With Inaugural season of the NSL knocking on the door, the Oklahoma City Thunder have turned to veteran GM (and behind the scenes “Wizard”) WizKid. The name speaks for itself and there is not a bad word you can say about this man. We all know the quality of human we are dealing with here, and we could easily throw a 1000+ word write up just about that together, but lets us take a look at where the Thunder are sitting after the NSL draft, and where they look like they will be headed for this season and beyond.

THE GM

Now, as stated this whole report could be about WizKid as a person, GM and all round super dooper bloke, But GM point credit is important to us all and as fun as that would be, I am not sure it will help out the bank account.

WizKid is definitely known for his ability to turn a shit stained franchise into a powerhouse. The work he puts into running a team will bode well for the Thunder and their future. He is patient and respectful when it comes to building his teams, and always manages to turn players into stars.

Definitely not afraid to spend the franchises money, and will hand over any tax bill he may incur all while building the team the way he wants it. The Thunder are in good hands, and look set to become a massive threat sooner rather than later under the guidance of WizKid.

DEPTH CHART

At First Glance the team itself doesn’t look half bad talent wise. The team has some nice young talent coming through to build around. DeAaron Fox and Lauri Markkanen will be long term players for the Thunder franchise and are great pieces to build around. Tristan Thompson has once again started to produce up to his potential in the NBA and will definitely bode well for WizKid when it comes time to move on players in search of his stars. With the way the NSL draft worked out, the competition will be extremely even this year and a few teams may surprise in their final standings. This roster in front of us now is definitely not the way I see it sitting by the time trade deadline rolls around. Overall the team has some great young talent, with some veteran help to blend in nicely but not a team I would be happy with while lined up with a 112gm point tax bill at week 15. Expect WizKid to do some major work before the deadline or next season.

THE TRADE

Overall not a bad deal here for the Thunder. You lose a player like Mitchell and it normally hurts a lot, but adding a player like fox, to go along with a 1^st round draft pick is more than fair. Plenty of guys will have their opinion on which guy will have the better career, but both these guys have massive upside and are in a great place to help build their franchises respectively. Personally I would love to have Mitchell over Fox, but its only by a nose and I feel fox will work wonders here with the Thunder moving forward.

PLAN FOR THIS YEAR

It is anyone’s guess as to what a GM is going to do with his team over the entire season, but let’s take a quick look at what might happen.

The Thunder’s key goal before the week 15 fine deadline will be to decrease some cap and make sure they head into the off season with some spare change to make a splash in free agency. With the Thunder not likely winning the championship this season, guys on massive money like Teague, Gibson Jones will all be moved on for cheaper assets and building blocks. The biggest weapon WizKid has is his ability to move these types of assets for players who have more trade value and work his way up from there. It is definitely a gift and is amazing to watch it unfold.

MVP

DeAaron Fox – This kid has the ability to break out even more this season and will likely easily win the Thunder’s MVP award unless they are able to make moves to bring in better players. Fox has the ability to average 25/6/6 in the 2k system of the NSL and with not many other players that will be standing in his way at the Thunder I think that is about where he will finish off the season.

CONCLUSION/PREDICTION

For the way the team stands as of now, the Thunder are not in a great position salary cap wise. There are far superior teams out there in a similar cap situation than the Thunder at this point and for WizKid I think the work starts now to rectify that.

Overall the team on paper is definitely going to be competitive especially being run by WizKid himself as he always manages to get the best out of every situation and squeez the best out of every single player.

Expect the Thunder to make some big changes during the season on their path to putting a super team together. They will not hold back on anything if it gives them the chance to make them better for the future.

On the season itself, it is a tough one to judge as we don’t know what magic Wiz will pull out of his hat trade wise, but I am going to have the Thunder finishing outside the playoffs in a tough Western Conference with a record of 35-47.

Tweleve words to get to 1000, and I have done it. WOO!