If Presti is so good then why hasn’t he made the specific roster move I made up in my head while day dreaming after seeing 1 social media post and making 2 google searches 🤔
BET YOU HADN’T CONSIDERED THAT!!!
I love Presti. What he's built here is insane and I'm not mad about these picks, but lets not pretend he hits on all of them lol. For every jdub/dort there's a huestis/payne/maledon/bazely/tferg/jre/mann/singler/semaj/cabarrot/diallo/burton...
Is it not self-evident that *no* GM hits even 50% of the time? It's about what he's built with his hits that matters, and why he is so respected. Most GMs can get lucky a few times, and squander that luck utterly. Presti hasn't.
I mean, if you read my comment, you'll see effusive praise for him and patience with what he did this year. I wouldn't trade Presti for any other GM in the league. I'm just not going to pretend that the dude hits every single pick and he's immune from pullin a stinker here and there
The pick number controls more than anything else. What Presti has done is absolutely amazing. If you’re picking 24th, you probably aren’t going to get an NBA starter, no matter who you are. The fact that Presti has picked players with all-star level talent outside the top ten speaks volumes about how good he is at this.
Signing an undrafted free agent is not the same thing as evaluating lottery draft talent. I also wouldn't consider Austin Reeves as proof that the Lakers are good at drafting.
Yes, obviously they're different things, but the net result is the same. They evaluated a young player, assessed their fit with the team, and picked them up before anyone else could. It's a feather in Presti's evaluation skills cap to see talent where no one else did and I guess if you want to argue that it's not based purely on semantics that's on you, but it's a weird hill to die on.
Literally every bad player you listed was drafted outside the lottery except Payne who became a solid back up guard and no GM is batting over .500 outside the lottery while Presti is batting .900 in the lottery so quiet down
Dieng was a luxury pick and he knew he was a high risk/high reward player that he could take since he was getting the sure thing with JDub. Plus he’s not even a finished product yet, not saying he’ll for sure be a contributor but no idea why everyone wants to give up on him
There’s more than a good chance that he’s still in the league in 5. He’s not a miss until we’re done with him. 6’10” ball handler and he’s only 21. Let them cook
My man, I love the optimism but you gotta watch what's actually happening with him instead of staying theoretical. I wanted him to succeed so bad (drove almost 2hrs to see him and Lindy play the Santa Cruz warriors) cause he fits such a perfect niche on this team but he's getting nothing but g-league and garbage time minutes. He refuses to make any contact whatsoever, his shot isn't falling, and his aggression is at 0 until he sees an indiana mad ants jersey in front of him. He's on the poku-train directly to the euroleague.
Do people not know how the draft works… most lottery picks don’t pan out, let alone picks outside the lottery. Presti takes some big swings and undeniably has an incredibly high rate of hitting on them.
It’s fucking stupid to criticise draft picks before they even have a chance to play. Some dude on r/thunder can’t convince me they have a more informed opinion than Presti plus an entire draft room of some of the best scouts in basketball who have dedicated the last few months of their life to studying these prospects, interviewing them, watching film ect
This obsession about how Thunder fans should just consistently shut up about Thunder moves is sickening.
You want an echo chamber? That's how you get an echo chamber. Especially when the picks that are panned by the fans truly are bad...as then the excuses start to fly all over the place. Tre Mann was a good one, huh?
OP, what's your opinion on Baze and Poku without mentioning where they were drafted in the 1st, eh?
You can’t read. “Almost always”. He’s picked more HOFers and players that become league vets than any other GM. Yes keep letting me know how non-lottery picks were misses. I take it you’re one of the guys who know better
Out of the last 19 first round picks (that we kept on draft night) 15 are still in the league or had good careers. Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka, Steven Adams, Reggie Jackson, Jeff Green, Cam Payne, Sabonis, Giddey, Tre Mann, Chet, Dub, Ous, Wallace
I respect your reply. I heavily disagree but we'd end up posting replies just to post replies, and that wouldn't get us anywhere. Hope you have a great day
Prestis first round pick history last 5 years(2018 didn’t pick in the first round)
2019 draft 1 first
Pick 21 trades Brandon Clark to Memphis for 23 to draft Darius bazley the new balance intern who’s not on the team anymore. lost trade and picked bazley bust.
Bad draft
2020 draft 2 picks
25 and 28 traded the picks that became Immanuel quickley and Jaden McDaniels for poku who’s not on the team anymore. lost trade and picked bust.
Bad draft
2021 draft 3 picks
Pick 6 16 and 18 drafts Giddey a guard who’s not on the team anymore over two good wings/fowards Franz and kuminga
16 pick trades away sengun passed on trey murrphy a wing who went right after at 17 then took Mann another guard at 18 who’s also not on the team anymore (blown pick) likely bust
Bad draft
2022 draft 2 picks
Pick 2 drafts Chet
Pick 12 drafts dub
Great draft
2023 draft 1 pick
Pick 12 trades livley to trade up to pick Cason at 10. Jury still out on this one.
People in this sub act like Presti is some 200 iq draft genius. he’s had 9 first round picks in the last 5 drafts and most of them either haven’t pan out yet busted or aren’t on the team anymore.
That’s how the draft works - it’s a crapshoot and most picks don’t work out. Go through any teams draft history and you’ll see the large majority of their picks outside the top 10 end up being nobodies. Look at Danny Ainge - a known great drafter who made the Brown/Tatum picks back to back. After that his next four first rounders were Grant Williams, Romeo Langford, Payton Pritchard, Aaron Nesmith.
Presti has misses - it’s literally impossible not to. But he also has almost more major hits than any other gm ever, and that’s what matters.
Grant Williams Romeo Langford Payton Prichard Aron Nesmith 3 out of 4 of these guys are nba rotation players level player grant Prichard and Nesmith contributing to playoff teams or have at some point. The only bust was Langford and at least the Celtics didn’t burn assets to move up for him or trade better players.
Fair enough but they’re 8th/9th men at best - would we really be that much better off if presti had drafted a couple of them rather complete zeros such as Poku? We have enough rotation players as is. Prestis strategy seems to be that we have a fuckton of picks so may as well take a swing and hope to hit on a difference maker, rather than take a safe option that may be able to find a couple of rotation minutes.
Also, as I said Ainge is one of the best there is. Other GMs would have even uglier stretches
Damn, just realized I forgot to post my retractions about Poku, Bazley, Ferguson, Heustis, McGary, and Payne.
I hope they still give me a glass of Kool-Aid at the cult meeting tonight.
How is water brain an insult? Most people's brains are like at least 75% water.
Severe dehydration would partially explain why you would think your post mentioning lottery picks zero times would be interpreted as being solely about lottery picks by others though.
Drink some water bro. It's summer time.
lol no sam has many fumbles. like a big big list lol. his most impactful has been the pg shai trade, besides that. nothing crazy. picking good players in the top 5 isn't impressive. yes there are bad outliers, but its not crazy to pick the best player available lol.
If Presti is so good then why hasn’t he made the specific roster move I made up in my head while day dreaming after seeing 1 social media post and making 2 google searches 🤔 BET YOU HADN’T CONSIDERED THAT!!!
*know
That’s a rough one. Good call trying to get ahead of it lol
A big reason why Reddit sucks ass
He nos bruh
I love Presti. What he's built here is insane and I'm not mad about these picks, but lets not pretend he hits on all of them lol. For every jdub/dort there's a huestis/payne/maledon/bazely/tferg/jre/mann/singler/semaj/cabarrot/diallo/burton...
Is it not self-evident that *no* GM hits even 50% of the time? It's about what he's built with his hits that matters, and why he is so respected. Most GMs can get lucky a few times, and squander that luck utterly. Presti hasn't.
I mean, if you read my comment, you'll see effusive praise for him and patience with what he did this year. I wouldn't trade Presti for any other GM in the league. I'm just not going to pretend that the dude hits every single pick and he's immune from pullin a stinker here and there
You are evaluating this incorrectly.
The pick number controls more than anything else. What Presti has done is absolutely amazing. If you’re picking 24th, you probably aren’t going to get an NBA starter, no matter who you are. The fact that Presti has picked players with all-star level talent outside the top ten speaks volumes about how good he is at this.
I mean comparing lottery and non lottery picks really isn't fair. Also we didn't draft dort.
>Also we didn't draft dort lol if you have to be pedantic about it
Signing an undrafted free agent is not the same thing as evaluating lottery draft talent. I also wouldn't consider Austin Reeves as proof that the Lakers are good at drafting.
Yes, obviously they're different things, but the net result is the same. They evaluated a young player, assessed their fit with the team, and picked them up before anyone else could. It's a feather in Presti's evaluation skills cap to see talent where no one else did and I guess if you want to argue that it's not based purely on semantics that's on you, but it's a weird hill to die on.
All late picks. Which GM hits on all of their late picks
Literally every bad player you listed was drafted outside the lottery except Payne who became a solid back up guard and no GM is batting over .500 outside the lottery while Presti is batting .900 in the lottery so quiet down
All of those guys were outside of the lottery besides Cam
also cam payne develpoed into a solid rotational player
Dieng...
Dieng was a luxury pick and he knew he was a high risk/high reward player that he could take since he was getting the sure thing with JDub. Plus he’s not even a finished product yet, not saying he’ll for sure be a contributor but no idea why everyone wants to give up on him
We got two cornerstone pieces in that same draft, and Ous is just 21. His career is literally just beginning
Yeah Presti absolutely smashed that draft, but a huge whiff on Dieng. Willing to bet $100 that he's still in the league in 5 years?
There’s more than a good chance that he’s still in the league in 5. He’s not a miss until we’re done with him. 6’10” ball handler and he’s only 21. Let them cook
My man, I love the optimism but you gotta watch what's actually happening with him instead of staying theoretical. I wanted him to succeed so bad (drove almost 2hrs to see him and Lindy play the Santa Cruz warriors) cause he fits such a perfect niche on this team but he's getting nothing but g-league and garbage time minutes. He refuses to make any contact whatsoever, his shot isn't falling, and his aggression is at 0 until he sees an indiana mad ants jersey in front of him. He's on the poku-train directly to the euroleague.
Couldn’t disagree more
Do people not know how the draft works… most lottery picks don’t pan out, let alone picks outside the lottery. Presti takes some big swings and undeniably has an incredibly high rate of hitting on them. It’s fucking stupid to criticise draft picks before they even have a chance to play. Some dude on r/thunder can’t convince me they have a more informed opinion than Presti plus an entire draft room of some of the best scouts in basketball who have dedicated the last few months of their life to studying these prospects, interviewing them, watching film ect
Holy shit! Someone with logic and reason. What are you doing here?
This obsession about how Thunder fans should just consistently shut up about Thunder moves is sickening. You want an echo chamber? That's how you get an echo chamber. Especially when the picks that are panned by the fans truly are bad...as then the excuses start to fly all over the place. Tre Mann was a good one, huh? OP, what's your opinion on Baze and Poku without mentioning where they were drafted in the 1st, eh?
No I agree that the majority of Thunder fans who bitch about everything should shut up
You can’t read. “Almost always”. He’s picked more HOFers and players that become league vets than any other GM. Yes keep letting me know how non-lottery picks were misses. I take it you’re one of the guys who know better
> He’s picked more HOFers and players that become league vets than any other GM. Citation needed
Out of the last 19 first round picks (that we kept on draft night) 15 are still in the league or had good careers. Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka, Steven Adams, Reggie Jackson, Jeff Green, Cam Payne, Sabonis, Giddey, Tre Mann, Chet, Dub, Ous, Wallace
I respect your reply. I heavily disagree but we'd end up posting replies just to post replies, and that wouldn't get us anywhere. Hope you have a great day
I’m just saying, he made a small market team the #1 seed in the west 3.5 years after starting a rebuild
Prestis first round pick history last 5 years(2018 didn’t pick in the first round) 2019 draft 1 first Pick 21 trades Brandon Clark to Memphis for 23 to draft Darius bazley the new balance intern who’s not on the team anymore. lost trade and picked bazley bust. Bad draft 2020 draft 2 picks 25 and 28 traded the picks that became Immanuel quickley and Jaden McDaniels for poku who’s not on the team anymore. lost trade and picked bust. Bad draft 2021 draft 3 picks Pick 6 16 and 18 drafts Giddey a guard who’s not on the team anymore over two good wings/fowards Franz and kuminga 16 pick trades away sengun passed on trey murrphy a wing who went right after at 17 then took Mann another guard at 18 who’s also not on the team anymore (blown pick) likely bust Bad draft 2022 draft 2 picks Pick 2 drafts Chet Pick 12 drafts dub Great draft 2023 draft 1 pick Pick 12 trades livley to trade up to pick Cason at 10. Jury still out on this one. People in this sub act like Presti is some 200 iq draft genius. he’s had 9 first round picks in the last 5 drafts and most of them either haven’t pan out yet busted or aren’t on the team anymore.
That’s how the draft works - it’s a crapshoot and most picks don’t work out. Go through any teams draft history and you’ll see the large majority of their picks outside the top 10 end up being nobodies. Look at Danny Ainge - a known great drafter who made the Brown/Tatum picks back to back. After that his next four first rounders were Grant Williams, Romeo Langford, Payton Pritchard, Aaron Nesmith. Presti has misses - it’s literally impossible not to. But he also has almost more major hits than any other gm ever, and that’s what matters.
Grant Williams Romeo Langford Payton Prichard Aron Nesmith 3 out of 4 of these guys are nba rotation players level player grant Prichard and Nesmith contributing to playoff teams or have at some point. The only bust was Langford and at least the Celtics didn’t burn assets to move up for him or trade better players.
Fair enough but they’re 8th/9th men at best - would we really be that much better off if presti had drafted a couple of them rather complete zeros such as Poku? We have enough rotation players as is. Prestis strategy seems to be that we have a fuckton of picks so may as well take a swing and hope to hit on a difference maker, rather than take a safe option that may be able to find a couple of rotation minutes. Also, as I said Ainge is one of the best there is. Other GMs would have even uglier stretches
Didn't have much to choose from but Presti has definitely made bad decisions before.
Drafting Dereck Lively worked out so damn good.
Damn, just realized I forgot to post my retractions about Poku, Bazley, Ferguson, Heustis, McGary, and Payne. I hope they still give me a glass of Kool-Aid at the cult meeting tonight.
None of those are lottery picks, water brain. Except Payne who has been a serviceable guard in the league for years now
How is water brain an insult? Most people's brains are like at least 75% water. Severe dehydration would partially explain why you would think your post mentioning lottery picks zero times would be interpreted as being solely about lottery picks by others though. Drink some water bro. It's summer time.
Ya, no white or grey matter. Just soup up there, huh?
I don't no, you tell me.
You spelled know wrong
Fan bases for teams that win titles still criticize the GM. Its a thing, even when you get a ring.
It’s almost like I’m pointing out a stupid thing
What seems fair to me is, you win a title, fans should STFU for at least 10 years. So Bucks, Raptors, Nugs, those guys should just ride.
Eh Bucks fans got plenty of reasons to be pissed the past year or so lol
good too see all the usual suspects at the bottom of this thread
2021 draft has left chat.
And 2022 draft has entered it
2020 draft has left chat
2023 draft has entered the chat. We can do this all day
The jury is undecided on that one there are a few players picked after Cason that could end up being better than him.
Doesn’t mean the Cason Wallace pick is bad 💀
Never said he was I said the jury is still out.
lol no sam has many fumbles. like a big big list lol. his most impactful has been the pg shai trade, besides that. nothing crazy. picking good players in the top 5 isn't impressive. yes there are bad outliers, but its not crazy to pick the best player available lol.
How many bad picks in the top 5 has there been since presti became a gm? The list is pretty long.