Since Lakers stopped being contenders, I root for the Thunder each year to win the title and I doubt there is bigger RW fan on this forum than I and I believe that he possibly reinvented this position and could end up as the best PG if not ever to play the game, then at least in our generation (yes, better than Nash, Kyrie and even Curry). I agree with the article - he really had great chemistry with both bigs, Adams and Ibaka. He knew their favorite spots and knew how to get them the ball for easy points. He is great on ball defender and there is no one better than him in transition offense. He is just amazing to watch - for me, he is the most fun player to watch in the league. He reminds me a lot of younger Kobe, with the way he attacks his defender, with the way that he can take over the game and so on. But, he also has a lot of Kobe's problems. He tries to gamble too much on defense and sometimes losses eye contact with the player he defends. He loves to play hero ball and you just shouldn't do that on a team that has KD.
I like the way he improves each season. After his last year's heroics, I honestly didn't think he could get better and that it will be hard for him to play with KD again - but I was wrong. He was amazing this season.
As for the trade, Thunder made a great trade, but I don't like all the talk about Ibaka. Ibaka and Adams the reason why Thunder almost made it to the NBA Finals. Ibaka can defend any position and still block shots and grab boards - that's huge in modern NBA. He turned in to spot up shooter on offense, but no one talks about what a huge asset he is on defense and for a young team like Orlando, that has their share of young players, he can be a very important player and should play huge role in Magic defense and bigger role on Magic's offense.
Still, Oladipo is already proven NBA player and still very young, so he should improve, Sabonis is another young prospect and Thunder suddenly look both much younger and much deeper.
I think that Thunder got the better end of this deal, but overall, this is a good trade for Magic as well - though they maybe could have traded for him for much less.
One problem though, Oladipo isn't a bad shooter, but teams will gamble many times and leave him open on three point line, to focus on KD (that won't go anywhere I believe) and RW.
I would love to see RW, Oladipo, Roberson, KD and Adams line up. This can be an amazing defensive unit against any of the contenders...
