I am reminded today of why I don’t want OKC to win the chip. Their fans SUCK.

Fyi, I know some pretty lame Knicks fans.*

(*see above)

I think the closest situation to this one in recent memory is the Curry-Draymond-Klay Warriors.

Budget-wise, yes, it is a similar situation. But the Steph Curry Warriors also started playing a new brand of basketball that took the NBA by storm. It took a few seasons for other teams to adjust.

Presti will never hear the end of that one because it was an egregious unforced error. I doubt that he makes that kind of mistake again.

“Most of the NBA world has been gushing over the Tatum/JB Celtics even before they added Derrick White, KP, and Jrue.”

Most of the cap-savvy NBA world knew that this was a 2-3 year run at best due to Tatum and Brown getting paid and Horford and Jrue getting old. There were other issues as well, and obviously Tatum’s achilles changes everything. But not really a good comparison to the other situations.

“The Heatles were supposed to dominate like the Bulls; they went to 4 Finals, won 2, and were a miracle Ray Allen 3 from winning only 1.”

That was largely a “big 3” team that was pretty capped out with no sustainable depth or cache of young talent or draft picks. OKC is not capped out, has oodles of young talent and a million picks. But true, SGA is not LBJ.

“The Curry/Durant GSW we’re as dominant a team as we’ve ever seen but only one 2 titles (and were an epic Houston collapse away from winning only 1) and then had a bunch of injuries and Durant left.”

That’s one way to look at it. The other is that the Curry-Draymond-Klay Warriors got to 5 finals in 8 years and won 4 championships, two without Durant. In fact, this OKC team and the first GSW championship team seem very similar. And if a Durant-level player becomes available, no team can outbid them without gutting their team.

“Durant and Kyrie teamed up in Brooklyn and that didn’t amount to a fucking thing.”

True, if another pandemic comes along and one of their stars refuses to play, that could definitely be a problem. But merc teams like that generally fizzle out before too long. Not the same animal at all.

I think the closest situation to this one in recent memory is the Curry-Draymond-Klay Warriors. They had superstars on discounts, and enough assets and picks to maneuver. If they had just made better draft picks or better injury luck, they could probably have won more than 4 titles. Not saying that OKC will get to that level, but they have a better shot to get there than anyone else, at least on paper.

The following year (2026-27) they have to pay:
– Chet
– Jalen
– Jaylin
– Ajay Mitchell

However, they can also jettison:
– iHart
– Kenrich
– Cason Wallace
– Dort
– Topic

If Chet and Jalen sign for $50M each, I think they’ll have another $40M below the 1st apron and 8 players to sign if they cut everyone. Assuming they make all their draft picks between now and then, 5 of them can be 1st rounders.

Anyway, that’s where things can start going wrong if they run into some injuries and Caruso starts slowing down. But if SGA is healthy and they can hit on a couple of draft picks, they’re in great shape.

But they’re not unbeatable and it’s really hard to maintain the sustained dominance like Jordan’s Bulls did and recent NBA history shows that.

You are probably right. The future will tell. But they are in a much better position for a championship now as SGA can be (or he already is) a lot better than the OKC Westbrook.

I already brought up the previous Durant/Westbrook/Harden team that went to the Finals and were immediately broken up.

The Heatles were supposed to dominate like the Bulls; they went to 4 Finals, won 2, and were a miracle Ray Allen 3 from winning only 1.

The Curry/Durant GSW we’re as dominant a team as we’ve ever seen but only one 2 titles (and were an epic Houston collapse away from winning only 1) and then had a bunch of injuries and Durant left.

Durant and Kyrie teamed up in Brooklyn and that didn’t amount to a fucking thing.

Most of the NBA world has been gushing over the Tatum/JB Celtics even before they added Derrick White, KP, and Jrue. They won 1 title and it’s been an open secret that ownership plans on blowing the team up even before the Tatum injury.

Again, this OKC team is great and they probably will win the title this year. But injuries happen, players/teams choke, and I’d bet more money that SGA, Holmgren, and Williams won’t all be on the same team 3 years from now.