Eh. OKC structured their rebuilt around taking albatross contracts that made their team worse in exchange for picks. That was their tanking strategy. Their team wasn’t built around lottery luck as you say. But rather by selling wins for more picks.

The OKC way was amassing picks by taking advantage of others teams’ need to get off of players. They essentially took a loan out on their salary cap at the time to buy picks in the future. It was more nuanced than the standard “tank and get a high pick” strategy most bad teams employ, and that’s why it’s worked so well.

OKC definitely tanked. The streets will never forget the Isaiah roby poku lineups

The biggest factor in OKC’s recent success is the PG trade. It got them their best player and league MVP along with the pick that became, depending on how you measure it, their second or third best player. Their smart front office work would’ve made them pretty good no matter what, but they simply cannot become the juggernaut they are today without having PG at his peak value and another team willing to go all in for him.

I’d argue Chet is the 2nd best player, given their undefeated in the playoffs right now without Jalen. But they also got their MVP and Jalen Williams from a totally impossible trade with the Clippers. PG signed with OKC because of an accident of history and WB, followed by trading him in what was effectively a trade for him and Kawhi. That’s not something some team can orchestrate to reproduce what they’ve done in any realistic way.

They literally did the same thing as the process Sixers, the only difference is they kick started their process with 2-3 MVP candidates.

Lonzo, BI, Hart flipped for AD

I think Clarkson and Randle walked in FA because we couldn’t give them a decent offer lol

Don’t forget the magical Zubac for Muscala trade

Was Clarkson before that?

I feel like OKC actually wouldn’t look much better than that collection of players if they had never gotten SGA, who they did not draft and did not need to tank to obtain.

Best case a play-in, 6th seed type team. Just no way it was gonna pan out for them with that core.

D’Angelo Russell was a tank pick as well. Just got traded to Brooklyn after we drafted Lonzo.

Edit: add Kuzma and Zubac to that list as well.

That’s still pretty good drafting though. Having a slew of useful if flawed players gives you pretty good flexibility in the trade market. Obviously worked for the Lakers, though they have the benefit of being a marquis franchise that superstars want to play for.

I believe they traded the Hayes pick for AD but he ended up on the Lakers eventually anyway

who’s hayes?

as long as you get the goat to join you in free agency that works lol

True, you just have to be able to flip those guys like the Lakers did when they still had perceived upside

Wizards were a game 7 away from the conference finals in 2016

OKC had like 2 really bad years in there. Most years in there we were competitive and made the playoffs….

Sorry Mr jerkass not everyone has LA as a backdrop to draw talent to yourself, but to act like OKC or the Spurs just went on prolonged tanking sprees is a little absurd.

He’s also not wrong at all that this isn’t the Lakers way. And it’s not their way because they’re the Lakers, and stars find their way to play for them. Whereas a team like OKC needs to build through the draft and developing young players, the Lakers have found their way to Shaq, Gasol, LeBron, AD, and now Luka in the past 20 or so years (with Kobe being the talent they’ve developed).

With Luka, they’re in a position where their draft picks will always be 20+ so their way to building a championship is finding a proper 2nd star and a good supporting cast, which will come at the cost of those picks.

Saw elsewhere in the thread someone defending it as “but they’re not even FAs we get the majority via trade” like them being the Lakers isn’t the reason players are asking to be traded there lol 

Clippers would want a word. People refuse to think for a second.

The Knicks have had a notoriously hard time attracting free agent stars. All the stars in new york, have gone to Brooklyn. The lone exceptions were Melo and Stoudemire. Melo was initially a trade, who ended up staying, and Stoudemire, while a star at the time, was clearly after his prime. Julius Randle is the closest player to a star the Knicks have signed, but he was not selected to an all star team until after joining the Knicks. And no matter what Reddit says right now about the Knicks getting a steal and fleecing Dallas for Brunson, his initial signing to the Knicks was widely criticized at the time. He was also not an all star until after signing with the Knicks. Otherwise, the only player who you might call a star, would be around Melo and Stoudemire, the Knicks signing Tyson Chandler. But he won DPOY and his line all star selection with the Knicks.

Due to being in New York, the Knicks have a perception that they’re able to attract free agents easily, like the Yankees and Mets do (Mets more recently). But really, over the last 20 years, and really since the turn of the century / the Ewing years, not only have the Knicks not been a free agent destination, they have actually been somewhere free agents avoided. The team was not taken seriously as competitors, unstable (revolving door of coaches), bad ownership, and no clear franchise direction.

I think the 2020’s have changed that perception a lot, Julius Randle and Leon Rose do not get enough credit for how much they did to make the Knicks more credible. Brunson took a very team friendly extension, Bridges and Anunoby, while not stars, are sub all-stars who signed extensions. I think the perception of the Knicks has changed recently, and we’ll see if they’re able to land a bona fide star.

That’s why I said 26, the Clippers, Knicks and Nets only have themselves to blame.

Buddy has linkedin gold for sure

Pelinka played the long game

Manchurian candidate gm

The Mavs went to him. He gets absolutely no credit here.

We really don’t have to give him any credit outside of the Luka trade he has done a horrible job. Multiple play-in runs with two top 10 players at the time is insane in retrospect.

if you are asleep and a bank manager places a sack of cash in your home through your window, is that you pulling off a bank robbery?

Spurs dodger fan?

I won’t say Rob is great but he’s not terrible either. He did put together fantastic 2020 and 2021 rosters that would’ve been b2b champs if not for injuries.

He takes some blame for the Russ trade but Bron and AD also wanted that so that’s ⁵⁰⁄₅₀.

He then flipped K Nunn for Rui which was a complete fleecing.

Then traded Russ for DLo/Vando/Beasley which allowed the Lakers to go from 13th seed to WCF. Would’ve won the championship that year as well if DLo wasn’t so soft.

This upcoming off season will probably be his most crucial one to get right

We also built the Knicks. We like to help those small market teams.

As a Wiz fan correct we noticed the Spurs and Mavs getting ‘blessed’

It’s a shame - we would’ve probably fucked up Wemby now y’all have to deal with him for the next decade lol.

I did, fixed.

By that logic the Clips would be held to the same standard.

They either took on bad contracts with picks and/or got great players that fit their timeline or became another trade piece.

End of the lottery in my book. Quite different from Lakers drafting 7, 2, 2 and 2 from 2014 to 2017.

Giddey was actually 6th. Team had a 45.1% chance for a top 4 pick but it dropped.

We should’ve brought someone else instead of Adam Levine for LMA