I'm starting off my NBA post mortem series with the Thunder, because they're a favorite of the largely Canadian audience here and because I think they have one of the simpler roads ahead.
Young Team, Open Window
As with our final four, it's odd for such a young team to be legitimately near contending for a title, but they clearly are. Titles are won by top 5 players with good injury luck and OKC had both.
I whole-heartedly agree with the criticism Richard Jefferson expressed about how they blew their opportunity this year, by not doing more at the trade deadline. They already have too many good young players, so what's the point of keeping that hoard of draft picks?
Would they have been more competitive with Alex Caruso, Mikal Bridges, or Daniel Gafford? They had the resources to get any of them.
However, the advantage of going into the playoffs with the guys they had is that they learned a lot about what needs to change: Chet's too small and Giddy ain't it.
They are really onto something, though, and the core of SGA, Chet, and Dort is a great starting point.
Roadmap
OKC has sufficient cap space and trade assets to basically do whatever they want. I think the core considerations are culture fit and complementarity with SGA and Chet. For that reason, I think most star players should be off their board, although a reunion with Paul George might make sense.
I heard Lauri Markkanen floated as the perfect fit and that makes a lot of sense. He should be available and he's a good rebounder who won't clog the paint. He's also not such a big star that they need to worry about his ego.
Other than that, everyone can always use more shooting. I'd look into acquiring Duncan Robinson from the Heat. He's as dangerous of a shooter as there is and he's a great teammate and his length gives him positional versatility.
How does this look for next year's playoff team?
C: Chet
F: Lauri
F: Duncan
G: Dort
G: SGA
Who should I cover next?