Here'a great article outlining how difficult it is to "do it like OKC".
https://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/39546/the-oklahoma-city-unicorns
https://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/39546/the-oklahoma-city-unicorns
"We need to do it like OKC!"
- Thread starter BabyPeterzz
- Start date
I still think it is the best way to go when you are a small market team. Unfortunately in the NBA few organizations are patient enough to do it this way. I think FA is the worse way to go if you are a small market team because the big names are not choosing SLC as their first destination. So what happens is you overpay for good FAs and not superstars. Your team finishes at the bottom or mid playoffs and you get average players in the middle of the draft. So you are left with a bunch of good players that are overpaid. What is even worse is when when of these FAs gets hurt or tanks after signing their big contract. It becomes a disaster that can destroy a franchise for a decade.
I am not saying that the draft is the only means to acquire players but it is the best way if you are a small market team. Nevertheless, you need to make the right choice or you will be permanent members of the lottery or worse (being mediocre).
I am not saying that the draft is the only means to acquire players but it is the best way if you are a small market team. Nevertheless, you need to make the right choice or you will be permanent members of the lottery or worse (being mediocre).
Dwill4mvp
Member
It's not very often guys like Kevin Durant come into the draft. Sonics were lucky that Oden was such a force at the time, because KD would have been the obvious first pick of the draft. It really seems like they got extremely lucky. Who knew that Serge Ibaka would be so great defensively. I remember before the draft that year all that anybody really knew about him was that he was athletic. You could pull up youtube videos of him playing like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMP7pn6VNYQ&feature=fvst.. But as you can tell he has improved way more than what you see here. Thunder are a really good team, and ya I think the draft is where were going to make our team as well. I think KOC has already figured this out and that is why he traded D-Will for draft picks and a rookie contract.
It's a risk/reward scenario. Sure, you suck for lotto picks and you play those picks starter minutes. You continue to suck and you get more. The cycle repeats itself. What if those players don't turn out to be that great? You become a crappy franchise stuck in a never ending cycle of mediocrity. You become the Golden State Warriors.
The Blazers also went all-in on a SG with no knees (this was known), and a giant with a significant injury history while Durant was sitting there.
The Blazers made their bed.
D
Deleted member 848
Guest
Jazz are being built differently than OKC, but who cares? Thing with OKC, is that they probably have a 1-2 year window to win a championship before other teams offer their players max-contracts. I can totally see players like Harden and Westbrook leaving for bigger contracts, especially if they are given much larger roles on other contending teams. Utah (to me) seems to have more chemistry than OKC, and could really become the next 2004 Detroit Pistons, 3 years from now. We just gotta keep developing our youth, collecting young pieces, fixing a good rotation, and figure out what to do with our logjam. It'll be really exciting following this team over the next 5 years.
They also traded away the 3rd pick in the 2005 draft.
If you look at the Jazz, our top 3 lotto picks--Favors, Kanter and Harris--all came through trade. They weren't our picks. The Jazz haven't bottomed out in the standings since 2005 when they got D.Will. KOC did a great job of swinging trades for lotto picks. The Jazz are a mix of vets and rookies right now, and I don't think the vets should be completely abandoned, given how they're winning games and all.
Hayward was picked #9, and Burks was picked #12. I wouldn't compare that to SEA/OKC who were bottom of the league and had several top-5 picks. Durant was a #2 pick. Harden a #3 and Westbrook was a #4. Three years in a row, OKC was one of the worst teams in the league. Their other top-5 pick was Jeff Green whom they got when they traded Ray Allen to Boston.
Yes, the Jazz got Favors, Kanter, Harris and this GSW pick from the D.Will trade.
I'm disappointed JazzFanz. I thought the obvious question was "How does OKC "do it"?"
For shame.
For shame.
Agreed...
The Zombie-Sonics were SOOO lucky Portland went for Oden i/o Durant. Also, they had the #2/5, #4, & #3 picks (Durant/Green, Westbrook, Harden) in consecutive years!! Do you think THIS fan base wouldn't be whining about having a shtty roster/coach & not signing any big FA's after that Westbrook (#4) pick?!? The 2nd biggest thing that helped that organization was when Orlando offered Lewis that crazy MAX contract, where the only terrible contract they had was the Wally Szczerbiak they got back from the Ray Allen trade.
So... if you look at the state of our current roster, I think KOC has done an AWESOME job while staying competitive with mixing youth/vets, not having any long-term horrendous contracts, & all while potentially acquiring 3 additional lottery picks (NYK-NJN-GSW) in consecutive years. Hayward vs George?? Enes/Burks vs ___???
vslice02
Well-Known Member
The "OKC approach" has failed far more often that it has worked. I really like what the Jazz have going for them but rebuilding by stockpiling lottery picks also takes a great deal of good fortune. On paper, OKC never should have even gotten Durant - in the 2007 Draft Lottery, 4 teams had a better shot than Seattle/OKC, but they jumped ahead of 3 teams from the 5th pick to the 2nd. If not for that good fortune, I'm not sure their approach would be looked at as it currently is now - being hailed as the model way to build a franchise. Similar to Chicago - who leapfrogged 8 teams to select Derrick Rose #1 overall.
The Jazz have put themselves in a great position but alot of teams have done similar things before. I think we definitely caught a break getting Kanter at #3, and much of it will come down to the Core 4 and if any of those guys have that intangible that helps develop great talent into a great player. I really like where we're at, but we've seen other franchises strike out with this approach as well.
The Jazz have put themselves in a great position but alot of teams have done similar things before. I think we definitely caught a break getting Kanter at #3, and much of it will come down to the Core 4 and if any of those guys have that intangible that helps develop great talent into a great player. I really like where we're at, but we've seen other franchises strike out with this approach as well.
With sheep. I thought that was obvious.
In 3-4 years people will be talking about "doing it like Utah". Piss on OKC.
And what is that, exactly? Refusing to be held hostage by a star, then finding a desperate team and fleecing them for the star?
I like it. I didn't at first, but whether it works or not, it shows unparalleled balls and I appreciate that.
BluesRocker
Banned
Maybe we are the new OKC already. I can't see the ceilings of any of the four young players. They do all look like they could all be Allstars.
freakazoid
Well-Known Member
Nice. It's hard to believe how much this get's overlooked.
KOC put us in a position to grab a francise player, in spite of the fact we got screwed by getting leapfrogged by two teams. And how did he do that? That's right, by owning multiple picks at the right time. That's why it drives me nuts when people claim that we really don't need our pick this year, anyway. You can never have too many assets, and because of KOC's brilliance, we ended up with one of the top players in the league, as opposed to 3 nobodies that would have never taken us anywhere.
The playoffs should be fun, as I don't see us getting completely owned, but losing that pick for a less valuable one next year could really sting in KOC's effort to stack the deck.
The Jazz were in a different position tank wise this year though with four young prospects already on the roster, Millsap as an anchor on a great contract, a draft with high potential through the top ten, and possibly an extra lottery draft pick. It's not like we're talking tanking for even two years here.
I don't see endless cycle destruction coming from one season of tanking with this particular team. Worst case, the Jazz develop Kanter and Burks more, Favors becomes more of a focus and builds confidence, and dropping into the bottom six pushes the GSW pick into KOC's hands. Now you have two top picks to deal if you don't want to take the chance of panning gold from the lottery. Lottery or trade market brings that one solidifying piece back and another winning season.