What are the Thunder's ceiling with Paul George added?

[Leavingtheecstasy]

Y'all can't just ignore the Spurs though. They'll probably win another sixty and you know Pop will have a good defensive game plan for Sabo.

Thunder match up pretty well with the spurs imo. I mean spurs might seed pretty high but if they square off in the postseason I think thunder got em.

I mean the biggest reason for the loss against houston was that everytime russ sat the lead disintegrated.

They can stagger minutes with russ and George and actually have a solid backup pg now so that wont happen again.

I remember so many games where russ would put them up, sit for like 6 minutes, come in down by 10

 

[Reid2Achieve]

I'm thinking 53-56 wins, 4th seed, and losing in 5 to the Warriors in the 2nd round.

 

[Based Lord Zedd]

Warriors will fall off eventually like every superteam. Give it two more years.

But this year they only need to be good enough to keep George, WCF is the goal.

He's actually said his wanting to go to LA was overstated. If he cares about winning the lakers arent the place right now. Now in maybe 2-3 years I could see it. But LA with PG added makes them like 7th-8th seed right now.

If he just cares about LA then he''s a smart ass salary dump.

If he's telling the truth about wanting to win, then the thunder is a good place for him right now.

So it doesn't matter if he stays in OKC or goes to LA. Either way he has to wait 2+ years to really contend for a title. Much more fun to wait in LA than OKC.

 

[<<TheStandard>>]

They're the 2nd best team in the league right now if you ask me


They were the best rebounding team last year. They had a top 10 defense last year which should be top 5 with PG and Roberson on the wings. They should have a top 10 offense with PG and Pat Pat starting.

They won't have the worst back up point guard in the league now in Semaj Christon since they signed Felton.

 

[Darealtwo1]

No where. Russ had KD and wouldn't pass him the rock. Tf you think he gonna pass to imitation KD lite

 

[Leavingtheecstasy]

So it doesn't matter if he stays in OKC or goes to LA. Either way he has to wait 2+ years to really contend for a title. Much more fun to wait in LA than OKC.

Would you rather be a high seed and have a chance at a title even if you're a massive underdog or play in LA and wait for youngins to develop and hope they get good enough to contend?

An injury could happen, or because the Thunder match up so well defensively they shock everyone and pull it off. It's not ideal, but it seems easier to bring in a third guy for the thunder than wait for a team to build in LA.

 

[Leavingtheecstasy]

No where. Russ had KD and wouldn't pass him the rock. Tf you think he gonna pass to imitation KD lite

KD had more shots off assists from russ than any other player in the league before he left.

 

[Leavingtheecstasy]

They're the 2nd best team in the league right now if you ask me


They were the best rebounding team last year. They had a top 10 defense last year which should be top 5 with PG and Roberson on the wings. They should have a top 10 offense with PG and Pat Pat starting.

They won't have the worst back up point guard in the league now in Semaj Christon since they signed Felton.

Thank you.

People fukking love to hate Russ. The thunder just need a great #2. the team they have is great.

For the warriors though, they'll prolly need more firepower but I honestly could see them doing really really well this year. People sleeping.

 

[Based Lord Zedd]

Would you rather be a high seed and have a chance at a title even if you're a massive underdog or play in LA and wait for youngins to develop and hope they get good enough to contend?

An injury could happen, or because the Thunder match up so well defensively they shock everyone and pull it off. It's not ideal, but it seems easier to bring in a third guy for the thunder than wait for a team to build in LA.

I don't see much of a difference between high seed who can only win it all via injury, or low seed that can't win at all.
So I'd rather be in LA than OKC. PG seems like he'd be very likely to agree,

I don't think OKC has the chance to seriously contend this year, and they couldn't even stop their first star from leaving the team.
PG been eager to go to LA for a while.

 

[FTBS]

A step below their ceiling with KD (a step the size of the gap between KD and PG). They have it all...size, length, athleticism, shooting. If Russ and PG gel I could see them as a 2 or 3 seed. GSW and SA are gonna do their usual and I can see them right their with SA in regular season. They should be one of the few teams capable of competing with GSW in a series.

 

[ALonelyDad]

4th best seed in west or 3rd if they overachieve and Spurs have a bad year. They still have shooting and bench issues

 

[bl2k8]

They can push the Warriors to 6 games in the WCF IMO. Defensively they matchup really well with them, might be the best defensive matchup in the entire NBA for GS

 

[<<TheStandard>>]

Thank you.

People fukking love to hate Russ. The thunder just need a great #2. the team they have is great.

For the warriors though, they'll prolly need more firepower but I honestly could see them doing really really well this year. People sleeping.

I actually think Paul George is the perfect number 2 to play with Westbrook as well.

Many of us on this board have questioned if PG13 is even a number 1 as he tends to settle for his jumper more often than not but playing with Westbrook he won't be expected to carry the offense. He'll get plenty of open looks because of the pressure Westbrook puts on the defense.

I think as constructed they're currently better than Cleveland, San Antonio, Houston, and every other team in the league with the exception of Golden State.

 

[Leavingtheecstasy]

I don't see much of a difference between high seed who can only win it all via injury, or low seed that can't win at all.
So I'd rather be in LA than OKC. PG seems like he'd be very likely to agree,

I don't think OKC has the chance to seriously contend this year, and they couldn't even stop their first star from leaving the team.
PG been eager to go to LA for a while.

The difference is a title (see: steph curry's first championship)
PG said his wanting to go to the lakers is Overstated. He would like to play at home, but if he sees a chance to win he wants to take that.
We don't actually know yet whether they can, we gotta see how russ and pg gel.

KD chose an easy road and knew it was. He's been fighting off the hate ever since. You can't stop someone who was being recruited all year to a team where you get free trophies, if they tried to recruit any teams superstars, they would've thought about it.

KD is obviously pretty soft. They were up 3-1, it's not like there was no chance at a finals appearance. And he's been proving how soft he is since he joined, especially this offseason where he's argued with children on the internet instead of enjoying his first ring.

 

[Jplaya2023]

50 wins 4 seed second round loss to the warriors in 5 games