OKC Blue - GLeague thread 24-25

[Clav]

Don't look now (or do...) but the OKC Blue have somehow cobbled together a 5 game winning streak and are now in the playoff picture.

It's actually a possibility to make up ground yet. Two games vs Greensboro Swarm which needs two wins to get near playoffs... then Birmingham, which could be eliminated from POs when we play them.

vs Dallas (Texas Legends) and a competitive division game.

and finally vs near the top of the East, the Delaware Blue Coats (& defending champs). They could be resting for the playoffs ?

It's crazy to think this team has turned around their performances, and my analysis is...they are playing NBA players

Dieng is finally playing better, Sarr, and Keyonte provide good defense and rebounding, and some of the dead weight is not being relied upon as much.

[Clav]

OKC Blue have only lost one game in the past 10, a close defeat to Greensboro Swarm [edit: Did you know Kent Bazemore is in the GL? Neither did I, but he's playing for the GBSwarm!], but has handily placed themselves at 3rd for a guaranteed playoff berth. One game left, vs the Delaware Blue Coats, and minimum 19 wins secured. Can secure the #2 or #3 seed with 20th win vs Delaware, a loss puts OKC in range of 4,5,6. And only 6 teams make it in.

I thought they were dead in the water in February, but have since turned it around. Some strange things happen with GL teams, like players getting called up near the end of the season (the best ones get NBA TW contracts normally, or 10-days.) The teams where that happens, they sometimes struggle. Or in OKC's case, our "kindof" possession dominant 2-guard, Ja'hmius Ramsey was signed by the Raps, and we've gone on a big run of wins. [I'm unsure if some other teams above us in the table had players signed to NBA squads.]

A case of addition by subtraction perhaps ? I don't have #s to back that up but I do have my eye-test, which hopefully is alright here, for now.

Ramsey is a curious case of a GL player, he's a very solid scorer, he has drive potential and handle to get where he wants. He's not the greatest defender, and hustle can vary, but he has provided big moments getting steals and running the break, providing offense when needed. Shackleford and Ramsey shot well and powered the Blue to some wins early in the season, and I praised how this team's guard play is a defining factor of how we operated. I actually thought he's one of the most NBA ready guards in the GL because of this offensive package. Notwithstanding, he was signed by the guard-needy Raptors.

Never was I a proponent of Ramsey's defensive accolades as he seems slow-footed as a wing defender and not very useful as a post defender in any sense. It's possible relying on this guy for some bench offense was actually causing more Losses, despite some impressive offense. Now, our team has been using a LOT more of Lindy Waters III, Dieng, and Sarr within the rotations. It simply makes our team look more balanced, and they are definitely larger.

[I mentioned in one of the other posts above that we're winning games because we are playing NBA players]. These 3 guys have been playing a lot better, Dieng has looked a lot more comfortable, and Sarr had a HUGE game vs Birmingham (22p-26r) to power both sides of the ball. He had 10+ offensive rebounds. That's the kind of post-presence that dominates games.

Keyonte also is a presence in the GL after finding his footing. He will definitely be in the OKC org next season.

As many of you know, I am an Oliver Sarr fan, and really think he needs some PT as our primary backup C. In the offseason, I'd like for OKC to convert him to a 3/~10M deal Ng-year 3. He deserves a contract in the NBA and could be an in-house solution to some of our rebounding issues. Sarr is also decent with his shot, not a standout shooter, but he is willing to take a variety of shots, 3s, and soft turnarounds. He impresses me with his verticality and rebounding, offensive package, more than Jaylen Williams [which isn't saying much].

To be honest, Jaylin Williams has mostly avoided the GL, I would have liked to see how he performed at that level [for extended run] as a point of comparison between the two.

[Clav]

@ HOME vs RGV Vipers in R1 of the playoffs on Tuesday April 2nd

The 3 seed OKC Blue take on the 6 seed Rockets' GL team (Rio Grande Valley Vipers).

RGV features some players which gave OKC Blue some fits in this season's earlier matchup.

former MN lottery pick Jarrett Culver
Darius Days, a savvy young combo forward
A piece of a Thunder trade package years ago in Jalen Leque

Cam Whitmore is likely going to stay up with the main club, as will Amen Thompson [these two players played really well vs OKC earlier in the year].


OKC has Dieng/Sarr/Keyonte/Lindy/Shackleford as the primary 5 with Maldonado/McConnell/Flager as big piece on the bench now.

[Clav]

OKC win by 1 over RGV Vipers! on to the next playoff game!

[remi_222]

Dieng is gonna leave soon if he doesnt play more NBA time ! he's way too good for G League

[Clav]

Moving on to the Western Conference Finals! (vs Stockton Kings)

I can't believe this team has rallied from below .500 to a finalist. The guys played really well in a close 3Q game vs Sioux Falls Skyforce. In the 4th, the Miami GL squad just couldn't hit shots, even if open, and OKC had some clutch work to win.

In roster news, Jah'mius Ramsey has returned from his 2 10 day contracts with Toronto and has returned to the OKC Blue and played in this game. Helped us with some good shots and looked less flat footed on D.

[Clav]

We are going to the GL Championship game!!! Let's go!

[retrobro90]

Went to game 2 tonight! Fun to see Lindy completely lights out. Jordan Walsh is 1000% an nba player. Would love to somehow steal him from Boston and get him with Chip. Shot is already miles ahead of where it was in his Arkansas tenure.

Wherever anyone's expectations are around Ous they should probably be lower. He looks awful right now. Outside of a few late game rebounds he was very rough tonight. Processing speed is way too slow and everything he does with the ball is tepid and second-guessed. Part of his struggles tonight can be attributed to how good Walsh is defensively but in any matchup he still looks very very lost.

[Clav]

Excellent! I'm glad to hear you went. It looked like a fun game.

We're in the GL equivalent of a NBA Finals G7 on the road.

On the road in Maine for the elimination game in the GL Finals. I'm surprised we have made it this far but highly encouraged with the fight of this team throughout the season. They have a chance to win it all and bring OKC Blue / Tulsa 66ers the first championship in the GL/NBA DL to the state.

Our franchise DID win consecutive championships as the Asheville (NC) Altitude in 2004/5 I think, but none sofar in Oklahoma.


Maine has never won the GL/NBA DL championship and look poised to do so if Walsh plays well again and they get solid bench contributions again. I can only hope that the OKC team shows up and pulls the upset on the road, would be sweet for the guys and they get bonuses for this as well surely.

[Clav]

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

if not in the NBA this year, at least we can revel in that our GL team brought home the first championship to OKC or Tulsa in the franchise's time here. Excellent work, team, and I'll be recapping this historic season later this week!

[Clav]

Clav's review of the OKC Blue 2023-24 season

Winter Showcase Result: 2nd in South Division, 10-6
[2 wins vs the East in the Final Showcase games Cleveland Charge and Wisconsin Herd]

Regular Season Result: Qualified for Playoffs as the 3rd Seed in Western Conference, 21-13
Aggregated Record: 31-19

Playoffs Results:
GL Playoffs R1 vs Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Houston) - W 126-125 OT [target score/Elam ending]
GL Playoffs Western Semifinals @ Sioux Falls Sky Force (Miami) - W 111-93
GL Playoffs Western Finals @ Stockton Kings (Sacramento) - W 114-107
GL Finals @ Maine Celtics (Boston) - L 86-106 [Maine leads 1-0]
GL Finals vs Maine Celtics (Boston) - W 99-89 [Series Tied 1-1]
GL Finals @ Maine Celtics (Boston) - W 117-100 [OKC Wins 2-1]


The season was a great success with a Championship! There were some bumps along the way, but here's some information that everyone might find useful from my time watching this team.

I thought they were dead in the water in the RS in February. Far behind the leaders, but they played REALLY well to close out the year, probably some of the best clutch performances from an OKC developmental team in my time following the team. I had to write up a review for this history-making season. A+ for fighting to win a championship, and surviving the challenges to make the plays when they counted.

RS stars : Jaden Shackleford, Jahmius Ramsey, & Keyonte Johnson
Playoff stars : Ousmane Dieng, Olivier Sarr, Lindy Waters III, Adam Flager

The key to this season was that we played very well as a guard-initation team, like the big club does, for much of the first half of the year. Our guard play won us games, or lost us games. However the rest of the court was pretty good matchups overall. When we had our 3 solid defenders on the wing helping the team defense, our floor-bound C's were just equal enough to stay average. Once we added LATE in the year, our super-sniper Lindy Waters, and our primary C, Oliver Sarr [who I think was nursing some injuries or with OKC Thunder much of the year], to the lineup, this team had all the options on the court to matchup against other GL teams. We outperformed my initial expectations of this team by a fair margin and I'm proud to say I caught many games on the GL channel.

The nice part of this teams rotation...
2x 3pt specialists - Shackleford and Waters III
3x wing defenders/slashers - Keyonte Johnson/Maldonado/McConnell
1x very good GL C - Sarr
1x offensive guard - Ramsey
1x defensive guard - Flager
1x swiss-army-knife F - Dieng
2x post bruisers/rebounders - Starkey/Williams
And at least 5, maybe stretching it to 6, of these players by my estimation are NBA level talent, maybe not stars, but various levels of role players. That's pretty good in the NBA GL. That's essentially why we won, we were a ~~3rd string NBA team playing against ~4th string NBA competition.



Individual Player Grades for the season [Two-Way or OKC Thunder Players only]

Spoiler:

Tre Mann - 2 games total, 28/8/5 in one game, and 14/8/5 in the other
+ Was traded to Charlotte, very limited action in GL
Season Grade and role in NBA: B, 3-level combo guard
Mann now gets some solid PT for CHA and can try to build his career further as he was stuck in limbo this year.

Lindy Waters III - 22PPG in 2 games in the Showcase Cup. Regular Season 10 GP -21/6/2.5a with 44% 3pt (8 3PtA per game)
+ Lots more confident with shot, didn't play much with only 12 total appearances until playoffs.
+ 21/9/3.5 in Playoffs shooting 58% from 3 on 6 attempts. Played huge in the Finals.
Season Grade and role in NBA: C, 3-pt threat
Lindy improved his %ages for sure, but didn't contribute much in the RS. I felt like OKC sent him to play for the Playoffs to be a kind of secret weapon that they had not deployed a lot during the year. Lindy can still carve out an NBA role as a shooter, but isn't a plus defender at that level.

Keyonte Johnson - 19/7/2 in Showcase Cup (13 GP), 19.9/6/2 in Regular Season (25 GP)
+ 13/4/2 in the Playoffs
+ Is an aggressive cutter, and plays solid defense, intangible and hustle. His scoring improved, recording 39% from 3 on 4 a game, hitting some big shots along the way.
Season Grade and role in NBA: B+, Defensive Hustle, Gritty Offense
Comparison ceiling?: Bobby Portis
Keyonte played really well overall getting his professional legs under, he started out immediately getting some nice stat lines and contributions. His scoring went up in the Regular Season and he saw consistent action with the GL club. Surely he'll be brought back as a TW player again. He has good defensive chops and court IQ. He moves well. Rebounds tough.

Ousmane Dieng - 16/7/3 in Showcase Cup, 17/7/6 in Regular Season
+ 15/7/5 in Playoffs
+ Game Winning bucket to preserve playoff hopes in Round 1 vs RGV Vipers
+ GL-Finals MVP
Season Grade and role in NBA: A-, 3-Level Scorer
Comparison ceiling?: Rashard Lewis/MPJ
Dieng had a rough start with some of his shooting, and infact was not the sharpest shooter throughout the year. However he gained a lot of confidence and posted a big triple-double in some games leading up to the playoffs. In the playoffs the Blue used Dieng successfully to initiate offense, get buckets at the rim, and space the floor. He was more forceful driving and playing defense, bumping his Stocks by +0.9. There's a lot to like, there's a lot for him to learn. Getting the Finals MVP is big! Big congrats to Dieng.

Adam Flagler - Did NOT play in showcase cup. 30 Games in Regular Season with 14/3/3, shot 40% from 3 on 6 attempts
+ 15/4/4 in playoffs
+ Minutes Increase made this team play better
+ Good BBIQ
Season Grade and role in NBA: B-, Floor General - PG3 at this point
Comparison ceiling?: Pat Beverly, Davion Mitchell, Schroder, Jordan McLaughlin with a bit more height. Idk, still forming opinions here.
Flagler, from Baylor, is a tough nosed PG. He's 6'3, wiry, and a good competitor. He was signed as a TW when Lindy's contract was guaranteed this year I think. Was working his way into the team, showed good shooting touch in the final 20 games, and played nicely in the playoffs for big minutes. As a defensive guard, he helped this team be more effective overall. Keep an eye on him I think.

Oliver Sarr - 11/11 in 2 games in Showcase Cup, 14/9/2b in RS in 18 games
+ 11/12/2b in Playoffs
+ Recorded a 20p/20r game this season, including 10 O-rebs
Season Grade and role in NBA: B-, Bench-C
Comparison ceiling?: Mehmet Okur
Comparison floor?: Joffrey Lauvergne
Sarr didn't have tons of appearances in the RS this year, but he was again deployed like Lindy was, heavily in the final games and in the playoffs. This was my big takeaway from the OKC Blue's end-of-year surge. They started playing guys who have some NBA experience, and legitimate games under their belt. Sarr showed that if given a bigger role, he is a decent C, has touch, has a shot, defensive instincts, size, but still a lot to learn. He disappears at times from the action, but also had massive moments. I think he's NBA ready for a bench role.

Individual Player Grades for the season [GL Only players]

Spoiler:

The other guys! Some were very important to note, some are deep GL bench and have no hope of NBA careers. Find out who makes the cuts below.

Jaden Shackleford
+ Shooting Guard
+ 16/4/3, 35% 3pt in the Showcase / 16/4/4 Regular Season 35% 3s, and 11/2/2 Playoffs on 38% 3s
+ Quality shooter, was leading GL in 3pt %age for a while.
Season Grade and role in NBA: A, slim
Comparison ceiling?: Cole Anthony
A 6'3 guard, who really floated PG and SG at many times this year. Was reduced in role for Flager, who is a better defender later in the season but kept this team going for much of the year. Won this team a handful of games on his shooting, had a great season all things considered. Great season for him. Unsure if he's NBA caliber because of the defensive side, but he is a solid shooter.

Jahmius Ramsey
+ Combo guard
+ 18PPG averages, upped his rebs and asts in the playoffs to 4/4. RS, shot 39% from 3 on 6 attempts, and playoffs 44% on 5 attempts.
+ Excellent at driving, and has good straightline speed
Season Grade and role in NBA: A+, SG#2 or 3/bench initiator
Comparison ceiling?: Benedict Mathurin
Ramsey has to consider this year a massive success. Helped our team offensively with Shackleford in the first 30 games (Showcase and RS). He was signed to two 10-day contracts with Toronto when they needed some late season help, so he got a real NBA contract. He then returned to our team and played a little more in control, helping us as a bench spark. He is not a great defender overall. His name is out there, and maybe he can carve a career out. He has lots to work on but this has to be a good sign for him.

Hunter Maldonado
+ 16/5/5a in Showcase cup, 10/4/4 in Regular Season, 11/5/5 in Playoffs
+ hard nosed defender and hustle guy, big minutes player
- played worse in playoffs
Season Grade and role in NBA: B+, slim chance as wing-bench player
Comparison ceiling?: Caleb Martin
Maldonado had a lot of rough moments, especially shooting, but he did soak up minutes and improved in the regular season. He was pushed out by Dieng's big play in the playoffs and I think that was a good decision. Cleaned up a lot of random points around the rim.

KJ Williams
+ Big bodied forward, bruiser
+ 14/8 Showcase cup, 10/9 Reg season, 7/4 playoffs
+ GW 33ft 3pt-shot in the Showcase cup
Season Grade and role in NBA: C+, 10-day contract for an injured team
Comparison ceiling?: Trey Lyles
Not like we need more Williams...But maybe we do need more KJ Williams had a good year, really stabilized our front court without Sarr early on. It was mostly Williams and Starkey holding it down. He provided timely offense and toughness, though still had some shaky games shooting and contributing. Big time GW shot from DEEEP was his highlight of the year, you'd have to say it was successful overall for him. However his production dipped big time later in the year, and was out of the rotation. I'm not sure he's an NBA forward, but he did have an incredible stretch of games early on before hitting the wall.

Caleb McConnell
+ 9/6/3.4stocks in Showcase / 8/6/2stocks in Regular Season
+ Hustle, defense, good size and movement, instincts
- Not a great offensive player
Season Grade and role in NBA: B, none
Comparison ceiling?: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist with a little bit better jumpshot
Worked hard at defense throughout the year and is called "The Blanket" for his defense. That being said he got very little PT in the playoffs because he is not a shooter. However for his season, I'm giving a generous B because he's on the map now early in his career.

Logan Johnson
+ athletic guard, quick
+ 6/3/1a RS, ~20GP
Season Grade and role in NBA: D, slim-chance
Comp? Dion Waiters without a jump shot.
Having hops does not mean you are an NBA player. Maybe if he improves his all court game. Was sparingly used in playoffs.

Miller Kopp
+ Shooter (39% in showcase cup / 31% from 3 in RS, garbage time only in playoffs)
+ 11/3r in Showcase cup, 6/2 in Regular Season
- Had a TO to lose a game in true Shaqtin fashion, tripping on his own foot, losing the ball, and the other team got a steal to win the game. Sigh..
Season Grade and role in NBA: D+, none
Comparison ceiling?: a shorter Davis Bertans. Lindy Waters III's career would be a dream for Kopp
Kopp was bad at defense all year, but tried hard. He shot poorly for a while, but exploded for some 20+pts games in a row in the showcase cup leading to TWO wins. Good job. Then reverted to ineffective again the rest of the year with declining minutes.

Noah Starkey
+ Bruiser, Screen Setter
+ 6/4r in 22 games in RS
+ 5/7r in Showcase cup
Season Grade and role in NBA: C+, none
Comparison ceiling?: Cole Aldrich
Starkey is a solid, tall, man. He knows basketball fundamentals and does dirty work to get rebounds and points, but he has no vertical and no range. He is a 'plumber', but I'm sure he's a good dude, just not an NBA player.

Abdul Gaddy
+ Pass-first PG
+ 15 games of 6/6a in showcase cup
+ Signed with a Romanian team
Season Grade and role in NBA: D, none
Gaddy had been on our squad for a while and is not an NBA level player. He's a good passer and hesitant shooter, though has a nice form. He gets guys shots, that's his role.

Sam Daniel, Kong Kong, and Troy Baxter Jr [12 appearances between all 3]
Season Grade and role in NBA: F, none
I don't remember seeing them play at all, and they didn't do much.

[Clav]

Bad news, didn't even know this happened....

https://www.nba.com/thunder/news/release-update-240417

Olivier Sarr ruptured his Achilles tendon. That's really serious, I thought he played the entire game and was fit. I'd need confirmation if he was injured in the game because I was unable to watch it.

[Clav]

A NEW season of GL kicks off this month, and the OKC Blue are the defending GL Champs.

Nice! Great job! As I recapped our successful year in this thread, so I'll just continue along with GL updates this year as well.

The news of the day is that our initial roster has been revealed. Let's find out about some of the players familiar and new that are listed https://oklahomacity.gleague.nba.com/roster


OKC Two-way contract holders
Just FYI, if we use all three TW spots, which OKC is, they are capped at 50 NBA games on the Thunder roster each. The rest is in GL.

SF/SG AJ Mitchell -- if he's not on the main club, he'll be torching the nets in the GL.

PG/SG Adam Flagler -- will return as one of the starting guards for the Blue.

SF Alex Ducas -- will see action as a stretch 3/4 for GL team often.


Summer League continuation --

[maybe] PF Malevy Leons, who we signed to a 1-yr ng contract. Crafty PF with some defensive length. I'm unsure if he's eligible, but if yes, he'll see action.
SF Buddy Boeheim -- 6'5 wing. Famous name, not famous game
SG Cormac Ryan -- 6'5 wing. An innocuous shooter that will get torched defensively.


Returning OKC Blue players

C Noah Starkey -- screen setter, rebounder
PG Jahmi'us Ramsey -- offense first guard
SF Miller Kopp -- shooter
SG Logan Johnson -- athlete that plays basketball


NEW OKC Blue players

SF Cam Brown 6'6 -- wing defense and hustle, can initiate and score
G Javonte Cook 6'6 -- has kicked around a few years, hustle, chance of wing minutes
PF Matthew Freeman 6'10 -- UC Santa Barbara and Univ. of Oklahoma player getting a chance (some may remember him playing for OU)
C Justyn Hamilton 6'11 -- drafted in GL draft, lob threat from Kent St.
F Tray Jackson 6'10 -- played for Michigan, has some range, development needed
G Isaiah Moore 6'1 -- played for Iowa Wolves to minor levels last year.



My depth chart projections
1G - Flagler/Ramsey/Moore/Johnson
2G - Mitchell/Kopp/Cook/Ryan
F - (Dieng)/Ducas/Brown/Boeheim
F - Jones/Jackson/(Leons)
C - Hamilton/Starkey/Freeman

And, will Dieng play ? If so, he is starting.
+ Topic (ACL-will not play this season)

Our team looks pretty solid, though backups will be sieves I believe.



Departing OKC Blue players from last year, happy trails!

McConnell, Mann, Keyonte Johnson --> Charlotte GL
Olivier Sarr --> unsigned (injured)
Jaden Shackleford --> Phx GL
Maldonado --> Germany
KJ Williams --> Greece
Lindy Waters III --> GSW

[Clav]

Little recap on the OKC Blue's first 9 games, which have gone pretty well all things considered -- they play inspired basketball at times [definitely defensively? if that's a thing in the GL]. Lets dive into the early season notes I've collected for the board here.

Currently 7-2 with a netRTG of +3, and a couple close wins to push us up to 7.

Ws vs Texas x2, Memphis x2, RGV x2, Birmingham

Ls vs Birmingham, RGV

5 games of the initial "Tip-Off Tournament" remain with games vs MXC, Osceola Magic, Birmingham x1, and Austin Spurs x2


Win recaps:
vs Texas - Leons with a 19p/21r, Jah'mius Ramsey and Flagler played well from guard spots to win by 2.
@ MEM - Logan Johnson and Buddy Boeheim had career nights of 30+ each, which was kind of a shocker. Boeheim hit 12 3pters ?!
vs Texas - Flager hit 7 3pts, and new signed C Branden Carlson had 25p/10r/5a
vs RGV - Flager with 26, and moderate double-doubles from Leons and Carlson
@ Birm - Boeheim, Kopp, and Starkey somehow scored 16+pts and Logan Johnson with 10/10a dbldbl
@ MEM - played 8 players and everyone scored 10+ pts except Starkey (0). MEM's Castleton had a huge game but not enough for them in a 1pt loss
@RGV - Javonte Cook, Kopp, Ryan all scored 20+ pts and Ramsey had 17. RGV didn't play the best players on their squad

Loss recaps:
@ RGV - OKC played 7 players all scored more than 11pts, but ran out of gas late to a 4pt loss and RGV had 26+ from 3 players, including Whitmore who added 7r/6a.
@ Birm - 4 Birmingham starters were in double figures and OKC's post play and shooting were poor this game


Player notes:
G Jahmius Ramsey has 2 GP and has played well in each, he was on our last years' squad. Good offensively, he's not great defensively still
TW G Adam Flagler has 3 GP and is probably our best G from GL performances so far, controls the flow of the game well
C Carlson had dbl-dbls in 2 GP, both wins. Looks active and ready to play our offense, isn't positionally the best defensively but I think we need to see more of him.
F Dieng has 1 GP and got injured on his ring finger. He floats around more than he impacts the game.
F Malevy Leons has had some nice performances, was a contract holder for us but we waived him and retained him on GL squad. He's got potential with some seasoning. I'm impressed with his fight for 50/50s and rebounding + put backs.
G Javonte Cooke - 4GP and will likely see more action, shooting well and had some big 20+ scoring games, so there's a player here for sure.

Main roster of GL players *all 6GP or more*
G Logan Johnson - 13/7a/5r, had one huge game and some decent others, is replacing Shackleford and maybe Ramsey as our spark plug Guard this year. Unsure his true potential.
G Cormac Ryan - 13/3/4r - had a couple decent games but he is targeted defensively. Shooting better than in SL, he's brought in to shoot and can't handle that well.
G/F Miller Kopp - 14/2/6r - improving his play and is a more reliable shooter than our other wings last year, still needs work with his handle and defense.
F Cam Brown - 9/5a and played every game. Dev project wing with defensive hustle, he's doing okay under the radar in games I play.
F Buddy Boeheim - 14/2/6 - playing like Kopp and torched the nets one game to help us win a game. I'm not sure he's the best even GL level forward but he's been servicable and is working hard defensively. Shooting 43% from 3 which is great.
C Noah Starkey - 8/7r - He's a big body, hard worker obviously... but he never impresses me with speed or ceiling. Good guy on a GL roster to show up and bring the lunchpail to work everyday to set screens and fight for rebounds.

Overall notes
GL gives some insight into how these guys play but also has limitations because of many lineup changes, roster movement, and matchups. Some teams approach games as warm-ups, and some take it more seriously. I think OKC coaches have got most of our players to buy in defensively and take games seriously. We also roster players I honestly feel have 0 chance of graduating to 10th best or better player on an NBA team's roster. I hate to knock em down a bit but the gap is pretty far at times...

OKC Blue has not played Ajay Mitchell in one game yet. Alex Ducas has 4 games sparingly and was active, looking for shots and teammates, but also didn't look that spectacular as a shooter, or defender, to me.

I think Mitchell would tear it up in the GL. --NOTE: TW contract holders, if teams have 3 players, can suit up 50 games for the main club. I would imagine that Mitchell will go to the GL post-ASB, and we may see Ducas/Flagler sparingly throughout the year.

Post players Branden Carlson and Malevy Leons look decent [hustle, rebounding, length, some shooting] for GL level and both could have NBA futures ahead. another C, Tray Jackson, has played in a couple games but has been absent from games recently so... TBD ??

Like last year, I feel like this team is playing above its level, and my expectations were a drop off if we didn't play Dieng, Mitchell, Jones, etc. However, OKC Blue and GL level in general, I think teams can survive by playing inspired and team ball. I see fewer hero-ball possessions, even if offensive initiation is kind of up and down, we pass and look for teammates, and play decent defense (3rd in the GL so far which is saying something). Cheers!

[Thabo Sefolosha]

Clav, I really appreciate the Blue updates even if it's just you posting about it. I currently work for the Blue and it's nice to see others taking interest about them.

[Clav]

Clav, I really appreciate the Blue updates even if it's just you posting about it. I currently work for the Blue and it's nice to see others taking interest about them.

I appreciate that Thabo. I do it because the main club gets a lot of attention relatively, but our development squad shows a lot of solid basketball, I enjoy seeing their games.

[Clav]

We're a handful of games into the "regular season" of the GL, and the Blue have had some up and down performances leading to a 6-8 record and 10th in the West. Now a big road trip begins and they have to snag any wins to move up.

My recap from how the team's been doing ? Well they have issues defending (107OppPPG) unlike in the previous season, and we are playing some specialists, definitely showing their flaws in some losses. The wins have been pretty solid because when things click the right way, the shots look easier. We have a slight positive net rating despite two games below .500.

As always, all basketball teams look a lot better when the shots go in. It's basic stuff here, but it's about achieving that consistency to sustain runs. The current iteration of the Blue is more prone to lapses on both sides and that's par for the course in GL. A lot of teams are really close in the standings, but the next month is critical for OKC to move up the standings.

Last season the Blue won 10 of 11 games to end the season, and then ended up winning the GL Championship. I documented how that run occurred in broad strokes, but it basically came down to removing Dieng, Waters III, and Sarr from the Thunder, and deploying them for the final month of GL. All played really well especially Waters who went nuclear in the playoffs. Dieng had a very solid final two weeks, and Sarr was a pivotal backline.

This season ? I don't see that kind of turnaround because there really aren't reinforcements on the way. Flager and Ducas haven't been featured in the Regular Season. Mitchell, injured. Carlson's 2nd 10-day expired.

The big story for me is Dillon Jones, playing a lot of minutes in the GL *32 MPG* and posting 14/6.5r/4a/1.2s. He's being used as a small-ball C and initiator, but he isn't shooting great. Leads teams in assists, though.

Another player to watch is PF/C Malevy Leons, who has a good knack for rebounding and hustle points. He's got 10/7r/2stocks, but still isn't a great scorer. He is a decent player and could be a bench player in the NBA in the right situation.

Miller Kopp is a specialist we play a lot also, he's shooting 46% from 3, but no one else is really lighting up the %ages, and Kopp is a below average defender.

Will stay tuned to see if our other TW contract holders or Dieng makes appearances in the GL for its final month and a half-ish. Nothing's really popping with the eye-test I do.

[Clav]

Clav's review of the OKC Blue 2024-25 season

Winter Showcase Result: 1st in South Division, 12-4

Regular Season Result: Eliminated from post-season, 18-16
Aggregated Record: 30-20

Playoffs Results:
none. Was champion last year, will not repeat.


We played well in the tip-off tournament. 16 games from NOV to DEC that gives teams some good competition for an extended "pre-season" for the NBA. A lot of players get some reps here and then start using their 50-game limit as TW players in the NBA. For our team, we actually didn't use the GL as much as I expected for our OKC Thunder players. We played our three TW holders (Flagler,Ducas,Mitchell) sparingly. Dieng and Jones (contract holders for Thunder) played little at the start of the year. Jones is the only guy we gave significant run to in the second half of the Regular season. Carlson (who we later signed to a contract) actually played pretty well in just 10 total GL games. He got the small bag for it.

What we did do, you ask ? We played a lot of Buddy Boeheim, Jahmius Ramsey, Miller Kopp, Malevy Leons, Cam Brown, Noah Starkey, Javonte Cook, Cormac Ryan... a LOT. Ramsey, Starkey, and Kopp and a few others played for us last season so there's some familiarity there. Basically think of how we get shots for Isaiah Joe and that's a good indication of how things went on a standard night.

So how did this team fare ? Basically the level of play was more live or die by the shooting of our guy Kopp, Ryan, Leons, and Ramsey. Defending the wing was important too, and we held teams to a lower 3-pt %age in both parts of the RS compared to how we shot. Javonte Cook also played quite well for us and helped the team get wins. This was not a team based on true size, speed, or athleticism, they scrapped and played a movement offense to gain advantages with 2 good POA attackers for 3-4 wing players. We played best with Leons as our C or PF. Our problems were turnovers as basically none of the roster was what I deem NBA ready point guard and we didn't run high-post passing like Denver or Sacramento, nor did we have the roster for it.

I'm pleasantly happy with the results though, they played pretty tough and I do think these fringe guys improved last year from my other review. Let's dip into some of them now.

Tip-off Tournament stars : Boeheim, Kopp, and Cameron Brown all shot >35% from 3. Leons avg'd nearly a double-double and 2.8 stocks.
RS stars : Leons, and Kopp again. Javonte Cook and Ramsey balanced the guard play.


The nice part of this teams rotation:
Ramsey is always generating offense and drives to the hoop. Our other athletes like Logan Johnson or Cook also made good effort to use picks or other action to drive first. They rotated the ball well, and we got movement looks to our shooters often. Starkey is ill-equipped to jump high but he hustles and gets our team possessions for rebounds. Leons is wiry and has a knack to get the ball also. We helped our offense by collecting misses. Overall the guys played for each other and nearly every player had at least a few big games.

The bad parts of the rotation:
We were undersized and fielded a wing rotation of 3 players with no NBA vertical (Boeheim, Ryan, Kopp). We had another non-leaper with floor-bound C in Starkey. Guard - Jahmius Ramsey can dunk but he's more finesse and layups than explosive. Dillon Jones is not dunking on people in his 18 games, but he did get near triple doubles as a kind of jack of all trades player. We didn't have rim protection threat or size. Our guards turn the ball over, and our wing players couldn't really initiate without being pressured either. We didn't play our best players (Flagler, Dieng, for example).



Individual Player Grades for the season [Two-Way or OKC Thunder Players only]

Spoiler:

Dillon Jones
+ 18 GP in the Regular Season. 13/7r/5a stats, but shot poorly
Season Grade and role in NBA: C-, deep bench initiator? slim.
DJ didn't do much with his time there, but had some games where he was free to shoot. He didn't score that effectively, but he did get other teammates involved. His future in the NBA depends on more than passing, so he has a big summer ahead of him.

Ousmane Dieng and Branden Carlson
+ in 7GP, Dieng scored over 20PPG along with other stats. He's "above" GL competition.
+ in 7GP with the GL, Carlson had 3.1 blocks/game and was rebounding, willing to shoot. He fits our system and bought in, produced, got a contract out of it.
Season Grade and role in NBA: C for Dieng, B for Carlson. One is a Lottery pick but not playing much, and not playing for the big club either. One is a journeyman doing exactly what he should, playing big and proving it. Dieng CAN be an NBA player of note, he needs opportunities to play for real. He's basically done with GL now. Carlson will hope we bring him back on a 1-yr deal if he's lucky. Another team should sign him tbh. Both need luck for a better career than 10th on the bench.

TW
Adam Flagler, Alex Ducas
+ played 10 games total between the two of them in a very surprising move. Flagler put up points in his GL games (over 20 PPG). Ducas was invisible.
Season Grade and role in NBA: Ducas - F. Flagler - C. Organization - F.
We signed players to TW contract and didn't play them in GL when we could have. Their appearances for the main club were mostly garbage or useless minutes that we shook our heads as Flagler missed 9 3s in one game, or scratched our heads seeing Ducas for 2 minutes. If we're using contracts for TW, we should ideally be using them for the second team in some respect. AJAY MITCHELL PLAYED 0 GAMES FOR THE BLUE - I know he was injured etc but they didn't even give him a GL run in any respect. So, what's their NBA level ? Flagler could be a decent guard but we have no tape on him this year. Ducas could be okay but he also did nothing. Mitchell at least played for the Thunder well so his comp and NBA future is ceiling of 6th man, and floor of bench spark plug - but we don't know if he's consistent against less competition really.

Individual Player Grades for the season [GL Only players]

Spoiler:

The other guys! Some were very important to note, some are deep GL bench and have no hope of NBA careers. Find out who makes the cuts below.

Buddy Boeheim
+ Had a 30 pt game in the Tip off Tournament
+ >12 PPG in full season
Season Grade and role in NBA: D, none.
Isn't an NBA athlete, has some smarts and can get hot, but he's a streaky shooter and got worse as the year went on. Didn't seem that effective after a year of playing.

Miller Kopp
+ Improved 3pt shot from last season
+ More consistent off-ball movement and execution of offense, around 12 PPG and 5rebs.
Season Grade and role in NBA: B+, none.
Comparison ceiling?: Still a low-end spot up/movement shooter without NBA level defense. However, he did play a lot better this year and we relied on him heavily for pts. He still has work to do to be NBA level. He did improve so that's good.

Malevy Leons
+ Multiple double-doubles. Hustle points. Scoring increased
+ Had a 20/20 game during the Tip off Tournament.
+ Improved shooting and defense
Season Grade and role in NBA: A, PF prospect 12-15th on bench
Comparison ceiling?: Jaden McDaniels
Comparison floor?: Bruno Caboclo
A type of player with some grit and hustle, makes plays for others and is unselfish, works hard on the glass for his size and frame. Has a good looking shot and defensive instincts. Still pretty raw despite a bit older than rookies. Could make a small career in NBA as deep bench. Was our best player most nights.

Javonte Cook
+ Increased scoring significantly
Season Grade and role in NBA: C+, deep bench reserve.
Got a significant amount of run and displayed good shooting and driving, pivotal offense and some big nights for us. However he's not that careful with the ball and prone to mistakes. Wasn't a clear shooting option and not a playmaker. Could be a microwave bench player with right system. Could be retained for OKC Blue to keep working on his game.

Jahmius Ramsey
+ Combo guard, 3rd year with OKC Blue
+ 20PPG averages, 4r/3a, reduction of playmaking this year
+ shot 36% from 3
+ For GL level, gets to rim consistently. Poor defensive instinct but is a good open court / steals generator
Season Grade and role in NBA: A-, bench spark plug 10-15th man
Comparison ceiling?: Benedict Mathurin
Ramsey had another year with us and was our primary guard for most of the year. He does a lot for our team at the GL level, initiation, passing, and scoring. He gets us moving, and provides an outlet for scoring. He had big games and was the reason we won many nights, was probably our best player all season with Leons. Could be a bench player on NBA team but deep level, and his defense is poor so he may never really get NBA run. However, I applaud his effort for playing in our system for now multiple years. He's a good player overall and if only his foot speed for lateral defense was a bit sharper, he'd be NBA making a lot more money. Successful season regardless.

Logan Johnson
+ Had a couple big nights, including a 30 pt effort, and better playmaking.
+ turnover prone and not a shooter
Season Grade and role in NBA: C-, none
Loose with ball, can jump and do some passing, but his game is a bit wild and he's not really ready.

Cormac Ryan
+ Displayed better poise on the court as season went on, but prone to poor defense.
+ Shooting was inconsistent and a cause for some of our losses
Season Grade and role in NBA: D, none.
A slow footed, small shooter. Plays hard but was beat often and at higher levels he'll just be torched. Did provide an okay outlet for shots when open.

Justyn Hamilton
+ Played reserve big and spot starts, and showed better scoring touch than Starkey
+ poor shooter
Season Grade and role in NBA: D, none

Cameron Brown
+ 1st year in GL, played some bench level minutes
Season Grade and role in NBA: D, none.
A wing player still working his way into the league. Has potential to be unlocked but shot poorly, hustled on D.

Noah Starkey
+ Best rebounding numbers to date. [6.6 PG] and 1.2Blocks
+ Sets screens and hustles
Season Grade and role in NBA: C, none.
Starkey is a reliable player and unselfish. He does the dirty work and earned minutes because of it. Solid defensively but he's slow footed so he plays a lot of drop and he prioritizes rebounds. Not and NBA player but has been a hard worker for our team.