The Conversation: Thunder Take-Off
Ryan and Cray are joined by first time guest Wes Hill to air out their reactions and predictions for the Playoffs, the Presti presser, and plans for the Thunder future.
For our subscribers who prefer reading to listening to a two hour episode, we've included a full, edited transcription of the conversation as well.
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Show notes and transcript
Ranking offseason priorities:
- How will Cason Wallace’s long-term spot determinethe Thunder’s priorities for Isaiah Hartenstein and Lu Dort?
- Can OKC work with Dort and iHart to find therole, salary, and/or Eastern Conference destination they want?
- Why paying everyone (and the tax) is the bestshort- and long-term asset play.
The draft and the youths:
- Should OKC target older *cough* Yaxel *cough* plug-and-play talent at #12 or #17?
- The juicy opportunities to move up in the firstround.
- Who will be on the 15-man roster between Nikola Topic,Jared McCain, Thomas Sorber, Pick #12, and Pick #17 (and Isaiah Joe, AaronWiggins, and Kenrich Williams)?
The Dialogue & The Machine:
- Was Presti trying to work the refs, absorb some of the Shai hate, or do PR for a superstar?
- The tension between national and local media
- The impossible task of tuning out the dumbest,loudest diss-course online
The full conversation:
Lightly edited transcript for publication
Ryan: How are we feeling about how the Thunder season ended a few days out?
Cray: It was brutal. It was a very brutal ending. I think, like a lot of Thunder fans, I'm of two minds: step back and consider the injuries, the incredible opponent in the Spurs, and yada yada. That's the excuse-making, the rationalization, the things that ease the pain that are true. It wasn't the 2016 Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead or something like that, right? But it stings. The whole series stings because they went up, because they had a chance, because they gave themselves a chance, and frankly, because the role players we were worried about stepping up and giving the stars a chance did so. And we were down a star, down more than that. Especially one star didn't rise to the occasion the same as the role players. So I think it's a pretty big bummer and a pretty big failure of a game, and of the last two or three games of the series. But on the whole, on paper, it's not the worst loss in the world. It's not “blow-up-the-team, fire-everyone, trade-everyone” time. It's not that, but it sucked.
Ryan: Do you feel more rational about it now than you did like an hour after the game?
Cray: No, because I've written a couple pieces on it. Long-term, I'm not that upset. I think I'm way high on the Chet optimism scale specifically, relative to the fan base. But I will say, and this is the one piece I haven't finished yet, I have rewatched Game 7, specifically the fourth quarter, and it is very upsetting.
Ryan: Which Keldon Johnson three was the most upsetting?
Cray: The way I put it: it's not about that. It's about this: they were within two points. Shai was standing at the scorer's table to check back in with 10 minutes left. They gave up a few more, but the main things I can't get over are that Shai came in, they were close, Alex Caruso tried to posterize Victor Wembanyama, and he almost did. He got fouled. Cason Wallace was draining huge clutch threes. Meanwhile, Chet would not look at the rim. Frankly, he may have been avoiding eye contact with his teammates before the ball made it to him on multiple occasions. And even Shai had an awesome Game 7. Great Game 7. But down the stretch, the team was too scared of Victor Wembanyama.
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