I know from my own experience that whenever I am badly off about a team (non injury related), it’s usually because I underrated their defense or didn’t pay close enough attention to how the bad the defense was because they were so loaded on offense.

I worry this applies to the Knicks with their offense being so good. People keep posting that our defensive rank is ok, but it just doesn’t look very good to me.

Idk if it’s so much Presti has an unusual ability to evaluate talent, but that front office seems good at identifying guys who could turn out to be useful and then drafting so many of them that you don’t even remember the guys who don’t make it. They might also be better at developing players than most other teams.

Beyond that, Presti is obviously the best in the NBA at evaluating players and transactions. Presti found Wiggins, Joe, JWill, and Ajay in the second round, and Dort as a UDFA. He could sacrifice a very promising player in Giddey to snag a low-cost all-defense wing in Caruso without any worry about what Giddey would become. He has Diebng and Topic waiting in the wings. And he can deal anyone outside his big-3 without missing a beat.

Most of us saw this coming for a long time, but it’s turning out even better than I had imagined.

It’s kinda wild we have Jokic and them at the same time, one the greatest individuals and one of the greatest teams, both at their peak.

Call me crazy but last couple of seasons I’ve watched plenty of OKC games and I just don’t really see it.

You crazy.

Though, I do remember young Donnie saying almost the same thing about the 90s Bulls, even 3 rings deep. So I crazy too.

Like I know they’re great cause the stats bear it out and yes defensively especially in today’s NBA they are truly elite but outside of SGA and to a lesser extent Jaylen Williams I don’t see all this great talent.

IMO defensive talent is still underrated relative to offensive talent.

OKC is a great defensive team.

IMO great defense is more stable than great offense.

IMO, their offense is also more stable than many teams because they can score efficiently inside, in mid range or from 3. They are not obsessed with and heavily reliant on 3s. They can take what the defense is giving them.

IMO they are close to a perfectly built team.

They are defense first, offense second and the offense is diverse and stable. It’s not all 3s.

I know from my own experience that whenever I am badly off about a team (non injury related), it’s usually because I underrated their defense or didn’t pay close enough attention to how the bad the defense was because they were so loaded on offense.

Strat, they can consolodate those picks to trade up, or use them in consolodation trades. Even if there are diminishing returns, they are so stacked, they don’t need the same kind of value return to sustain excellence. That work is already done.

I agree with all that.

My major point was that eventually they’ll have so much talent and be so deep some decent NBA caliber prospects are going to leak out. Other teams might be able to pick up some good talent that didn’t make the early cut in OKC. Then you never know, one of those could end up being really good.

They do seem a bit more vulnerable come playoff time as we’ve seen past couple of seasons but yeah even I’ll admit I’d be shocked if they don’t win at least 3 or 4 more championships in the next decade.

Shocked. Shocked, I tell you.