The OKC Thunder have been no strangers to the spotlight in recent years, for better or for worse. Much of that attention has been negative, consisting of numerous narratives and accusations.
Now it appears that it's the San Antonio Spurs' turn to be under scrutiny. However, amid their meteoric rise, folks still can't seem to get Oklahoma City off their mind.
The latest critic with intentions to soil the Thunder name was none other than Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch, who rashly lumped OKC and San Antonio together in a tirade against tanking.
"The interesting thing about this... the Western Conference Finals that was just played out between San Antonio and Oklahoma City - two amazing organizations and great teams at the moment - both of them have a foundation built on tanking," Finch said in a radio interview.
Finch has once again chosen Thunder as his target for baseless claims
This is hardly the first time Finch has taken a shot at the Thunder. After one of the Wolves' regular-season losses against OKC, he complained about how much they grab and foul on defense. The complaint came on the heels of an ejection against OKC earlier in December and his postgame tantrum during their five-game defeat in the Western Conference Finals last season.
Now he has turned his attention away from OKC's whistle and begun to question how they have positioned their franchise in such dominant fashion.
His claim that both Western Conference Finals teams this year were built on tanking is dangerously misleading, and it's only half true.
It's easy to see that the Spurs have built their foundation on tanking. The core of their roster has objectively taken shape over a trio of seasons in which they combined for a 78-168 record, good for a .317 win percentage. It led to three straight top-five draft selections, including otherworldly Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper.
The Thunder, on the other hand, have had just one such pick over the last 16 years.
Finch needs a more trained eye when tracking Thunder's success
Even when you follow the transactional bread crumbs, the foundation of their championship roster stems from the infamous Paul George trade. It earned the Thunder their now franchise cornerstone, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, along with a bundle of assets. The Thunder were able to turn one of those assets into co-star Jalen Williams.
Going even further back, general manager Sam Presti acquired George via trade with the Indiana Pacers, in which he gave up Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
Oladipo and the draft rights to Sabonis were both acquired when Presti sent Serge Ibaka to the Orlando Magic.
Ibaka was selected 24th overall by Presti back in 2008 when the Thunder were still the Seattle Supersonics.
When looking at the two franchises, Finch has decided to take the lazy approach by attributing their success to an abundance of draft capital, and it's hard to blame him. Chalking your franchise's underachievement up to factors outside of your control is much easier than owning up to mistakes and looking for areas of improvement.
It's one of the reasons Minnesota has failed to cash in on their own impressive roster, and it's arguably the main reason why the Wolves will remain stuck behind the two Conference Finals juggernauts for the foreseeable future.
Add us as a preferred source on Google