipant]

I remember the Seattle Super sonics back then, when they traded Allen to Boston and draft Jeff Green, Him and Durant back then, then the next year they drafted Westbrook, year after it’s Harden. Then they drafted Ibaka and got Adams, that was a pretty damn good team. (Jeff green was the only none consistent player). I remember Durant starting as SG, Imagine him being a 6’11 guard. (he started at shooting guard beacuse he is thin). Time flies so fast. Now the three was on their 30’s and Ibaka just won a championship. Well for Green , never mind. Sam presti could build another good team or draft players with the assets he have right now. 

[cohenbc1Participant]

 The Thunder will always have this .., in 2016 not only did Golden St. win the historic 73 games, but the Spurs won 67. 

In one playoff stretch, the Thunder went 6-1 against those two teams. 

There should be a little plaque or something to commemorate that in the Hall of Fame …

[mowestenParticipant]

It’s amazing to me that they lost all these good players, guys that no one even talks about like Sabonis and A) have nothing to show for them, and B) Somehow still have clown Roberson on the roster — the dude that can barely be trusted to make a point blank layup let alone a free throw or some other shot.

 

[Scrooge McDuckParticipant]

Trading harden to avoid luxury tax was the mistake. I can’t remember if that’s how tax worked, but  it was between keepimg Ibaka or Harden for the max. At the time it was expected Russ could develop a three point shot. And Ibaka lied about his age. 

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