2024-2025 OKC Thunder Games Thread

[Dadouv47]

I really love the national media narrative that OKC ins't going to the Finals. Our players listen to those clowns and it will lower some pressure and increase motivation (don't think they need extra motivation but lowering pressure is great)

[Dadouv47]

Read on Twitter

MVP!

[Devilanche]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6285051/2025/04/17/thunder-chet-holmgren-isaiah-hartenstein-nba-playoffs/

This story scares me abit . I think double big can work in small spurt but we didn’t have time to work it out this season.

[Dadouv47]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6285051/2025/04/17/thunder-chet-holmgren-isaiah-hartenstein-nba-playoffs/

This story scares me abit . I think double big can work in small spurt but we didn’t have time to work it out this season.

can't read it. What is slater saying?

I want to see what will happen sunday and beyond. Not sure yet what coach D is gonna do.

[Devilanche]

can't read it. What is slater saying?

I want to see what will happen sunday and beyond. Not sure yet what coach D is gonna do.

Not the full article

Spoiler:

“You have 48 minutes at the five,” Daigneault said. “And if you take those two guys, they should account for more than 48 minutes between them. And so it puts you in a position where it’s like, do you want to get your best players on the court or not? The answer to us is yes, we’d like to get our best players on the court. Sometimes you have to adapt tactically or lineup-wise in order to do that.”

Holmgren and Hartenstein were both active on the same night 20 times this season. Daigneault got them on the floor 316 minutes together. It isn’t a gigantic sample — 39 other Thunder two-man combinations played more together — but it isn’t insignificant either. Daigneault said it’s enough to make him feel comfortable entering the playoffs.

“It would be more uncomfortable if it was like really stalling,” Daigneault said. “If it wasn’t getting off the ground or if it was low-impact or if it was clunky, then that’s a harder decision of (how much to use it). But it was good right away in unpredictable ways.”

The Holmgren and Hartenstein twin-tower combination outscored opponents by 96 points in their 316 minutes together. It had an offensive rating of 122.9 and a defensive rating of 109.4, both impressive.

Spoiler:

It is, unsurprisingly, the best rebounding combination (77.4 percent rebound rate) of any of their top-50 most used two-man groups. They’ve walled off the basket. Daigneault called Holmgren and Hartenstein “easily” two of the league’s top-10 rim protectors. But it’s the other side that has him encouraged.

“The offensive flow that we’ve been able to maintain with two seven-footers on the floor (is key),” Daigneault said. “It’s something that always concerns you when you go super big. But I think it speaks to how skilled those guys are. They’re both in their own way very dynamic.”

Then there’s a portion whereby it’s still a learning curve for Chet on what is expected out of him where he referenced the game with kings whereby Keegan Murray went off on 3s .

[falcolombardi]

can't read it. What is slater saying?

I want to see what will happen sunday and beyond. Not sure yet what coach D is gonna do.

Not the full article

Spoiler:

“You have 48 minutes at the five,” Daigneault said. “And if you take those two guys, they should account for more than 48 minutes between them. And so it puts you in a position where it’s like, do you want to get your best players on the court or not? The answer to us is yes, we’d like to get our best players on the court. Sometimes you have to adapt tactically or lineup-wise in order to do that.”

Holmgren and Hartenstein were both active on the same night 20 times this season. Daigneault got them on the floor 316 minutes together. It isn’t a gigantic sample — 39 other Thunder two-man combinations played more together — but it isn’t insignificant either. Daigneault said it’s enough to make him feel comfortable entering the playoffs.

“It would be more uncomfortable if it was like really stalling,” Daigneault said. “If it wasn’t getting off the ground or if it was low-impact or if it was clunky, then that’s a harder decision of (how much to use it). But it was good right away in unpredictable ways.”

The Holmgren and Hartenstein twin-tower combination outscored opponents by 96 points in their 316 minutes together. It had an offensive rating of 122.9 and a defensive rating of 109.4, both impressive.

Spoiler:

It is, unsurprisingly, the best rebounding combination (77.4 percent rebound rate) of any of their top-50 most used two-man groups. They’ve walled off the basket. Daigneault called Holmgren and Hartenstein “easily” two of the league’s top-10 rim protectors. But it’s the other side that has him encouraged.

“The offensive flow that we’ve been able to maintain with two seven-footers on the floor (is key),” Daigneault said. “It’s something that always concerns you when you go super big. But I think it speaks to how skilled those guys are. They’re both in their own way very dynamic.”

Then there’s a portion whereby it’s still a learning curve for Chet on what is expected out of him where he referenced the game with kings whereby Keegan Murray went off on 3s .

Chet basically blames himself for keegan going off because he was naturally predispised to be close to the basket instead of sticking to the 3 point shooter

[Dadouv47]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6285051/2025/04/17/thunder-chet-holmgren-isaiah-hartenstein-nba-playoffs/

This story scares me abit . I think double big can work in small spurt but we didn’t have time to work it out this season.

can't read it. What is slater saying?

I want to see what will happen sunday and beyond. Not sure yet what coach D is gonna do.

yeah that scares me indeed.

I have two issues with this: 1) stats are showing that we are a way better offense with only one of Chet/Hartenstein and forcing turnovers is one of our biggest strength ; 2) Chet is still recovering from his injury so giving him a role where he should be faster than usual with another big is beyond stupid. It's already gonna be a challenge for him to perform well at the 5 so giving him too many PFs minutes is crazy.

[Devilanche]

Chet basically blames himself for keegan going off because he was naturally predispised to be close to the basket instead of sticking to the 3 point shooter

I think when you learning a new role or a tweaked role , your instinct still takes priority so that’s why if it was over a season it would be something he’s can relearn but the timeline for him just didn’t work where we were at the stage of the season .

[Devilanche]

yeah that scares me indeed.

I have two issues with this: 1) stats are showing that we are a way better offense with only one of Chet/Hartenstein and forcing turnovers is one of our biggest strength ; 2) Chet is still recovering from his injury so giving him a role where he should be faster than usual with another big is beyond stupid. It's already gonna be a challenge for him to perform well at the 5 so giving him too many PFs minutes is crazy.

Only saving grace is that we have 48 mins of center and thus far the 2 of them projects to 60 mins total so 1 half of quarter to see where it fits.

[Dadouv47]

Pick #15 it is. That's fine to me. East is trash and Miami wouldn't let us have a very high pick.

well I don't even care much about the draft anyway (but I badly want us to get lucky and get that Philly pick )

[Dadouv47]

Morant playing out of his mind but just don't see our defense struggling against him that much...maybe Memphis can win a game at home.

[Devilanche]

Pick #15 it is. That's fine to me. East is trash and Miami wouldn't let us have a very high pick.

well I don't even care much about the draft anyway (but I badly want us to get lucky and get that Philly pick )

I’m still hopeful .

[bbms]

37% chance to have 3 FRPs

that would be 4 rookies with topic.

draft excitement might be back on the menu

[Mr Thunder Nick]

We have no room on the roster for 4 rookies. Trade the 3 picks for one in the first 5.

[Kizz Fastfists]

We have no room on the roster for 4 rookies. Trade the 3 picks for one in the first 5.

If the Philly pick conveys it will be #7/8 to go with picks #15, #27 and #44. Who do you want at #4/5 that is worth trading up for? I agree there is no room for ANY rookies, much less four. I disagree with trying to move up. If the Philly pick conveys trade it for a future unprotected pick unless there is some prospect they love. The rest of the picks can get moved for future picks. They already have 15 players under contract for next year so they could completely trade out of the draft for future picks and it would be of greater benefit than taking a rookie this year. The one roster spot they could create is Ajay has an unguaranteed contract and could get cut to open a roster spot.

[Devilanche]

We have no room on the roster for 4 rookies. Trade the 3 picks for one in the first 5.

If the Philly pick conveys it will be #7/8 to go with picks #15, #27 and #44. Who do you want at #4/5 that is worth trading up for? I agree there is no room for ANY rookies, much less four. I disagree with trying to move up. If the Philly pick conveys trade it for a future unprotected pick unless there is some prospect they love. The rest of the picks can get moved for future picks. They already have 15 players under contract for next year so they could completely trade out of the draft for future picks and it would be of greater benefit than taking a rookie this year. The one roster spot they could create is Ajay has an unguaranteed contract and could get cut to open a roster spot.

Yea , it’s more likely we trade picks for future pick . Would still love to have that Philly pick in case Presti loves any of the prospect.

[Dadouv47]

no clue what will happen with the Sixers pick but trading 15 + future asset to get a guy Presti likes in the 10-12 range looks good to me. That's the range Presti has the most success at the draft and usually where u can find good value.

[Kizz Fastfists]

no clue what will happen with the Sixers pick but trading 15 + future asset to get a guy Presti likes in the 10-12 range looks good to me. That's the range Presti has the most success at the draft and usually where u can find good value.

Who are you getting rid of from the current roster to make room for the rookie? If we assume OKC wins the championship there is no reason to add a rookie so trading for future picks is better. Run the team back next year. If something unexpected happens, like losing in the 2nd round to Denver, then you re-evaluate and consider a consolidation trade to add another significant piece and try to keep a draft pick this year for a player Presti likes because you will have roster spots to fill.

[Dadouv47]

no clue what will happen with the Sixers pick but trading 15 + future asset to get a guy Presti likes in the 10-12 range looks good to me. That's the range Presti has the most success at the draft and usually where u can find good value.

Who are you getting rid of from the current roster to make room for the rookie? If we assume OKC wins the championship there is no reason to add a rookie so trading for future picks is better. Run the team back next year. If something unexpected happens, like losing in the 2nd round to Denver, then you re-evaluate and consider a consolidation trade to add another significant piece and try to keep a draft pick this year for a player Presti likes because you will have roster spots to fill.

I get your point but we have future salary flexibility issues and recent history showed that young players could contribute to winning teams so drafting a young player is irrelevant to our postseason success (we have enough assets to trade if we need veteran help).

We also showed that we could win 68 games while playing our bench players a lot so I think we could give rookies a lot of playing time. To me it will come down to who's available at the draft and if Presti likes a player more than Topic. If you believe in a player and want to package #15 + Topic to get him, fine for me. If u prefer to trade it for future picks, no issues either.

Right now I count 12 players that I think should be almost lock to stay in OKC (Ajay mitchell is in that list and it would be 13 with Topic) so adding ONE player in this draft player looks fine to me. Rather trade pick #25 for future pick or swap.

...but in a perfect world you get the Philly pick, draft a stud at #7 and trade #15 for two protected FRPs.

[Dadouv47]

Everything can happen during the playoffs but to me Jalen Williams is our X factor. He was terrible offensively last postseason and lately I really like how he improved on offense. That being said I'm annoyed by him talking so much about MVP/Lu Dort DPOY campaign and him willing to be in some all NBA team instead of focusing on the postseason. He's a very smart kid but lacks some maturity IMO. He was my favorite Thunder player not long ago and I still like him a lot but I have some concerns about his ability to show up in the postseason.