10-17-2023, 04:56 PM
(10-17-2023, 04:03 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: I think Presti is pretty smart, and is doing his best to make chicken salad with that chicken s___ of a franchise, but...he had his hands on Durant, Westbrook and Harden and has nothing to show for it. He traded the wrong one. Later, when that became obvious, he even raised a stink, claiming their team hadn't had the full ramifications of the salary cap explained to them properly.
It's really easy to sell, sell, sell and draft, draft, draft. There have been many times when I wish the Mavs had adopted a strategy more like that. However, the only real star player they have was drafted by another team, not OKC, and my guess is they're too far away from actually being good to keep Shai around long term.
Phase two through like nine of any type of process similar to what OKC seems perpetually stuck in, it seems to me, should be actually harnessing the talent into a competitive team. That's the part I'm not sure he knows how to do.
In other words, maybe there's a reason he has no choice but to work in OKC. Maybe he's a small time dude who fits a small time franchise. (not meant as a defense of anyone who has ever called shots for the Mavs)
Those are pretty good points. Didn't look at it from that angle. Maybe he's trying to clone what Ainge did in Boston. Hoard picks so long until they eventually lose value and you still didn't get any hardware. Now Ainge is at it again in Utah.