One season removed from being one of the slowest paced teams in the NBA, OKC Thunder GM Sam Presti elected to re-tool the roster with athletes. TI takes a quick look at the road OKC took to create the Thunder’s most athletic roster.
Following a knee injury to Miami Heat wing Derrick Jones Jr., OKC Thunder rookie Hamidou Diallo received news he would be representing the Thunder at this year’s Slam Dunk contest. The 20-year-old’s selection proposes the question – is this the most athletic team in franchise history?
In past years, the Thunder have focused on drafting crafty players who had the ability to score, such as Cameron Payne and Perry Jones Jr. This strategy showed to not help the Thunder as much as they hoped and Sam Presti elected to head in a new direction.
At the beginning of the 2016 NBA season, the Thunder made a trade that sent Ersan Ilyasova to the 76ers in return for the high-flying Jerami Grant. This was the start of their pursuit to make an all-around more athletic team. The next step for OKC was to draft Terrance Ferguson, a 19-year-old with the ability to jump out of the gym then came the offseason acquisition of former lottery pick Nerlens Noel.
These transactions along with Paul George and Russell Westbrook, combine to create a flat out amazing group of athleticism. But why focus on athletic players compared to savvy play and offensive skill?
Presti envisioned a defensive-minded squad capable of switching one through five. Led by the Brodie, the increase athleticism brought an increase in the defensive intensity. Now we sit here, well into the 2018-2019 season, and the Thunder are one of the best defensive teams in the league.
OKC’s choice to focus on signing freak athletes seems to be the change they needed to become top tier contenders once again. Could this be the X-factor that leads to a Thunder championship run?
We will see come June.