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Mussatto: Why Sam Presti, OKC Thunder are more focused on what it has than what it needs
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- Mussatto: Why Sam Presti, OKC Thunder are more focused on what it has than what it needs
The Thunder's first playoff run of this era was supposed to be revelatory. It would expose flaws and identify holes for the asset-rich Thunder to address via trade or free agency in the offseason.
But maybe we had it backward.
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"It's not a matter of knowing what you need," Thunder general manager Sam Presti said Tuesday, "it's a matter of knowing what you have."
We knew the Thunder had a 57-win, No. 1 seed-team in the regular season, but we didn't know how it would fare in the playoffs.
After going 6-4 in the postseason, sweeping the Pelicans and falling to the Mavericks in a six-game second-round series, we have a better idea of what the Thunder has.
A top-five player in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who isn't just a regular-season superstar, but a playoff assassin. An all-world stopper in Lu Dort . A talented player but tough fit in Josh Giddey . A top-five defense that performed as such in the playoffs. A top-five offense that sputtered. Rising stars in Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren who exemplified that imbalance — good defensively, not good enough offensively.
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There was little indication from Sam Presti’s exit interview that he’d look to plug in a different style for the Thunder.
"I think one of the things we learned is we have a really good base to work with," said Presti, who held his annual postseason press conference Tuesday.
As the Mavericks suffocated the Thunder, how the two teams operated at the trade deadline came into focus. Dallas forfeited a chunk of its future by acquiring P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford — both of whom are starters on a soon-to-be NBA Finals team.
The Thunder traded for Gordon Hayward . A move that both set the Thunder up for future financial flexibility while in theory helping on the basketball court. Hayward, though, was a bust from that standpoint.
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"We did get Gordon to bark," Presti said. "So we have that going for us."
Presti otherwise went out of his way to empathize with Hayward, who whined about his role on his way out of town.
"I missed on that," Presti said of his evaluation of Hayward. "That's on me."
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But far more impactful than Presti missing on Hayward was hitting a moon shot with the SGA-Paul George trade and the picks of Holmgren and Jalen Williams.
If anything, the playoffs revealed that the Thunder is in more need of time than a trade. A move or two along the margins, sure, but the biggest upgrades will be organic.
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"If the Thunder had made a "performative outside acquisition like a lot of people were asking for, I don't think we'd know nearly as much about the team," Presti said.
Added Presti: "Everybody wanted us to cobble together our draft tools and add a star, and the question I asked was 'Are we sure we don't have some players amongst us that could potentially walk in those shoes at some point?'
"I think we learned that we do have some guys in Chet and Jalen that are certainly not there yet, but I wouldn't bet against them."
Presti didn't regret not being more aggressive (who knows which players were available?) at the trade deadline.
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"We certainly could have done some things differently," Presti said. "If we did, I don't know that it would have been better. It could have been worse, I don't know. It just would have been different.
"I think we tried to thread the needle, and I'm pleased with where we ended."
Near the end of his two-and-a-half-hour press conference, Presti referenced something he said three years ago — that when the Thunder made it back to the postseason, "we want it to be an arrival and not an appearance."
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"I know this is not going to go over well for people," Presti said Tuesday, "but what we have is an appearance … We have shown up to the postseason. We'll arrive if we can replicate that. Because there's a lot of teams that have gotten to the playoffs for one year and then they, for whatever reasons, may not be able to get back there.
"So the way I would look at that is you can either pick the lock or you can crack the code. Picking the lock, you're stealing it. Cracking the code, you own it."
The Thunder is looking within for the right combination.
More: What OKC Thunder GM Sam Presti said about Gordon Hayward, NBA Draft, 2023-24 season
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Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com . Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com .
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder, Sam Presti more focused on what it has than what it needs
