Tramel: Utah didn’t cooperate
ures to make the Thunder an even more likable squad.
But this night could have been quite the celebration in Boomtown, had the woebegone Raptors cooperated just a little.
Armed with the Raptors’ first-round pick, the Thunder figured to get an impactful ballplayer.
Maybe that still happens, though the potential of Adams, like most of the battalion of big men available in this draft, is a crapshoot.
That’s what happens when you pick 12th in a mediocre draft.
The Thunder had every reason to believe the pick would be higher. The perennially woeful Raptors, who had won 22 and 23 games the previous two seasons, turned respectable after a Jan. 31 trade for Rudy Gay.
On Feb. 1, Toronto was 16-30, tied for the NBA’s sixth worst record. Give the Thunder the sixth or seventh pick in this draft, and either McLemore, the sweet-shooting Kansas guard, or Noel, the 7-foot Kentucky defensive whiz, would be Oklahoma Citybound.
The Thunder would have a player it could reasonably assume would replace Kevin Martin as a sixth man or replace Kendrick Perkins at center in a year or two.
Instead, Toronto traded for Memphis’ Rudy Gay, went 18-18 after January and eventually handed the Thunder the 12th pick.
So now the Thunder embarks on what figures to be a slow, at least for the Boomers, free agency period.
Adams will join Perk, Hasheem Thabeet and Daniel Orton as true centers. If Adams is a big- time project, he better get used to the Turner Turnpike, because he’ll spend a bunch of time in Tulsa with the D-League.
If Adams is close to NBA-ready, he could carve out some minutes at the expense of Thabeet. We’ll see.
The Thunder also added Colorado swingman Andre Roberson by swapping its 29th overall pick for the 26th, and Alex Abrines, a Spaniard sharpshooter who likely will stay in Europe for now.
Since Colorado went to the Pac-12, I know as much about New Zealand hoops as I do Buff basket- ball. So I have no idea how Roberson will pan out. There’s room for a tough perimeter player in the rotation, if Roberson proves to be that.
So in many ways, this draft was typical of a 60-win team. Draft some guys that probably won’t help in the short term and we’ll just have to wait and see in the long term.
But it could have been so much better for the Thunder, had Toronto just cooperated.