OKC Thunder: The 5 early signs the team’s goal of tanking is working

Goal No. 2: Cut the middling talents from the roster

This past weekend the franchise released T.J. Leaf and Admiral Schofield following the final preseason game. On Monday, the team had to finalize their rosters, and as such, the Thunder waived Frank Jackson.

In any other season, fans might be swarming social media with words of ire and angst given those three players were arguably the best of the group being considered for the final roster spots.

In terms of the 20 players who began training camp, there were tiers to consider with varying degrees of being untouchable. At the top is the core group of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Darius Bazley, and Luguentz Dort and the incoming rookies Poku and Maledon.

Since the team and new head coach Mark Daigneault would want some semblance of consistency in terms of the team culture and systems the next level included the other trio of returning players: Mike Muscala, Hamidou Diallo, and Isaiah Roby.

The next tier is the veteran talents who’ll provide leadership and could just as easily finish the season on a different club (read: they can bring in more draft picks and/or assets via trade). The trio of Al Horford, George Hill, and Trevor Ariza are in this tier.

The remaining players formed the group who would then have to be siphoned down to four to form the 15 members of the varsity squad.  The lucky quartet who made the cut are Ty Jerome, Justin Jackson, Kenrich Williams, and Darius Miller.

Through the preseason games Admiral Schofield was dealing with an injury that didn’t allow him to show his best effort, but T.J. Leaf and specifically Frank Jackson were easily the best of this final tier of individuals. Frank in particular played well enough to earn a spot.

That he is the final cut is somewhat disappointing but with the goal of tanking his cut makes absolute sense. Jackson isn’t going to garner high-end draft picks in a trade. His efforts could help the team win and perhaps most importantly he’s not a player the franchise envisions as someone who’ll factor as part of the future.

In some regards, his quality performances in preseason likely cost him the roster spot because playing him would mean other players like Theo Maledon and Ty Jerome’s minutes would need to be altered to allow Jackson time on the court. Hence – he got waived.