When ESPN’s Kevin Pelton and Bobby Marks put together their annual NBA Future Power Rankings, they formulate scores ranging from 0-100 in a group of categories ranging from players to management.
Apparently, in the section for draft capital, the Oklahoma City Thunder broke the scale.
Pelton wrote that the Thunder scored a 115.
“At the risk of implying Oklahoma City has a lot of draft picks coming, an attempt to rate teams on our 0-100 scale statistically scored them a 115 in this category.”
That’s … impossible. But with picks belonging to themselves, the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers and plenty of others, it seems like the Thunder have an impossible number of picks.
This helped them place 19th in the power ranking, which projects how good teams will be in the coming three seasons.
Oklahoma City’s money situation also helped them place highly. The team tied for first in this category with the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs.
The Thunder barely reached the cap floor this year and have just $55 million worth of commitment next season. The Knicks’ $102 million payroll was second-lowest, behind only the Thunder, and they have no player under contract after next season. The Spurs paid about $128 million this year, but with LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan coming off the books, they only have $58 million of commitment for next season.
Oklahoma City placed eighth overall on management, which evaluates the quality and stability of the front office and coaching staff.
Where the team dropped was players (26th) and market (tied-27th).
The Thunder hope that that draft capital that scored 115 can turn into players and help offset the small-market impact.
Pelton had some positivity for the organization:
“Already there’s enough young talent in Oklahoma City, led by guards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort, that the Thunder were competitive before Gilgeous-Alexander and veteran Al Horford came out of the lineup. So while Oklahoma City will likely try to build slowly through the lottery, the Thunder should be on the rise by the end of the three-year period.”
This post originally appeared on OKCThunderWire. Follow us on Facebook!
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