this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
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Of all the young cores, OKC is the only one I’m confident is on a championship trajectory. They check off all the boxes - franchise player, young two-way supporting cast, good coach, ample draft capital.
Pacers and Hawks have defensive issues, Orlando has spacing issues, pelicans have health issues. Spurs have their superstar but they’ll need a few years to grow.
Cavs, kings, wolves, grizzlies - not confident that they have a championship ceiling with their current cores. Dallas is trending upwards but has work to do. These teams are all exciting but the unfortunate reality is that most of them will top out as decent playoff teams.
I couldn’t imagine looking at OKC’s core, then the wolves core, and thinking the wolves core of Ant, Jaden, KAT and Naz isn’t capable of winning championships but OKC who hasn’t even made it past the play in are? Care to elaborate on that logic?
At least a portion of it comes from the idea that the Thunder's additional picks and longer timeline (because they're so much younger) will give them additional optionality... Whether they have to draft replacements for some of their guys that get too expensive, or push those picks in for a disgruntled star, they can do that. The wolves have fewer options in that regard, and Gobert has a bunch of miles on his legs and is on the wrong side of 30.
"Because they're so much younger" is a sentiment I can see why someone would believe, but Wolves only have two less players 25 and younger than the Thunder do, and their main star is 3 years younger than Thunder's main star.
OKC has players aged 20-31, with 14 players 25 or under. Wolves have players aged 20-36, with 12 players 25 or under. KAT is only 28. Wolves are younger than people think.