Rebuild Proponent

@No9356340128492 @BrotherBear1408 @King_Of_Fedoras @elitetakes_ Essentially they used picks 5 26 and 36 to get Hunter.

@BrotherBear1408 @King_Of_Fedoras @elitetakes_ A swap and trading two first round picks is not the same thing yk that

The right decision, especially after the Jakobi Meyers trade & Parker Washington emergence It’s harder to find great CBs in this sport

I really hope this is just a short term plan because it feels way too premature to abandon the two-way player thing, especially considering they spent the equivalent of 3 1st Round Picks on him. But if the thinking is teach him one at a time till he's good at both, I get it.

@HPbasketball If we think about what makes OKC great, it's an elite superstar (as there've been many of in NBA history), some other borderline all stars, and elite depth and talent throughout. Nothing specifically immediately jumps out apart from SGA.

I'm really interested by the idea that the Thunder are, objectively, an All-Time team. Wins. Point Differential. Defense. Defense with Offensive Capability. Led by MVP. Depth. Coaching. Culture. Execution. But they do not feel like the all-time great teams *to me* and I do not know why. (Thunder fans, I get they fell like that to you and that people SHOULD view them that way. Read the first part again.) If you're not a Thunder fan, does OKC feel like an all-time great team on par with Warriors 2016, 2017, or say, Heat 2012 (who were objectively much worse than OKC), OKC 2014, 01 Lakers, etc? If not, why not?

@AndrewDBailey I mean when you establish 5 criteria, of course you're going to reach situations like this. The more criteria you establish, the easier it is for your chosen player to meet the threshold. Problem is that in the NBA these arguments lead to non-legends being inducted.

My super-simple Hall of Fame temp check is also pretty good for LaMarcus Aldridge. Kareem, Duncan, KD, Ewing, KG, LeBron, Dirk, Shaq, Hakeem, Parish and Robinson are the only players in NBA history who match or exceed all of Aldridge's regular and postseason totals for points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals.

@Marcus_Mosher Ie Geno Smith was an objectively terrible pick for the Jets. Best comp for what I'm saying is probably the NBA: Luka was a better pick than SGA, even though SGA is better now, because for these teams and GMs in all sports, early production is immensely valuable.

@Marcus_Mosher True, but that doesn't mean Moore was the better pick. I'm not saying he wasn't, but I feel like in historical evaluations we just say "this guy's better now" and ignore how important ability in years 1-4 is above anything else (weighted more heavily towards year 1).

There was a big debate in 2018 as to who was WR1 between Calvin Ridley and DJ Moore. Ridley was the more pro-ready player, but was 24 going into his rookie season. Moore was the more talented player and was only 20. 9 years later, Moore has nearly 3,000 more yards and earned a new contract in 2026. Ridley just had to take a pay cut to avoid being released by the Titans.

@ToCookForschool @fraggrrr @BengalYouTube Cooper Flagg was unanimously voted as the best player on the NBA Select Team, consisting of just him and NBA players, before he'd ever played a second of college basketball.

@CuhWristChin__ @PranavSriraman And we only use the tiebreakers for players extremely close in caliber: ie SGA and Jokic, maybe Wemby, Luka, or Giannis. Like 2024 Tatum and 2022 Steph never "earned it, just like 2025 Haliburton wouldn't have if he won, because they weren't close enough to the top.

Such a boring and reductive way to analyze basketball

@SamQuinnCBS But was BITW KD or Steph? They both had absurd seasons. Not to mention LeBron pre-injury, Harden pre-injury, Giannis, and Jokic. Very difficult year-I think it was KD then Steph, but many guys with an argument.

It feels lost to time but I’m adamant that KD was the best player in 2021. Giannis won the title but Durant outplayed him in that series and only lost because Harden and Kyrie got hurt. If even one of them stays healthy the Nets win that title that’s Durant’s crowning moment.

@FleekoSuave @jayden_e928 @NSftbl @UofBasketball The year of a season isn't decided by when it starts. It's when most of it is played. Not very hard to understand basic facts about a sport. Otherwise we would be talking about the 2015 Warriors going 73-9. Except not a single person does that.

@jayden_e928 @NSftbl @UofBasketball 2016-2017 means the year starts in 2016. Jesus Christ are you people fucking brain dead?