Okc went 40-42 last year and ended up 9th in the west. 13 games behind 1st place Denver. Only 5 games behind 4th place Phoenix. Did this with no real center, with 19 yr old Giddey and rookie Jdub both who greatly improved throughout the year. Add a 7’1 elite rim protector who
Giddey is 18!! Shai was starting his year at Kentucky at this age. Cade Cunningham turned 20 a couple weeks ago. He’s a year younger than a lot of guys in this class. Things are in slow motion for him in the nba and he’s 18!! He can get by guys, he made G Hayward look little
A few observations from last nights game…
The whistle was def not on OKC’s side.Shai/Dub and Giddey all had good reason to be frustrated but they stayed composed and it paid off in the end.
Cleveland was daring okc to shoot outside.They were not going to let Shai/Dub/Giddey….
An idealized Giddey in this offense does not have him as the 2nd scoring option. An idealized Giddey is the 4th scoring option who is spraying the ball to Shai/Chet/+scorer/corner shooting Dort.He’s attacking mismatches off the dribble.That version is really good imo and coming
I know Giddey is an easy target right now especially when so many others are shooting so well but a slow 8 game start does not make him a bad player at all. OKC needs him to get right and he will.
OKC is 37-22-4 against the point spread this year which is the 2nd best record in the NBA. They have covered in 62.7% of their games. Crazy for a tanking team
A few observations…
It felt like the Bulls made a point to make it hard on Shai and Chet early and JDub killed it then they moved the focus to JDub and Shai and Giddey killed it.
The Bulls were super physical with Chet on both ends and he struggled. Vuc was bear hugging…
My biggest take away from tonight? We’re tired. Shai is tired and injured. Chet is out of gas and got physically abused both of the last two nights. We knew it was coming. It’s ok.
Ppg next year for okc is tough.
Shai - 29
Chet - 17
JDub - 16
Giddey - 15
Dort - 9
Micic - 8
Wallace - 8
Kenrich - 7
Chet is going to score more than ppl think bc he’s going to be in the middle of what we do offensively. If he’s not guarded he scores if he is others score
Crazy stat. And I'm one who has frequently suggested trading Josh Giddey (and still think it's probably the best route). Last 15 games Josh has the highest net rtg of all OKC rotation players. His ORtg is 131.9 Drt 109.9 Net +22.0. Next highest is Jdub +18.5.
Thunder fans lost their minds over the loss last night. They’re so mad at everyone lol. It was a very frustrating game but that’s just a part of it. When you play 82 games with the leagues 2nd youngest roster there will be down nights.
Okc has won 3 of their last 6 games in this critical tanking stretch that really doesn’t help our development. During this 6 game stretch the 3% for each…
Poku 40%
Roby 56%
JRE 50%
Lindy 40% (on 9.5 att)
Sarr 57%
Theo 42%
Tre 42%
Topic is a much better offensive prospect than Giddey. 18.8 ppg to 12.1 49.8% fg to 42.5%. 87.8% FT to 69.1%. I think this is the offensive player okc hoped they picked w Giddey. Topic shot 60% inside the arc. Hes going to be good. He’s prob a top 5 guy in this class
Thunder shooters added since last year…
Chet 39% from 3 69.1% TS
Micic 39.9% from 3 on 6 att 63.7% TS
Bertans 39.8% from 3 career 60.9% TS
Cason 35% from 3 55% TS
Dort and Giddey lineups are hurting Chet and Jdub more than Shai. Shai can still go score. Chet and Jdub are not getting open looks because nobody is guarding Giddey and Dort.
Rewatched the OKC/Utah summer league game from last yr. Chet obv killed it. Is fun to see not only the blocks but the lack of guys attacking OKC’s basket bc he’s down there. Didn’t have anything like that last yr. The other thing that stood out was JDub. Is kind of like (1/2)
I kind of didn’t know if Chet had the endurance to pit this kind of game out there yet. He just has gone in small spurts up to now. He was so much more involved this game. We def need more of this. Okc has to make a concerted effort to get this
can shoot 3’s handle and pass, a rookie 2 way Pg who can shoot, defend and playmake and the continued growth and development of the entire young roster and it’s a good time to be a Thunder fan.
Team building wise the hardest thing to find is your alpha who can go get a bucket any time. OKC has the toughest piece in place. But they need a 2nd guy who avgs 20+ ppg who can also go get a bucket efficiently any time. In the playoffs teams will make it that much…
Shai is getting guarded like a super star. Face guard the entire game? Giddey, Chet, JDub and 2023 pick will only make things that much easier for him and for the team.
This sounds like sour grapes but I still think okc is the better team. Even this game pj and DJJ 6-11 from 3 in a 1 point game. That was the story in most of the wins. Okc needs to get better so the margin isn’t so small. Sam Presti is up. Let’s see what he’s got!
I don’t like bagging on Giddey on twitter. It really serves no purpose. He is struggling with efficiency though so until he gets it figured out Dub and Chet should be getting more shots. It should be a priority. Dub being a volume scorer w Shai makes okc a different team.
This loss doesn’t bother me that much really. It kind of exposes what I already thought. Dub was rusty. Chet was off. Joe was off. Giddey doesn’t fit. We need more size and we need more shooting still with the starters. Those things make us a contender right now.
Last year Shai's stats after the AS break were kind of a foreshadowing of what would be to come this year...
(post AS game stats) - 30.4/5.2/5.8 39% 3/1.7spg/.9bpg 63.4% TS
Will JDub be the same?
19.8/5.8/4.4/ 46.3% 3 87% Ft/1.7spg/.3bpg/65.5% TS
I’ve been watching Dieng NBL full games over the last couple of days. I’ve watched 4 so far. A few thoughts…
He is giant.He shoots a decent amount of mid range floaters because nobody can contest those shots.He makes a decent amount but I’d almost rather him (1/8)
Crazy thing about Chet. He got switched onto Tatum a bunch and Tatum really didn’t punish it and he kind of stopped trying to punish it and he had 4 blocks and he hit 2 critical 3’s down the stretch. He’s so good.
Boston is giving OKC a sneak peek into what could be down the road. They now have Brodgon, Tatum, Brown, White, Smart and Pritchard as guards/wings who are good with the ball in their hands. OKC is trying to build the same way.
As Sam illustrated several times before the season started this season for okc is about figuring out how the foundational pieces fit together. Some early conclusions…
Chet is much better than we thought offensively much earlier. The shooting, attacking close outs, passing…
A few stats…
OKC is now 19th in offensive efficiency.
OKC is now 14th in defensive efficiency
Poku 35.9% from 3 52.7% TS
Giddey 34.4% from 3 52% TS
Shai 36.4% from 3 63.4% TS
Before Poku got injured in all November/December games (including the one he got hurt where he played 2 min). He had a 25 game stretch where he was at…
In 22 mpg 9.4 ppg 2.0 ast 5.3 rpg 1.4 blk and .7 stl on 46% fg 39.4% 3 (3.4 att) on 55.4% TS.
That’s solid production
OKC still needs a piece or two but it’s still pretty crazy where we are. We have our clear top 3 and also prob pieces 5-8 are set as well. They’re 2nd in the west on a 56 win pace after 3 drafts and they still have 15 firsts and 22 2nds over the next few years. Got it pretty good
The fact that okc made it to the 2nd round and lost a good competitive series to a finals team makes the offseasons for Chet and Dub easier bc Dallas showed them what to work on by how they played them. Both players will be better for it.
Overall Bilal is 39/114= 34.2% from 3 and 117/165=70.9% ft. A lot of pods I’ve listened to make it sounds like his shooting is terrible.Not great but not terrible
Amen - 23.5% 64.6%
Ausar - 30% 67.1%
Cam - 34.3% 70.3%
Jarace - 34.7% 66.2%
Black - 30.1% 70.5%
Cason - 34.6% 75.7%
My preseason impressions of game 1…
Giddey - He looked really good on both ends. He’s just a smart player. Obv is a passing wizard but I think the key to his efficiency is his shot selection and he didn’t take any bad 3’s (and he made both) and he attacked smaller (1/9)