Read the latest Thunder happenings here on ClickTown.
Sam Vecenie (The Athletic) does a redraft of the 2013 NBA draft and picks Steven Adams 7th: “At Pitt, things didn’t exactly go perfectly. He averaged only 7.2 points and 6.3 rebounds, but his athleticism and defensive prowess were on display from the jump. In a draft that didn’t exactly feature much in the way of pedigree or sure bets, Adams was seen as a project who would likely take some time. In Oklahoma City, general manager Sam Presti is comfortable taking on athletic, developmental players. It also helped that then-Thunder coach Scott Brooks was Dixon’s roommate at TCU when the two played together in college.”
Shane Rhodes (Basketball Insiders) looks at the Thunder’s offseason: “With that in mind, he proceeded to deconstruct the rest of the roster in short order. Jerami Grant was sent to the Denver Nuggets, while Patrick Patterson was bought out of the remainder of his deal. Much of the bench was let go. Even free agents that had committed to Oklahoma City, Alec Burks and Mike Muscala, were given the option to back out of their respective agreements due to the change in circumstance. And, in what was almost certainly the biggest gut punch of the offseason, Westbrook was traded to the Houston Rockets. With him out of the picture, the Thunder are set to face their first major rebuild since the team moved to Oklahoma City back in 2008.”
Have a listen to our 2nd edition of Head In The Clouds (HITC) by our very own Stephen Dolan.
Aidan E (Thunderous Intentions) takes an in-depth look at the Thunder players’ contracts: “The Tobias Harris trade was a massive success for the Los Angeles Clippers. It’s arguable that Danilo Gallinari is just as good of a player if not better than Tobias Harris in a vacuum, but given the fact that Gallinari is older and costs about $13 million more this season, he won’t get as much in a trade. But I can see a trade similar to that one where the Thunder, in this case, would make a deal headlined around a good young player like the Clippers did with Landry Shamet.”
Darius Bazley has a rating on 2K: