Special_Puppy wrote:Doranku wrote:Y'all really grasping at straws now. First time all-star JDub, less than half a season of 22 year old Chet, and a bunch of roleplayers got you guys acting like OKC is the 2017 Warriors...
I think it’s an undeniable that SGA has one of the best supporting casts in the league and that attempts to downplay that supporting cast are pretty silly (also doesn’t inherently hurt SGA’s MVP case since elevating one of the best supporting casts in the league to ATG status is what you are supposed to do)
The OKC Thunder are one of the deepest teams in the NBA. They are the deepest team in the NBA. The modern NBA is all about minimizing minutes of negative impact players, as offenses and defense both require a high level of sophistication. OKC has abundant talent on their roster and some of the highest per-minute impact players in the NBA (Hartenstein, Chet, Dort, and Caruso are excellent players who are best in shorter spurts).
There is no doubt the OKC team is deeper and more talented than the Denver squad, all things considered. OKC has 11 players with > 600 minutes, all with a positive VORP. Denver has 8 players with > 600 minutes, 7 having a positive VORP.
The even starker difference is BPM. Denver has 2 players with a positive BPM outside of Jokic (Jokic, Murray and Gordon). OKC has 11, with 7 of them clearing 1.0 BPM.
When we dig deeper, OKC's entire blueprint is predicated on SGA. JDub is a limited player who craters when he isn't on the floor with SGA. He masquerades as a 2nd option due to the sole fact of SGA being Michael Jordan levels of offensive thumbprint on an offense.
This is where I draw the All-Time comparison and parallel. This team is the equivalent of the 1991 Jordan Bulls. Jordan at his Apex, SGA at his Apex. Young players are stepping into roles but not at their peaks. Phil and Mark are both younger coaches who have identified a blueprint to maximize a talented roster and put their MVP in a position to succeed.