OKC Thunder 2022-23 Regular Season Discussion

[Old Man Game]

Remember when the Spurs front office seemed infallible? That's starting to seem longer and longer ago.

[Old Man Game]

Good win tonight. By the way, did I miss something? Since when is it an automatic flagrant to be in someone's landing area after contesting their shot?

[ThunderBolt]

Shai is as good as our three point shooting is bad. I'm ready for Tre Mann to be more than a good shooter in theory. He's got some great creation skills but the three ball needs to go start going in. Also, I'm 100% in on Jalen Williams.

[jake_swivel]

Also, I'm 100% in on Jalen Williams.

He’s gonna be a bad man. So much young harden in his game. But with a 41 inch vertical.

[1bigfan13]

Poku had some ill-advised 3PAs last night but other than that he's played well the last two games. He needs to stop jump passing as well but at least he's finally starting to look like a decent role player.

[1bigfan13]

Good win tonight. By the way, did I miss something? Since when is it an automatic flagrant to be in someone's landing area after contesting their shot?

It's been like that since ZaZa Pachulia took out Kawhi in the playoffs. What pissed me off was when 15 minutes later a Mavs defender completely ran over Isaiah Joe (I think) and nothing was called. Michael Cage was beside himself on that one. And I completely agreed.

[retrobro90]

I'd be so hype if Shai made the ASG this year. Its crazy that even with his current stats you can still make a case for ~6 or so other guards in the west. Saw today though that through 6 games only Shai, Luka, Curry, and Giannis are averaging 35/5/5. Hes becoming truly elite and without getting a proper amount of foul calls on his obscene # of drives.

That comeback was absolutely nuts. Nearly turned it off after we went down 15 and innocuously plugged isaiah joe into the lineup. Little did I know he was TMac incarnate at least for those few minutes. 7 minutes all year so far and now they have to find time for him to play somehow after that showing.

I was kinda surprised how little JRE played in that 2nd half but I guess they wanted to prevent as many lobs as possible. Hes a good pnr defender but not quite the leaper to neutralize Powell/Wood on those deliveries over the top.

Overall really like the defensive effort everyone keeps on the squad and I think coach Mark has them motivated and hungry. Shots dont always fall but the locations and attempts all look pretty decent. I'm ready for them to keep this momentum and silence the ignoramuses who think we're a disgrace to the game

[slick_watts]

JRE has had issues defending pnr against athletic bigs since last season.

shai has been great but the curious thing is he isn't getting to the line a lot. only .252 FTr so far, which would be a career low. despite the fact that he's attempting more of his shots closer to the rim than ever. i expect the FTr to rise eventually.

[bbms]

SGA definitely looking like a superstar out there.

[bbms]

This is bizarre:

Teams that arrive in the last four minutes of the match leading by +16 points had a record of 9,975 (!!!!) wins and only one loss. Yesterday OKC broke the stats and won. Now the record is 9,975 (NINE THOUSAND) to 2 (TWO).

Via @BrasilThunder

[Old Man Game]

Good win tonight. By the way, did I miss something? Since when is it an automatic flagrant to be in someone's landing area after contesting their shot?

It's been like that since ZaZa Pachulia took out Kawhi in the playoffs. What pissed me off was when 15 minutes later a Mavs defender completely ran over Isaiah Joe (I think) and nothing was called. Michael Cage was beside himself on that one. And I completely agreed.

Man, I guess you're right. I somehow memory holed that point of emphasis. I swear it used to be considered a routine basketball play when you were trying to contest a shot.

[Old Man Game]

Just an aside, I love Luka, but I hate watching Dallas' offense. It is some predictable stuff. He's so good at getting into the lane and finding shooters he almost makes it work anyway but big picture I think Dallas has set themselves up to win a ton of games and ultimately come up short.

[Patches Perry]

Thinking out loud a bit here.

Speaking on the Giddey issue from a page back, I think OKC might have a "quarterback controversy" at some point if Jalen Williams materializes like a lot of us think he will. Giddey is a supremely gifted passer, but not a very good scorer. He is also not a guy who is going to thrive off the ball because he can't shoot. At some point we might have three primary guys who can handle the ball a lot and create for others. Shai is obviously top dog. I think Jalen will be able to play off Shai better than Giddey, and can provide a better score/pass attack with the ball in his hands than Giddey, eventually. Giddey may be the odd man out, because putting the ball in his hands will just take the ball out of the hands of more talented players. I say this as someone who likes Giddey's game (just wish he could shoot!).

I could be wildly wrong though. It will be cool to see them all three on the court to see how these dynamics really play out and develop. I really like Giddey's game but to the broader point from prior pages, it's naive to think every prospect we draft, even if they develop into decent to good players, will be a good fit on the eventual competitive team being built. It's possible that Jalen and Giddey both develop into good players, but together with Shai don't form a highly effective trio.

[Old Man Game]

Thinking out loud a bit here.

Speaking on the Giddey issue from a page back, I think OKC might have a "quarterback controversy" at some point if Jalen Williams materializes like a lot of us think he will. Giddey is a supremely gifted passer, but not a very good scorer. He is also not a guy who is going to thrive off the ball because he can't shoot. At some point we might have three primary guys who can handle the ball a lot and create for others. Shai is obviously top dog. I think Jalen will be able to play off Shai better than Giddey, and can provide a better score/pass attack with the ball in his hands than Giddey, eventually. Giddey may be the odd man out, because putting the ball in his hands will just take the ball out of the hands of more talented players. I say this as someone who likes Giddey's game (just wish he could shoot!).

I could be wildly wrong though. It will be cool to see them all three on the court to see how these dynamics really play out and develop. I really like Giddey's game but to the broader point from prior pages, it's naive to think every prospect we draft, even if they develop into decent to good players, will be a good fit on the eventual competitive team being built. It's possible that Jalen and Giddey both develop into good players, but together with Shai don't form a highly effective trio.

AND here's the thing, we can hope for Giddey to develop and offensive game. After all he's very young still. But doing that implies he's going to get a ton of minutes to develop, minutes that will necessarily come at the expense of another player on the roster. So do you potentially hamper the development of a better prospect on the hopes that Giddey's scoring and defense catches up to the elite passing when you've got a guy like Williams who looks like a better all around prospect? Lower ceiling but higher floor type?

[Big nick]

Luka is a star for sure but he whines about calls or should I say no calls every trip down the court I hate that. I agree jalen is going to be special. Poku is playing better but sga is a stud I hope he can remain healthy. As good as the Thunder is this year I don't think we will get a top 5 pick.

[Patches Perry]

Thinking out loud a bit here.

Speaking on the Giddey issue from a page back, I think OKC might have a "quarterback controversy" at some point if Jalen Williams materializes like a lot of us think he will. Giddey is a supremely gifted passer, but not a very good scorer. He is also not a guy who is going to thrive off the ball because he can't shoot. At some point we might have three primary guys who can handle the ball a lot and create for others. Shai is obviously top dog. I think Jalen will be able to play off Shai better than Giddey, and can provide a better score/pass attack with the ball in his hands than Giddey, eventually. Giddey may be the odd man out, because putting the ball in his hands will just take the ball out of the hands of more talented players. I say this as someone who likes Giddey's game (just wish he could shoot!).

I could be wildly wrong though. It will be cool to see them all three on the court to see how these dynamics really play out and develop. I really like Giddey's game but to the broader point from prior pages, it's naive to think every prospect we draft, even if they develop into decent to good players, will be a good fit on the eventual competitive team being built. It's possible that Jalen and Giddey both develop into good players, but together with Shai don't form a highly effective trio.

AND here's the thing, we can hope for Giddey to develop and offensive game. After all he's very young still. But doing that implies he's going to get a ton of minutes to develop, minutes that will necessarily come at the expense of another player on the roster. So do you potentially hamper the development of a better prospect on the hopes that Giddey's scoring and defense catches up to the elite passing when you've got a guy like Williams who looks like a better all around prospect? Lower ceiling but higher floor type?

I'm not sure I'd grant that their development would come at the expense of the other. I think they can both develop into whatever their semi-final form looks like simultaneously. 48 minutes is a long game on a non-playoff team. If Harden can develop into a superstar next to Westbrook and Durant, I think Jalen will get plenty of burn with Shai and Giddey. I just think at some point there may need to be a decision made in order for the team to take the next step (whether that is making the playoffs or whatever).

It may become the case that Jalen makes Giddey expendable, and Giddey could be used as a sweetener in a package to gain a better-fitting asset down the road. Or maybe Shai-Giddey-Jalen end up being weirdly effective together. I don't discount either possibility, but we should be prepared for either one and everything inbetween I guess is all I'm saying.

I'm also a bit biased because I just like the aesthetic of Jalen's game more than Giddey's even though Giddey has some seriously nasty passing ability.

[kdthunderup]

Thinking out loud a bit here.

Speaking on the Giddey issue from a page back, I think OKC might have a "quarterback controversy" at some point if Jalen Williams materializes like a lot of us think he will. Giddey is a supremely gifted passer, but not a very good scorer. He is also not a guy who is going to thrive off the ball because he can't shoot. At some point we might have three primary guys who can handle the ball a lot and create for others. Shai is obviously top dog. I think Jalen will be able to play off Shai better than Giddey, and can provide a better score/pass attack with the ball in his hands than Giddey, eventually. Giddey may be the odd man out, because putting the ball in his hands will just take the ball out of the hands of more talented players. I say this as someone who likes Giddey's game (just wish he could shoot!).

I could be wildly wrong though. It will be cool to see them all three on the court to see how these dynamics really play out and develop. I really like Giddey's game but to the broader point from prior pages, it's naive to think every prospect we draft, even if they develop into decent to good players, will be a good fit on the eventual competitive team being built. It's possible that Jalen and Giddey both develop into good players, but together with Shai don't form a highly effective trio.

I made a prediction on another forum that JDub will surpass Giddey as a preferred prospect by the fanbase at end of season. JDub fits much better alongside with SGA and the offense we're trying to run - he is someone who I see being effective at a low or high usage. Giddey is the better playmaker and rebounder but JDub is better at every other aspect of Basketball.

That being said, I'm still high on Giddey and think he can still work with the core we're trying to build if he can continue to improve and adapt his game. Giddey's strengths will be amplified by having some more offensively talented guys around him. He will look a lot better with a genuine PnR and lob threat in Chet and some guys that can space the floor.

It's a good issue to have since we have the flexibility to try different things and time to experiment. It might be worth having Giddey spend more time with the 2nd unit running the show by himself. Worst case is that he proves to be a very talented player that doesn't really work with the SGA/JDub/Chet and we move him on with a future draft pick for a disgruntled star.

[Xatticus]

Thinking out loud a bit here.

Speaking on the Giddey issue from a page back, I think OKC might have a "quarterback controversy" at some point if Jalen Williams materializes like a lot of us think he will. Giddey is a supremely gifted passer, but not a very good scorer. He is also not a guy who is going to thrive off the ball because he can't shoot. At some point we might have three primary guys who can handle the ball a lot and create for others. Shai is obviously top dog. I think Jalen will be able to play off Shai better than Giddey, and can provide a better score/pass attack with the ball in his hands than Giddey, eventually. Giddey may be the odd man out, because putting the ball in his hands will just take the ball out of the hands of more talented players. I say this as someone who likes Giddey's game (just wish he could shoot!).

I could be wildly wrong though. It will be cool to see them all three on the court to see how these dynamics really play out and develop. I really like Giddey's game but to the broader point from prior pages, it's naive to think every prospect we draft, even if they develop into decent to good players, will be a good fit on the eventual competitive team being built. It's possible that Jalen and Giddey both develop into good players, but together with Shai don't form a highly effective trio.

Too much playmaking is never a problem. If a guy can make decisions off the dribble, then he can make decisions off the ball with a defender running at him. There might come a time where you favor additional shooting over excess playmaking, but not having enough playmaking is a massive problem.

[BlockCity]

These are all great discussions to have. Finally talking about fitting together rather than just getting talent on the roster. Im so high on Jalen.

Im not making any big assumptions until we see Chet with them. I think hes the glue to all of those 3 being very effective together

[ThunderBolt]

if Josh and Shai can actually get on the court together for a large portion of the season, I’d feel more open to the idea of moving someone if the fit proved to be a problem.