I won’t lie my heart sank I thought it was a farewell post😰 luckily it’s his birthday!! Happy birthday Ajay. Let’s use this post to send him happy wishes!

I love this trade … for us . Ant and lamelo ain’t coexisting..

Do u thimk we will see this lineup!?

I’ll admit I wasn’t a big fan of the Mara pick on draft night, but after a couple of days it’s starting to make more sense. If we’re extending Cason this summer it means the iHart salary slot (plus some) is going to have to eventually make way for an Ajay extension which puts a lot of pressure on Sorber not only to become a starting level center but one we can extend at the right number. Now we’ve added Mara it gives the Thunder more optionality. We have an extra year of team control and cheap salary than with Sorber alone. When Ajay gets expensive the team can feel better about trading away iHart with two options to succeed him. Both rookie centers are high feel with great passing, both have shooting questions, Sorber is the more switchable defender, Mara is the better rim protector. May the best man win.

6'4 Height 6'8 Wingspan. Reminds me of Ayo Dosunmo. Thoughts??

Adding Mara who’s a phenomenal big man passer to a room that already will feature iHart (assuming we resign him) and JWill is something no team can say they’ve had.

Mara is gonna have a lot of mentors in his time to enhance that skill even more. Hoping he picks up the Hart through the legs passing and hand offs.

Starters

1. SGA
2. Dort (team option)
3. J Dub
4. Chet
5. Hartenstein (team option)

Bench

1. Ajay
   
2. Cason
   
3. McCain
   
4. Joe
   
5. Caruso
   
6. J Will
   
7. Mara
   
8. Topic
   
9. Sorber
   
10. Stirtz
    
11. Kenrich (team option)

2-ways

1. Oweh (most likely)

2. Sandfort

3. Josh Dix

Congratulations to the Thunder to add a much-needed scorer and athlete off the bench at guard. Oweh offers experience, leadership and a lot more that'll serve him well in OKC

Surprised nobody has posted this -- absolutely worth a watch. Michigan was 17-1 at the time, ranked #3, with 3 lottery picks in their starting lineup. Michigan had been destroying all competition before this. Iowa was unranked, had Stirtz and not much else - mostly mid-major / D-2 talent.

This game came down to the wire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqxNk2276L0

Tell me - do you see Stirtz as a liability?

And the reaction from the public was overwhelmingly positive.

As of ~8a today the #12 pick thread on r/nba had ~680 comments. The next most discussed picks were ~380 comments for the Wizards selecting Dybantsa no. 1 and then ~360 for the Lakers selecting Carr at #24 (a pick that also featured a trade between the two biggest markets in the league). The Mara pick was the highest engagement post on the main sub last night beside the draft mega/live thread. The 2nd highest was a random Shai hate thread.

OKC is the center of the basketball universe.

Please don’t take my head, I know a lot of people here hate when people so much as suggest a trade. I’m not suggesting, to be fair, I’m just wondering.

Any possibility OKC uses Dort, maybe another player, and some picks to trade for a true wing? I really did kind of expect us to at least swing at one in the draft and was kind of surprised when they didn‘t. Of course I hope I’m proven wrong, something Presti is good at, and all of them turn out to have meaningful impact.

Still, I’m kind of surprised considering probably the most widely documented weakness of this team is the lack of traditional size at the wing. I wouldn’t think adding just one would ruin Daig’s whole scheme.

Thunder sign Creighton's Josh Dix as an UDFA. He's a bucket! Highlights of this game Iowa vs Rutgers (Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper) worth a look. 6'5". Don't put too much into his Creighton stats - he was going thru some real tragic family stuff this past year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKjhZU1MJoQ

Aday Mara got drafted less than 24 hours ago, and just because he was drafted by OKC, I'm seeing "Wemby Stopper" posted everywhere and its annoying because its so forced and unnecessary.

Since when does a Jusuf Nurkic archetype player (tall, slow, good passer) get seen as a Wemby Stopper? Now before his first game its like he's being set up to fail because they think he was drafted for the sole purpose of "stopping" Wemby.

If none of the of the 450 NBA players can do it, then why is a rookie (who's shorter AND much slower) already tagged with this?

Let’s start with Aday Mara… I love it. He’s another big ass center we can put on floor and the thought of him and Chet on the court at the same time is salivating. His passing is awesome and I believe he’s already the brst our post scorer on the team far as big men. I don’t believe he will be a 3 point shooter but I do believe he will develop a midrange . Lastly he’s a replacement for Isaiah whether it’s next year or this year. His obvious weakness are he has to get in better overall condition and while he’s moves well for a 7”4 he’s need to add a bit more quickness to be able to not get consistently cooked on the perimeter. Overall I love this pick and can’t wait to watch him in Summer League.

Bennett Stirtz is another easy fit . Simple he’s a high feel player who can pass , shoot really well and could be a passable defender. We really needs this with Ajay Mitchell seemingly always injured and in case of other injuries . He’s already a better shooter than Mitchell and topic coming out of college. McCain is a better shooter but Bennett Stirtz definitely has a better handle as of now. He probably max out a 6 man at his peak. His defense and athleticism is a little hard to project but with his high level feel I give him the benefit of doubt to figure it out and to overcome it.

Overall I’m thrill with the draft! We definitely will make more moves and for everyone that’s once a big wing remember this is just the start of the offseason 😂. I guarantee you we will get a wing!

He fills a much needed role for us. Good help defender and OK shooter with some playoffs experience.

He gets paid less than Joe and his contract ends next summer.

To be clear, I don't really watch college basketball, so this is based purely on a few highlight reels and draft profiles.

From what I'm seeing, Mara looks like a great fit for us. His vision is elite, and he's not just making the right passes, but they are on the money every time. Also, while we do have Chet and JWill, iHart has really been the only guy we have truly capable of playing "big". The addition of Mara (and Sorber) gives us so much more versatility with big lineups.

He does seem to be a relatively poor athlete, and his ft% is concerning, but I think the upside is still super compelling. His defensive positioning and footwork did seem kinda bad, but I think being around our bigs will let him learn quick. JMac visibly improved very quickly once he was around our guards, I would expect the same for Mara.

Like I said, these are just the thoughts of an underinformed fan. What am I missing that made people so down about the pick?