Stiles Points: OKC Thunder to Remain Aggressive But Will Opportunity Present Itself?

The Oklahoma City Thunder are on the cusp of an important offseason. With a ton of cap space, draft assets and a team ready to contender all eyes will be on Bricktown during the hot summer months as the NBA offseason is sure to bring eye-popping player movement as it often does.

Many hope the Thunder will be aggressive in complimenting the solid foundation they have already built with MVP-caliber guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and rising starts Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams leading the way with a nice supporting cast.

While there are clamorings for the Thunder to make a massive move, it takes two to tango. No matter how willing Oklahoma City is to shake up their roster they can not force the other team to part with their supreme talent as General Manager Sam Presti pointed out at his annual end-of-season interview on Tuesday.

"I'd like to think we're always aggressive. I think some people might -- they may conflate action with
aggressiveness. I actually think it's harder to be disciplined and trust your own people than it is to, like I said earlier, just go out and burn the boats, to show everybody that you're being aggressive," Presti said.

While Sun Tzu had a fantastic philosophy that still rings true today to inspire many, it is not time for the Thunder to burn the boats just yet. They haven't even truly hit the proverbial battle field. After their first playoff appearance, Oklahoma City is still starring down the barrel of a half-decade of chance - and that is on the short side of these calculations.

Though, it is time for the Bricktown boys to pull the trigger on a move to bolster their 57-win ball club should the opportunity present itself, but that opportunity has to come. Presti went on to explain that aggressiveness oftentimes stems from things the public never finds out about.

"The other thing is there's a lot of things that we explore or we look at that no one knows about that may not line up. 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," Presti added.

While a natural past time for NBA fans is to dream up fake trades, examine potential targets and transform into armchair general managers it is not as simple as "This player would be good in Oklahoma City, why don't they just go add him?"

It always takes two to dance. No matter if a trade, or negotiating with an agent in free agency with the team's location being a factor against them, outside of the draft they can not just force a player to join forces.

One thing was made clear by Presti on Tuesday, do not rule out the potential of Oklahoma City making aggressive moves this summer if the opportunity presents itself.

"We'll go as fast as we can but as slow as we have to," Presti concluded the topic on Tuesday.

Song of the Day: Unchained Melody by Elvis Presley.

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