Are we going to see teams trying to copy some of OKC's winning tactics in this upcoming season?

[dballislife]

i mean when you have a sga you can try almost anything and it will work out...and if you dont got a sga, seems like you can try everything and nothing works

[Lalouie]

everyone "copies" success. you know why it never happens in sports. you can't duplicate the best

no one's going to copy okc's success cuz no one has presti

but the league was already running the depth in roster path. the bar is low in the nba so there are plenty of choices to draft the right players. the diff is if you have a set roster all you have to do is tweak. there's less than a half dozen teams who only have to tweak. also it helps if you get lucky enough to get wemby or flagg

and 80 draft picks in the next 10years helps

[RRyder823]

Pretty much every coach in the league would like to copy the defensive aggression OKC had last season

Getting their players to do it however is another story. They allready been trying

Sent from my SM-S918U using RealGM mobile app

[Patches Perry]

I don't think OKC has done anything groundbreaking in terms of play style. The elements worth copying are mostly not something they originated. They do some other things very well (forcing turnovers, for example) but those are personnel dependent. I don't think any other team has 4-5 highly disciplined ball hounds to go with a 7'2 elite rim protector to clean up when gambles go wrong.

Things Presti always mentions in interviews that other teams could try to copy:
1) Prioritize people and culture just as much as playing ability. Very heavy 2000s Spurs influence here.
2) Players with high "processing speed" in terms of decision-making with the ball. Presti mentions this every year in draft interviews.

But even these things are somewhat obvious and reliant on merit to do them well. In some ways, like saying "draft good players"

Things they do well that aren't unique to them:
1) Two way players across the board
2) Switchable defenders. Bigs can guard small and smalls can guard big.
3) Everybody can shoot out to 3pt (Hartenstein the only exception)

Several teams in previous years have checked these boxes already. Even the Pacers last year also checked all these boxes. It's a matter of acquiring the proper personnel, developing chemistry, execution and health.

[balrog27]

Given that OKC barely survived Indiana, with Haliburton injured, something is wrong with those tactics.
One of the most unconvincing champions of all-time...

They were also pretty much gonna lose to the nuggets in g5 if SGA didn't have that crazy 4th qurater. If they lost, we all be here talking about how they made a mistake using a 10 man rotation, how their bigs are soft, how you can't win with a foul merchant as your best player. It's a game of inches, every year you need some luck to win.

[Slimjimzv]

Is he wrong? Very unlikely OKC is winning game 7 if Haliburton doesn't get injured with the kind of game he was having.

Yes.

One of the most unconvincing champions of all-time...

Dumb statement.

Is it possible to be any more unconvincing than being taken to 7 games by the injured underdog?
And Indiana won the 2nd and 4th quarters, and only lost the 1st quarter by 3.
So OKC only had control of the 3rd quarter of Game 7... vs. the 4th seed in the East.
And the East receives A LOT of criticism always.

Chet - recovering from injury
JDub - torn ligaments in his wrist
coach - one of the youngest in the league - first deep playoff run
team - 2nd youngest champions ever

Despite this, they beat Jokic and the Nuggets, they beat Edwards and the Wolves, they won the championship. You can say it's unlikely that they would have beaten Haliburton, but they'd beaten him 3 times and they were at home. Them losing if he's healthy is an absurd assumption to make. Is it so hard to give credit where credit is due? Sore losers are so annoying . . .

[GiannisAnte34]

I still think people will try to copy Bostons formula for success

[benson13]

Taking advantage of a Clippers team anxious to appease an immensely talented but often injured head case and a Rockets team inexplicably dedicated to a known a playoff choker sounds like a great plan, but I think those opportunities have passed.

[Exp0sed]

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/282253/Nuggets-Copying-Thunders-Defensive-Physicality-Ahead-Of-New-Season

there she blows....


"The Denver Nuggets are implementing a more physical defensive approach ahead of the 2025-26 season, emulating the style mastered by defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Nikola Jokic said Friday the team is emphasizing aggressive play that tests the boundaries of what referees will call fouls.

The Nuggets ranked 21st in defensive efficiency last season and struggled in consecutive postseasons against opponents who employed physical, disruptive schemes. The Minnesota Timberwolves' aggressive defense bothered Jamal Murray in 2024, while OKC overwhelmed Denver with paint protection and perimeter recovery in the 2025 playoffs.


Jokic explained the team's defensive philosophy during practice sessions at Ball Arena on Friday. The three-time MVP indicated the approach focuses on pushing the limits of physicality without fouling.

"We are trying to be aggressive," Jokic said. "We're trying to be, like, close to a foul — testing the refs to call the fouls. That's something that we're gonna try to do. That was the emphasis of the practice."

New head coach David Adelman has described the strategy as "junking it up" on defense. The term refers to creating chaos through ball pressure, zone concepts and matchup-dependent schemes."

[PostGameDaVinci]

OKC, Indiana, and Boston all had something relatively easy to replicate: balls to the wall intensity on the defensive end. Most teams are capable of trying harder on defense & being more disciplined with rotations. That's mainly just coaching and effort.

The hard part is putting together a roster with 4+ elite perimeter defenders, a mobile 7ft+ big, and some how make sure they're all good offensive players. Most teams don't have the right FO or owner to put together a roster of that caliber.

[Pointgod]

Trading older players for young future mvps and loads of picks sounds like a great idea but how often does that happen.

OKC has done a great job of building toward long term sustained success.

It’s the best way to rebuild a team with the new CBA, especially if you can draft like OKC. OKC proved that model works but look at other teams on the rise like Houston, Spurs, Orlando and to a lesser extent teams like Cleveland.

[kodo]

For sure on the aggressive defense, Houston & Udoka have been doing it for a while.
It also just makes sense to focus the defense on paint touches given how little you can defend 3P shots, now with the high 5 rule also being added to landing space rules. And next season I'm sure it will be a foul to run at shooters because it might scare them.

The Bulls and Cavs definitely beat the **** out of each other in the opening quarters of their first two preseason games.

For sure, and Stacey King was talking about how the Bulls have to establish they're a physical a team so the refs get used to it and stop calling fouls.

[JRoy]

Trading older players for young future mvps and loads of picks sounds like a great idea but how often does that happen.

OKC has done a great job of building toward long term sustained success.

It’s the best way to rebuild a team with the new CBA, especially if you can draft like OKC. OKC proved that model works but look at other teams on the rise like Houston, Spurs, Orlando and to a lesser extent teams like Cleveland.

All you have to do is get a team to give up their young future mvp for your old guy and a bunch of picks.

[Nuntius]

Given that OKC barely survived Indiana, with Haliburton injured, something is wrong with those tactics.
One of the most unconvincing champions of all-time...

Or, it could also mean that Indiana was **** good and would probably be a champion if they weren't playing a team as good as OKC.

[dhsilv2]

Given that OKC barely survived Indiana, with Haliburton injured, something is wrong with those tactics.
One of the most unconvincing champions of all-time...

Dumb statement

Is he wrong? Very unlikely OKC is winning game 7 if Haliburton doesn't get injured with the kind of game he was having.

Does losing change that they were the best team all season and made the finals? Teams are clearly going to look at what they did defensively and try to use it either way.

Also they were -2 with Haliburton on the court in game 7. It was at home. I see no reason why we should conclude anything about who'd win a game 7 from that. Obviously we all wish we'd gotten to see it.

[AdamSSSlither]

spurs ran deep bench for years w/ success so thats not really new just most teams dont try it.

what other teams will copy from okc is the rough defense, especially in the playoffs.
basically got away w/ murder on jokic because we all know "playoff basketball" is not ref'd the same way.....
so okc took advantage and pushed the limit.

also okc really should have gotten in trouble for blatantly tanking to get the holmgren pick that year.

[MoneyTalks41890]

Given that OKC barely survived Indiana, with Haliburton injured, something is wrong with those tactics.
One of the most unconvincing champions of all-time...

Or, it could also mean that Indiana was **** good and would probably be a champion if they weren't playing a team as good as OKC.

Indiana as definitely the best team OKC played on their run. Played them the best.

[bisme37]

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/282253/Nuggets-Copying-Thunders-Defensive-Physicality-Ahead-Of-New-Season

there she blows....


"The Denver Nuggets are implementing a more physical defensive approach ahead of the 2025-26 season, emulating the style mastered by defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Nikola Jokic said Friday the team is emphasizing aggressive play that tests the boundaries of what referees will call fouls.

The Nuggets ranked 21st in defensive efficiency last season and struggled in consecutive postseasons against opponents who employed physical, disruptive schemes. The Minnesota Timberwolves' aggressive defense bothered Jamal Murray in 2024, while OKC overwhelmed Denver with paint protection and perimeter recovery in the 2025 playoffs.


Jokic explained the team's defensive philosophy during practice sessions at Ball Arena on Friday. The three-time MVP indicated the approach focuses on pushing the limits of physicality without fouling.

"We are trying to be aggressive," Jokic said. "We're trying to be, like, close to a foul — testing the refs to call the fouls. That's something that we're gonna try to do. That was the emphasis of the practice."

New head coach David Adelman has described the strategy as "junking it up" on defense. The term refers to creating chaos through ball pressure, zone concepts and matchup-dependent schemes."

Yeah "physicality" has been a big buzzword in several training camps this month. Celtics, Bucks, Nuggets and other teams talking about it quite a bit and running tougher training camps than usual.

[Rdude22]

Dumb statement

Is he wrong? Very unlikely OKC is winning game 7 if Haliburton doesn't get injured with the kind of game he was having.

Yes.

One of the most unconvincing champions of all-time...

Dumb statement.

Agreed. Very dumb statement.

Hell, the 2015 Golden State Warriors were also "one of the most unconvincing champions of all time"...

yet, a decade later they now have 4-titles total and Steph went from a "not even Finals MVP!" to an arguable top 10 player of all time.

If anything, OKC won despite their youth, meaning they badly coughed up game 1s to both DEN and Indiana... in a way forcing them to have to win 5 games out of 7 in both cases. They now have the experience and mental fortitude from those disastrous mistakes.

But naysayers don't like to look at the glass half full perspective

[MrGoat]

It's not easy to copy because of rosters and the reffing certain players on OKC are allowed. Dort gets away with as much as anybody since Draymond. That's not replicable if your team doesn't have that whistle