Stiles Points: OKC Thunder Were Transparent Every Step of This Offseason

The Oklahoma City Thunder have remained transparent every step of the way this offseason, leading to the team's biggest Free Agent signing ever.

Jan 15, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein (55) reacts after being called for a foul during the second half against the Orlando Magic at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Oftentimes pinned as a top-secret organization that protects their next move as if they are Government secrets, the Oklahoma City Thunder could not have been more transparent this offseason.

In fact, Sam Presti was willing to state the plan as openly as possible as often as possible - while you could go back digging through the Oklahoman Op-Ed piece the top executive penned years ago with this 20/20 hindsight, sticking just to this summer's clippings would be enough.

As many clamored for the OKC Thunder to ink a big man even before the Isaiah Hartenstein rumors really heated up, Presti made his thoughts clear on the matter back in May.

“Yeah, we're looking for the players that help us maintain our strengths and would raise the floor on our limitations, but we are doing that. Like I said before, we're not trying to prove anybody wrong, but we are a work in progress because it's an organic project, and it's still in its infancy," Presti said at his annual exit interview, “We're not trying to prove anybody wrong by being a bad rebounding team and trying to win. We'd love to be great at everything. But we don't want to solve one area and create three holes in another area that we're scrambling to fix in another way. We're just trying to find the best way to win.”

Not being stubborn has been a driving force of this summer so far, the Oklahoma City Thunder made the difficult decision to move on from their former No. 6 overall pick that they still believe in to put him in a more comfortable Chicago environment while vastly upgrading their roster with Alex Caruso in the fold.

More importantly, the Thunder did not just stay small for the sake of staying small - nor did they add size for the sake of appeasing a restless social media contingent - Presti stayed true to the plan he clearly laid out ahead of the offseason.

“We're certainly not shutting it down and saying, hey, we're never going to look at an outside addition. Of course, we are. We do every year. But we put that through like a certain filter, decision-making filter, to kind of let us know whether we think this is a positive value decision or maybe something that doesn't really line up and maybe it's just more optical. But we'll go as fast as we can but as slow as we have to," Presti explained during his end-of-season interview.

Those decision-making filters spit out the Hartenstein decision who is not only a big man, but a seven-footer who fits the team's style while giving them a different wrinkle which Oklahoma City has routinely been open to.

“We've got to continually work and try to improve all of these different areas, but not at the expense of what's kind of generating our success. Now, could that formula change over? Absolutely. It absolutely could change," the Thunder executive said when laying out the plan for addressing the big man spot.

Even when the questions arose about the trade deadline decision to ship out Vasilije Micic, Tre Mann and Davis Bertans for veteran forward Gordon Hayward it became clear the road to bolstering this roster in free agency led back to that February swap.

“It was a multiple dimension trade for us. There was one like that a long time ago that I felt worked like that, too, whether we traded Serge for Victor and Sabonis, and I felt that that would have made that particular team, if it stayed together, extraordinarily difficult to beat. If Kevin were to leave, I still felt like we were going to be good with those particular players under team control going forward versus Serge going to a free agent year. It's very rare in the league that you can get to the point where a trade fits those parameters. I thought the Hayward trade did that for us. I would have liked it to have worked out better for Gordon, but that's just the way it goes.” Presti examined the decision to grab Hayward at the deadline and shuffle money around.

The summertime moves have catapulted the Thunder into an era of expectations. They are the popular pick to win the conference, owning one of the most complete rosters in the association - Everything that Oklahoma City has prepared for and was willing to explain at each step of the way.

Stiles Points

• The Oklahoma City Thunder have brought in Buddy Boeheim to an exhibit ten contract to bring the forward into Summer League with the franchise. The Syracuse product played 20 games for the Detroit Pistons a year ago.
• Alex Caruso has been taking in the offseason moves just like the rest of us, even advocating the league to alter their Christmas Day plans.
• The Thunder's guards are set to benefit from the addition of Hartenstein.

Song of the Day: Leaving New York by R.E.M

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