Chris Paul is Remaking the Thunder in his Image
With all the moves that Sam Presti has made since Kevin Durant left for Golden State, would you have considered trading Russell Westbrook for Chris Paul, one of those when it went down? If you did, then hats off to you because you were in the minority.
Scroll back through your social media feeds, and chances are you'll find more than a few hundred (maybe more than a few thousand) posts of Thunder fans who couldn't wait to ship Paul to Miami. Fast forward almost seven months, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a single person in the state of Oklahoma who wants Paul to move at the trade deadline if at all.
Dennis Schroder was asked about Paul making his tenth All-Star appearance at the age of 34 and says, "He's awesome."..."He's one of the top point guards ever to play this game."..."He Changed the culture here as well, how we're playing together as a team." Schroder also mentions that Paul will talk to his teammates both on and off the court.
Speaking with Paul in media scums and seeing how he and Shai Gilgous-Alexander interact, it's hard to believe that this is the same guy Kenyon Martian referred to as a "politician who had is own agenda that teammates couldn't trust."
Billy Donovan consistently praises Paul for making sure everybody is involved in the offense. Not that guys on the same team won't have arguments, and Steven Adams says that butting heads can be a good thing. Still, if Paul and James Harden were arguing over ball distribution during game six of the Western Conference Semifinals, it seems like the issue was more of Harden wanting to shoot more. By the way, Harden had 25 field goal attempts in that game, which was about his average for the 2018-2019 season.
Pundits said if teams were going to take Paul's massive contract off the Thunder's hands, then he needed to show he can get along with guys in the locker room. Paul has done that and more. Even if this was a reclamation project to benefit everyone involved, it's still having a tremendous positive impact on the Thunder.
Whatever the asking price is to move Paul out of Oklahoma City, Presti will have to think twice (at least) before he pulls that trigger. This team is having fun playing basketball again, and that is worth way more than the 38-million Clay Bennett is spending for Paul's services.
Keep an eye on the Knicks. James Dolan fired team president Sam Mills on Tuesday. Dolan is infatuated with Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri. If Ujiri, who reportedly turned down as much as 10-million a year and a stake in ownership from the Wizards, doesn't bite on an offer from New York, don't be surprised to see Sam Presti's name pop up.
Earlier this season, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News reported that Dolan might have an interest in Presti if he couldn't land Uijiri. Presti to the Knicks has a ring to it, but working for James Dolan? Even Miss Cleo doesn't see that working.
Thunder/Cavaliers Wednesday at 7 pm on Fox Sports Oklahoma.
