OKC Thunder 2022-23 Regular Season Discussion

[cjmcallist]

I’d like to see Jalen Williams consistently get more field goal attempts.

Also, I think the front office needs to show shai they are committed to building a winning team around him sooner rather that later. We’ve got plenty of ways to get him so help and keep our best young pieces.

Do you mean trading for a very good player? The only issue to me is that u gotta give playing time to develop youngs like Jalen, Mann, Giddey, Poku (and Chet next season). I'm still pissed about the Dieng pick because he's a project and we have no time for that if we want to be a good team in 1 or 2 seasons. If a good young player is available, we should still go for it.

I still think we need one more top talent guy before making a move. The hard part is we don’t know if their a top level guy immediately. Even if we draft Wembanyama, we’d have to give him and Chet 20 (?, 40, 82?) games to know they are that type of guy.

That puts us into the 2023-24 season before we even start to think about pulling someone in. So we’re probably targeting an addition(s) in the 2024 summer at the earliest.

[ThunderBolt]

I’d like to see Jalen Williams consistently get more field goal attempts.

Also, I think the front office needs to show shai they are committed to building a winning team around him sooner rather that later. We’ve got plenty of ways to get him so help and keep our best young pieces.

Do you mean trading for a very good player? The only issue to me is that u gotta give playing time to develop youngs like Jalen, Mann, Giddey, Poku (and Chet next season). I'm still pissed about the Dieng pick because he's a project and we have no time for that if we want to be a good team in 1 or 2 seasons. If a good young player is available, we should still go for it.

I think Dieng has shown enough that he might be knocking on the rotation next year .

I don’t see anyone that may be available that might be a realistic target. I’m tempted to let the team play it out and do a trade in the offseason.

Trading for someone might means everyone need to readjust their role. Doing it in the offseason could let us see how much everyone can grow with a bigger role than they should going forward (once Chet is back)

I agree on Dieng and he’s one of the guys I really wouldn’t want to move. Just to clarify I’m not seeing we absolutely trade for someone this year. I’m just hoping if a guy on Halliburton’s status is available and fits with this roster, I think it’s a mistake to hold back because it’s too early.

[Patches Perry]

I wish Giddey would stop spinning recklessly when his defender beats him to the spot on the drive. Boston started anticipating his blind spin and turned him over on it 2-3 times last night in the 2nd half. He'll need to be more disciplined with that move.

[Xatticus]

20 shots from OKC, only two from Dort while being on the floor all the time. That's a nice feeling.

JDub was the most NBA ready player from the 2022 Draft after Banchero.

I can't get enough of watching Jalen. I loved him before the draft. I do hope that he gets staggered with SGA enough that he gets to operate with the ball in his hands consistently. He has legit playmaking upside to go along with his complementary skills and I do want to see that part of his game continue to develop.

[Xatticus]

I’d like to see Jalen Williams consistently get more field goal attempts.

Also, I think the front office needs to show shai they are committed to building a winning team around him sooner rather that later. We’ve got plenty of ways to get him so help and keep our best young pieces.

Do you mean trading for a very good player? The only issue to me is that u gotta give playing time to develop youngs like Jalen, Mann, Giddey, Poku (and Chet next season). I'm still pissed about the Dieng pick because he's a project and we have no time for that if we want to be a good team in 1 or 2 seasons. If a good young player is available, we should still go for it.

I still think we need one more top talent guy before making a move. The hard part is we don’t know if their a top level guy immediately. Even if we draft Wembanyama, we’d have to give him and Chet 20 (?, 40, 82?) games to know they are that type of guy.

That puts us into the 2023-24 season before we even start to think about pulling someone in. So we’re probably targeting an addition(s) in the 2024 summer at the earliest.

I don't think you have to push to add a win-now piece. You just have to stop drafting and playing projects. The team will begin to work its way up the standings as long as the back of the rotation isn't getting destroyed.

I haven't watched much of Wembanyama, but I feel confident in stating that Chet's development isn't going to hurt the team. He's too good at the defensive end to be a negative. It will take a while to figure out what he is offensively, but he should at least be a good finisher and floor spacer.

[bbms]

poku is contesting ~11 FGA inside of 6ft per 36 minutes, and allowing -10% FG on those attempts. similar to numbers of clint capela and evan mobley. maybe not sustainable, but he's been trending in this direction since his rookie season. i still think he has his highest defensive potential as a swiss army knife off ball destroyer, and a lot of these contests are on help defense as you would expect.

will be interesting to see how this progresses. i'm not sold on poku's recent efficiency surge offensively, especially his 3pter, but his usefulness and role as a defensive role player at minimum is starting to take shape imo.

this was an easy one to see coming if ppl would actually focus on what he was doing well vs what he wasn't.

looking forward to see how he's going to synergize with Chet on that end. also i like what JRE offers to this roster if those two are our main defenders (low center of gravity defense).

[slick_watts]

giddey is just pressing too hard. when sga is off the court, he's got a 30%+ usage. that's too much for him. between turnovers and attempting too many shots, he's got to be more of a connecting player with sga off the court than a high volume primary handler. it's just not his game. he's young so it's ok for him to try stuff and find his way, but there's probably no universe where his current identity with sga off the court is optimal.

[BlazersBroncos]

I still think making a move for Turner whether during the season (Hard to do financially) or in the offseason would be a great move. I love this rotation -

G - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (34) / Tre Mann (14)
G - Jalin Williams (28) / Lou Dort (20) / Andrew Wiggins
F - Josh Giddey (28) / Kenrich Williams (20) / Osumane Dieng
F - Chet Holmgren (18) / Aleksej Pokusevski (26) / Jeremiah Earl-Robinson (4)
C - Myles Turner (28) / Chet Holmgren (10) / Jeremiah Earl-Robinson (10)

[dlughie]

I still think making a move for Turner whether during the season (Hard to do financially) or in the offseason would be a great move. I love this rotation -

G - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (34) / Tre Mann (14)
G - Jalin Williams (28) / Lou Dort (20) / Andrew Wiggins
F - Josh Giddey (28) / Kenrich Williams (20) / Osumane Dieng
F - Chet Holmgren (18) / Aleksej Pokusevski (26) / Jeremiah Earl-Robinson (4)
C - Myles Turner (28) / Chet Holmgren (10) / Jeremiah Earl-Robinson (10)

Hoping that Myles Turner would be V. Wemby instead. Man can only dream right. And I didn't know Andrew Wiggins is on our team

In all seriousness, its hard for me to see a future for Josh Giddey as a starter in this team after seeing Jalen Williams. I do wish he could develop that 3 consistently so he could at least be a legit floor spacer if he is going to start.

[bbms]

I still think making a move for Turner whether during the season (Hard to do financially) or in the offseason would be a great move. I love this rotation -

G - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (34) / Tre Mann (14)
G - Jalin Williams (28) / Lou Dort (20) / Andrew Wiggins
F - Josh Giddey (28) / Kenrich Williams (20) / Osumane Dieng
F - Chet Holmgren (18) / Aleksej Pokusevski (26) / Jeremiah Earl-Robinson (4)
C - Myles Turner (28) / Chet Holmgren (10) / Jeremiah Earl-Robinson (10)

Hoping that Myles Turner would be V. Wemby instead. Man can only dream right. And I didn't know Andrew Wiggins is on our team

In all seriousness, its hard for me to see a future for Josh Giddey as a starter in this team after seeing Jalen Williams. I do wish he could develop that 3 consistently so he could at least be a legit floor spacer if he is going to start.

the only thing i don't want to see is another james harden scenario where we see an underutlization/undervaluation of an mvp level talent.

[ThunderBolt]

Build.Around.Shai.Now.

[jake_swivel]

Build.Around.Shai.Now.

That was….umm….pretty impressive.

[Dadouv47]

So happy for him he finally got the game winner.

[Dadouv47]

He's gonna be an all star if he stays healthy..it's almost a lock.

Other than Shai, I'm still impressed by Jalen. He does a bit of everything and is so smart.

No idea what is going on with Giddey...he had two great games lately but tonight was a mess.

[ThunderBolt]

He's gonna be an all star if he stays healthy..it's almost a lock.

Other than Shai, I'm still impressed by Jalen. He does a bit of everything and is so smart.

No idea what is going on with Giddey...he had two great games lately but tonight was a mess.

He’s such a gifted passer yet really struggles with decision making at times.

[Dadouv47]

Still pissed we couldn't move up to get Mobley....a Shai/Mobley duo would have been a perfect combo and OKC would be an average playoff team already (Chet could still end up being a great fit too).

[Dadouv47]

Build.Around.Shai.Now.

I wouldn't mind trading our 2023 pick if it''s in the 6-10 range but it won't be easy to find a good player with enough years left on his contract and that would be a great fit.

[bbms]

shai's shot reminded me of that buzzer beater by kd in 2011 @ knicks.

such a "yea im a superstar now"

not too excited nor disappointed by anything. i just wonder why poku minutes are so low. thoughts?

[bbms]

Build.Around.Shai.Now.

I wouldn't mind trading our 2023 pick if it''s in the 6-10 range but it won't be easy to find a good player with enough years left on his contract and that would be a great fit.

forget about it if giddey comes out of his slump we won't have a lottery pick. when in the past two seasons, a healthy thunder didn't win above expected wins? W > PW was the norm.

[Dadouv47]

Jalen Williams is a perfect fit alongside Shai. He doesn't need the ball in his hands that much to have an impact, can pass the ball pretty well and quickly, defend and hit some shots. I don't see another player on our roster that is a better fit next to Shai. Presti nailed that pick.