Oklahoma City Thunder 2023-24 Season

[Laramie]

This one is for my man, Jersey Boss "According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Chicago and Oklahoma City have a agreed to a straight-up, flat-out, one-for-one Giddey-for-Caruso swap."

Grading Alex Caruso-Josh Giddey Trade Between Chicago Bulls & OKC Thunder: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ls-okc-thunder

Chicago Bulls: D-
Oklahoma City Thunder: A++++++

[Jersey Boss]

This one is for my man, Jersey Boss "According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Chicago and Oklahoma City have a agreed to a straight-up, flat-out, one-for-one Giddey-for-Caruso swap."

Grading Alex Caruso-Josh Giddey Trade Between Chicago Bulls & OKC Thunder: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ls-okc-thunder

Chicago Bulls: D-
Oklahoma City Thunder: A++++++

Sounds great to me. T/y Laramie

[PhiAlpha]

Im in Boston right now and was walking around the parade. Told several Celtics fans that I was from OKC and they all said “oh! Y’all just Caruso! That was a great move!” Small sample size but it seems like it’s being widely regarded as a good move when an opposing teams fanbase, who are in the middle of a championship parade, even knew about it happening yesterday.

Side note: it’s really cool to see the entire city celebrating all day. It’s pretty nuts up here. If we’re ever able to do it, it’s going to be awesome.

[Dob Hooligan]

Giddey is 21. Caruso is 30. Caruso is who he is. I don't read about him having much unlocked potential. He will get $20-25 million a year on the deal he can sign in 6 months. Thunder will probably sign him, and he fits a need for us.

Giddey does have a lot of room to grow. He is talented, but was on a team with top of the league talent in the role he fits best. He can get a new contract roughly the same time Caruso can. Giddey fits a real need for the Bulls if Lonzo Ball can't recover from his 2-ish year knee rehab.

Looks like a win-win trade.

[BoulderSooner]

Giddey is 21. Caruso is 30. Caruso is who he is. I don't read about him having much unlocked potential. He will get $20-25 million a year on the deal he can sign in 6 months. Thunder will probably sign him, and he fits a need for us.

Giddey does have a lot of room to grow. He is talented, but was on a team with top of the league talent in the role he fits best. He can get a new contract roughly the same time Caruso can. Giddey fits a real need for the Bulls if Lonzo Ball can't recover from his 2-ish year knee rehab.

Looks like a win-win trade.

this is all correct ...

[BoulderSooner]

Giddey is 21. Caruso is 30. Caruso is who he is. I don't read about him having much unlocked potential. He will get $20-25 million a year on the deal he can sign in 6 months. Thunder will probably sign him, and he fits a need for us.

Giddey does have a lot of room to grow. He is talented, but was on a team with top of the league talent in the role he fits best. He can get a new contract roughly the same time Caruso can. Giddey fits a real need for the Bulls if Lonzo Ball can't recover from his 2-ish year knee rehab.

Looks like a win-win trade.

this is all correct ...

[Laramie]

Rylan Stiles on Alex Caruso and Josh Giddey trade.

[Laramie]

The Oklahoma City Thunder select Nikola Topić (6'5" - Age: 18, 201 lbs.) with the No. 12 pick in the 2024 NBA draft.

The 6’5 guard has not only the ability to be a good playmaker and is known to have a high defensive IQ, but also is well versed in aspects of shooting and runs the pick-and-roll with ease. For a player of his height, Topic is known to be highly versatile with his game and can adapt to the dynamics of the game and change his style of play with ease.

[Urbanized]

Haven’t figured this one out yet. Starting with the fact that he’s currently recovering from a torn ACL. Also, at 18 I suspect we won’t see him for quite a while, if ever. That said…in Presti I trust.

[G.Walker]

Not too excited about this pick, still looks wet behind the ears. Maybe he will be packaged in a trade scenario.

[Laramie]

Let's see what plans are in store for Nikola Topić.

If he's apart of the Thunder's future, the team just got younger.

[Urbanized]

Not too excited about this pick, still looks wet behind the ears. Maybe he will be packaged in a trade scenario.

Yeah…definitely not counting on this pick until the dust settles. Could be part of bigger moves.

[PhiAlpha]

Apparently was a top 3-5 prospect in this draft before he got hurt. Figure it's a value pick that's either a great option to run the second unit at PG or to be packaged as part of a trade for a big. Either way, I don't think we were getting someone at 12 in this draft that was going to play meaningful minutes next season.

[Urbanized]

I mean, JDub was a 12 pick. But yeah, this draft seems a bit thin and the Thunder is currently stacked, so it will probably be much harder for a 12 to have a lot of impact right now.

[Bellaboo]

He's the real deal, very high bbiq, big physical PG that will make a difference in the 25-26 season.

[FighttheGoodFight]

He isn't a project per se but will for sure have to sit out most of this season. I doubt the thunder are done getting players. I have a feeling Harkenstein might be heading our way.

[Urbanized]

Also late in the first round the Thunder traded away five second round picks to the Knicks to snag 6’6” forward Dillon Jones from Weber State. Becomes the first drafted player from Weber State since Damian Lillard. Good scorer (though needs to improve from behind the arc), good facilitator and perhaps more importantly should be an impactful rebounder. Should get a shot in the rotation pretty quickly.

[Laramie]

[FighttheGoodFight]

Also late in the first round the Thunder traded away five second round picks to the Knicks to snag 6’6” forward Dillon Jones from Weber State. Becomes the first drafted player from Weber State since Damian Lillard. Good scorer (though needs to improve from behind the arc), good facilitator and perhaps more importantly should be an impactful rebounder. Should get a shot in the rotation pretty quickly.

I guess I missed this. He is a good pickup for rebounding.

[Dob Hooligan]

So Jonathan Givony (who appears to be an ESPN draft expert) rates the Thunder taking Nicola Topic the 3rd best pick of the draft, if I am reading the column accurately.

I have every reason to believe that is accurate

I also think Sam Presti and the Thunder have done so well over the last 15 years that anything he does is automatically rate "genius" and "visionary"

[Laramie]

[Laramie]

[dankrutka]

Topic is likely out for all next season recovering from his ACL, but he's kind of a Giddey replacement in a lot of ways. He has a similar game. I've also seen Goran Dragic comparisons. The pick isn't necessarily exciting now, but I get it. And, Presti has been pretty good in this range historically.

What I don't get is giving up 5 picks for Dillon Jones. He was considered either a late 2nd round pick or an undrafted player. I get that the Thunder have a ton of picks, but it feels like Presti threw them away because he fell in love with an under the radar guy. While Presti tends to nail the top of the draft, Presti has a pretty poor record in the latter 1st round. His pattern is that he falls in love with some rando player that no one else wants, but gets scared someone will take them, and takes them way too high or gives up assets. He's done this same thing with Josh Huestis at the 29th pick. No one was going to pick Huestis, but Presti used a 1st rounder on him. To a lesser degree, he reached on Darius Bazley (21st pick), Terrance Ferguson (21st pick), Mitch McGary (21st), Tre Mann (18th pick), Poku (17th pick) too. Presti has a pretty bad track record at picking in the 20s. He hasn't really hit on any players since Serge Ibaka in 2008 and Reggie Jackson in 2011. Everyone else in the range hasn't panned out. That happens in the 20s with a lot of players, but late 1st round is not a strength of Presti.

[April in the Plaza]

Topic is likely out for all next season recovering from his ACL, but he's kind of a Giddey replacement in a lot of ways. He has a similar game. I've also seen Goran Dragic comparisons. The pick isn't necessarily exciting now, but I get it. And, Presti has been pretty good in this range historically.

What I don't get is giving up 5 picks for Dillon Jones. He was considered either a late 2nd round pick or an undrafted player. I get that the Thunder have a ton of picks, but it feels like Presti threw them away because he fell in love with an under the radar guy. While Presti tends to nail the top of the draft, Presti has a pretty poor record in the latter 1st round. His pattern is that he falls in love with some rando player that no one else wants, but gets scared someone will take them, and takes them way too high or gives up assets. He's done this same thing with Josh Huestis at the 29th pick. No one was going to pick Huestis, but Presti used a 1st rounder on him. To a lesser degree, he reached on Darius Bazley (21st pick), Terrance Ferguson (21st pick), Mitch McGary (21st), Tre Mann (18th pick), Poku (17th pick) too. Presti has a pretty bad track record at picking in the 20s. He hasn't really hit on any players since Serge Ibaka in 2008 and Reggie Jackson in 2011. Everyone else in the range hasn't panned out. That happens in the 20s with a lot of players, but late 1st round is not a strength of Presti.

Meh. 2RPs are pretty worthless for the most part. For every Aaron Wiggins, you are going to have 10 Dakari Johnsons.

I’m sure they had intel suggesting that he was going to come off the board in the early 2nd.

[dankrutka]

Meh. 2RPs are pretty worthless for the most part. For every Aaron Wiggins, you are going to have 10 Dakari Johnsons.

I’m sure they had intel suggesting that he was going to come off the board in the early 2nd.

Good players come out of the second round every year. By your own admission, the advantage might be in having a number of 2nd round picks to hit on an Aaron Wiggins. Regardless, I don't mind Presti trading 2nd round picks, but this is more like wasting them. It's like he walked in a gas station and offered them $100 for a fountain drink because it was his favorite drink. Completely unnecessary for a player that might not have even been drafted. My point is Presti has a pattern of falling in love with guys, overvaluing them, and then taking them in the 20s. He's missed on quite a few in a row when the more consensus players were available and ended up better.