Wouldn’t mind one of their potential stars in a Raptors uniform though.

Youth and inexperience. The team has talent. Nobody is questioning that, but with a starting five that averages just 24 years of age and a bench that is even younger, you can’t be sure what kind of progress they’ll make. Learning to win close games is going to be key if this team is going to do any kind of damage this year.

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Greatest weakness

1. Horrible interior defense
2. Mediocre defensive rebounding
3. Very weak bench
4. Don’t know how to win

At this point the Thunder can be a lot of fun to watch especially when they have it going on offense. KD is one of the best scorers and shooters in the league.

However, whether this core unit will ever be able to consistently win is still totally unkown and will depend on seeing is believing.

(Though, by cellar dweller, I did mean we finished one game from the bottom of the Atlantic division last season. Though by rebuild, I did mean like Oklahoma – not like the Toronto Maple Leafs).

I assume the GM you’re talking about in your oh-so-coy way is Bryan Colangelo, the 2-time GM of the year. I’m not sure what ‘cellar dweller’ you’re talking about, the Raps I’ve watched for 3 years made the playoffs in 2 of them and, after a failed experiment in year 3, intelligently gave himself flexibility to overhaul his team in the summer.

Is this not a rebuild? Keeping your 3 best players from the last 3 seasons and getting rid of those that didn’t work? In your world, after a 5 game loss in the ‘08 playoffs you would’ve shipped out Bosh (then a 3-time all-star), Bargnani (in his 2nd year after being a #1 overall pick) and everyone else for not meeting your expectations. Then rebuilding after that sweet #17 pick that yielded the franchise player Roy Hibbert!

Why would anyone try to win NOW (when you have the talent to do it) when you can take a chance on the uncertain?

And why do you need an NBA ready player when Chris Bosh is your best player? He was 23 at the time, they weren’t in a ‘win now’ mode (and are barely even there now).

Imagine if Roy was the decent, non-All Star that he was projected to be. Imagine that Bargs was Dirk. It hasn’t happened that way, but 90% of people would’ve predicted that scenario over what we currently see.

If Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook can take the next step in their careers (plus the addition of James Harden) then the Thunder can be a threat to play .500 ball next season.

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I fully agree, the Thunder badly need a very good-to-elite rebounder/defender in the post. I don’t think they can get away with playing Jeff Green at the power forward slot long term without that type of center in the lineup.

I’ve been a Raptor fan for 15 years. We won 1 playoff series in that time – I think we beat Allan Houston and the Knicks. I think we won 30 games our second year as a franchise, back in 1996, with Damon Stoudamire. We won 31 last season – our 15th in the league. In 2025, I’m hoping we aren’t coming off a 32 win campaign, waxing all nostalgic about an Atlantic Division title we won back in ‘07.

How long till we get there again?

Besides, how would it look if people always judged you because your dad gave you your only job as a GM, and then the first time you step out on your own, you end up turning someone else’s team into a cellar dweller? Not because you didn’t spend to the luxury tax, mind you, or because you wanted to undergo a youth movement and build through the draft – but because the best team you’d ever assembled won only 31 games. How would it look if you had to admit that you needed to start over and grit your teeth through a couple more 30 win seasons like the Thunder? It might spoil your special Italian suit, let me tell you. People might stop talking about how dapper you and your clothes are…and they might start talking about something more substantive.

There are plenty of nice, young, athletic wings and guards out there–problem is there aren’t many centers.

And the ones they could try to get on the back end of their careers are retiring soon.

Has Presti made good picks? Certainly. But unless he starts to spend (some money/trade one of his young horses) on a legitimate center, then they’ve basically shat the bed on a five hundred team. Sure, they made money and got buts in the seats–but they won’t win enough.

Portland is the same. If you keep stockpiling young talent, you don’t give it enough space to grow. It’s like a garden, where too many flowers choke each other off. At some point you have to use those assets to acquire what you need. Portland’s record was nice and all, and statistically they were the top team offensively in the NBA–and they got beat by a team without it’s two all-stars. Pathetic.

The thing is, these GM’s are so married to their young talent and they never trade it away. How long does Outlaw have to stay a Blazer? How long does it take to trade someone valuable. You don’t get to have your cake and eat it too. SOME risk taking is required.

The owners and GM’s who keep trying this approach generally fail because

a) They run out of money to pay all the young talent
b) The young talent gets tired of waiting to be good
c) of course some of the players don’t turn out well

There needs to be a mix for success, one that I don’t think Pritchard and Presti want to pay for.

One of the major issues this blogger touched on was the fact that the Western Conference is so tough to begin with. I guess the problem for most franchises in the West is that they see no way to be competitive (for something significant–like a championship) at all in the short term. This way, they can sell hope to the fan base without actually ever having to be good for quite some time, in addition to it being cheap so they can try to “wait for their window”.

Sometimes, the window needs to be forced open. As the wise swami says…we’ll see.