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Do we trust our organizational culture?

stitches

stitches

Well-Known Member
2023 Prediction Contest Winner
I don't know how to stress this enough, but the OKC Thunder just did what many of us(me included) thought close to impossible - Just a year ago everybody presumed PG13 was a one year rental just waiting to go to play for his home team... a storied franchise with HoFer in their FO, with LeBron about to join him... A year later, PG13 not only said "no thanks" to the Lakers, LeBron and Magic... he didn't even give them a meeting to shut them down and re-sign for 4 years with the Thunder?

What changed in that year? How come a team that got bounced in the first round by a rookie made good enough impression on PG13 that he decided to ditch what seemed to be hid plan all along and stay?

I really think Presti is running a great operation in OKC. There have been rumors and nebulous statements about how different OKC feels than most teams... how their management has succeeded in making players feel like parts of something bigger and about how tight their locker room is. Their culture, their leadership both on the floor and off the floor seemed to give Presti the confidence to pull the trigger on the PG13 deal and trust that in that one year he will be converted and will be not just willing, but eager to re-sign with their franchise.

So my question is - do you trust our organizational culture? Do you trust our culture enough to bet on a similar situation with a disgruntled star with expiring contract? Do you think we can trade our way to a star and expect that star to stay past his expiring deal?

I've been one of the people who has been the strongest proponent against making this type of trades of giving up long-term assets for short-term rentals, so after what OKC did I'm beginning to waver in my conviction that we should not even think about it. I think we have good culture and it feels like the locker-room is great, but do you think we have:

1. good enough team,
2. good enough organizational culture,
3. good enough lockerroom

...to make a big free agent want to play for this franchise if we are given a year to sell him on the franchsie?

Or do you consider this PG13 decision an outlier that shouldn't inform the way we approach similar situations?

And an additional question - do you think the people in our FO truly believe(not just paying lip service, true "I'm betting my job on this" belief) that we have what it takes to keep a superstar we've traded for?
 
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stitches said:
I don't know how to stress this enough, but the OKC Thunder just did what many of us(me included) thought close to impossible - Just a year ago everybody presumed PG13 was a one year rental just waiting to go to play for his home team... a storied franchise with HoFer in their FO, with LeBron about to join him... A year later, PG13 not only said "no thanks" to the Lakers, LeBron and Magic... he didn't even give them a meeting to shut them down and re-sign for 4 years with the Thunder?

What changed in that year? How come a team that got bounced in the first round by a rookie made good enough impression on PG13 that he decided to ditch what seemed to be hid plan all along and stay?

I really think Presti is running a great operation in OKC. There have been rumors and nebulous statements about how different OKC feels than most teams... how their management has succeeded in making players feel like parts of something bigger and about how tight their locker room is. Their culture, their leadership both on the floor and off the floor seemed to give Presti the confidence to pull the trigger on the PG13 deal and trust that in that one year he will be converted and will be not just willing, but eager to re-sign with their franchise.

So my question is - do you trust our organizational culture? Do you trust our culture enough to bet on a similar situation with a disgruntled star with expiring contract? Do you think we can trade our way to a star and expect that star to stay past his expiring deal?

I've been one of the people who has been the strongest proponent against making this type of trades of giving up long-term assets for short-term rentals, so after what OKC did I'm beginning to waver in my conviction that we should not even think about it. I think we have good culture and it feels like the locker-room is great, but do you think we have:

1. good enough team,
2. good enough organizational culture,
3. good enough lockerroom

...to make a big free agent want to play for this franchise if we are given a year to sell him on the franchsie?

Or do you consider this PG13 decision an outlier that shouldn't inform the way we approach similar situations?

And an additional question - do you think the people in our FO truly believe(not just paying lip service, true "I'm betting my job on this" belief) that we have what it takes to keep a superstar we've traded for?
Click to expand...

I think pg is an outlier but I also trust our culture and team and origination to be able to do something similar. I think quin, DL, Donovan, and Rudy is an elite group that could convince a guy to re sign unexpectedly like pg did.
 
Interesting topic. Personally, I would feel more comfortable with risking long-term assets on a potential short-term rental once the team is a little more established (WCF) as there is a greater league-wide stigma surrounding Utah as a FA destination imo. OKC has had more recent success & Westbrook is a bigger star than Mitchell (currently).

A big reason I believe we would be better off letting the core develop/grow together for an additional year or 2 is my trust in the team culture. This past season has convinced me that this team may not necessarily need a 3rd star to contend (although actually winning a championship might be a different story) due to our system/style of play/DM & Gobert/etc.

Our core is already competitive & only going to improve as LBJ/GSW/etc continue to age. They're also young enough that imo it would make the most sense to focus on maintaining long-term flexibility unless the perfect situation happens to present itself.

This team (& DM's pull) still needs another year or 2 to grow before taking this type of gamble imo. With 2 young stars, a solid collection of young complimentary pieces, & time on his side, DL can afford to sit back & get a better read on the roster/league before attempting to add that final piece to push this team into contention.
 
I’ll be honest, I didn’t read the whole thing. Just stopped when I started reading about OKC and thinking about how the Jazz beat them in the playoffs last season.
 
Don’t see what’s so great about OKC compared to Utah.
They have Paul George but the Jazz are still better. The Jazz have finished better the past two seasons.
Durant left OKC desiring a better ‘culture’.
OKC traded a future MVP for Jermey Lamb, and they really lucked out drafting Durant and Westbrook.
 
I think we have a very strong culture. With all the signs from the FO, coaching staff and players why would I doubt it?
 
stitches said:
I don't know how to stress this enough, but the OKC Thunder just did what many of us(me included) thought close to impossible - Just a year ago everybody presumed PG13 was a one year rental just waiting to go to play for his home team... a storied franchise with HoFer in their FO, with LeBron about to join him... A year later, PG13 not only said "no thanks" to the Lakers, LeBron and Magic... he didn't even give them a meeting to shut them down and re-sign for 4 years with the Thunder?

What changed in that year? How come a team that got bounced in the first round by a rookie made good enough impression on PG13 that he decided to ditch what seemed to be hid plan all along and stay?

I really think Presti is running a great operation in OKC. There have been rumors and nebulous statements about how different OKC feels than most teams... how their management has succeeded in making players feel like parts of something bigger and about how tight their locker room is. Their culture, their leadership both on the floor and off the floor seemed to give Presti the confidence to pull the trigger on the PG13 deal and trust that in that one year he will be converted and will be not just willing, but eager to re-sign with their franchise.

So my question is - do you trust our organizational culture? Do you trust our culture enough to bet on a similar situation with a disgruntled star with expiring contract? Do you think we can trade our way to a star and expect that star to stay past his expiring deal?

I've been one of the people who has been the strongest proponent against making this type of trades of giving up long-term assets for short-term rentals, so after what OKC did I'm beginning to waver in my conviction that we should not even think about it. I think we have good culture and it feels like the locker-room is great, but do you think we have:

1. good enough team,
2. good enough organizational culture,
3. good enough lockerroom

...to make a big free agent want to play for this franchise if we are given a year to sell him on the franchsie?

Or do you consider this PG13 decision an outlier that shouldn't inform the way we approach similar situations?

And an additional question - do you think the people in our FO truly believe(not just paying lip service, true "I'm betting my job on this" belief) that we have what it takes to keep a superstar we've traded for?
Click to expand...

I do on the right guy. Hayward leaving was more of a case where you don’t know what you got till it’s gone. If it’s someone that wants nightlife and action then nah... it’s about knowing yourself and who you are working with.
 
OKC is going to have a payroll of $315m this year in salaries and tax penalties. That would be a record. Not even the Russian mafia boss had that high of a payroll for the Nets. That's not sustainable.

As for the Jazz...well, it's still Utah. Sorry folks, the narrative has changed a little, but not much. You heard it in the interview with Rudy. Media expects players to leave, just like Gordon. Donovan did his best, but PG never seriously considered Utah, nor did Bjelica.

There are only a select group of players who would play in Utah. It does no good trading a bunch of assets for a higher profile guy if he's just going to leave. We have a great team right now. IMO, Lindsey needs to set his sights on keeping Favors and Exum and, at the deadline, using Burks and other expirings to trade for a key veteran.
 
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I think we have one of the best organizational cultures in the league.

Raja Bell was a turd, Hayward made up his mind ages ago that he was leaving, and D Will has expressed remorse about how his tenure here ended. Outside of those 3, I can't remember a Jazzman/former Jazzman not raving about his time with the franchise.

I think we're generally regarded as having one of the very best ownership groups, management teams, and coaching staffs in the league and there's great continuity across all 3 of those levels. It's a huge asset for us.
 
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