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The End of an Era
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No, not that era, no drama here. The NSL OKC Thunder Era that has the team completely underwhelm. To be honest, the long-term idea was never to do much more than be "competitive" through this season. In the inaugural NSL draft, OKC felt like they could do enough to keep their fans non-depressed while building towards the future. I'm not sure how well they've done at not sowing depression... but they've definitely built for the future. The Thunder end this year in the top 10 for 3 years in a row... the only issue? That top 10 is the lottery top 10.
For the 3rd straight year, the front office, coaching staff, and fans all enter the offseason thinking "certainly we've got to at least MAKE the playoffs right!?" The evidence now is more overwhelming than ever before. They've got a franchise cornerstone in Anthony Edwards, the actual unicorn in Kristaps Porzingis, a major glue-guy-big in Christian Wood, two up and coming starters in Okongwu and Okoro, some very solid wings like Kevin Huerter, Shake Milton, and Quentin Grimes... and more than a few other solid players. Add to that a top 10 pick and 2 early 2nds - they're in position to do exactly what they did this season - underwhelm?!?
The question remains what will be different? There isn't much out of OKC related to what will actually change. There are always big changes from season to season and what works well is a pretty dynamic situation. At this point there is not an obvious trade candidate, especially one that brings a superstar and makes it a cake walk. Given the franchise situation it makes sense to make the draft picks and continue to build... even if the team has been a lottery team instead of a borderline playoff team as expected.
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