Sam Presti Is Trying To FLEECE The NBA Again

[00:00:00]This was on ESPN Mark Spears. They were looking at the Thunder depth chart. They have the 12th and 17th picks in this first round. Oh my god, bro. See, the Thunder man, the Thunder, they they they finessed it, dude. They finessed it.

[00:00:19]They finessed it, man. because the second apron doesn't matter to the Oklahoma City Thunder because they're so good at drafting and developing and trading that they can just build a supporting cast every season. They have two first round picks this year. They'll probably get you'll probably see whoever they pick in the first round at 12th and 17th. You'll probably see those players playing important minutes in the Western Conference Finals next season just because they're that good at just finding talent, developing talent.

[00:01:00]So, they have 12 and 17. But here's a rumor that they might package those together to get in the top 10.

[00:01:05]>> 34 seconds. OKC, go.

[00:01:07]>> I keep hearing from several NBA executives that the Thunder are trying to move up. Not just the two first round picks, but the second round picks.

[00:01:15]>> Several NBA executives. I need to start doing that. I think, man, I need to start telling people that I've heard from several NBA executives and then I'll be the rumor mill. I'll be the new uh Jake Fiser who just spends all offseason making [ __ ] up every day and paying NBA Central to post the tweets.

[00:01:37]Anyway, >> round picks with the second round pick into the top 10 to get a player in the top 10. But who wants to give up a player in this draft in the top 10? Good luck, Sam.

[00:01:47]Facts, facts. Who wants to give up a player in this top 10? Uh, what do the Thunder really need when you think about it? You know what I mean? They have 12 and 17 in this draft and it it's like I can't even really think about what the Oklahoma City Thunder need for next season besides being healthy. Again, if Jay Dub and AJ Mitchell were healthy, they might have won the Western Conference Finals. They might have been in the NBA Finals for back-to-back seasons. they might have won the NBA championship for back-to-back seasons.

[00:02:20]So, the Thunder need all they all they really need is is health. The one thing that is a problem for the Oklahoma City Thunder right now is the Second Apron.

[00:02:33]And if they want to stay under the Second Apron, their total salary right now is at $250 million. Uh the Second Apron is like 223 or something like that. So, they're already into the second apron if they if they bring this whole team back.

[00:02:48]I think the biggest problem for the Thunder right now is the Isaiah Hartinstein situation because Isaiah Hartenstein is a player that it seems like they're not going to be able to keep, but he was such an important part of what they were doing.

[00:03:05]Interior defense and rebounding. what Isaiah Hartenstein has done for the Thunder in their championship run and what he did in the playoffs this year is nothing short of high value.

[00:03:17]Uh, but if they want to pay everybody and stay under the Second Apron, I think Isaiah Hartinstein is the guy that has to go. I don't think there's any way they can pay Isaiah Hartenstein and uh stay under the second apron. You know what I mean? Let's go. Let's go Isaiah Hartinstein.

[00:03:33]uh because he's an unrestricted free agent.

[00:03:40]He's not they don't have bird rights, right? Let's look at it. Let's look at Isaiah Hartenstein uh situation.

[00:03:49]They have a team option. My bad. Team option unrestricted in 29, a team option in 2627 at 28.5 million.

[00:04:01]and they are 223 250 they're like 27 million into the second apron.

[00:04:09]So the Oklahoma City Thunder just literally have a decision to make on the second apron. Do you pay Isaiah Hartenstein and go into the second apron? Cost you more money. Gets rid of all of the all of the exceptions, trade exceptions, mid-level exceptions, everything, you know, and they're so good at finding hidden gems everywhere.

[00:04:29]It restricts your ability to combine salaries to trade for players, right? It restricts your ability to send cash in trades.

[00:04:40]Um, I forget what they even gave up to get Jared McCain. It wasn't what it should have been, but it it would just restrict them in all of the things that they're so good at doing roster-wise, right?

[00:04:53]So, I think the Thunder fans, what you think? Any Thunder fans in here? I think the Thunder definitely let go of Isaiah Hartinstein. I think they uh I think they declined his player option.

[00:05:04]And that could be why the Thunder are rumored to be trying to package number 12 and number 17 to move up uh into the top 10 in the draft because Sam Preie knows himself and he probably knows, hey, if I can't pay Isaiah Hartinstein, I have the ability to go get that same value out of a player in the draft. And you could be looking at it like a Derek Lively type of player like so like like somebody that's you the Thunder knowing the Thunder and knowing Sam Preie he finds somebody in this draft that gives you exactly what Isaiah Hartinstein gave you. Speaking of the Oklahoma City Thunder, I came across a hot take by none other than Max Kellerman >> and uh on everybody's favorite podcast uh I don't even know what it's titled, but it's it's Rich Paul and Max Kellerman. And just listen to what Max Kellerman said here and let me know what you think. Knicks fans, Thunder fans together. Listen, >> corny. Everybody turning on Wendy. I know Shay didn't have a second best player. It's a real thing. And he was the finals MVP the year before and he's been a very clutch player.

[00:06:17]>> That's a real thing. Yeah.

[00:06:18]>> If you take Shay off the Thunder and replace him with Jaylen Brunson, the Thunder beat the Spurs.

[00:06:28]See, this is what Max Kellerman does, man. There was an interview like last year or something where Max Kellerman was talking about First Take with Stephen A. Smith and how difficult of a job it was because every day his job was to find an alternate angle to argue with Stephen A. Smith. And he made it sound like that's not what he does.

[00:06:46]He made it sound like that was forced by TV production. But then you hear him on his own podcast doing the same exact thing. This is what Max Kellerman does, man. This is gradea level rage bait.

[00:06:58]Like who even thinks of this type of stuff? You know, do people have this these type of conversations like in everyday life? Like, are you sitting imagine you're sitting around with your friends and somebody's just one of those dudes that's always just like concocting a scheme on the next level for no [ __ ] reason, you know? So, like you're just sitting around with your boys and somebody's on the couch over there and they're like, "Hey, you know what?

[00:07:21]If you took SGA off the Thunder and put and put Jaylen Brunson on the Thunder, Thunder beat the Spurs." And then I'm like, why are you even saying that? Cuz it's not realistic. and it doesn't matter and it's a dumb conversation.

[00:07:37]Let's let's listen to the rest of it.

[00:07:39]>> Horny everybody turning on Wendy.

[00:07:41]>> I know Shay didn't have a second best player. It's a real thing. And he was the finals MVP the year before and he's been a very clutch player.

[00:07:46]>> That's a real thing. Yeah.

[00:07:48]>> If you take Shay off the Thunder and replace him with Jaylen Brunson, the Thunder beat the Spurs. Thunder beat the Spurs.

[00:07:56]Same guys defended Shay that that that tried to defend Brunson. They had some success early in the in the series and and limited Brunson's offense. Brunson is one of those players and it's and the Knicks are a special team, but he's really the the number one reason why, though there are others. Rich, there are some athletes that you watch if you're not a fan of that team. And you're like, no matter what your team's lead is, no matter if that guy's in the game, you're like, damn it, >> you've just I can't I I >> I'm going to disagree with Max Kellerman's take here. And I I understand what he's saying. The same defenders on San Antonio defended SGA and were unable to defend Brunson, especially an elimination game where he drops 45 points. Don't get me wrong, in these NBA playoffs, if you take the Western Conference Finals and you take the NBA Finals, don't get me wrong, Jaylen Brunson was definitely the better straightup bucket getter out of if you're comparing SGA and Jaylen Brunson.

[00:09:01]Like, there was plenty of times where the Thunder needed SGA to dominate and he couldn't do it. But the reason, there's just different levels to the reason SGA didn't have OGN and Obi. SGA didn't have Carl Anthony Towns. SGA had Chad Homegrren out there scoring two points in 37 minutes.

[00:09:27]SGA had his his second best player on the bench.

[00:09:35]Quite possibly his third best player on the bench in AJ Mitchell. SGA had a dude a lot of times in that in that Western Conference Finals, the second best player on the Thunder was Jared McCain, a 21-year-old they just traded for who can't guard my 10-year-old son.

[00:09:52]So, it's not totally fair because basically what happened was with the with the Spurs defend, they were they were able to throw the kitchen sink at SGA because the supporting cast was just too inconsistent. The games that they won were games where Jared McCain dropped 25, right? And they got they got, you know, Alex Caruso had a 30-point game. They got crazy contributions from role players in certain games, but it wasn't consistent enough. The Spurs were able to throw everything at SGA the whole series. The Spurs tried to do that to Jaylen Brunson and they did actually.

[00:10:26]Like if you really look at it, Jaylen Brunson didn't have a good series shooting the ball. He had some incredible fourth quarter moments, but outside of the 45point game six, it's not like he was dropping 40 points every game.

[00:10:40]So the Spurs had the same success really against Brunson. It's just that when they slowed down Brunson, they got destroyed by OG and Obi, by Muel Bridges, by Josh Hart, by Carl Anthony Towns. So then they'd have to switch it back up and go iso on Brunson because we can't double him every play because the OG's going for 35 points.

[00:11:03]So then they go back to ISO ball and Jaylen Brunson just gives him buckets, straight buckets. So, that's not really fair because straight up SGA didn't have the supporting cast showing up that forced the Spurs to go back to one-on-one defense.

[00:11:22]So, I don't agree with that at all. I don't agree with that at all. I don't agree with that at all. Max Kellerman, I don't agree with that at all.