There’s a saying that goes: In case 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 somewhat:
In case you can’t cease T.J. McConnell, you actually shouldn’t be elevating any banners.
If we realized something from the just lately 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 have been about as dominant in meaningless video games as any group in NBA historical past. They have been such a giant 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 gained over the course of their surprisingly troublesome 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 have been, in the long run, somewhat bizarre.
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 group from the light-weight convention.
It will have ranked as one of many best embarrassments within the historical past of vibrant 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 attempting to reconstruct the greatness of 2012, when the Thunder have been overpowered by LeBron James and Dwyane Wade within the NBA Finals.
He offered 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 group that gained 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 struggle chest of picks that in some way 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 awesome regular-season group that hardly made it to the end line within the playoffs.
And that units him up for heartbreak.
With a creating famous person, a second star within the making, a fragile huge man, some good position 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 up to now this summer season.
He had two first-round picks, as much as 5 extra subsequent yr, a minimum of 5 on high of that within the subsequent 4 years, and three first-round swaps which can be more likely to convey. He may have dangled all of them for an actual, reside famous person 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, looking for 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 choose on a man unlikely to be something greater than a spectator come playoff time and added to the G League Oklahoma Metropolis Blue lineup together with his second-round choice.
Presti additionally dealt his different first-round choose for a 2027 first from Sacramento, which simply added to his arsenal that would have overpowered each different group within the league within the commerce market.
The Thunder have spent most of their time this offseason re-signing their very own, assuring they may 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 outstanding 2025 season. Some will cite yet one more Chet Holmgren harm, this on the finish of the yr somewhat than the start. Others will say they informed us that Jalen Williams was overrated, that Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso are thought of journeymen for a cause, that Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe predictably couldn’t step up after they acquired a higher alternative.
Heck, some will counsel they need to have fired their coach, which at that time they in all probability would.
And so they’ll all be improper.
It’ll be the fault of Sam Presti and his summer season trip.
