OKC Thunder 2022-23 Regular Season Discussion

[timO]

this is just unwatchable, what a year

the contract of Dort look crazy

Mann still a chucker

Bazley dont play

play the youngs, dont play the bums (omuroyi, waters, joe wtf...) please at least.

30 min a game for Dieng, poku and co, at least tank well not this mess

trade Muscala, he plays well, deserves a team to compete, trade him for a late first or a young with some upside

Sengun can be in okc too, lol, JW gets surgery wtf, we are dammed

[Dadouv47]

His injury had nothing to do with his body.

How do we know this? I get that a wet floor can injure anyone but can we definitively say that most people would have had the same injury if they had slipped in the same spot? I get that it's not like he broke his foot shooting a free throw but his body is a concern.

Nobody can prove that he wouldn't get injured if he was stronger and we will never know but that was a medical consensus after the injury. His body is a concern no matter what. Gotta wait and hope for the best for Chet. GM pool still had him leading (or second close to Paolo don't recall) as the best player from the 2022 draft in 5 years and that was after the injury so I do think most still think he will be a good player and odds of him recovering from this injury are still good even if we know it's not a lock.

Don't get how we can blame Presti for drafting him at #2. You know the risk is higher than a guy like Jabari but the superstar potential is also pretty obvious (kind of different than betting on guys like Poku or Dieng that never showed anything)

[ThunderBolt]

His injury had nothing to do with his body.

How do we know this? I get that a wet floor can injure anyone but can we definitively say that most people would have had the same injury if they had slipped in the same spot? I get that it's not like he broke his foot shooting a free throw but his body is a concern.

Nobody can prove that he wouldn't get injured if he was stronger and we will never know but that was a medical consensus after the injury. His body is a concern no matter what. Gotta wait and hope for the best for Chet. GM pool still had him leading (or second close to Paolo don't recall) as the best player from the 2022 draft in 5 years and that was after the injury so I do think most still think he will be a good player and odds of him recovering from this injury are still good even if we know it's not a lock.

Don't get how we can blame Presti for drafting him at #2. You know the risk is higher than a guy like Jabari but the superstar potential is also pretty obvious (kind of different than betting on guys like Poku or Dieng that never showed anything)

Personally, I'm not blaming Presti at all. I want to be clear about that. I liked the pick at the time and I'm still hopeful with chet. I think my biggest frustration is some of the other guys we've drafted don't really look better than guys that we have no interest in keeping like Roby, Omoruyi and Waiters. All I'm looking for is reason for optimism.

[Old Man Game]

I won't ever blame Presti for drafting Chet even he never plays in the NBA. We got super unlucky. His injury had nothing to do with his body.

I do blame Presti for trying to build a team around Shai/Dort/Giddey. The lack of shooting is terrible. We should have traded Dort when we could. Also his 2020 draft picks were terrible (Poku & Maledon) and I have no clue why Presti picked a guy like Dieng over Duren...Giddey/Duren fit was perfect and even with Chet it would be great.

Presti has always fallen in love with toolsy types. Dieng is long and moved well and here we are. I still am intrigued by him.

[ThunderBolt]

I won't ever blame Presti for drafting Chet even he never plays in the NBA. We got super unlucky. His injury had nothing to do with his body.

I do blame Presti for trying to build a team around Shai/Dort/Giddey. The lack of shooting is terrible. We should have traded Dort when we could. Also his 2020 draft picks were terrible (Poku & Maledon) and I have no clue why Presti picked a guy like Dieng over Duren...Giddey/Duren fit was perfect and even with Chet it would be great.

Presti has always fallen in love with toolsy types. Dieng is long and moved well and here we are. I still am intrigued by him.

I feel like J dub is most likely to become a really solid nba rotation player but dieng has some undeniable potential.

[slick_watts]

I won't ever blame Presti for drafting Chet even he never plays in the NBA. We got super unlucky. His injury had nothing to do with his body.

I do blame Presti for trying to build a team around Shai/Dort/Giddey. The lack of shooting is terrible. We should have traded Dort when we could. Also his 2020 draft picks were terrible (Poku & Maledon) and I have no clue why Presti picked a guy like Dieng over Duren...Giddey/Duren fit was perfect and even with Chet it would be great.

Presti has always fallen in love with toolsy types. Dieng is long and moved well and here we are. I still am intrigued by him.

except for josh giddey.

[kdthunderup]

I’m not too sure why everyone is melting down after only 3 games - we all knew this team wasn’t going to be a playoff team this season.

The main thing is to see improvement as a team. It’s only been 3 games but I can see the improvement as a team - there is no way we would have been competitive in these games at the same time last season.

We are missing our two best prospects from the most recent draft in Chet and JDub - who imo are already more offensively skilled than any player on this roster outside of SGA.

Chet is a big ceiling raiser for this team if he gets healthy. Having a guy who can be a defensive anchor, a floor spacer and a unique mismatch is a huge plus for a team lacking in offensive firepower right now.

Also I’m not sold on Dort having a long term role on this team but he is definitely a better player than what he has shown in these first 3 games. Give the man some time coming back from a major surgery to gain some form. He will still be easily moveable on his new contract when the cap spike comes in.

[Big nick]

So this year is going tough to watch for sure, but I enjoy watching young guys improve. I have been a sga fan for sure and have never been on board for trading him, but now I might be in favor because he's always hurt. In the last two years I thought they were holding him out if games for tanking purposes but now I think he's definitely injury prone.

[jake_swivel]

Seems there are complaints about the team not gelling. Like I said a page ago, losing is a feature not a big. There are consolidation trades coming in the next year. And players will get cut. The “not gelling” is evaluation via overextending the rotation that doubles as a nice way to be less competitive in the last tank year. The wheat will be separated from the chaff, and more wheat will be added to the barn via draft picks and trades. Next year is when it gets interesting. But it’s still pretty interesting right now if you know what you’re looking at.

[Old Man Game]

I mean I watch every game so for me it's not even about this team not being a playoff caliber team. It's about this team not being watchable. Like I've got the rockets and jazz game on right now. These teams are actually somewhat entertaining to watch. Judged on that standard. I think we might have the worst team I've seen thus far in the league.

[Big nick]

I agree this might be the worse thunder team that I have watched. Take sga out and they are horrible
I had hopes for poku but I am losing it.

[kdthunderup]

I mean I watch every game so for me it's not even about this team not being a playoff caliber team. It's about this team not being watchable. Like I've got the rockets and jazz game on right now. These teams are actually somewhat entertaining to watch. Judged on that standard. I think we might have the worst team I've seen thus far in the league.

Do you want entertaining or competitive? I’m not sure how you would judge us as being the worst team in the league considering we have been competitive in all our games - even with our best players out against Min.

We have had more talent out than the Rockets but have remained as competitive as them. Rockets may be more entertaining to watch but their defence is garbage.

[Old Man Game]

I mean I watch every game so for me it's not even about this team not being a playoff caliber team. It's about this team not being watchable. Like I've got the rockets and jazz game on right now. These teams are actually somewhat entertaining to watch. Judged on that standard. I think we might have the worst team I've seen thus far in the league.

Do you want entertaining or competitive? I’m not sure how you would judge us as being the worst team in the league considering we have been competitive in all our games - even with our best players out against Min.

We have had more talent out than the Rockets but have remained as competitive as them. Rockets may be more entertaining to watch but their defence is garbage.

I want entertainment value. I can take losses if there are at least fun things happening in the game like impressive dunks, step back off the dribble threes etc. Though not entirely absent, I feel like we're somewhat deficient in this area. It makes for a boring brand of basketball.

[kdthunderup]

His injury had nothing to do with his body.

How do we know this? I get that a wet floor can injure anyone but can we definitively say that most people would have had the same injury if they had slipped in the same spot? I get that it's not like he broke his foot shooting a free throw but his body is a concern.

Nobody can prove that he wouldn't get injured if he was stronger and we will never know but that was a medical consensus after the injury. His body is a concern no matter what. Gotta wait and hope for the best for Chet. GM pool still had him leading (or second close to Paolo don't recall) as the best player from the 2022 draft in 5 years and that was after the injury so I do think most still think he will be a good player and odds of him recovering from this injury are still good even if we know it's not a lock.

Don't get how we can blame Presti for drafting him at #2. You know the risk is higher than a guy like Jabari but the superstar potential is also pretty obvious (kind of different than betting on guys like Poku or Dieng that never showed anything)

Where did you see that? The general consensus from anyone with a medical background [b]tend to mention his weight and frame had nothing to do with the injury.

[Dadouv47]

How do we know this? I get that a wet floor can injure anyone but can we definitively say that most people would have had the same injury if they had slipped in the same spot? I get that it's not like he broke his foot shooting a free throw but his body is a concern.

Nobody can prove that he wouldn't get injured if he was stronger and we will never know but that was a medical consensus after the injury. His body is a concern no matter what. Gotta wait and hope for the best for Chet. GM pool still had him leading (or second close to Paolo don't recall) as the best player from the 2022 draft in 5 years and that was after the injury so I do think most still think he will be a good player and odds of him recovering from this injury are still good even if we know it's not a lock.

Don't get how we can blame Presti for drafting him at #2. You know the risk is higher than a guy like Jabari but the superstar potential is also pretty obvious (kind of different than betting on guys like Poku or Dieng that never showed anything)

Where did you see that? The general consensus from anyone with a medical background [b]tend to mention his weight and frame had nothing to do with the injury.

That's what I meant to say, my bad

[slick_watts]

tanking will be a self-limiting process for okc. only 15k fans for a home opener? yeesh.

[Xatticus]

I’m not too sure why everyone is melting down after only 3 games - we all knew this team wasn’t going to be a playoff team this season.

The main thing is to see improvement as a team. It’s only been 3 games but I can see the improvement as a team - there is no way we would have been competitive in these games at the same time last season.

We are missing our two best prospects from the most recent draft in Chet and JDub - who imo are already more offensively skilled than any player on this roster outside of SGA.

Chet is a big ceiling raiser for this team if he gets healthy. Having a guy who can be a defensive anchor, a floor spacer and a unique mismatch is a huge plus for a team lacking in offensive firepower right now.

Also I’m not sold on Dort having a long term role on this team but he is definitely a better player than what he has shown in these first 3 games. Give the man some time coming back from a major surgery to gain some form. He will still be easily moveable on his new contract when the cap spike comes in.

I don't think anyone is melting down after the start. The concern is that there aren't many compelling reasons to watch this roster at present. There are a lot of journeymen and mediocre talents (I'm being kind here) playing significant minutes right now. Getting Jalen back will help make this team more watchable.

[ThunderBolt]

We have some good young players. I think the issue is we desperately need someone else to take a huge leap forward in Chet’s absence to feel better about the team’s trajectory. I’m not quite as optimistic as Schlecht that Chet just comes back fully healthy with no lingering issues. I really don’t think anyone is overly negative but the rebuilt has hit a bit of a snag. Even houston who has nice young players had Smith and Green arguing last night. These things just don’t goes as scripted. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I’ve wanted to rebuild for a long time and it sucks as bad as I knew it would.

[Old Man Game]

tanking will be a self-limiting process for okc. only 15k fans for a home opener? yeesh.

Living here I have to say the fan base does feel a bit like it is slipping away. People mostly don't talk about the team anymore and you see a lot less thunder gear out on the streets. Just walking around town. Back, during the real hay day that stuff was everywhere.

[ThunderBolt]

tanking will be a self-limiting process for okc. only 15k fans for a home opener? yeesh.

Living here I have to say the fan base does feel a bit like it is slipping away. People mostly don't talk about the team anymore and you see a lot less thunder gear out on the streets. Just walking around town. Back, during the real hay day that stuff was everywhere.

There aren’t many small markets or even midsize markets that stay passionate with a losing team. Presti talks about not pushing the panic button and rushing the rebuild but the reality is if we don’t get a legitimate 2-3 man core that can compete in the playoffs, he’ll have to do something. I enjoy watching guys develop but you can’t spend 4 years trying to get bazley and poku to become end of bench rotation players.

So as not to be overly negative, there is a scenario where things get better quickly if Chet recovers, puts on some muscle, Giddey improves his shot, someone else takes a leap forward and we get another good pick. However I think it’s fair to say that the early returns are show that this season might be a drag.