FanHouse SamPresti

LAS VEGAS -- The question for the Oklahoma City Thunder is whether premium free agents will want to play in a city with little NBA reputation. That question will loom large in coming years because the Thunder will have a satchel full of money and cap space to attract an All-Star caliber player to join Kevin Durant, James Harden and Jeff Green.

Until then, the Thunder will rely on the draft and clever moves such as the mid-season signing of Nenad Krstic and the acquisition of former lottery pick Thabo Sefolosha. Oklahoma City has one of the NBA's lowest payrolls -- although many critics would say that's due to the thriftiness of owner Clay Bennett -- and just $20 million committed to players after the 2010-11 season. But will any of those potential 2010 free agents -- a class that includes LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Dirk Nowitzki -- consider the Dust Bowl?

The market for restricted free agent Paul Millsap was expected to be robust in theory, if not in actuality. This is to say Millsap is a highly desired fellow, given his proclivity to rebound like a champ, score efficiently, and defend his tail off at the power forward position. However, as always, a limited pool of clubs will head into July with cap space for next season.

The Thunder is one team with space to sign a free agent like Millsap. The team currently falls about $15 million under the cap, and Millsap has been pegged to pull a starting salary around $7-8 million. Oklahoma City can certainly afford to get into that ballpark, should Sam Presti desire to. Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune seems to believe OKC, in fact, desires Millsap.

It has been said of late the draft begins with Oklahoma City at No. 3. Well, Sam Presti didn't pull out a bag of tricks -- he took the somewhat expected pick, shooting guard James Harden of Arizona State. Harden figures to slide right into the Thunder line-up between Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.

Speaking of Westbrook, who earlier this week bristled at the idea OKC could select point guard Ricky Rubio: he's going to love feeding Harden the ball. Harden is an incredibly efficient scorer. He even finished higher than Stephen Curry in True Shooting percentage last season. While not a perfect shooter, Harden has good athleticism and he was a solid defender in college. We'll see how much of an upgrade on Damien Wilkins and Thabo Sefolosha he can become.

Over the weekend, the Jazz announced that Jerry Sloan would be back for his 22nd year as head coach in 2009-10, the longest stint for any head coach in any of the professional sports.

On the exact opposite of the longevity spectrum, the Thunder and Timberwolves are mulling the futures of Scott Brooks and Kevin McHale, respectively, two of the newest members of the NBA's head coaching fraternity. Will they remain with Sloan in that elite group?

That headline is terrible/terribly tongue-in-cheek. There should be no shame in Nenad Krstic's aborted European move, as impeccable Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress reports the Serb is signing a three-year, $16 million contract with the Thunder.

Krstic will bail out on Triumph Moscow, the Russian team he took a two-year deal with last summer after NBA offers fell short of his desires. According to Givony, Triumph was knocked out of the ULEB Eurocup qualifying by one of the worst Belgian clubs (!) and hasn't even qualified for the Russian league tournament. This isn't Euroleague we're talking about -- Krstic's Triumph cannot even compete at the lower levels of European ball.

As such, Triumph's owners aren't happy and Krstic isn't happy. Givony reports Nenad will pay back all he's made just to get out of the contract ... and Triumph won't be fighting him. OKC is the facilitator, and this where the NBA angle gets interesting.

UPDATE: Any Katz on ESPN said this deal's off for now, but might come back during the draft.

ESPN is reporting that, assuming O.J. Mayo goes #3 to Minnesota, the Clippers will trade picks with Seattle to move up to #4 to grab Eric Gordon, with the Sonics also earning a conditional 2009 first-rounder from L.A. Chad Ford says the Sonics want Brook Lopez at #7.

L.A. has been tied to Gordon for weeks now, and to be honest I assumed he'd be there at #7. Perhaps Elgin Baylor and Mike Dunleavy had heard differently; while I can't imagine a scenario in which New York at #6 or whomever takes Memphis's #5 pick takes Gordon, that doesn't mean no such scenario existed. So the Clippers lose a potentially valuable asset -- it could be another lottery pick next season, as Kelly Dwyer notes -- depending on the protections.

What does this mean for the rest of the lottery? If Seattle is really after Lopez, Jerryd Bayless could slip. (Fingers crossed.) Gordon hadn't been tied to much besides L.A. -- New York is said to be focused on Russell Westbrook and Danilo Gallinari, pre-RJ Milwaukee had been wed to Joe Alexander. This might be one of the few big deals which really has no massive repercussions.

Months ago, pundits considered UCLA forward Kevin Love with the sort of backhanded 'great college player' scorn usually reserve for 5'9 point guards and Tyler Hansbrough. Even weeks ago, when Love declared for the draft, respectable types argued his size and lack of athleticism should keep his stock in the mid-first.

But trainer-to-the-stars Joe Abunassar got ahold of Love's decidedly unchiseled body and went to work. (And I'm sure Love put in some amount of effort, too; chortle.) I wasn't the only guy who assumed the reformation would rocket Love up the draft boards. But DraftExpress has a bit of shocker how high Love's stock has already reached.

Numerous sources with varying ties to Minnesota confirmed to DraftExpress over the past few days that Timberwolves GM Kevin McHale has locked in on UCLA freshman Kevin Love as possibly his favorite prospect in this draft.

Minnesota picks at #3. Of course, they could work out an agreement to move down a few picks to get Love and something for their troubles, as DX suggests (with Memphis at #5 as a candidate). But let us not forget the last time McHale had a pick swap worked out.

Following up on our Thursday post describing how Sam Presti basically runs the NBA comes the news he tried to get even more for expiring big man Kurt Thomas. John Denton of Florida Today reports Presti tried to squeeze two first-round picks (along with expiring contracts) out of Orlando GM Otis Smith before instead turning to his former employer, the San Antonio Spurs, and doing the deal for just one pick.

There's no ethical problem with that -- Presti can deal with whomever he wants, and it'd be hard to argue he's not acting in the best interest of the future of the franchise considering the heists he's pulled off so far. But... there's little chance San Antonio's single pick (2009) will ever be better than any Orlando pick. The better deal, as far as I can tell, would have been with Orlando.

More surprising for me: Presti didn't repay Orlando's Smith for the inexplicable sixth year the Magic offered Rashard Lewis, which set this whole draft pick bonanza off in the first place. (The Sonics have six first round picks over the next three years, and seven more seconds.) If Smith doesn't offer Shard an extra year, necessitating the sign-and-trade which netted Presti a massive trade exception, then Phoenix never sends two firsts with Kurt to Seattle, and Kurt's not available at the deadline for another first. You'd think, if you were Otis Smith, that all might count for something. Apparently not.

When the Sonics acquired Brent Barry from the Spurs in the Kurt Thomas trade, it was obvious that the only reason they wanted him was because of his expiring contract. Today, that point was hammered home when it was announced that the Sonics waived Barry before he even had a chance to suit up.

There's talk than the Suns and Warriors might be interested in him, but he could always just return to San Antonio -- and in hindsight, it's only natural to wonder if that was the plan all along. From Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News:

[The] Spurs should want him back, and maybe this is a Jerry Stackhouse arrangement. The Seattle general manager who traded for and then waived Barry, Sam Presti, once worked for R.C. Buford.

Why this would be more likely to pass an NBA inspection: Unlike Stackhouse, who blabbed about how he would return to Dallas, thus scuttling his deal, Barry would be too smart for that.

Of course, for Barry to return to the Spurs he'd have to sit out for 30 days, during which time he'll be courted by other contenders hoping to change his mind with bribes of more playing time. Considering the NBA threatened to squash the Stackhouse trade because of a similar arrangement, it'll be interesting to see how the commissioner's office would react to Barry's return. Maybe there's not enough evidence for David Stern to actually levy punishment or block the move, but it might be a loophole he'll want to considering tightening up this summer.

As we digest the sheer amount of unmitigated wasted money exchanging hands in the Ben Wallace-Larry Hughes deal, we shouldn't ignore what Sonics GM Sam Presti was able to do over two days.

Wednesday, he completed the Rashard Lewis coup. Lewis was prepared to walk away, taking $90 million from Orlando. Otis Smith, for reasons still unexplained, offer Shard a sixth year, which would necessitate a sign-and-trade. All Presti would have to do is take back a second-round pick and collect a massive trade exception for his troubles. With said trade exception, Presti was in position to take Kurt Thomas' salary from the Suns, and with it the handling fee of two firsts and a second. The Sonics paid Kurt for half a season, then flipped him to San Antonio for another first.

Today, Presti took the undesirable salary involved in last summer's Ray Allen trade -- Wally Szczerbiak -- and paired it with a guard who isn't playing much (Delonte West) with the following result: Instead of one $13 million player next season, the Sonics have two players who make $7.5 million, and both should be movable this summer.

From an aging roster filled with mistakes to not terribly far from tabula rasa ... in seven months. He'll never sniff executive of the year -- Danny Ainge and Mitch Kupchak are wrestling for it -- but he might deserve it.