FIRST TAKE | “Thunder look scary after offseason” – Windhorst weight in on OKC acquire Alex Caruso

FIRST TAKE | “Thunder look scary after offseason” – Windhorst weight in on OKC acquire Alex Caruso

indicated he wanted it Pat Riley came on the record said they weren’t going to give it if Jimmy made that an issue he could have forced a trade teams were definitely paying attention to see if that would become an issue but it was diffused Butler decided he would not pursue it would uh would play out the season he’s got a player option for next year could become a free agent so you keep that one of the big moves right out of the gate male Bridges being traded to the Knicks after seeing what the Celtics did to the Eastern Conference and what they did during the postseason you had to figure out a way to get a high quality perimeter Defender getting male Bridges alone was amazing getting him to play with the vanilla with the vanilla with the villan NOA uh you know you know quartet already going over there in New York was a perfect fit they paid a huge price but it should really pay off for them and it’s a bet on Jaylen Brunson as a star player and speaking of star players what just happened um you know couple hours ago really Donovan Mitchell extending his contract in Cleveland I think this is the biggest move in franchise history the Cavs after uh Lebron resigning in 2014 there were a bunch of teams who 6 months ago thought Donan was basically going to be a free agent and they would be able to trade for him this year if he didn’t want this extension instead he commits longterm to the Cavs keeps them relevant in the Eastern Conference and I’m going to say this one at the end here this one happened very early and was overlooked and shouldn’t have been Alex Caruso to the thunder in a straight swap for Josh kiddy no draft compensation is a steal it could potentially end up affecting the championship race more than any of these other Caruso is the perfect player for the Thunder the swap out for giddy covers up the defensive issues and the shooting issues that giddy had he’s got a championship ring perfect addition Perfect Price great move by the Thunder and definitely for the number one team in the West in the in terms of the standings to get that type of player for that type of price really could be an important factor going forward okay so I’m the had to write him down Butler Bridges Mitchell Caruso call me Captain Obvious I saw no Klay Thompson no Paul George Courtney give me your thoughts on the list yeah I’m triggered by the Alex carusa one as a bulls fan so thank you for that Wendy um yeah looking at my list no Paul George to Philadelphia I I you know creating that big three and maybe it works out this year maybe it’s a year in the making but capitalizing on Joel embiid in his prime that wasn’t on there no Chris Paul to you know walking away for free for the Golden State Warriors because he was waved I think that’s huge Victor wanyama gets to learn from a future Hall of Famer and have him distribute to him throughout his second season in the NBA no Celtics resigning everybody like I and of course the Klay Thompson one which I know we talked about earlier like certainly would have had that on my for but I I like these you know what this is this is a dark horse list oh stop of oh stop offseason moves in the NBA this isn’t the ones that you would have expected right off the bat they aren’t the sexiest ones these aren’t the headline grabbing ones as opposed to those four that’s what a true Dark Horse list is or or Sam AO always say it’s a hodge podge yeah it’s a hodge podge listen you you listen to The Hoop Collective we understand that Wendy is going to bring the perspective on these huge moves and Oklahoma City I get why Alex Caruso is on his list you’re wrong though Brian and and here’s why like I I look at the the Paul George thing and I’m concerned about his injury history I know he was healthy this past year and before that it was four years where he missed almost 40% of the games problem is here he’s a perfect fit in Philadelphia they had to do something and bringing in you know role players to fit as opposed to Paul George in this particular situation I don’t think necessarily fit and it also affects the Clippers like this is an impactful move because it really hurts the Clippers and to me it really hurts the Sixers I know the Clippers were kind of maybe pushing him out a little bit because they didn’t want to pay him uh on a on a Max contract or give him the max years but it does hurt them and they kind of sit now in limbo out West let me say this about Paul George um obviously that’s a huge moment it’s certainly the headline of the summer without question this is the fourth time in about seven years that that Paul George has been a headliner of a of a of a offseason move one when he was traded on on J on June 30th from Indiana to Oklahoma City the following year when the Lakers and other teams were ready to make a big pitch to him and he resigned if you remember just all of a sudden showed up at a party was Russ Westbrook that became a massive moment where the Thunder were able to keep him um the year after that when he was included in the one of the greatest and most amazing trades in the history of the NBA where he and kaw Leonard went together to the Clippers this is now this time so this is now the fourth time that you could say that he was a leading headline in the off season the previous three have led to what and that’s my point I’m not sure I certainly recognize that the 76ers are a formidable team I think they’re going to need a year I’m not going to put a lot of pressure on them to win this year I know that that’s the thing that you would say is well now embiid’s got to win and I agree especially for a team that hasn’t gotten to the Conference Finals that certainly would be the barrier but historically we see teams when they hollow out their roster to create a big three they always need more time to backfill that roster and I would and I’m going to give the Sixers that time to backfield that roster but I’m just after I’m tired of sitting here the first week of July and declaring that apul George arrival changes the everything because I believe that with the Clippers I thought that team was set up to dominate now we had the pandemic and that obviously affected Paul significantly but bottom line I’m just going to wait back a little bit before I’m willing to just assume that this fit will mean The Changing of the Guard somewhere since we’re talking about Paul George then Wendy you know there are a number of people believe that since they’ve made this move that it is indeed the Sixers that’s the biggest threat to the Celtics this upcoming season what do you think biggest threat in the Atlantic division the biggest threat in the league because the Thunder play in the league and the Thunder were the number one team in the west it was a tight series with the Mavericks they added uh Alex Caruso and Isaiah hartenstein and gave up really not much gidy was being benched in that Series against Dallas that upgrade is is enormous their size was a problem against all those those Dallas bigs in that series all those lobs and everything they’ve now addressed that plus they’re still holding all of those first round draft picks which they can use if they want to still upgrade their roster that’s just talking Oklahoma City that doesn’t bring up Minnesota who has also improved this off season uh acquiring two players in the draft uh and I don’t think Anthony Edwards is getting worse and they’re keeping their team together their ownership is unflued but they they’re keeping their team together and Denver now Denver has taken a bit of a step back um but Denver might have gone seven games with the Celtics and they had reached the final they didn’t they weren’t even close in the end but Denver was 2-0 against the Celtics during the season so that’s just three teams in the west I didn’t even mention the Mavericks of course the Mavericks that’s four teams in the west and I think the Knicks and the and the Bucks have something to say so um you know I think the Celtics are definitely in first uh in the league and uh the the the Sixers are definitely going to be a contender and we’ll see how they come together their roster isn’t complete but I’m just not going to you know I’ve just seen too many of these big three teams come together and was assume that going to work right away to and I’m not doing this as an insult to the Sixers I’m doing this out of respect to how hard what they’re trying to do is I see you shaking your head Court I would agree with that I think that the I won’t put the 76ers in that biggest threat category to the Celtics right now if I’m if I have to pick some team and I’ll stay in the East I’ll say it’s a New York Knicks and I’ll say why in a minute but the Celtics are the biggest threat to themselves they just resigned everybody as we had mentioned they unless some unless there’s injuries it’s health and probably like attrition that is the biggest threat to a team that is primed now to go repeat for a championship a team that won 64 games in the regular season last year and un like the only other way that I see this working where they get upended is if it is this New York Knicks team because we think about the things that Boston has that would have the edge over everybody else three-point shooting and Def and defense more or less well the New York Knicks just resigned ogn and Obi who changed their defensive Fortune when they traded for him they went 20 and three with him last year they now have him under contract for 5-year deal and the M Mel Bridges acquisition is huge for this team so you have the starting five it’s going to be Brunson devant chenzo Bridges Julius Randall who by the way was not playing in that series throughout the postseason so I can only imagine what a threat that’s going to look like when they have a fully healthy Squad next year Mitchell Rob foree fore fore speech speech fore fore fore spee Di to C for foree foree fore fore spee fore spee fore fore spe fore 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FIRST TAKE | “Thunder look scary after offseason” – Windhorst weight in on OKC acquire Alex Caruso