OKC Thunder 2022-23 Regular Season Discussion

[Devilanche]

We played young guys like Sabonis, Ferguson and Bazley on veteran teams that were trying to win when they really shouldn't have been out there. Dieng was picked 11th like sabonis, which is higher than the other two guys and we traded multiple picks to get him. I think they are heavily invested in his development which according to Schlecht involves planned stints in the G league and with the team.

We did but we had to bench Sabonis during the POs (we did the same with Cam Payne I think) and Ferguson was terrible.

I don't really care about Deng being a rookie though. I'm just worried because he looks too shy and not ready at all for the NBA. Still to early to draw any conclusions anyway so but gotta hope he has a strong offseason and shows up next season.

Playoffs are a completely different situation. I really don't think Dieng has looked that bad for a guy we knew was a project. Perhaps Poku lowered my expectations. He's obviously not as good as Williams but for a player as young and raw as he is, he's shown flashes. That's really all you can ask for considering how many guys we are trying to develop and he lost time to injury.

Yea I’m with you on this. That previous thunder team was trying to win it all. This thunder team is trying make the playoff .

If we can squeeze some minutes in for Ous here and there , we should just do it and live with the results .

That few minutes of game time will really help his development more than moving up 1-2 spot in the standing .

Disclaimer - if it’s the last 5 games and we are really close to a goal then by all means , cut his minutes then but not now not when so many bigs are still out

[jake_swivel]

Yea I’m with you on this. That previous thunder team was trying to win it all. This thunder team is trying make the playoff .

If we can squeeze some minutes in for Ous here and there , we should just do it and live with the results .

That few minutes of game time will really help his development more than moving up 1-2 spot in the standing .

Disclaimer - if it’s the last 5 games and we are really close to a goal then by all means , cut his minutes then but not now not when so many bigs are still out

I’m good with this take. I’m just not sure that Dieng recently coming off a long layoff even benefits more from nba time as much as d-league time. A lower level of competition and more minutes being featured feels to me like it might have more benefits. Then when you factor that omoruyi probably contributes to a better chance at winning, I’d just prefer it. But I’m really living for this winning lately. It’s fun as all heck.

[Devilanche]

Yea I’m with you on this. That previous thunder team was trying to win it all. This thunder team is trying make the playoff .

If we can squeeze some minutes in for Ous here and there , we should just do it and live with the results .

That few minutes of game time will really help his development more than moving up 1-2 spot in the standing .

Disclaimer - if it’s the last 5 games and we are really close to a goal then by all means , cut his minutes then but not now not when so many bigs are still out

I’m good with this take. I’m just not sure that Dieng recently coming off a long layoff even benefits more from nba time as much as d-league time. A lower level of competition and more minutes being featured feels to me like it might have more benefits. Then when you factor that omoruyi probably contributes to a better chance at winning, I’d just prefer it. But I’m really living for this winning lately. It’s fun as all heck.

Oh I can see benefit to either approach. One allows you to expand your game the other allows you to get used to better quality opponent.

I don’t believe either ous or omoruyi contribute much to winning though. I’m looking at around 10-15 maybe 20 mins max for them ?

[Dadouv47]

well the Warriors are a better team and they love playing small ball so no surprise

[cjmcallist]

I don’t know wtf that ref just called on the Joe review.

[Dadouv47]

This sucks but I love the way we played late in the 3rd and in the 4th quarter.

Feel like JDub is the heart of this team. His energy is something else.

Giddey had a strong start but was pretty meh after that.

[jake_swivel]

This sucks but I love the way we played late in the 3rd and in the 4th quarter.

Feel like JDub is the heart of this team. His energy is something else.

Giddey had a strong start but was pretty meh after that.

This team competes. If they are down, they don’t fold. They’re building on already good mental toughness. Love teams like this. It’s such a frustrating fan experience to watch teams bend over when they have a bad start.

[RunOKC]

We were outclassed but not by too much. Good stuff overall, and if Shai hits a few of those open fadeaways we may have won.

Side note I bet under 242.5 and that felt really good until about 3 minutes left in the 3rd lol.

[Dadouv47]

Read on Twitter

[kdthunderup]

JDub is so impressive to me as a rookie - dude plays with poise beyond his years and never forces anything. Can’t wait to see what he grows into over the next few seasons.

[ThunderBolt]

JDub is so impressive to me as a rookie - dude plays with poise beyond his years and never forces anything. Can’t wait to see what he grows into over the next few seasons.

Aside from injury, it’s hard to not see him developing in to a borderline all star player at worst. Definitely needs the three ball to become consistent.

[Big nick]

Ok we have 22 more games left to play and the easiest schedule left. We have won 24 games do you think we win more than 35 games. I believe we can win over that. If so will we be in the pay offs. I was hoping a top 8 draft but I don't think that will happen. What's your opinion.

[jake_swivel]

Ok we have 22 more games left to play and the easiest schedule left. We have won 24 games do you think we win more than 35 games. I believe we can win over that. If so will we be in the pay offs. I was hoping a top 8 draft but I don't think that will happen. What's your opinion.

It’s 32 left.

I predict we finish over .500 if shai stays mostly healthy.

[Big nick]

Yes sorry you are right 32.

[jake_swivel]

The thunder are playing bad. I don’t like it.

[ThunderBolt]

That performance is bad enough I feel like I would be ok with Presti pulling the plug on the rest of this season. That’s unacceptable.

[jake_swivel]

That performance is bad enough I feel like I would be ok with Presti pulling the plug on the rest of this season. That’s unacceptable.

That performance was so bad that I think the thunder would benefit from continuing to compete every game and learning to be consistent. Shai would benefit from learning to trust his teammates a tad more.

[Dadouv47]

I still hope we can finish 13rd in the West even if I think it's very unlikely so I don't mind losing those stupid easy games. We won some games against teams because they didn't take us for serious and the opposite happened yesterday.

[ThunderBolt]

That performance is bad enough I feel like I would be ok with Presti pulling the plug on the rest of this season. That’s unacceptable.

That performance was so bad that I think the thunder would benefit from continuing to compete every game and learning to be consistent. Shai would benefit from learning to trust his teammates a tad more.

Sure, if you want to be logical and not make rash decisions in the heat of the moment.

[Big nick]

I wish we would get a top 5 pick or so that would put us in great shape especially since we have all of our picks to deal with.