OKC Thunder 2022-23 Regular Season Discussion

Old Man Game · Post #181 » by **Old Man Game** » Mon Oct 17, 2022 11:06 am

This is neither here nor there but I remain amazed someone with Josh's bb iq and other ball skills was so incompetent as a shooter. Like, as a kid how do you learn to handle the ball that well and don't pick up at least some semblance of a jump shot somewhere along the way? He's been around the game his entire life. See what I mean?

Post #182 » by **Stanford** » Mon Oct 17, 2022 6:28 pm

QPR wrote:The Ben Simmons problem is that he won't shoot, not that he can't shoot.

He can't and won't.

Post #183 » by **ThunderBolt** » Wed Oct 19, 2022 12:35 pm

It’s hard for this to not feel like a lost season without Chet. Aside from lotto success, I’m not sure what the best case, realistic outcome is for this year. Shai becomes a superstar? Giddey makes bigger leap? Dieng looks like the steal of the draft? Mann’s preseason progress is real? I’m still skeptical of Poku and Dort.

Post #184 » by **Dadouv47** » Wed Oct 19, 2022 1:55 pm

ThunderBolt wrote:It’s hard for this to not feel like a lost season without Chet. Aside from lotto success, I’m not sure what the best case, realistic outcome is for this year. Shai becomes a superstar? Giddey makes bigger leap? Dieng looks like the steal of the draft? Mann’s preseason progress is real? I’m still skeptical of Poku and Dort.

That would be huge already.

Can't deny that I'm less excited this season without Chet but still a lot of interesting stuff to follow. I'm pretty confident about Giddey taking a big leap. I hope SGA stays healthy and has some all star kind of season. JDub likely gonna show up (a bit more worried about Dieng though even if I like his long term potential more than I did after the draft).

I'm also very spkeptical about Dort. I think he had an absurd offensive volume on our team last two seasons that he shouldn't have if others guys step up and he will lose a ton of value. I'm hopeful about Poku showing that he can be an NBA player, but not the unicorn/high ceiling guy that some people thought he had when he was drafted.

Our team will be better IMO but our frontcourt is gonna be so bad that we will still have good lottery odds.

Devilanche · Post #185 » by **Devilanche** » Wed Oct 19, 2022 2:13 pm

ThunderBolt wrote:It’s hard for this to not feel like a lost season without Chet. Aside from lotto success, I’m not sure what the best case, realistic outcome is for this year. Shai becomes a superstar? Giddey makes bigger leap? Dieng looks like the steal of the draft? Mann’s preseason progress is real? I’m still skeptical of Poku and Dort.

Ball movement/sharing amongst the team.
Shooting improvement .
Giddey/Mann/Jdub/ Dieng / Poku showing improvement.
SGA improvement.
Dort improving his selection and his defensive metrics.
Chet body growing the way we want it to.

I guess outside of these 7 players and Muscala/Kenrich maybe someone else might flash out and join them ?

Post #186 » by **retrobro90** » Wed Oct 19, 2022 11:12 pm

ThunderBolt wrote:It’s hard for this to not feel like a lost season without Chet. Aside from lotto success, I’m not sure what the best case, realistic outcome is for this year. Shai becomes a superstar? Giddey makes bigger leap? Dieng looks like the steal of the draft? Mann’s preseason progress is real? I’m still skeptical of Poku and Dort.

We did just select two other players in the lottery though. I think this team is very exciting but I understand I'm wearing homer glasses. There's been years though where I've come away with tepid expectations after preseason and this would be far from one of those. Both our lotto guys along with our picks from last year and the year prior all look like theyre about to embark on successful seasons (Maledon not included)

Post #187 » by **Dadouv47** » Wed Oct 19, 2022 11:41 pm

Read on Twitter

Post #188 » by **ThunderBolt** » Thu Oct 20, 2022 1:18 am

I want Dort to succeed but he makes it hard for me to be positive.

bbms · Post #189 » by **bbms** » Thu Oct 20, 2022 2:01 am

my 2 cents is that I love that kenrich is our starting pf

Post #190 » by **Dadouv47** » Thu Oct 20, 2022 4:32 am

No rookies no fun

Only positive note was Shai. Poku worked out a lot this offseason and he was pretty solid in the beginning but it went down pretty badly.

kdthunderup · Post #191 » by **kdthunderup** » Thu Oct 20, 2022 5:36 am

A decent first outing imo. If you compare that to our opening performance against the Jazz last season it was much improved. Team defense was great and we did a good job of making things tough for KAT and Ant.

With all that said, I thought we didn't take advantage and push the pace enough against KAT and Gobert. Those guys are gonna dominate if you play a half court game. Gobert was the difference maker and dominated us with his size - when he sat in the 3rd we went on a big run, as soon as he came back in we lost the advantage. JDub is someone who I thought could have worked better than Kenrich in that starting lineup as someone who can push the pace and get out in transition and make Gobert move around.

I thought Poku had a good game but if we had Chet in place of him we 100% would have won that game. We missed someone with more size (Chet has 3' better wingspan) as Gobert was gettting his hand to every potential rebound, which in turn made it harder for us to push in transition since we had to commit most the team to defensive rebounding. Also having someone who could push the pace, force Gobert out on the perimeter more and have a better touch around the rim would have flipped the game completely.

winforlose · Post #192 » by **winforlose** » Fri Oct 21, 2022 6:31 am

Any update on Williams? I saw the photo of the shiner, but that is about all I know. I was glad to hear it wasn’t a concussion.

Post #193 » by **slick_watts** » Fri Oct 21, 2022 4:59 pm

winforlose wrote:Any update on Williams? I saw the photo of the shiner, but that is about all I know. I was glad to hear it wasn’t a concussion.

broken orbital, two weeks.

winforlose · Post #194 » by **winforlose** » Fri Oct 21, 2022 5:03 pm

slick_watts wrote:
winforlose wrote:Any update on Williams? I saw the photo of the shiner, but that is about all I know. I was glad to hear it wasn’t a concussion.

broken orbital, two weeks.

That sucks. Thanks for telling me.

jake_swivel · Post #195 » by **jake_swivel** » Fri Oct 21, 2022 7:02 pm

It was really annoying how the Minnesota dude was smirking after having elbowed Williams in the face.

winforlose · Post #196 » by **winforlose** » Fri Oct 21, 2022 8:44 pm

jake_swivel wrote:It was really annoying how the Minnesota dude was smirking after having elbowed Williams in the face.

In context, the smirk wasn’t about hurting Williams, it was about finally getting a whistle. Last year he took a ton of contact on those same drives and never got any respect from the refs. For a young guy trying to make a name for himself as more than just a 3 and D player you gotta see how that can be brutal. But MCD isn’t the type who would relish hurting someone.

jake_swivel · Post #197 » by **jake_swivel** » Sat Oct 22, 2022 12:14 am

winforlose wrote:In context, the smirk wasn’t about hurting Williams, it was about finally getting a whistle. Last year he took a ton of contact on those same drives and never got any respect from the refs. For a young guy trying to make a name for himself as more than just a 3 and D player you gotta see how that can be brutal. But MCD isn’t the type who would relish hurting someone.

Maybe!

We are both mind reading, of course.

A broken orbital is pretty brutal too. Not a real good look when the dude is writhing on the ground, pounding the floor in pain to be smirking about finally getting a call. I hear ya, though.

Post #198 » by **ThunderBolt** » Sun Oct 23, 2022 12:19 pm

I watched the game last night and maybe I was just in a weird mood, but I was pretty underwhelmed with how we played. Denver is a good team and we competed hard. I really enjoy watching Shai but the lack of a three point shot makes him a bit predictable at times. Giddey played well and played extremely hard. Dort is wearing me out.There is no reason for him to shoot 7 threes in a game. I might be able to understand it had he hit his for 3 attempts, but that wasn't the case. I realize there may not be better options on the team but he's got to play more within a defined role where he isn't the featured scorer.

Old Man Game · Post #199 » by **Old Man Game** » Sun Oct 23, 2022 12:47 pm

So far, this looks like a really strong rookie class, especially inside the top 10. It's depressing to me that we managed to pick the one guy whose foot exploded before the session even started.

Old Man Game · Post #200 » by **Old Man Game** » Sun Oct 23, 2022 12:49 pm

ThunderBolt wrote:I watched the game last night and maybe I was just in a weird mood, but I was pretty underwhelmed with how we played.

I don't think it's just you. Through the first two games. I've been very underwhelmed as well. It doesn't feel like we're a real NBA team like there's just something missing in terms of the way we play. Lots of guys just chucking threes or driving headlong into traffic. Not enough, actually creating easy opportunities. Now maybe this is just a pure roster construction thing, but I'm starting to wonder if Coach Mark really knows what he's doing.