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THIS WAS THE ULTIMATE TEARDOWN JOB. When Sam Presti left his gig as the Spurs' assistant GM in 2007 to take over the Sonics, he inherited a team that had been two games over .500 in the previous nine seasons. That's the NBA's version of purgatory -- neither chasing a championship nor lousy enough to rebuild in earnest. There was little talented youth on hand but plenty of bloated salaries. And the Sonics were likely headed to Oklahoma City the following season.
But Presti and his tight-knit front office had a vision rooted in process. And that process led to stripping apart the roster piece by piece -- Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis hardly had a chance to shake Presti's hand before they landed elsewhere. It also led to a 24-91 start just 115 games into the new GM's...
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