OKC Thunder: B/R says team’s biggest problem is experience

The OKC Thunder offseason has primarily centered on the NBA Draft where Sam Presti added four new prospects including the sixth overall pick Josh Giddey. Tre Mann, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, and Aaron Wiggins are the other trio of prospects the OKC VP  selected with the 18th, 32nd, and 55th picks.

Although Giddey and Mann had short turns at Summer League, the roster finished the event on a high, routing the Spurs 116-91. That group left Vegas to prep for training camp that commences at the end of September.

The rookies will join the returning core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, Darius Bazley, Isaiah Roby, Kenrich Williams, and last season’s rookies Aleksej Pokusevski and Theo Maleon.

Bleacher Reports cites OKC Thunder offseason weakness as experience

If you’re recognizing a common denominator it’s youth. This Thunder roster is the youngest in the Association with an average age of 22.9 years. A factor not going unnoticed by Bleacher Report writer Greg Swartz who selected the major weakness of every club halfway into the offseason.

Most teams were earmarked for positional needs or missing skill sets but Swartz zeroed in on age for the Thunder. More accurately experience or lack thereof with only four players over 24 on the squad.

"This version will even be younger than last year when OKC began the season with veterans Al Horford and George Hill in the starting lineup.Sam Presti decided to pay Kemba Walker $54 million over the next two years to stay away from the team and only took on Derrick Favors to collect a first-round pick from the Utah Jazz in a salary dump.This will be an ugly season in Oklahoma City, as the Thunder could finish with the league’s worst record. They have plenty of young talent to be excited about, but removing almost all the adults in the room is sure to lead to some bad habits as well."

Derrick Favors and Mike Muscala are the oldest at 30 with 11 and eight years experience respectively. Ty Jerome (2-years) barely makes the cut having just turned 24 on July 8th while 26-year-old Kenrich Williams (3-years) completes the quartet.

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Two players in the above quartet were part of the Thunder offseason exercise as Muscala was re-signed in free agency while Favors was obtained in a trade completed the day after the draft.

As Swartz notes this iteration of the Thunder is younger than last season which isn’t necessarily a bad situation given the team’s mandate is to tank.

With so much youth it won’t equate to a winning record but the youngsters will get minutes and an opportunity to develop in real-time facing their peers.

No doubt part of the strategy behind this move was to amass the worst record in the league. That’s not something the OKC Thunder were able to accomplish last season in spite of injuries to SGA, Bazley, and shutting down vets like Horford.

With Presti hoarding so much draft capital the Thunder can’t afford to overachieve and the youth brigade should help on that front.