OKC Thunder 2023-24 Regular Season Discussion

Big nick · Post #2581 » by **Big nick** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 12:35 am

Yes I think kizz lost his mind when he wanted to trade dort for the lower Collins lol.

Big nick · Post #2582 » by **Big nick** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 12:37 am

But on a more sane note sga is bbbbback.

RingoKid · Post #2583 » by **RingoKid** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 2:16 am

It didn't matter what Presti did after DuRat slithered off to the bay. No one was winning anything against that dubs team.

And without staying relevant and keeping russ happy with PG who turned into SuGa, Thunder would still be in development hell.

I'd like to see OKC bounce the Suns this post season or die trying. Anything after that is gravy.

Next year it's championship or bust. Hopefully with The Funaki back in Thunderland.

Kizz Fastfists · Post #2584 » by **Kizz Fastfists** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 3:42 am

Big nick wrote:Yes I think kizz lost his mind when he wanted to trade dort for the lower Collins lol.

It would totally suck if OKC had a big man that could shoot 37% from 3, rebound and bang in the paint.

shrink · Post #2585 » by **shrink** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 3:53 am

The Nuggets loss makes OKC the #1 seed in a three-way tie-breaker.

Strangely, they could win Sunday and still lose the top spot. If DEN loses, MIN owns the two-team tie-breaker over OKC.

Patches Perry · Post #2586 » by **Patches Perry** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 4:32 am

Proud of these guys for getting the #1 seed in the west, #2 in the whole league. What a season!

I kind of hate them being #1 though, because any team we play in the first round is going to have more playoff experience and a high ceiling. We could quickly gain a "choking" playoff reputation if they lose to an #8 as a #1. That's only happened a couple times in history.

I really liked the #3 spot playing against #6 Pelicans, but I guess Denver did too LOL.

Bremzi · Post #2587 » by **Bremzi** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 7:55 am

LOL at Kizz’s Presti assesment. After having a ‘team that would never make it out of the first round’, I’d consider it a special skill in acquiring a top 3 seed with essentially the youngest team ever to do it.

What he did this season is lay the foundation to enable improvements in the offseason. Would OKC be even better with adding someone like Gafford or PJ Washington at the deadline? Maybe. Can OKC swing for someone similar or even better in the next offseason? Very likely.

Let the guys that have a good camaraderie go through playoffs once to see where they’re at and how they perform. I’m certain the team will not be the same after next year’s deadline at the latest.

OKC2008 · Post #2588 » by **OKC2008** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 8:22 am

Fantastic season for OKC, I think that no one could have predicted a #1 seed at this point..

I don't know who will be the opponents in playoff but I'm not too optimistc simply because the team is very young, and this will be the first playoff appareance for 80% of the roster.
Those playoffs are a great way to acquire some experience, please don't be disrupting or boring also in this moment

Post #2589 » by **Dadouv47** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 11:16 am

Don't care facing Suns, Kings or Warriors. I just want us to avoid the Lakers.

cjmcallist · Post #2590 » by **cjmcallist** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 11:19 am

Let’s go #1 seed! Not sure why, but it feels like an accomplishment to get #1 - even if the same record got us 3.

Team is looking better now. Glad they rested Dub and Shai when they did.

Com’on playoffs.

Post #2591 » by **slick_watts** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 3:08 pm

what an unbelievable turn of events.

if the goal is to get through the west (and it should be), having hca against the best teams trumps any matchup or bracket concerns in the early rounds. if the thunder can't beat inferior teams like the lakers in a series then they wouldn't beat the nuggets or wolves without home court advantage either. having hca against those teams gives us a great chance against both of them.

i can't see denver throwing the game against memphis, and dallas will be resting everyone. before yesterday it might have been something like 6:1 that we get the 1st seed. now it seems the most likely scenario.

Post #2592 » by **Dadouv47** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 4:10 pm

I liked our chances better against Minny without home court advantage than against LAL/Dallas or even maybe the Clippers in a potential 2nd round. That being said, finishing first is obviously the best if u think that we can reach the Finals. Denver is so good at home that HC is huge.

Post #2593 » by **slick_watts** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 5:18 pm

cason wallace is really interesting. i think fans kinda overrate him a bit. the thunder have had a TON of young players come through who they stick behind the three point line and never ask them to do anything else but shoot and defend. terrance ferguson being the most obvious. but poku was like that too, and dieng is like that. and alex abrines was sort of like that. none of these guys shot well enough / defended well enough.

wallace could be the exception? obviously this hinges a lot on his shooting being real, but also the defense which is hard to measure for rookies sometimes, especially on winning teams. wallace has a 2%+ block rate as a rookie, which is rare for a player of his list height (6'4"). the only other rookies to have that with list height below 6'5" are patrick beverly, kris dunn and bruce brown. an exclusive list of elite defensive guards. doesn't guarantee wallace develops that way but still.

if he's a 40%+ 3pt shooter with those sorts of defensive tools, he's a valuable reserve and probably a logical dort replacement, eventually. the interesting thing is whether or not he can learn to dribble and do more on offense. does the team even want him to do more? lu dort 'doing more' has been like opening pandora's box. so i'm not sure where they go with wallace in this respect. might just be better to keep his wings clipped.

mr570 · Post #2594 » by **mr570** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 8:06 pm

Bremzi wrote:Can OKC swing for someone similar or even better in the next offseason? Very likely.

Maybe Joe Tsai will finally quit being an idiot and blow the Nets up this summer. Not an interesting scenario because it's been talked about ad nauseum, but still my favorite

Post #2595 » by **Dadouv47** » Sat Apr 13, 2024 10:23 pm

Read on Twitter

Denver tanking so high odds of finishing 2nd even if we win

Woerzboerg · Post #2596 » by **Woerzboerg** » Sun Apr 14, 2024 9:09 am

Wolves are playing the suns, who are fighting for the 6th spot. So the wolves could actually lose, too.

Post #2597 » by **Dadouv47** » Sun Apr 14, 2024 11:13 am

I get that Denver has not much to play for but if I'm not mistaken they could finish 2nd with a Thunder win and Wolves L. It's still better than not having the HC advantage against the Wolves.

Post #2598 » by **Dadouv47** » Sun Apr 14, 2024 11:38 am

I feel like we are really missing a 6th man coming off the bench that can create his own shot. Somehow I'm more worried about this than the lack of bigs. I think our current playing style can afford the lack of big even if replacing Chet with Jwill/Kenrich isn't ideal. Lack of a scorer coming off the bench is a problem though even if I like Cason, Joe and Wiggins.

Bremzi · Post #2599 » by **Bremzi** » Sun Apr 14, 2024 5:38 pm

mr570 wrote:
Bremzi wrote:Can OKC swing for someone similar or even better in the next offseason? Very likely.

Maybe Joe Tsai will finally quit being an idiot and blow the Nets up this summer. Not an interesting scenario because it's been talked about ad nauseum, but still my favorite

Yeah, I could see Presti making a solid offer for Bridges.

OKC has over 30mil+ in capspace if they let Biyombo and Hayward go. Besides, if they decide to trade a guy like Dort, they can easily take back 50mil in salary.

It’s incredible how next years cap hit currently is 102mil (granted they will sign some rookies on top of that).

The current average age is 23.3 years without Hayward and Biyombo. If they sign some rookies its gonna be between 23-24 years of age on average throughout the team, which is flat out bonkers considering they will already finish as the top3 seed in the west (good odds of finishing first even). Quite an “arrival”.

Post #2600 » by **Dadouv47** » Sun Apr 14, 2024 5:56 pm

Bremzi wrote:
mr570 wrote:
Bremzi wrote:Can OKC swing for someone similar or even better in the next offseason? Very likely.

Maybe Joe Tsai will finally quit being an idiot and blow the Nets up this summer. Not an interesting scenario because it's been talked about ad nauseum, but still my favorite

Yeah, I could see Presti making a solid offer for Bridges.

OKC has over 30mil+ in capspace if they let Biyombo and Hayward go. Besides, if they decide to trade a guy like Dort, they can easily take back 50mil in salary.

It’s incredible how next years cap hit currently is 102mil (granted they will sign some rookies on top of that).

The current average age is 23.3 years without Hayward and Biyombo. If they sign some rookies its gonna be between 23-24 years of age on average throughout the team, which is flat out bonkers considering they will already finish as the top3 seed in the west (good odds of finishing first even). Quite an “arrival”.

Presti might offer Giddey and some FRPs for Bridges and i'm not sure that will be enough. I know we have a lot of picks but we don't have many players with ton of trade value (except our stars)