Another regurgitated false narrative is OKC & San Antonio were built similarly through tanking.
OKC missed the playoffs 3 years:
#6 Giddey (traded for Caruso)
#2 Holmgren
#12➡️#10 Wallace (play-in)
Spurs missed the playoffs 6 years:
#11 Vassell
#12 Primo (play-in)
#9 Sochan (play-in)
#1 Wemby
#4 Castle
#2 Harper
@ChillParks@TheNBABase@WindhorstESPN the reason ppl complain is because they got three t4 picks back to back to back and then right after the NBA passes a stupid new rule that basically doesn't allow for any other team to get that anymore.
luck is always a part of building great teams tho it is what it is
@el_budget Champions --> Following season
'19 Raptors - -> L in Rd. 2
'20 Lakers - -> L in Rd. 1
'21 Bucks - -> L in Rd. 2
'22 Warriors - -> L in Rd. 2
'23 Nuggets - -> L in Rd. 2
'24 Celtics - -> L in Rd. 2
But OKC the only defending champ to get “punked”… WORD. 👍
"You can't be better in a loss than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was on Saturday night [in Game 7]. Can't play better, can't be a better example, can't lead better... Shai acted like a grown a*s man before during and after."
—Scott Van Pelt
(via @_SVPod)
ESPN's Tim Legler on Chet Holmgren’s Game 7 performance
"There is no denying he was shook, he was rattled. It affected the way he was processing the game, and it completely took away his aggressiveness. He started to look like a guy that was afraid of failure, and when you start to play that way as a professional athlete, that’s exactly what it’s going to look like. You don't take chances anymore. You'd rather play it safe and disappear than to try and have it not work out — drive at Wemby and have him block your shot, try to get there in time to stop Wemby at the rim and he get dunked on again. It's better not to try than to have that happen again. That's exactly what he looked like."
(Via @ALLCITY_NBA)