Northwest Notes: Gilgeous-Alexander, Game 7, Wolves Offseason, Blazers Arena

The Thunder expected to be fighting to win their second straight championship next week. Instead, they face a summer of introspection and figuring out what, if anything, they need to do to reach the Finals again.

When it comes to making or suggesting personnel changes, reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander says that he will not be a part of the discussions, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter video link).

“I will give zero input,” he said. “I will let Sam Presti, the greatest GM ever, do his job.”

When it comes to the criticism Gilgeous-Alexander faced for his performance in the Western Conference Finals, including public outcry of his play style, Warriors forward Draymond Green said that the conversations have skewed too negative for his taste, according to Ali Thanawalla of NBC Sports Bay Area.

“We want to pinpoint the thing that we can slow down. Shai’s falling. Shai’s at the free-throw line. Everybody’s complaining about Shai getting too many foul calls. And going into Game 6, Shai had shot five more free throws in the series than Wemby. But the whole complaint is Shai’s getting too many foul calls. I don’t understand it,” Green said. “‘Ah man, he’s foul baiting.’ Shai, what I will say is, you’ve reached a new level of greatness, my man. Congratulations. Your hard work has paid off. You’ve reached a new level of greatness because you have sports media heads coming out and talking about what they don’t like about your greatness. Imagine that.”

We have more from around the Northwest Division:

• The Thunder‘s inability to make, let alone win, their second straight Finals is a testament to how difficult it is to be a repeat champion in the NBA, Joel Lorenzi writes for The Athletic. While fans have grown accustomed at times to teams like the Heat and Warriors rattling off championships, this season will mark the eighth straight year without a repeat performance. “It always takes a little bit of luck,” Alex Caruso said. “We were lucky last year, our team was healthy the whole time outside of (Jalen Williams’) wrist, but he was able to play still. This year, losing those two guys, it changes the dynamic of the team. Obviously, you’re playing a good opponent. You’re playing a 62-win team.” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr empathized with the difficult task. “The whole league, by the way, is spending all their time trying to figure out how to beat you, building their teams to beat you, building new schemes to beat you. That’s a lot to face year in and year out,” he said. “And at the same time, it’s like, what an honor that is.”
• Another team trying to figure out how to beat both the Thunder and Spurs is the team that lost to San Antonio in the second round: the Timberwolves. After an earlier exit than they would have liked, they’ll have some ability to be aggressive in pursuing trades, but also some roadblocks, Yossi Gozlan writes in his off-season preview for the Third Apron. One of the bigger questions facing the team’s new ownership is whether they’ll be willing to operate as a second-apron team again. The answer to that question will determine how aggressive they’ll need to be in shedding salary or pursuing upgrades. With Anthony Edwards extension-eligible this summer, the team will also need to show him that they’re taking the right steps in making the team a true contender.
• Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon‘s hockey team, the Carolina Hurricanes, is in the midst of a massive arena renovation that came through coordinated efforts with the state mayor, the public university system, and more parties. While it’s not a perfectly analogous situation to the Blazers’ efforts to renovate the Moda Center, it’s worth looking at why the former has been so successful to get lessons for the latter, writes Bill Oram of the Oregonian. The Blazers stadium faces community skepticism, especially regarding using a clean energy fund for the $4.3 billion franchise, at a time when the city’s economy is losing jobs at a rate much higher than in other areas of the country.