OKC Thunder: TI writing team dives in with a holiday roundtable

Question 2:

Boxing Day offers excellent sales – and also is when people make returns. Which gift should the OKC Thunder be returning and why?

Stephen Dolan: I imagine there’s going to be a lot of Patrick Patterson in here. You’ll not get that from me.

I don’t know, the Thunder’s gifts were pretty good this year! We got Dennis Schröder off the scrap heap, Russell Westbrook playing incredible basketball (even if the shots aren’t falling yet), Steven Adams taking a mini-leap, Paul George playing the best ball of his career, Jerami Grant and Terrance Ferguson surprising us all.

No Presti Clause has been very good to us. Maybe we can get an exchange for Brian Davis back?

Justin Cooper: This would have been a much easier question last season when teams were exploiting Melo’s atrocious defense nightly.  This year is a little more difficult.  It hasn’t really been a gift, but I’m going to say the Thunder should return Westbrook’s recent cold hand from three.  Honorable mention here has got to be the setbacks to Roberson’s recovery.  Send that back to wherever it came from.

Alex Mcewen: Personally, I think the Thunder should stand pat. But, if Oklahoma City must tweak the roster Alex Abrines should be the player on the chopping block. He is too inconsistent to play the role Oklahoma City desperately needs him to fill.

Any return OKC can get for Alex would be good. A second-round pick would be preferred, as it would open an additional roster spot. Allowing the Thunder to sign Deonte Burton to a standard deal and still have the flexibility to add a buyout free agent.

Austin Sternlicht: My guess is there are going to be a lot of Patterson responses. I’ll mix things up and go with Alex Abrines. He was billed as a three-point specialist when he was drafted and simply hasn’t lived up to that. To me, you have to be at least 40 percent to be considered elite. After shooting 38 percent his first two seasons, he is now down to 32 percent this year. Plus, it always feels like he misses the ones that matter most. There was the one at New Orleans around a week ago, and the one against Minnesota on the 23rd. With Ferguson continuing to shine, Abrines isn’t needed as much.

Noah Schulte: Patrick Patterson back to Toronto. I didn’t expect him to provide much to the Thunder–especially after last season–but I didn’t expect him to be this bad. He’s probably been the worst player on the team so far and it was evident from Day One. Thankfully, Jerami Grant’s taken such a big step forward that it hasn’t mattered too much this year but wow, that signing was a disaster.

Lawrence George: The acquisition of Raymond Felton. As good as Ray Ray was last season, there were other options on the table who were better equipped for what the team needed.

Tamberlyn Richardson: Hopefully I’ll be proven wrong about this season’s draft picks. I don’t count Hamidou Diallo since he was obtained in a trade (and was a steal). Rather, I wish Presti would’ve pooled the two picks to move up to grab either a multi-tasking big or a perimeter specialist.