Knicks could learn from Thunder on rebuilding
NEW YORK — The Knicks were not supposed to be so bad so fast. They were supposed to be decent. Maybe even competitive. Just not embarrassing. Of course, this being the Knicks, it was only 10 games into the season before Scott Perry and Steve Mills called the team out in an impromptu postgame press conference.
This Knicks team was supposed to look something like the 201819 Clippers, who scrapped their way into the playoff picture then sold their culture — and location — to max free agents. If there’s a team that’s been like the Clippers this season, the Knicks haven’t been it.
Instead, it’s been the Thunder who have become the model franchise for rebuilding without actually rebuilding. They had no choice but to do so after trading Paul George and Russell Westbrook in the span of a week over the summer.
“I wouldn’t say that we’ve started to rebuild,” Thunder GM Sam Presti said in his July 25 press conference. “The primary focus for our organization based on the circumstances that we inherited this summer is first we need to reposition the franchise.”
The Thunder have done just that.
Oklahoma City has followed the Lob City Clippers’ guide to retool, not rebuild. They weren’t supposed to be this good this fast.
After trading Westbrook and George, the Thunder were projected to be competitive but not a playoff team in the loaded Western Conference. Yet here they are, almost at the midpoint of the season, sitting on a 1915 record.
Presti has put on a MasterClass in efficient rebuilding. That same class was taught by Doc Rivers three years ago.
It was Rivers’ mandate to remain competitive while rebuilding when the Lob City era came to a close. The Clippers similarly had the unpleasant task of moving forward after trading both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and losing DeAndre Jordan in free agency.
“Yeah, but we’re rebuilding in a little different way,” Rivers said at the time. “The goal is to win, and once you win — if you ever do — then I don’t want to rebuild anymore. Then you go to the next one. That’s the way I look at it.”
Here’s what the Clippers got back in their trades for Griffin and Paul: Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell, Patrick Beverley and Tobias Harris, who was traded to the Sixers for Landry Shamet and two firstround picks. The Clippers then traded five firstround picks to the Thunder — with Shai GilgeousAlexander and Danilo Gallinari — for Paul George, who secured Kawhi Leonard’s signing with the Clippers.
The Thunder have set themselves up to do something similar, and the end of one Oklahoma City era has ushered in a bright, new one.
GilgeousAlexander has now become the star whose potential shone so bright as a rookie in Los Angeles. He is the Thunder’s leading scorer averaging 20 points per game in just his second year in the league. The Thunder now have the opportunity to build around him while competing for a playoff spot.
This is rebuilding made easy, by not actually rebuilding at all.
Not every team can follow this blueprint, because not every team has two stars to trade. The Thunder have their own hurdles, chief among them selling Oklahoma City to free agents as an attractive destination.
But that’s later down the line, and this is now, and right now, the Thunder are a playoff team with limitless possibilities. No team has more draft assets at their disposal. The Thunder also traded Jerami Grant to the Nuggets for a 2020 firstrounder. Oklahoma City could have more than 10 firstround picks between now and 2026.
What makes those picks more valuable is the Thunder’s standing as a competitive, playoffbound team instead of a franchise mired in dysfunction at the bottom of the standings. Presti has the room to get creative and either use those picks in a trade for a star or package together them to move up in the loaded 2020 NBA draft class.
His Executive of the Year campaign is rolling.
Oklahoma City might still miss the playoffs, and that’s OK: So did the Clippers in Year 1 of their ‘rebuild.’ In Year 2, they made the playoffs and beat the Warriors two times in the first round. This is Year 3. They’re now a championship contender that sold culture — and location — to their two new stars.
The Thunder appear locked into the seventh seed, sitting 4.5 games ahead of the eighth seed yet three games behind the sixth, but the West can be volatile and several teams have underperformed. A winning streak one way and a losing skid the other can change the playoff picture in two weeks’ time.
The Thunder, though, don’t need to make the playoffs for this season to be a success. Their success came in following a blueprint a blueprint that has them on track to retool faster than others who’ve tried before.