Sam Presti - GM of the Year

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Sam Presti should be considered for the General Manager of the year. The moves he made in the offseason may not have been as splashy as the Lakers, signing LeBron, and then signing the rest of the meme team; Rondo, McGee, and Lance Stevenson. Morey signing Melo, Chicago signing Jabari Parker, or even Milwaukee signing coach Bud. But the moves that Sam Presti made were brilliant.

During the draft, Presti traded for the 45th overall pick and received Hamidou Diallo, who has been a surprising and consistent role player. Presti also went on to draft Virginia guard Devon Hall, who is playing currently in the Australian professional league, and Kevin Hervey out of UT-Arlington, who has been injured and signed a contract with the Oklahoma City Blue of the G League. A summer league invite for Deonte Burton turned into a training camp invitation, then a two way contract. The work Burton has put in with the playing time that has been presented to him will surely relay into a 2 or 3 year league minimum deal.

During free agency, Paul George signed a 4 year contract at the stroke of midnight, at a house party, in Oklahoma City. Presti then signed Nerlens Noel on a two year vet minimum deal, a prove it contract.

Presti wasn't done making moves, in a trade he shipped Carmelo Anthony to the Atlanta Hawks for Denis Schröder, and somehow wrangled in the Philadelphia 76ers to throw in Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot (further more will only be called TLC in this post). From there Presti moved on from Dakari Johnson to acquire Abdel Nader.

All of these moves have seemed to be positive moves for the team, as Billy Donovan has longed to have a team that was able to play with pace on offense and aggressive on defense. The players that Presti has acquired for Billy fit exactly that mold.

Many were concerned that Schröder was not a good defender and would not take to being just Westbrook's backup, there were concerns of his playing style and that it would not work with Westbrook. Through a quarter of the season, he has put those concerns to rest. Per NBA.com/stats, he is averaging 1.2 steals per game to go along with his 16 points and 5 assists.

Noel has revived his career in OKC, he too, has accepted the role that has been presented to him, backing up Steven Adams. In 20 games, Noel is averaging 14.1 minutes with 5.5 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 blocks, and .5 assists per game. He impacts every part of the game. In his lone start he had 20 points 15 rebounds in only 26 minutes.

Presti's wing signings, TLC, Diallo, and Burton have all filled in admirably as the Thunder have dealt with injuries to Andre Roberson and Terrance Ferguson.

The sheer fact that Russell Westbrook has missed 9 games this season and the Thunder are still 14-7 should be a credit to the way that Presti has built this team in year 3 post Kevin Durant. The fact that a top two NBA player left the team for nothing in free agency and the team continues to compete for the playoffs is a credit to Sam Presti. The fact that Westbrook's usage is it's lowest since 09-10 is a testament to how Presti has built this year's squad.

All this to say, Sam Presti deserves credit, and deserves consideration for GM of the Year.