Who on OKC should get credit for their ridiculous defense?

[Pykie87]

I think i saw on hoops tonight that thry practically have no drop off on defense when subbing out elite defenders. They can trully go down as one of the greatest teams

The scary thing is it’s only going to get worse for the other NBA teams.

They could have 5 top 35 picks this year in the best draft in a decade.

2 of them in the top 12.

Adding 2 of Cenac (JJJ), Yessoufou (Jaylen Brown), Ament (MPJ), Dash Daniel (A better Dyson) is a ridiculous proposition for the league with Mitchell looking like the second coming of Brunson and Topic and Sorber still in reserve.

Presti will go down as the GOAT if he nails this draft because it will legitimately allow him to trade the likes of Hartenstein, Caruso, Wallace maybe even a Chet or JDub in the coming seasons for another war chest of self regenerating picks

[Shaka_Zulu]

I dont know what they feeding them. But you have to give up when you see even guys like Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins, play relentless and smart 1v1 D.


I was like, aren't they supposed to be basically one way offense specialist shooters? The only favourable match ups for opponents in the rotation? How the hell are they doing this?



But as someone else said, its basically the coach, besides the insane depth of individual specialist defenders, he has them so well drilled and bought fully in, that he has guys who who would be average to below average defenders in other teams schemes, look flawless because he has organised them to a T. To the point no one leaves any gaps. Totally in synch.

[ball_takes23]

DPOY race is going to start to get interesting with Wemby missing games. It might go to someone from another team if they cant pick out one guy from OKC

[f4p]

How overrated is "j-dub" then

They don't need him whatsoever. Any random wing will do in that system and also when the refs let you get away with murder

J-Dub carried their defense as an undersized 5 when IHart and Chet were out last season. He's a special defender in his own right, they're just so loaded defensively that they don't miss a beat when just one or two guys are missing.

He carried their defense but they don't miss him at all feel like mutually exclusive ideas.

[kobe_vs_jordan]

Think Caruso trade made them a different level. The bigs are a bit underrated defensively.

Think ultimately it might be SGA though. His deflections and loose ball stats from your star player set the tone. Think this stats get lost in all defense discussions.

[kobe_vs_jordan]

DPOY race is going to start to get interesting with Wemby missing games. It might go to someone from another team if they cant pick out one guy from OKC

Draymond

[Black Jack]

I think i saw on hoops tonight that thry practically have no drop off on defense when subbing out elite defenders. They can trully go down as one of the greatest teams

The scary thing is it’s only going to get worse for the other NBA teams.

They could have 5 top 35 picks this year in the best draft in a decade.

2 of them in the top 12.

Adding 2 of Cenac (JJJ), Yessoufou (Jaylen Brown), Ament (MPJ), Dash Daniel (A better Dyson) is a ridiculous proposition for the league with Mitchell looking like the second coming of Brunson and Topic and Sorber still in reserve.

Presti will go down as the GOAT if he nails this draft because it will legitimately allow him to trade the likes of Hartenstein, Caruso, Wallace maybe even a Chet or JDub in the coming seasons for another war chest of self regenerating picks

I think the seeds of the downfall are in having too many star level players that are being asked to play roles...and it's not guaranteed the picks not traded convey to be super talented pieces. Bit of a highwire act between managing egos, salaries etc. especially if they win a few rings. Guys want to cash in once they get older. Replacing Chet or JDub with dud picks could really bring them back to earth.

[ShootersShoot]

Team game..especially in this era where guards are hunted constantly, okc has some pretty solid defenders in the backcourt. They have one of the best defensive frontcourts in hart and chet, very good defensive wings in dort/caruso/jalen, and good backcourt defenders in shai/wallace/mitchell. That is 8 rotation players all above average defensively including all their starters. This team literally has no holes anywhere on either end when healthy.

If I had to give one person credit its presti though.

[ShootersShoot]

How overrated is "j-dub" then

They don't need him whatsoever. Any random wing will do in that system and also when the refs let you get away with murder

They will need him in the playoffs. Not taking anything away from them, but tell me how many "good" teams they have played so far who were healthy. Really only hou, gsw, and lakers (sans bron). If they go up against the likes of denver or hou in the playoffs it would be ignorant to claim they wont need jdub.

Okc was 42-8 last season without holmgren btw.

[sunskerr]

I think i saw on hoops tonight that thry practically have no drop off on defense when subbing out elite defenders. They can trully go down as one of the greatest teams

The scary thing is it’s only going to get worse for the other NBA teams.

They could have 5 top 35 picks this year in the best draft in a decade.

2 of them in the top 12.

Adding 2 of Cenac (JJJ), Yessoufou (Jaylen Brown), Ament (MPJ), Dash Daniel (A better Dyson) is a ridiculous proposition for the league with Mitchell looking like the second coming of Brunson and Topic and Sorber still in reserve.

Presti will go down as the GOAT if he nails this draft because it will legitimately allow him to trade the likes of Hartenstein, Caruso, Wallace maybe even a Chet or JDub in the coming seasons for another war chest of self regenerating picks

Heck yes somebody else noticed...in theory they can do this for a very long time, possibly forever. The more assets you have the more assets you can get and it's thanks to the tanking period where they accrued a billion picks that this is possible.

Depends on scouting to ultimately turn the picks into positive value players. But if they keep hitting in the draft there's nothing in theory stopping OKC as a franchise in having more assets than every other team until the end of time given that there are a finite amount of picks/players in the league at any given time.

[Edrees]

I'm voting for all the players and coaching staff as well. total team effort

[scrabbarista]

DPOY race is going to start to get interesting with Wemby missing games. It might go to someone from another team if they cant pick out one guy from OKC

Draymond

Jokic.

He has the league's best defensive rating for a player who isn't either Wemby or on OKC. He carries a bigger defensive load than anyone on OKC, and he's carrying it well.

[Lalouie]

the coach

[art_tatum]

Mix of players coaching and refs giving them the most leeway on physicality. Also good offense+ Sga fts leads to good set D

[michaelm]

The players of course, guided by the coach.

The opposition GMs who gifted a known drafting genius in Sam Presti all those picks deserve a mention as well imo.

[cupcakesnake]

How overrated is "j-dub" then

They don't need him whatsoever. Any random wing will do in that system and also when the refs let you get away with murder

J-Dub carried their defense as an undersized 5 when IHart and Chet were out last season. He's a special defender in his own right, they're just so loaded defensively that they don't miss a beat when just one or two guys are missing.

He carried their defense but they don't miss him at all feel like mutually exclusive ideas.

Not at all because those are two different contexts. Right now, OKC is healthy outside of J.Dub. They have Cason/Dort/Caruso hounding the perimeter, and both bigs patrolling the paint. The time being referred to was last season, when Chet, iHart, and Jaylin Williams were all out with injury, so J.Dub had to play center. He didn't just survive, he thrived, posting elite rim protection numbers with his strength and long arms.

OKC is so deep, no one defender is integral. They have multiple guys for every role. When a few guys are out, one player's impact becomes a lot more important.

[Mavrelous]

J-Dub carried their defense as an undersized 5 when IHart and Chet were out last season. He's a special defender in his own right, they're just so loaded defensively that they don't miss a beat when just one or two guys are missing.

He carried their defense but they don't miss him at all feel like mutually exclusive ideas.

Not at all because those are two different contexts. Right now, OKC is healthy outside of J.Dub. They have Cason/Dort/Caruso hounding the perimeter, and both bigs patrolling the paint. The time being referred to was last season, when Chet, iHart, and Jaylin Williams were all out with injury, so J.Dub had to play center. He didn't just survive, he thrived, posting elite rim protection numbers with his strength and long arms.

OKC is so deep, no one defender is integral. They have multiple guys for every role. When a few guys are out, one player's impact becomes a lot more important.

In the PO, they can't do w/o Chet, IHart is good for the RS, but when the going gets tough, Chet is their anchor.

[brutalitops]

They do

It's just its drowned out by the national media jerking off to the lakers.

[slick_watts]

The development of Daigneault within the OKC organization to eventually become coach, by contrast, impressed the hell out of me.

Here you have Presti actually successfully finding a cutting edge coach mind, giving him experience, and seeming to know extremely well what that coach is going to want from future players when his front office team scouts the draft (and low profile free agents).

This then to say: Daigneault becoming as good of a coach as he is under Presti’s patronage is one of the impressive things Presti has in his big bag o’ win.

this whole post was great but i also think daigneault isn't credited enough for the defensive structure and strategy.

his development as a coach is even more impressive considering how little nba coaching experience has surrounded him on the bench. aside from chip engelland, who is in more of an 'advisor' role most of the coaches surrounding daigneault are just as green as he is in nba terms. some of them coming up with him through the okc system as coaches and / or players.

[Godymas]

I think I found the answer.

Chet Holmgren will win a DPOY before Wemby. The line-ups with Chet turn their defense from average to
greatest of all time