2017-18 Finish: 63-19

 

Season Highlight:

Snagged the 3^rd best record in the league and the 1^st seed in the West while coasting to a WCF appearance. They were dominant, consistently a step ahead of the rest of the conference, they managed to trade one of their best players for an even better player who wouldn’t participate for the remainder of the year and still not miss a beat.

 

Season Lowlight:

If you ain’t first you last! The Thunder suffered a rough Western Conference Finals loss to the defending champ San Antonio Spurs. This loss really made a lot of people question the decision to flip the great Paul George for the better-but-injured Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi or Paul could have easily made the difference in game 7 – or any of the prior 3 losses to the Spurs. The Spurs were swept in the Finals, and it is hard to know if the Thunder would have just been competing to arrive at the same fate or if they would have given the league a much more competitive Finals.

 

Best Trade:

The Minnesota Timberwolves send Michael Beasley to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Minnesota Timberwolves receive 20 GM points.

The Oklahoma City Thunder send a 2nd-Rounder (Det) to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Oklahoma City Thunder trade -20 GM points.

Not so much the unbalanced variety of trade because the Wolves probably got close to peak value for an expiring guy with marginal likelihood to return and probably not good enough to focus your offseason on forcing to come back. However, the Thunder got Beasley (18 ppg in 21 regular season starts and 11 ppg in 12 playoff appearances) for a pile of GM points and a mid-to late future 2^nd. It’s not a ripoff but it was a shrewd move that helped a lot for the Thunder down the stretch without any noticeable impact to their long-term assets. He has since been flipped for other stuff, but the move was very solid.

 

Worst Trade:

The Oklahoma City Thunder send Paul George and Denzel Valentine to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Philadelphia 76ers send Kawhi Leonard to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Oklahoma City Thunder send a 2nd-Rounder (Det) and 1st-Rounder (OKC) to the Philadelphia 76ers.

This may be a bit heavy handed to criticize this trade without seeing the centerpiece even step foot onto the court for OKC. The problem is that they gave up a young guy with some level of value, a decent (better at the time – thanks Laddas) 2^nd, and a late 1^st. All in order to downgrade from PG13 to nobody during their championship run. Obviously, the play here was for the long term, and they could easily win this going forward when you consider that healthy Kawhi is better than George and none of the auxiliary assets are something you’ll likely cry over. Just tough to see a top-flight team without a big-time asset. I’m sure the logic at the time was that Kawhi could very well be back for the playoffs – but he was on some Markell Fultz level stuff last year.

 

 Other Notable Trades:

The Atlanta Hawks send Doug McDermott and Denzel Valentine to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder send Nik Stauskas and Patrick McCaw to the Atlanta Hawks.

The Oklahoma City Thunder send a 2nd-Rounder (OKC) and 2nd-Rounder (Orl) to the Atlanta Hawks.

 

The Atlanta Hawks receive 15 GM points. The Oklahoma City Thunder trade -15 GM points.

Hard to get too excited about any of this. Nik and Doug seem to be somewhere around the same level of useful/used to be valuable and McCaw/Valentine seem to be somewhere around the same level of “I could be a decent role player”. Thunder sent out 2 2nds to get it done, but that doesn’t hurt much.

 

The LA Clippers send Kyle Korver to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder send Nikola Mirotic to the LA Clippers.

Mirotic experienced a bit of a breakout this season. At the time of the trade, he had a broken jaw due to a teammate altercation and Korver was looking like a guy that could play rotation minutes – it was still a pretty sell-low proposition for the Thunder.

 

The Oklahoma City Thunder send Tomas Satoransky to the Miami Heat.

The Miami Heat send a 2nd-Rounder (Mia) to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Pretty much just a cap space move for the Thunder. I’m sure Ben would have loved to fit him into the payroll, but 3 mil for a guy that may not have been in the rotation makes sense to grab a possible early 2^nd.

 

Free Agency:

The Jokic team option situation really did a number on the Thunder offseason. The biggest repercussion is obviously the Butler deal, which probably doesn’t happen without Jokic’s pending price increase. That said, OKC is glad to get some compensation back for Jimmy Buckets and still guarantee Jokic’s return in RFA. Outside of that saga, the team will try to lock up Exum and possibly McDermott. While possibly letting go of a guy that has played 140+ games for them over the last two formative seasons – JaVale McGee. It wouldn’t be surprising to see them buy out Kenneth Faried and potentially even make a splash on Free Agent Day 2 in order to get some help for a championship push… even if it’s a guy on a 1 year deal.

 

Star:

Nikola Jokic – people saw the rise coming before the season, but there are not many players that can say they’ve doubled their scoring between year 1 (5) and year 2 (10) … let alone year 2 and year 3 (20). If he keeps it up, he’ll average 40 this season. He also doubled his rebounding (6 up to 12), and pretty much assists, blocks and steals as well (all while keeping turnovers constant and increasing efficiency).

 

Goat:

Can Kawhi be the goat for both OKC and Philly? Philly kept thinking he may come back, only to finally give up and sell him to OKC – potentially on the cheap considering his top 5 status in some circles. Only for OKC to hope he’d make an appearance for a title run at the end of the season and be dreadfully disappointed. Draymond and his anti-2k style gets some consideration here, but Kawhi and Uncle Dennis gang up to bring this award home.

 

Draft Grades:

SF Justin Jackson, Maryland sophomore

The Thunder traded up to 29 and took the guy they probably could have landed at 32? Correct. For a team likely to be over the Apron, drafting 1st round means financial flexibility. Jackson was limited in year 2 of college but in workouts has shown his shooting  from year 1is for real and with a Kawhi frame (6’7 and 7’3 wingspan) he can defend 3-5. He has a role player mentality which fits perfectly and with a strong solid frame and a nose for a rebound, he figures to fit the mould of a 3 and D wing perfectly. But, is he over his shoulder injury?

Grade: B

 

PF Keita Bates-Diop, Ohio State redshirt junior

This pick is hard to judge. Bates-Diop originally mocked as high as pick 20, but in the last mock right before the draft he went 48th. Where does his value lie? The Thunder took a swing. Another 6’8 “tweener” forward with a 7’3 wingspan, he has a consistent long range shot, is fluid and can get to the hole. His lack of elite athleticism was his major knock, but the tools!

Grade: B+

 

PG Isaac Bonga, Germany

The Thunder have enough active bodies already, and weren’t planning originally on taking Bates-Diop as they thought he’d be gone, so a stash player is perfect here. Bonga is a 6’10 point forward with great handles and NBA size, but at only 18 he needs time to develop. We’ll see where he’s at in a couple of years.

Grade: B

 

The Future:

Did Ben show amazing fortitude trading a top 10-20 player in Jimmy Butler for draft picks, prospects and salary savings? Or did he just call an NBA Thunderequse end to a dynasty? They have possibly the best frontcourt in the business, a solid starting 5, and some decent role players to back them up – but the team has transitioned from being a prospect darling to a legitimate contender and if they can’t convince Kawhi to be the MVP candidate he should be, then Butler/PG13 dropping off to new JRich and the ghost of Kawhi is sure to be a letdown. There is certinaly a scenario where Rubio excels, Exum has a healthy year, Josh Richardson is the 3 and D guy the Thunder need him to be and Dray, Jokic and Kawhi do what they’re supposed to do… get them to the NLL Finals. It’s just hard to tell if that is more or less likely than it was a year ago when OKC seemed like a team destined for greatness.