[People] Created three young men twice, Presti will eventually establish the Thunder Dynasty

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Li Hui

After 13 years, Russia once again ushered in the finals. 13 years ago, the youth storm caused by the Third Young Master of Thunder made the entire league frightened. Today, 13 years later, the Thunder once again entered the finals with better team defense.

Behind all this, one person's efforts are inseparable from the efforts of the Thunder, Sam Presti.

twice created the "three young men"

In June 2007, Presti, who was only 29 years old, became the new general manager of the Seattle Supersonics. At that time, he took over a team that missed the playoffs for two consecutive seasons. Presti's first choice after taking office was to choose Kevin Durant, which was a choice that didn't require any thought. But then, his choice to send away veterans Ray Allen and Lewis of the team caused huge controversy. In that Supersonics, Ray Allen and Lewis are the biggest players in the team, and many fans are still looking forward to them leading the team to achieve new glory.

Facts have proved that Presti's operation was successful and visionary, sending Ray Allen to Boston to form the Big Three, and the Thunder soon ushered in their own super trio. Durant entered the league's first season and had a poor Supersonics score, so they won the No. 4 draft pick in the second year, so they chose Russell Westbrook. Presti was also questioned when choosing Westbrook. At that time, Westbrook was not very prominent. In college, he could only attack Darren Collisson, who was far inferior to him in the future, but Presti caught a fancy to the huge energy contained in this young man. Another season passed, and the Thunder, holding the Tanhua lottery, selected left-handed player James Harden. At this point, the first generation of Thunder Three Young Masters successfully merged.

In the three seasons of the three young men, the Thunder took one step at a time. In the first year, their team reached the playoffs for the first time in their team history, the second year in their team history, and in the third year, they reached the finals for the first time in their team history. Although they regretted not winning the championship, it is important to note that in those three years, the Thunder lost to the teams that won the championship (Lakes, Mavericks and Heat), which is enough to reflect how outstanding that Thunder is.

Sending off Harden in 2012 may be the most wrong decision in Presti's entire career, but soon Presti created a new third young master for the Thunder.

With Durant and Westbrook's departure one after another, the Thunder began to fall into a trough, but Presti, who had a keen eye, made a deal that changed the league structure the same year Westbrook left. In the 2019 offseason, the Thunder gave George away and obtained Alexander, who had just finished his rookie season, veteran Garlinari and five future first-round draft picks from the Clippers. At that time, this deal was considered a more profitable deal by many people. After all, George was at its peak, while Alexander was just a second-year rookie with the 11th pick in the first round.

However, Alexander quickly shocked everyone with his Rockets version of his growth rate. Alexander continued to evolve around Paul. After Paul left the team, Alexander began to stand alone. Although the Thunder once missed the playoffs for two consecutive seasons, this also brought them more and better young players. In the 2022 draft, Presty selected Chet Homgren at the second pick and Jaylen Williams at the 12th pick. Among them, Jaylen Williams' draft pick came from George's deal. In other words, not counting other players, the Thunder have already obtained two of their new version of the three young men with George.

With the further growth of Williams and Chet Holmgren, the Thunder began to rise and they successfully won the West No. 1 last season. However, in the playoffs, the team still exposed problems such as insufficient inside depth. So, in the offseason last year, Presti waved his hand again, and he brought Harten and Caruso to the team respectively. The former made up for the team's lack of interior reserves, while the latter further improved the team's outside defense and game experience. Among them, the Caruso Thunder sent out the Australian genius defender Gidey who they trained for 2 years. This operation is not surprising. After all, Gidey's shortcomings in the playoffs against the Mavericks were completely exposed, but you still need to admire Presti's super courage, because sending away a young man who has played as the main player in the team is by no means easy.

In this way, Presti spent 18 years to create two versions of the Third Young Master for the Thunder. Unlike the ultimate talent of the previous version, the new version of the Third Young Master for the Thunder does not seem to have such a terrifying talent, but they are calm and willing to invest more on the defensive end, which led to the Thunder reaching the finals again.

Missed the dynasty? Then build another one!

In the eyes of many people, if Presti had not sent Harden away, the Thunder would have had the chance to win the championship and create a dynasty. Time cannot be turned back, and the regrets of the past cannot be resolved, but Presti is creating a brand new Thunder Dynasty.

After reaching the finals, the Thunder is only one step away from winning the championship. Judging from the overall performance of this season, the Thunder, who have won 80 wins in the regular season + playoffs, have a great chance to win the championship. In terms of the latest chance of winning the championship, the Thunder is believed by the media to have an 80% chance of winning the championship, which is enough to prove their advantage.

However, this is not the most terrifying thing about this Thunder. This Thunder is not only the youngest team in NBA history to reach the Finals lineup (only 24.2 years old), but they will also have a large amount of future assets. With these years of operations, the Thunder has a large number of draft assets. According to statistics, in the next five years, the Thunder will have 8 first-round draft picks and 12 second-round draft picks, which is enough to bring them more "Thunder Three Young Masters".

Judging from the current salary structure, the Thunder can at least keep their core lineup for 2027, which means that the Thunder will still have a chance to win the championship in the next two seasons. If they win the championship this season and continue to win the championship in the next two years, then the Thunder will create a dynasty. Even if they "only" win one or two championships in three years, after 2027, the Thunder, which has several future draft assets, can still remain competitive.

"The most terrible thing is that the three of us can continue to improve." Alexander said earlier about him and Williams and Homegren. This undoubtedly reveals the most terrifying side of this Thunder. With the older generation of superstars such as Jenkudu and other Mesozoic players Jokic, Antetokounmpo and others trapped in the overall configuration of the team, this Thunder team created by Presti is expected to break the chaotic era of seven championships in the NBA in the past seven years and create its own Thunder dynasty.