The EKG Report: May 22, 2017
Piercen Trahan of Daily Thunder joins Hunter to talk Taj Gibson and Cameron Payne
Hunter: This week, I am pleased to be joined by Piercen Trahan of Daily Thunder to talk about that lovely Taj Gibson trade from February we all remember. Be sure we start, make sure to check out Piercen’s latest writing at this link. Now, let’s dive in. What was your initial reaction to the trade? Do you remember what you were thinking when the news first broke? Set the scene for us.
Piercen: I distinctly remember the moment when Woj tweeted that OKC was in talks with Chicago over acquiring Taj Gibson. I had a brief moment in my mind, much like the end of Star Wars Episode II where Yoda says, “Begun the Clone Wars has,” but instead a voice inside my head thought, “Begun the trade deadline has.”
Anyways, I snapped out of it and I quickly shared the tweet with the Up The Thunder guys and to be real, we were all quite confused and kinda disappointed. See Power Forward was never a glaring issue for OKC this season; and before the trade we had Domas starting, and Joff, Jerami Grant, and Nick Collison ran the backup spots. So while this wasn’t the strongest PF rotation in the league, OKC was still getting it done.
The real problem was at the three, and that’s where Thunder Nation was drooling over the possibility that they might get Doug McDermott. Honestly, I was pushing for Sam Presti to trade Cameron Payne because he was beyond terrible since his return from the Jones Fracture, so I was against the Taj trade idea because I assumed Chicago wasn’t going to buy high on Cameron Payne or worse they wouldn’t even take him.
Hunter: That’s where Bulls GM and airplane nap enthusiast Gar Forman comes in. We had advocated for a long time that trading Taj was the right move. It wasn’t likely that he would be re-signing this summer, he’d been arguably underpaid for several years and he deserved some time away from the capital D Dumpster fire that is the Bulls organization.
The thing is, OKC was never on my radar. I thought he would be a great fit in Toronto or Boston as a backup center, which I think is the real next phase of his career. Then Toronto went and got Serge Ibaka and Boston decided that Terry Rozier was better than Jimmy Butler (I’m not bitter), so here we are.
I was intrigued by Payne, though. I won’t lie and pretend I didn’t know him first for his dancing, but I’ve trusted the Thunder front office for years now, and figured if they saw something in him, then he must be worth a shot. The problem in Chicago is that he’s just another score first point guard that can’t score, not much different than Jerian Grant or MCW at this point. They work better as a boy band than a point guard rotation.
Piercen: Question for you, with Terry Rozier playing out of his mind this playoffs, how mad are Bulls fans that they got Cam Payne instead of Terry Rozier? Because I think Rozier is actually one of Boston’s more valuable young pieces, he’s got great speed, defense, rebounding, and he fits in to systems easily.
Cameron Payne on the other hand, doesn’t know how to run a half-court offense, has a nightmarishly bad shooting motion — I think that’s a prerequisite for Gar Forman before he acquires a Point Guard — and really can’t play a lick of defense. I honestly hate typing this because I really liked Payne when he came into the league, and his poise and control in Summer League has been an absolute joy to watch, but since his Jones Fracture, he’s been playing a different game than the rest of the NBA.
Look in transition where he’s at his best, he’s two steps behind everyone else on the court. He doesn’t space the floor well and he has completely forgotten how to attack and finish around the basket. As a Celtics fan, I actually understand your situation quite well, because this isn’t the first time that Presti has dumped what the league viewed as a promising player, off on another team for a high price before that player actually turned out to be as valuable as a Joe Schmo in row three. Presti did it with Jeff Green, Serge Ibaka and now Cameron Payne. I am fairly certain that Presti has an eye for when player’s can’t reach their potential, but he keeps it hidden and trades said player before anyone finds out.
Hunter: It doesn’t hurt that Troy Weaver is in the house either. To answer your question, I think Bulls fans are much more interested in draft picks than young players. Terry Rozier is enticing now, and he very well could turn into a great player, but he’s got warts just like anyone else. I think we just haven’t seen enough of him to discover all of them yet.
This is the thing about young prospects. Every additional game they play, it becomes less about the ceiling and more about the player in front of you. No one is talking about Marcus Smart’s potential anymore because we know who he is now. And by the way, no one is going to want to pay him what he’ll command soon enough, so his trade value is hampered. That hasn’t happened with Rozier yet. He’s still shrouded in potential and he’s got plenty of team control ahead of him, but I’m not sure how much more comfortable I am slapping the pg of the future label on him than I am on Payne.
But we’ve gotten slightly off track here. Payne is who the Bulls have, and unless Boston finally decides to make a trade this summer, that’s not changing. Morrow’s contract is up and he’s probably not coming back, and #BIGJOFF is busy preparing for his role as an extra on Game of Thrones. Is Taj getting re-signed in OKC? What’s the buzz on that?
Piercen: Taj is an interesting case for OKC. As Presti noted in his exit interview, the Thunder were a top 5 team on both sides of the ball with Taj in the starting rotation. However, OKC is in a bit of a cap bind. Russ is going to most likely sign the Super Max extension this offseason, Andre Roberson is going to get a hefty contract after his performance against Houston, and both Victor Oladipo and Steven Adams will start earning their $80 and $100 million contracts respectively at the start of the season.
So with three players coming off rookie contracts and Russ, there isn’t really money for Taj who you noted, has been underpaid for much of his career. The flip side to this is that Taj has been open about how much he loves the organization and really feels at home in a smaller city. I really like Taj as a veteran presence to help the third youngest roster in the league develop more than anything. His production on the court has been great, but his minutes seemed to have been capped around 23 minutes which really hindered OKC’s ability to finish games well — I hear he’s currently in a walking boot so there may have been a mystery injury nagging him.
The Thunder are actually primed to make a pretty big jump next year which may help entice him to take a pay-cut to stay in OKC, but the ball appears to be entirely in Taj’s court. With your experience with Taj, does he strike you as a guy to take a pay-cut in this situation? I’m not sure just how willing Clay Bennett and ownership is to go into the luxury tax with Cleveland and Golden State set up to be dominant for the foreseeable future.
Hunter: If I had to guess, I would say that Taj goes to the highest bidder this summer, which likely won’t be OKC. And I think he’s earned that at this point, having never really made big money in his career. The market for big men this summer is tepid at best, and I would be shocked if at least one team doesn’t settle on Taj as their plan B after they strike out on something better (Every Chicago fan just heard a faint “AND ONE” from Carlos Boozer in their heads).
He’s far from perfect, but he can compete on both sides of the ball, and you can’t really say that about any of the power forwards in Oklahoma City or Chicago for that matter. I’m sure we’ll hear again in the preseason that he’s been working on his corner 3, but I wouldn’t expect too much. He is who he is, but that’s still really freaking good. He can man the back line on defense and scuttle along with little guys on the perimeter, and I swear he’s got a new little trick in the post every time I see him. The man is a legend. So I guess my question is, if Taj isn’t taking the pay cut, what does OKC do at power forward?
Piercen: I have two options for you and both revolve around youth and not free agency. Domantas Sabonis was secretly one of the most promising rookies this season. He flashed serious 3 point shooting potential, has a solid post game, and was easily the best passing big man of the rookie class. On the other side of the ball, he really grew into a nice defender. His lateral quickness isn’t quite fast enough to switch every pick, but he’s close.
I’ve been saying this all season, but he reminds me of a poor man’s Al Horford right now. The two biggest weakness’s of his defense that keep him from reaching Horford’s level are that he isn’t a great rim protector and he’s foul prone. (To his credit, I’m fairly certain he leads the league in ghost fouls. Seriously go watch the film on 3ball, I’m surprised he wasn’t called for sneezing on his man, the refs hated him) Anyways, the organization views Sabonis as one of their franchise cornerstone pieces due to his age (20), potential, and work ethic.
Now I’m actually gonna throw out something surprising, if Taj gives OKC hints that he’s looking for money over everything, I think Presti will think long and hard about drafting Harry Giles at No. 21 in the upcoming draft. Giles had a rough combine, but the same skills and potential that were there before his college injuries still stand. Without salary room to garner better Power Forwards in free agency, a gamble on Giles is exactly what OKC needs to return to contending status.
Hunter: Harry Giles could definitely surprise a lot of us this season, or he could join a long line of big men that can’t overcome the injury hump. And that seems as good a place as any to wrap up this conversation. Piercen, thanks for chiming in, and please come back to the EKG report soon! Stay tuned for our next edition as we inch ever closer to the 2017 NBA Draft.
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