{"id":4523,"date":"2017-07-07T11:06:26","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T16:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=4523"},"modified":"2018-08-20T15:02:25","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T20:02:25","slug":"paul-george-puts-okc-in-the-conversation-for-the-short-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=4523","title":{"rendered":"Paul George Puts OKC in the conversation………for the short time………."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
New Thunder player Patrick Patterson Photo Credit: http:\/\/raptorsrapture.com\/2017\/06\/12\/raptors-will-miss-patrick-patterson-value\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Paul George and Russell Westbrook, new teammates in OKC (Photo credit: below)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Two things come to mind with the addition of Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder family.\u00a0 Will he give\u00a0the team on Reno Street\u00a0what is needed to make\u00a0it\u00a0viable enough to challenge the Golden State Warriors in the\u00a02017-18 season?\u00a0 And will his presence in Oklahoma City be a positive or a negative in the Russell Westbrook saga in adding additional years to his stay in OKC.\u00a0\u00a0Or will it, in the long of it, enhance the super-star to look at a move with George to the Los Angeles Lakers next summer (as both will be unrestricted free agents).<\/p>\n

Paul George gives the Thunder two top players in the NBA.\u00a0 The added scoring machine in the former Pacer will\u00a0allow \u00a0the offense in Oklahoma City to avoid double teams when George and Westbrook are on one side of the court.\u00a0 Also, the added\u00a0short shot game of Steven Adams will improve as spacing away from the basket will improve dramatically.\u00a0 No more packing the lane when George\u00a0is\u00a0fifteen to twenty three feet from the hoop as\u00a0the\u00a06’9 all-star from the Eastern Conference can knock down the longer\u00a0shots.\u00a0 With an addition of Patrick Patterson\u00a0(from Toranto), a 6’9 power forward that OKC signed this week, another versatile post player that can knock down the three, to go along with Alex Abrines and Doug McDermott, the Thunder will have more options for Westbrook to drive and dish than ever before.\u00a0 The offense will change in 2017 for the better.<\/p>\n

Can General Manager Sam Presti wait out Russell Westbrook’s decision to extend his contract (five years, approx. $219 million) for will he pull the trigger on him and George before or during the 2017 season?\u00a0 Good money in my bank says Presti will give Westbrook time, probably through the trade deadline in February 2018, but if by that time Westbrook has not signed the max contract (which would begin in the summer 2017), the main man in OKC would be traded.\u00a0 In February, OKC might be in a close fight for a top seed in the Western Conference and the Thunder’s chances of challenging for a NBA Western Finals appearance a strong possibility.\u00a0 Westbrook, and George for that matter, could made a decision to stay in OKC and sign new contracts.\u00a0 Or the Thunder’s addition of George might be a bust, and both super-stars see that the OKC team is not working.\u00a0 Only time will tell and that is why Presti’s best bet is to wait and see.\u00a0 A loss of Westbrook and the Thunder franchise starts all over, with Adams, Roberson and others looking for a less than bright future.<\/p>\n

Best guess is that Westbrook will wait, George will also, and Presti will not make a move on either until the Thunder know what they have.\u00a0 It is also still possible for Westbrook to sign this summer for the maximum extension.\u00a0\u00a0 But I would not\u00a0sitting around hoping if I was a Thunder\u00a0fan.\u00a0 The decisions are major and right now the\u00a0time to make them \u00a0is not an issue.<\/p>\n

Feature Photo found at: https:\/\/www.sportsinsights.com\/blog\/nba-trade-impact-paul-george-to-the-oklahoma-city-thunder\/<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Two things come to mind with the addition of Paul George to…<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[790,512,1086,287,304,53,1132,1131,54,178,513,1133],"class_list":["post-4523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-alex-abrines","tag-andre-roberson","tag-doug-mcdermott","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-patrick-patterson","tag-paul-george","tag-russell-westbrook","tag-sam-presti","tag-steven-adams","tag-toranto-raptors"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":201,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4523"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4530,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4523\/revisions\/4530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}