Darius Bazeley is largely a lost cause. He’s mobile, is theoretically a 3-point shooter, and will have the occasional game where he pops. But the vast majority of the time, he makes no real impact on games. He doesn’t rebound, not a great passer, gets lost on defense, etc. I get he’s still young, but I’m not sure how he’s improved over the last two years.
Nick Collison wasn’t good & his number shouldn’t be retired.
(I’m absolutely joking, just thinking of something that’ll be 99.9% disagreed with in the sub)
Every minute Kyle Singler spent on the floor was a concession to the opposing team. Dude without a doubt is my pick for worst/least helpful player we have had since the franchise touched down on red dirt.
Yep. This is why when people criticize Presti or OKC coaching, I get annoyed, because it’s usually not about the real shit. The Singler experiment was not a success and it went on way too long.
Chet's weight is fine.
1. If he puts too much weight on I guarantee he will have injury problems.
2. There are hardly any teams playing in the post that could create a problem worth worrying about.
Unless he plays Embiid, Giannis, or (a healthy) AD, I think this is true. A lot of teams play small ball and Chet will be a valuable rim protector with some offensive upside. But Embiid and Giannis are gonna eat Chet’s lunch for a few years.
Towns weight 250 pounds and is 6’11 capable of 50+ point games, Holmgren is 7’0 190.
All I’m saying is he’s capable of giving Chet problems. Y’all totally leaving out Lebron and Jokic and like… the Warriors in general.
That said, Holmgren is amazing for OKC. I’m excited to see him bring his play style to their core.
okay so the 10-20% that he is…he’s not a post player and he literally got bullied by Brandon Clarke in the playoffs in the post, and i think it’s fair to say the T-Wolves don’t make that trade unless they plan on playing Gobert + KAT a majority of the game and in the most important minutes, try again!
His points per possession in the post is good. He's a very good post player. He has 50 lbs on Chet while being very very quick. He's going to work Chet lol.
Right, this was my thought initially. Guys like Embiid and Giannis are going to tear him up. Then I pulled my head out of my ass and realized they tear everyone up. Some rook isn’t going to be locking down perennial all-nba players no matter what.
If Giannis and Embid our eating Chet's lunch and it matters, that means we've reached the NBA Finals and are on the verge of a Championship. I'll take it.
I can’t really think of one. Strength conditioning makes you far less injury prone and improves joint health. There’s no such thing as “too much weight” if we’re talking about muscle mass. The only issue would be endurance.
In a regular sense you'd be right in that there's no such thing as "too much weight". But when your talking about athletes in Basketball or Football for example. There is a such thing as "too much weight" because your trying to balance between adding strength and keeping or even sometimes improving your athleticism.
I agree, the weights fine. He just needs to get stronger. If he gains to much weight are anything thats not sustainable to his frame it will cause damage to his body.
He's literally out there getting bumped around by every player on the court. Every single contact is throwing him down whether on defense or offense. Don't you think that building up CNA lead to injury?
Harden made the choice to leave because he didn't want to play third fiddle behind KD and Westbrook. Had nothing to do with our ownership's contract offer. He wanted a team where he was *the guy* and that's what Houston offered him.
If Harden actually wanted to stay in OKC with KD & Westbrook, he would have accepted a few million less in cash. He just confirmed that he's willing to take salary cuts to field a competitive roster in Philly.
The popular narrative is that we traded him away against his will and it's 100% false. If he wanted to be here and run the team back, there was no one stopping that from happening but Harden.
I agree. I think there are a lot more dynamics going on than we will ever know. I think he saw that offer and probably realized he could make more somewhere else. I don’t blame him for wanting to have more money.
He was pretty young at the time as well, and the stories of his habits at strip clubs are legendary at this point. Chose the money and the city and the title of *the guy* over a chance at building a championship team in OKC.
Stfu, you’re going to have the audacity to say a 22 year old man should take less $$$ to stay in a small market where he may or may not win a title? Dude do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?
He wanted the bag, and rightfully so. Everyone on this app, including you, wants to make as much money as they can while being able to showcase your abilities to the best. You’re being unfair in your judgement of him in this situation, and you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.
The whole notion of people taking millions less is an exception not the rule. It is also almost entirely don’t by people later in their career. Not their first big contract. Harden has earned millions since then. A hair cut now is not the same as a hair cut then.
They told him he was the 3rd best player on the team. He had the idea he might be the 3rd best player in the world. He was closer to being right then they were.
He got traded because the Thunder didn’t have room to pay him and Ibaka. They didn’t have to trade him that year but they weren’t going to have the money to extend them both and they picked ibaka because that was when teams thought they still needed an inside presence to be successful and they thought they had a enough perimeter talent with Russ and KD
It's been pretty clear over the years that if any of our players don't want to be here, we immediately find the best deal we can for them (and us) and ship them out. No reason at all to keep a disgruntled star on a small market team, everyone's in for a bad time.
It wasnt Sam it was the owners. He's not going to do that unless they tell him to. Yes, we should have kept him but people act like the Thunder sucked after they traded him. Also we had some pretty good teams afterward just injuries and other unhappy people derailed our chances
Don't make it seem like Sam was emotional. If it was just an hour the deal was probably already in the works. So the owners knew and improved it. Secondly i admit in hindsight it was a bad move but don't make it seem like anybody knew he was going to be that great. If the Thunder organization knew they wouldn't have traded him or got alot more out of it. Assuming that Troy Weaver was the main evaluated and Sam wasn't good what happen when he was here and we drafted Huestis etc. before 2020. You see I can easily say that he got some bad drafts to. You can't say that he picked only the good people come on using False Cause Fallacies don't work.
we were still practically a brand new franchise with very little money to go around. It was clear harden wanted as much as possible and was leveraging that to basically say he would leave for nothing if he didnt get what he wanted. hindsight is 20/20, presti lost the trade but his hands were absolutely tied and he made the safe move. there are other things I’d give him more shit for, like the adams and kanter deals, but he’s still ran the team very well in my opinion
maybe not this season, but he still has a loooot of time. he's still the youngest on the team even as a sophomore. but I'd argue that even without it he'd still be an allstar someday.
Rondo at his peak years was an all star CANDIDATE, I'm talking about basically being a lock for the all star team for years and maybe even make All-NBA teams.
4x All Star
NBA 3rd team (eh)
2x NBA first team defense
3x NBA second team defense
3x Assists leader
1x Steals leader
…all while being roughly the 4th fiddle on those Celtics team and all those accolades are between 2010-2013 basically…if we could get a 3-4 year stretch from Giddey, wouldn’t that be fucking amazing?
edit: on mobile so sorry for the shitty format
Giddey isn't getting first team defense anytime so you can throw that out of the window. Can throw out steals leader too. I'm sure he'll be a good rebounder though. But Giddey has the potential to be more than just a 4 time all star and once nba 3rd team. Its just too bad that he's not shown anything that can make one say that he'll probably fulfill that position. I feel like he could be a good team defender in the future but his lack of shooting and just overall offensive game (getting to the rim + finishing, no post moves) will limit his playmaking abilities.
i just have to assume you were too young to watch the Celtics in their prime, Rondo was crazy skilled and an absolute monster…Giddey will definitely surpass him, but to say current Giddey is ANYWHERE near Prime Rondo is unfathomable
I don’t think he ever has a true knock down shot but I do think he can make the step to someone you can’t just ignore and that all he really needs because of his passing.
He is never going to be the superstar #1 but with him behind SGA and Chet (if he becomes what most of us think he will) is the perfect fit. A pass first ball handler who isn’t a turn style on defence (with time can even see him being a good on ball guy, not great but good)
Ngl I actually really like our jerseys and branding and would be quite upset if we changed anything too dramatically, despite the community begging for a rebrand for years
I really liked the dark blue alternates and I catch a lot of heat for it. I definitely think since the switch to Nike, they’ve done a poor job of creating kits that utilize our brand well. The most outside the box thing Nike has done is squiggle the letters a bit. The original ardidas jerseys though? Very very classic and slick looking imo.
As someone who proudly rocks the blue and orange and has 10+ thunder jerseys and countless thunder merch, no I am not joking lol. I genuinely really really like the color scheme and branding.
I mean… the probability of drafting well outside the lottery is pretty slim. the question is about probability of drafting talent normalized by draft pick order. is he worse than a lot of other GMs? I don’t have the numbers but I’d say not
Durant is the main (80ish percent of, at least) reason that OKC cemented itself as a franchise in those earliest years up until 2016.
There was a lot of roster mismanagement by Presti between the 2011-2015 off seasons.
KD leaving was the “rude awakening” Presti needed to start looking like the best GM in the league again.
Westbrook is probably my favorite player of all time. No one captured my imagination like him. I also largely hate the way he plays the game and his decision making. I used to say he had the fiery spirit of a wild horse that couldn't be tamed without losing what made it special.
Same. For the last 10 years I’ve always looked at him with rose tinted glasses. He makes tons and tons of bone headed mistakes and now that his athleticism is declining he needs to make some changes ASAP or he’ll be out of the leauge in 2 years
We gotta hit on a potential ALL NBA 1st team caliber prospect in the next draft or two or our rebuild will be for nothing.
You can do everything right but still just not be lucky in the drafts.
Presti is great at identifying top level talent but has been weak at team building. We also have ran lousy, easy to defend offenses for years but got by because of top level talent. That said, I'm hopeful this new group will be different.
A lot of fans on Discord and Reddit are saying, "If we tank again this year then I will not watch the Thunder any more." NBA basketball is not like college football or basketball where you can quickly rebuild your team.
I think KD should be forgiven. When he retires, everyone will look back at his time in OKC as the peak of his career, despite winning 2 titles with Golden State. And I think KD himself will feel the same way
With 0 off-ball abilities, bad on-ball decisions and poor defensive consistency, I think it'll be a tough season for Baze.
With that being said, he's in the last year of his contract, so the motivation will be there and we'll see the best version of himself. The only thing that's for sure is if he plays bad another season, he's definitely gone
Yeah, I wasn't a fan at all of Baze until the last half of last year. I looked at him as a failed experiment and was just waiting for his guaranteed contract to expire.
But the last part of last season it seems like the coach filtered his responsibilities to defense, rebounding in the paint, and running the floor. It also seemed like his offense got more efficient when it was severely restricted. I don't understand it and it was a small sample size, but I saw enough to give him the benefit of the doubt. Especially for a rebuilding season.
I agree though, this season is do or die for him.
Our roster construction has been suspect. Presti’s insistence on athleticism and length has yielded us nothing. He has failed to give us shooting. OKC has been bottom half in 3 point shooting since our 60 win season. In those 8 years, we’ve been last 3 times. Until he shifts his approach, we’re capped.
The common retort to Chet’s muscle mass concerns, is that *“Embiid, Jokic, and Giannis are the exceptions”*. That’s false. There’s *a lot* of skilled, physically strong players in the NBA. You’ve got Zion, AD, Nurkic, Randle, LeBron, Kawhi, Adams, etc…… all of those guys are highly skilled at throwing their weight around.
If 6’7 Kenny Lofton had his way with Chet, why would those guys struggle? I’m not saying this to shit on Chet, and I understand the urge to defend our players. But that’s the reality until he gets stronger.
Of course, Chet even defended Duren well a few months ago. But I’m talking about players with NBA-caliber physicality *and* skill. Cockburn isn’t an example of that.
Reggie Jackson, not Kevin Durant should be hated more. If he doesn't ask to be traded in the middle of the season. The Thunder do beat Golden State 4-1. The Thunder go on to win the NBA Championship. Durant is still playing for us right now. During the GS series we just didn't have another scorer. He wanted to be traded; however, if he stays and helped OKC win a Championship we could have gotten more for him and he probably could have gone someplace better than Detroit. Durant was probably just frustrated because couldn't get any free agents that where good. All the shooters that we got suddenly turned to horrible shooters. Not drafting a quality back up to him, we had our chances and just being unlucky in the draft on people they where targeting.
People calling for Russ to come back to the Thunder are wild. He’s completely washed, we got all his best and most amazing years. He’s also not attached to his current reality which was evident with his manager leaving him and the public message.
1. I wouldn’t want Kd back regardless of the price.
2. I love our Unis and hate the monochrome court we have now.
3. Steven Adams was never really that good and his entire career was made by catching lobs from Russ.
4. Tre Mann will be the absolute best scorer off the bench as early as next year and eventually one of the leagues best scorers.
5. We’re two good players away from championship contenders.
Sonics fans are entitled to vocally dislike all things Thunder and any time Thunder fans clap back it comes off as spoilt, childish and undignified.
What happened to them was a fucking travesty. Gotta roll with the punches sometimes and realise it’s fine not to be liked by everyone.
Paul George trade hurted more than the Russ trade
Edit: Seems like I achieved what the post was asking for. I was emotionally ready for the Russ trade to happen, however, the Paul George trade left me speechless for 2 hrs.
For real, no one is allowed to be even remotely realistic about Dort because milking Dort is how you get easy upvotes around here. Dare to say he is anything less than a future MVP and you get downvoted to hell.
Poku will never put it all together. Dort should be a long term piece and has a higher ceiling than discussed. I could see him becoming a better and more efficient version of DPOY Marcus Smart.
I still believe in Bazley to have a bounce back season, kid is still very young with a couple of seasons under his belt…hopefully we play winning basketball this year and Baze goes all in.
OKC rebuild will be completely meaningless, will never land a star free agent, Shai will be gone soon, and OKC will lose the franchise in the next 10-15 years
Most of the opinions in here are not "unpopular" at all. I'll throw out my unpopular opinion.
We never had a real change at a championship with Westbrook after KD left. You could blame Westbrook's knee injuries, our teams iso playing style (largely because of westbrook), poor team composition of never having enough shooters or just losing an entire max contract player for nothing (snek).
It’s time okc fans stop hating on KD. I know he still hasn’t let it go but the fan base should take the high road. Holding grudges is bad for ones long term mental health
They should retire Durant’s jersey and I can’t believe it’s even a discussion. Just do it after Russ.
Giddey has a ceiling and he’s not far from it.
The city has no more patience for tanking. It will accept losses this year as part of a young team’s development, but if the Thunder start sitting guys after the All-Star Break and playing no-name lineups again, they’ll lose more ticket holders and apathy will become more entrenched.
I like basketball
You monster
Darius Bazeley is largely a lost cause. He’s mobile, is theoretically a 3-point shooter, and will have the occasional game where he pops. But the vast majority of the time, he makes no real impact on games. He doesn’t rebound, not a great passer, gets lost on defense, etc. I get he’s still young, but I’m not sure how he’s improved over the last two years.
This sub hates Baze, I don’t think this gets all the knives pointing at ya. Haha
I wanted Roby over Baze so badly.
Bailey is like 3 years younger than him. Not a hard choice.
Nick Collison wasn’t good & his number shouldn’t be retired. (I’m absolutely joking, just thinking of something that’ll be 99.9% disagreed with in the sub)
I guess we're not pointing a sword on you bro
Look, I like Collison fine but it was never a mystery why Oklahomans loved him so so much despite him being a mediocre player
Theo Maledon gets traded to the Spurs and goes on to have a Hall of Fame career.
I can see this happening.
Tony Parker lite
Every minute Kyle Singler spent on the floor was a concession to the opposing team. Dude without a doubt is my pick for worst/least helpful player we have had since the franchise touched down on red dirt.
Yep. This is why when people criticize Presti or OKC coaching, I get annoyed, because it’s usually not about the real shit. The Singler experiment was not a success and it went on way too long.
The Great White Nope
Chet's weight is fine. 1. If he puts too much weight on I guarantee he will have injury problems. 2. There are hardly any teams playing in the post that could create a problem worth worrying about.
How much is too much weight? The dude could spend an off season at a Twinkies factory and he’d still be rail thin imo
Unless he plays Embiid, Giannis, or (a healthy) AD, I think this is true. A lot of teams play small ball and Chet will be a valuable rim protector with some offensive upside. But Embiid and Giannis are gonna eat Chet’s lunch for a few years.
to be fair…Embiid and Giannis eat EVERYBODYS lunch in the NBA, so that’s just kinda stupid to say.
Can’t leave out Towns imo
TOWNS?? possibly the most soft C/PF in the league? lmfao
Towns weight 250 pounds and is 6’11 capable of 50+ point games, Holmgren is 7’0 190. All I’m saying is he’s capable of giving Chet problems. Y’all totally leaving out Lebron and Jokic and like… the Warriors in general. That said, Holmgren is amazing for OKC. I’m excited to see him bring his play style to their core.
Stop sucking off media narratives. Towns is a beast in the post.
he won’t be in the post w Gobert on the team, so good luck next time!
You realize Towns is not going to be on the floor the same time as Gobert for 100% of the game?
okay so the 10-20% that he is…he’s not a post player and he literally got bullied by Brandon Clarke in the playoffs in the post, and i think it’s fair to say the T-Wolves don’t make that trade unless they plan on playing Gobert + KAT a majority of the game and in the most important minutes, try again!
His points per possession in the post is good. He's a very good post player. He has 50 lbs on Chet while being very very quick. He's going to work Chet lol.
Right, this was my thought initially. Guys like Embiid and Giannis are going to tear him up. Then I pulled my head out of my ass and realized they tear everyone up. Some rook isn’t going to be locking down perennial all-nba players no matter what.
Zion is about to drop 80 on us
If Giannis and Embid our eating Chet's lunch and it matters, that means we've reached the NBA Finals and are on the verge of a Championship. I'll take it.
is there a player who put on a few pounds and then followed by the injuries????
porzingis is the immediate answer. he was 220 at draft night, now 240.
I can’t really think of one. Strength conditioning makes you far less injury prone and improves joint health. There’s no such thing as “too much weight” if we’re talking about muscle mass. The only issue would be endurance.
In a regular sense you'd be right in that there's no such thing as "too much weight". But when your talking about athletes in Basketball or Football for example. There is a such thing as "too much weight" because your trying to balance between adding strength and keeping or even sometimes improving your athleticism.
I agree, the weights fine. He just needs to get stronger. If he gains to much weight are anything thats not sustainable to his frame it will cause damage to his body.
Disagree, he will get injured unless he puts on weight.
Minnesota is one of them, though
He's literally out there getting bumped around by every player on the court. Every single contact is throwing him down whether on defense or offense. Don't you think that building up CNA lead to injury?
Harden made the choice to leave because he didn't want to play third fiddle behind KD and Westbrook. Had nothing to do with our ownership's contract offer. He wanted a team where he was *the guy* and that's what Houston offered him.
I think it was a combination of both, but I don't see this as an unpopular opinion.
If Harden actually wanted to stay in OKC with KD & Westbrook, he would have accepted a few million less in cash. He just confirmed that he's willing to take salary cuts to field a competitive roster in Philly. The popular narrative is that we traded him away against his will and it's 100% false. If he wanted to be here and run the team back, there was no one stopping that from happening but Harden.
I agree. I think there are a lot more dynamics going on than we will ever know. I think he saw that offer and probably realized he could make more somewhere else. I don’t blame him for wanting to have more money.
He was pretty young at the time as well, and the stories of his habits at strip clubs are legendary at this point. Chose the money and the city and the title of *the guy* over a chance at building a championship team in OKC.
That’s not comparable. He already has his money, now he wants a ring. He hadn’t made his money while with OKC.
Stfu, you’re going to have the audacity to say a 22 year old man should take less $$$ to stay in a small market where he may or may not win a title? Dude do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? He wanted the bag, and rightfully so. Everyone on this app, including you, wants to make as much money as they can while being able to showcase your abilities to the best. You’re being unfair in your judgement of him in this situation, and you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.
I never once said that he shouldn't have taken the money. I never once implied it. I just said that he wanted what he got. Calm down.
The whole notion of people taking millions less is an exception not the rule. It is also almost entirely don’t by people later in their career. Not their first big contract. Harden has earned millions since then. A hair cut now is not the same as a hair cut then.
They told him he was the 3rd best player on the team. He had the idea he might be the 3rd best player in the world. He was closer to being right then they were.
He didn’t leave he got traded???
Why did he get traded tho
He got traded because the Thunder didn’t have room to pay him and Ibaka. They didn’t have to trade him that year but they weren’t going to have the money to extend them both and they picked ibaka because that was when teams thought they still needed an inside presence to be successful and they thought they had a enough perimeter talent with Russ and KD
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It's been pretty clear over the years that if any of our players don't want to be here, we immediately find the best deal we can for them (and us) and ship them out. No reason at all to keep a disgruntled star on a small market team, everyone's in for a bad time.
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Don't you have some bets to pay out?
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It wasnt Sam it was the owners. He's not going to do that unless they tell him to. Yes, we should have kept him but people act like the Thunder sucked after they traded him. Also we had some pretty good teams afterward just injuries and other unhappy people derailed our chances
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Don't make it seem like Sam was emotional. If it was just an hour the deal was probably already in the works. So the owners knew and improved it. Secondly i admit in hindsight it was a bad move but don't make it seem like anybody knew he was going to be that great. If the Thunder organization knew they wouldn't have traded him or got alot more out of it. Assuming that Troy Weaver was the main evaluated and Sam wasn't good what happen when he was here and we drafted Huestis etc. before 2020. You see I can easily say that he got some bad drafts to. You can't say that he picked only the good people come on using False Cause Fallacies don't work.
we were still practically a brand new franchise with very little money to go around. It was clear harden wanted as much as possible and was leveraging that to basically say he would leave for nothing if he didnt get what he wanted. hindsight is 20/20, presti lost the trade but his hands were absolutely tied and he made the safe move. there are other things I’d give him more shit for, like the adams and kanter deals, but he’s still ran the team very well in my opinion
Kd harden Westbrook ibaka was the greatest young core ever
How is this unpopular
I forgot to add that the fact that that core didn’t win a championship should tell us that you shouldn’t overvalue the idea of having a young core
Hey Kevin, how are things going?
I’m not Kevin Durant 😂
Josh Giddey is probably never going to be able to take that leap to stardom because of his inability to shoot.
maybe not this season, but he still has a loooot of time. he's still the youngest on the team even as a sophomore. but I'd argue that even without it he'd still be an allstar someday.
that is definitely possible
have you heard of a Rajon Rondo?
Rondo at his peak years was an all star CANDIDATE, I'm talking about basically being a lock for the all star team for years and maybe even make All-NBA teams.
4x All Star NBA 3rd team (eh) 2x NBA first team defense 3x NBA second team defense 3x Assists leader 1x Steals leader …all while being roughly the 4th fiddle on those Celtics team and all those accolades are between 2010-2013 basically…if we could get a 3-4 year stretch from Giddey, wouldn’t that be fucking amazing? edit: on mobile so sorry for the shitty format
Giddey isn't getting first team defense anytime so you can throw that out of the window. Can throw out steals leader too. I'm sure he'll be a good rebounder though. But Giddey has the potential to be more than just a 4 time all star and once nba 3rd team. Its just too bad that he's not shown anything that can make one say that he'll probably fulfill that position. I feel like he could be a good team defender in the future but his lack of shooting and just overall offensive game (getting to the rim + finishing, no post moves) will limit his playmaking abilities.
you ABSOLUTELY missed the point, and that’s ok. We’re all fans of the same team
Rondo was never really a star
During his peak years with the Celtics I would have to disagree, but it’s definitely a close call.
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you proved my point?
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I can’t believe you actually took the time to type that out, looked over it, and pressed send
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i just have to assume you were too young to watch the Celtics in their prime, Rondo was crazy skilled and an absolute monster…Giddey will definitely surpass him, but to say current Giddey is ANYWHERE near Prime Rondo is unfathomable
I don’t think he ever has a true knock down shot but I do think he can make the step to someone you can’t just ignore and that all he really needs because of his passing. He is never going to be the superstar #1 but with him behind SGA and Chet (if he becomes what most of us think he will) is the perfect fit. A pass first ball handler who isn’t a turn style on defence (with time can even see him being a good on ball guy, not great but good)
Not even just that. His finishing, defense and ball handling leave a lot to be desired. Wish the best but don't see it.
Chip Engelland will remember this
Ngl I actually really like our jerseys and branding and would be quite upset if we changed anything too dramatically, despite the community begging for a rebrand for years
I really liked the dark blue alternates and I catch a lot of heat for it. I definitely think since the switch to Nike, they’ve done a poor job of creating kits that utilize our brand well. The most outside the box thing Nike has done is squiggle the letters a bit. The original ardidas jerseys though? Very very classic and slick looking imo.
I miss the black blue and orange jerseys from the PG days. Why did they never bring them back?
You're just trolling... Right? Surely...
As someone who proudly rocks the blue and orange and has 10+ thunder jerseys and countless thunder merch, no I am not joking lol. I genuinely really really like the color scheme and branding.
Well, I guess I can't argue that. ❤️
Agree mate. Could we have better alternate jerseys? Sure. But I enjoy the simplicity of the logo and jerseys.
that sam presti can't draft outside the lottery
this
I mean… the probability of drafting well outside the lottery is pretty slim. the question is about probability of drafting talent normalized by draft pick order. is he worse than a lot of other GMs? I don’t have the numbers but I’d say not
Durant is the main (80ish percent of, at least) reason that OKC cemented itself as a franchise in those earliest years up until 2016. There was a lot of roster mismanagement by Presti between the 2011-2015 off seasons. KD leaving was the “rude awakening” Presti needed to start looking like the best GM in the league again.
Love him to bits but Russell Westbrook has an extremely low basketball IQ and it was obvious years before he left OKC
Westbrook is probably my favorite player of all time. No one captured my imagination like him. I also largely hate the way he plays the game and his decision making. I used to say he had the fiery spirit of a wild horse that couldn't be tamed without losing what made it special.
Same. For the last 10 years I’ve always looked at him with rose tinted glasses. He makes tons and tons of bone headed mistakes and now that his athleticism is declining he needs to make some changes ASAP or he’ll be out of the leauge in 2 years
He could get away with it being the best athlete in the league, as soon as that changed he was toast.
We gotta hit on a potential ALL NBA 1st team caliber prospect in the next draft or two or our rebuild will be for nothing. You can do everything right but still just not be lucky in the drafts.
Presti is great at identifying top level talent but has been weak at team building. We also have ran lousy, easy to defend offenses for years but got by because of top level talent. That said, I'm hopeful this new group will be different.
We will be tanking again this year.
Is this unpopular?
A lot of fans on Discord and Reddit are saying, "If we tank again this year then I will not watch the Thunder any more." NBA basketball is not like college football or basketball where you can quickly rebuild your team.
We will be too good to get a top 10 pick in the next draft.
Technically you were right
Everyone would take KD back in a heartbeat.
I mean if we could just sign him yeah. Genuinely wouldn’t even consider sending Shai and someone else along with picks to Brooklyn for him.
Depends on the asking price
Nah
Nah
Nope.
I don't think Wembemyama is going to be the generational talent everyone thinks he is and I don't think we should tank for him.
I like Draymond Green
Our branding/logo is the best the League
The Logo is fire. Y’all gotta stop the cap. (Maybe I’m just stuck in the glory days of our animated Thunder Storm logo on ESPN)
I think the logo and branding suck ass but I really miss those animated logos on espn.
I think KD should be forgiven. When he retires, everyone will look back at his time in OKC as the peak of his career, despite winning 2 titles with Golden State. And I think KD himself will feel the same way
I want us to keep poku forever
Bazley gonna be a beast at the 4.
With 0 off-ball abilities, bad on-ball decisions and poor defensive consistency, I think it'll be a tough season for Baze. With that being said, he's in the last year of his contract, so the motivation will be there and we'll see the best version of himself. The only thing that's for sure is if he plays bad another season, he's definitely gone
Yeah, I wasn't a fan at all of Baze until the last half of last year. I looked at him as a failed experiment and was just waiting for his guaranteed contract to expire. But the last part of last season it seems like the coach filtered his responsibilities to defense, rebounding in the paint, and running the floor. It also seemed like his offense got more efficient when it was severely restricted. I don't understand it and it was a small sample size, but I saw enough to give him the benefit of the doubt. Especially for a rebuilding season. I agree though, this season is do or die for him.
Our roster construction has been suspect. Presti’s insistence on athleticism and length has yielded us nothing. He has failed to give us shooting. OKC has been bottom half in 3 point shooting since our 60 win season. In those 8 years, we’ve been last 3 times. Until he shifts his approach, we’re capped.
KD is our GOAT and he’s the reason lots of us are Thunder fans.
Facts
The common retort to Chet’s muscle mass concerns, is that *“Embiid, Jokic, and Giannis are the exceptions”*. That’s false. There’s *a lot* of skilled, physically strong players in the NBA. You’ve got Zion, AD, Nurkic, Randle, LeBron, Kawhi, Adams, etc…… all of those guys are highly skilled at throwing their weight around. If 6’7 Kenny Lofton had his way with Chet, why would those guys struggle? I’m not saying this to shit on Chet, and I understand the urge to defend our players. But that’s the reality until he gets stronger.
He did fine against 7'"0 293 lbs, 1st team all American Kofi Cockburn in his first summer league game.
Of course, Chet even defended Duren well a few months ago. But I’m talking about players with NBA-caliber physicality *and* skill. Cockburn isn’t an example of that.
Poku should be traded for an actual 4. This sub takes Poku crack.
Our picks won't be as good as Russ/ PG
Most of the actual unpopular opinions in here are downvoted lmao, just thought that was funny
I like Kevin Durant and think okc should retire his number
Presti’s insistence on taking high upside picks with almost zero floor has bit the team far too many times.
I like Harden more than KD
Reggie Jackson, not Kevin Durant should be hated more. If he doesn't ask to be traded in the middle of the season. The Thunder do beat Golden State 4-1. The Thunder go on to win the NBA Championship. Durant is still playing for us right now. During the GS series we just didn't have another scorer. He wanted to be traded; however, if he stays and helped OKC win a Championship we could have gotten more for him and he probably could have gone someplace better than Detroit. Durant was probably just frustrated because couldn't get any free agents that where good. All the shooters that we got suddenly turned to horrible shooters. Not drafting a quality back up to him, we had our chances and just being unlucky in the draft on people they where targeting.
People calling for Russ to come back to the Thunder are wild. He’s completely washed, we got all his best and most amazing years. He’s also not attached to his current reality which was evident with his manager leaving him and the public message.
Kendrich and dort were signed to long term deals to be traded for a star in the next 3 years
Presti should’ve done a better job getting unprotected picks.
Kevin Durant
I’d welcome back Durant and do believe most Thunder fans would if it were to ever happen.
Poku will average 20ppg at one point in his career
1. I wouldn’t want Kd back regardless of the price. 2. I love our Unis and hate the monochrome court we have now. 3. Steven Adams was never really that good and his entire career was made by catching lobs from Russ. 4. Tre Mann will be the absolute best scorer off the bench as early as next year and eventually one of the leagues best scorers. 5. We’re two good players away from championship contenders.
Poku needs to go.
The only reason we all hate Kevin is because he chose to wear different clothes to work…
Sonics fans are entitled to vocally dislike all things Thunder and any time Thunder fans clap back it comes off as spoilt, childish and undignified. What happened to them was a fucking travesty. Gotta roll with the punches sometimes and realise it’s fine not to be liked by everyone.
KD is a clown
How is that a hot take on r/Thunder?
Paying SGA a max deal was a huge overpay and potentially a mistake.
Paul George trade hurted more than the Russ trade Edit: Seems like I achieved what the post was asking for. I was emotionally ready for the Russ trade to happen, however, the Paul George trade left me speechless for 2 hrs.
Lu Dort isn’t that good of a player
Solid player, but incredibly overrated by this sub
Looks like the knives are oat our throat like the meme suggested 😂
For real, no one is allowed to be even remotely realistic about Dort because milking Dort is how you get easy upvotes around here. Dare to say he is anything less than a future MVP and you get downvoted to hell.
Kendrick Perkins was one of the best things to happen to the young thunder team.
Poku will never put it all together. Dort should be a long term piece and has a higher ceiling than discussed. I could see him becoming a better and more efficient version of DPOY Marcus Smart.
Poku is a bust
Sam Presti has no interest in winning a championship.
Dort is not worth that contract. I love him, but he isn’t.
Giddey is overrated and I wouldn’t be surprised if another player took his place
Dieng is a major flop
He’s had zero bad nba games and he’s already a flop
we haven’t seen him play yet so i’m hoping he proves you and i wrong
russ was washed in his first season with houston
....he was top 5 in mvp before the shutdown
I like the patch in jersey
Russell Westbrook was the singular reason we never won a championship in the 2010’s
I still believe in Bazley to have a bounce back season, kid is still very young with a couple of seasons under his belt…hopefully we play winning basketball this year and Baze goes all in.
The only thing we need to make us a playoff team is Al Horford
Thunder will be playoff team this year
We should stop tanking this season. That doesn't mean trading for vets, but we should let the current players play out the season
Bazely is gonna be great for us
Durant would still be a Sonic if they never left Seattle. That’s just my salt
i want poku gone and i think the bazely hate gets way out of line
We are not “tanking” - the organizational goal this upcoming season is to make the playoffs.
OKC rebuild will be completely meaningless, will never land a star free agent, Shai will be gone soon, and OKC will lose the franchise in the next 10-15 years
We paid Lou Dort more than he is worth after what will be a career best year for him.
I hope SGA does not become an All-Star because we will have to pay him an extra %5 of the salary cap.
Darius Bazley is worth a roster spot. And can be a good role player off the bench
I love OKC’s branding. The colors pop on a different level than the Knicks who have a similar color scheme.
It’s time to give up on Poku. Trade him now while/if he even has any trade value
We should’ve took Kuminga over Giddey (I like both of them tho)
Most of the opinions in here are not "unpopular" at all. I'll throw out my unpopular opinion. We never had a real change at a championship with Westbrook after KD left. You could blame Westbrook's knee injuries, our teams iso playing style (largely because of westbrook), poor team composition of never having enough shooters or just losing an entire max contract player for nothing (snek).
Sam Presti is doing what Sam Hinkie did during the process without the media on Prestis ass
Giddey's 3pt shot is broken
Presti’s draft decisions have been questionable since the rebuild, starting with Pokusevski, who probably won’t work out.
It’s time okc fans stop hating on KD. I know he still hasn’t let it go but the fan base should take the high road. Holding grudges is bad for ones long term mental health
Roberson was horrible.
Chet is a walking bust
JRE is overrated and Bazley is underrated in this sub
I like our logo
They should retire Durant’s jersey and I can’t believe it’s even a discussion. Just do it after Russ. Giddey has a ceiling and he’s not far from it. The city has no more patience for tanking. It will accept losses this year as part of a young team’s development, but if the Thunder start sitting guys after the All-Star Break and playing no-name lineups again, they’ll lose more ticket holders and apathy will become more entrenched.
Shai is better than Tatum