Can the OKC Thunder Really Make a Run with This Little Playoff Experience? | JJ Redick & Tim Legler 

Absolutely love this podcast. Keep getting Tim on. We all want Sicko level basketball talk

Crazy how much more insightful this is than anything on ESPN

Let’s not forget that Shai and Dort both played in the World Championships with Canada and BEAT the US for 3rd place. I love Tim Legler when he joins the JJ pod; his analysis is always insightful.

They play with a ton of energy too. Nothing seems too slow

Dort had one of the most gangster game 7s any undrafted guy ever has Ps: jdub is a menace in 4th qtrs

Could listen to these two all day

Here's a synopsis on JDub for people that would like to know: He's a 6'6 wing/guard with a 7'2 wingspan that can create off the dribble, great passer, elite finisher, and very efficient from mid-range and 3. He can run the offense but is also great off-ball with his efficient catch and shoot and timely cuts. He is a BULL in transition and can GET UP with the best of them. On defense he is switchable 1-5 and is excellent on ball and off ball, getting in passing lanes, as a helpside defender, and is an absolute HIGH energy guy. He usually guards the other team's 2nd best player (Lu Dort guards the best) but can easily be the best defender on most teams in the league. Not to mention, JDub is an All-NBA team vibes guy. He's 22, high energy on and off the court, great interviewer and is just a good dude. He's got it all.

okc gonna be a scary team for years to come

Hope JJ knows how much we appreciate him as fans.

Appreciate these two giving OKC a lot of airtime.Excited for the playoffs!

Regardless how our season ends in the play offs the youngins gettin play off experience. We are young and our window is open

I love how you give so many small market teams love when they deserve it JJ. I feel like you’re the only one in the media actually talking about OKC in depth about what they are doing this season and putting some respect on them for the success they have been having. I’m so tired of hearing about the Lakers and Warriors constantly when they’re just fighting for a play-in spot. Keep it up JJ! Love your work!

Just elite basketball knowledge from JJ and Tim. They have good chemistry and both were 3-point specialists. These two are the same person just 18 years apart lol

Watching the okc since the start of the rebuild, you can see their progress. That is why it was fun watching them even though they lost, they learned and improved. That is why I wasn't surprised that they reached this far. They are developing their players wells.

As an OKC fan my hope is at least get to the second and get it to 6 games. I think next season is the year the league will be scared of OKC. They’ll finally have the taste of playoff experience at that young age and along with this teams Chemistry and upside. It’s gonna be real scary. Plus they got chips to cash in on a big name guy if they please so

Man, JJ has me locked in every week with his honest insight. What a gift. As an OKC resident, I’m expecting the worst but hoping for the best. This team has been bucking expectations all season. As far as I’m concerned, let it ride and come what may. OKC is playing with house money at this point.

We've already won this year growth wise, it's all about getting the experience from now on. I think Chet, SGA, and Jdub will do just fine in a playoff situation, but the odds are against us. Stay humble Thunder Nation as we don't need any bad MoJo.

Ain’t no one even mentioning our best 6th man-“Loud City” gona be turnt up

MVP is Sam Presti who chooses kids based on character as well as talent. He might get a piece given their cap space and/or from the draft, (Houston’s) pick. And several first rounders in the 2025 draft.

What a time to be an OKC fan!!!! #ThunderUp

Paul George has said “ We don’t have an identity” for 3 different teams, pacers, thunder, and clippers, the clips are doomed 🤦🏾‍♂️

Love this podcast. JJ and Tim are doing great things for basketball.

YES! As a since the beginning Homer OKC fan, I approve this message. OKC is the story of this year.

JJ is such a blessing for true NBA fans.

Love the love for Dub! Watched every Thunder game this szn and those crazy stats are legit. MIP convo is absolutely sleeping

Young teams can play into the finals without experience, but knowing what playoff basketball is compared to regular season or college is a big step most champions have to take.

Thank you for talking about us.

Tim should be here more frequently. Love listening to Tim with JJ.

much love from OKC, JJ ⚡let em know

So much better when you two are live together 😂❤️

The one thing this young team is overlooked. They play for each other. So when the crunch comes of playoff games. The team concept, the team needs this, the team is depending on me, well this higher calling may be the counter to their inexperience. Ive also seen different formations utilized at times to counter shai’s double team that maybe used in the playoffs.

Watching Shai perform against the Pelicans last year in the Play-In was absolutely spectacular to watch 🤩 made me become a fan

Now all of you here, listen all these guys and their summer preseason predictions when they completely failed to even see the OKC coming:) I saw them however, from the other side of the world🎉❤

An OKC freak who believes they are the future but realistically the West is very tough. It might come down to injuries and the match-ups. Expect Chet to be there in the big games but the timeline is still ahead of schedule with next year being definitely tough. Don’t be surprised if Josh doesn’t play really well as he is different.

Yes been watchin for a long long time!

Love Legler. Professional guy.

Tremendous episode. I am not a huge podcast guy but this was great. Legler and Reddick do a great job together. Lifelong Sonic/Thunder fan and I’m starting to get excited for playoff basketball. Different feeling from KD/Russ days and can’t really explain why but this should be fun. West is loaded top to bottom. I still don’t trust Curry and the Warriors, Durant and the Suns and LeBron and the Lakers will be easy outs regardless of their teams current position. West playoff matchups are going to be insane!

It’s all about POSSESSIONS and scoring EFFICIENCY. OKC, Dallas and Indiana are top ten in both and will be a tough opponent for everyone. Boston struggles with getting possessions but they make up for it in efficiency in a BIG way. OKC struggles against teams that dominate the pain because the efficiency goes up dramatically for those teams in that matchup. Keeping the pace high and getting transition points during the playoffs will be important for the Thunder because that reduces the impact of paint matchups.

Im a suns fan but jaylen williams (if i didnt spell it right my bad) is awesome everytime i see them play i think hes great

SGA play in the midst of the paint with the most flexible bigs in history, it is just a testament of how wicked this boy is at the game of basketball (he does damage with less dribbles than Kyrie. Wonderful to see

Missoula vs Daigneault Finals would be amazing to watch!!!

Great conversation. I'm only a NBA enthousiast but I'm not sure how they would match against full force Denver. Lack of strength and length could be an unsolvable issue other a playoff serie. But sure it'll be fun to watch how wrong or right it will turn out to be

Experience didn’t matter for Shaq or KD until they went all the way to finals, got swept and then never made it back until they had to switch teams.

Excellent analysis on details for Oklahoma.SGA is my MVP

“Outside of Giddy” 😂 same

As a clippers fan i knew shai was special during that playoffs run in 2019 with the Clippers vs the fully stacked Golden state !! SHAI Showed up with clutch 3 and a clutch play to steal game 3 ....Shai has yet to take them over the hump ....

Here is my take on OKC . I will use a 5 speed in my analogy . I follow all major team sports in North America . I have seen countless upstart teams with breakout seasons only to flounder in the post season . Teams like OKC are hyped on their success and have been in 5th all season . Experienced teams cruse along in 4th putting into 5th for big games but in general saving a gear for when it matters . Come post season I doubt OKC does not have that gear because they are already in it .

Always love the pod with you and Legs. Get RJ in on it next time too!

I love it when JJ's dad is on

great coaching can make up for the inexperience in the playoffs, excited to see them play in that setting!

I think they can go all the way. IMO this Thunder is better than the last version that got to or close to the finals. They're also so much fun to watch. Lots of energy on both sides of the ball, no bullshit. I'm rooting for them

Thunder are fun to watch, I wouldn’t worry too much about SGA not having playoff experience. He lead team Canada to a win over Spain in the 4th quarter, TC was down by 12, he made some clutch free throws and baskets he can score when it matters.

Playoff experience will always matter ! Let’s see though !!

Top to bottom, the Thunder are the deepest and most talented team. Their roster is extremely well-balanced, except for a lack of rebounding. They're probably too young, but young teams have won chips before. They probably need a little luck along the way, but most title teams have luck on their side. Obv, SGA needs to be healthy.

Most of the rebounding issue boils down to boxing out... I'm constantly getting angry watching them because they refuse to boxout

Crazy how Jj hit a mil 😮

and Giddey is 32/33% so its not like he is a ben simmons

It almost always does matter in every sports playoffs-but in the NBA playoffs the most.OKC will win titles in the future but not this yr.They remind me so much of my Nuggets...in 2019. Ended up the 2 seed in their 1st run.Won the 1st round in 7 BARELY over a way inferior talented-but far more playoff experienced SA. Then lost game 7 in 2nd round,at home in the final seconds to a somewhat less talented but more playoff experienced Portland. In both game 7s made critical mistakes in the final seconds that cost them vs Portland but barely didnt vs SA. Even did the same 1st round,game 7 in 2020 bubble vs Utah-but survived barely. OKC will be a tough out but that is your destiny this year OKC-like so many young,talented teams before you in their 1st playoff run. NBA history is full of similar teams who had to lose at least once-sometimes more-to learn how to win in the playoffs.By contrast-its tough to find many teams of similar type that even made the finals-let alone won a title their 1st run through.Learn from history-or you will be surprised when it happens again-I wont be. Sacramento getting blown out in game 7 at home to an inferior GS full of champions JUST LAST YEAR is another example.Even Memphis losing to the Lakers is similar.

The 2015 Warriors played in 3 series before that run and still won

At the end of day its all about making shots and getting stops..If we can do that we can make it pretty far ⚡⚡⛈️

Experience is the only thing holding them back in my mind. They have all the right pieces, except someone who can battle jokic in the post. However, Chet’s a good shot blocker who can at least bother jokic + quickly recover to stifle cutters at the rim.

There's no discounting a great team that doesn't know enough to be scared.

J dub is the man

Shai got some of that experience playing for Canada this summer, beating Slovenia, Spain, and then USA

I think experience is massive. But these guys are minimizing that shortcoming incredibly well. I don't think they're going to win or be in the finals. But my God, it would be impressive if they did

Does any of this apply to the Macic? Because I think they are Fing fantastic!

Those 3pt percentages are insane! #MFFL

Giddey is coming into some great form and the OKC can win it all.

i started watching OKC and became a fan early 2022 when Giddey was the main guy and Shai was injured and i remember saying “they need to draft Chet” like months before the draft day and when he got hurt it was annoying because what they’re doing this year having the 2nd best record out of all 30 teams is what they would’ve been doing last year, Chet’s impact is gonna make this team win rings

JJ language!!!! I have my kids watching your show man.

A conf finals run would be great for them. Anything more would be way ahead of schedule for their development.

Not sure if JJ will ever see this but he has to realize it. He mentioned the guys who shoot 3's on OKC other than Giddey and the percentages. So Giddey right now averages one 3 made per game on 3 attempts. So he's at 33% while others are between 37% and 41%, but on only 3 shots per game the likelihood of a 33% and 38% shooter making more than 1 is slim. Maybe they do so once in 5 or 6 games per the math behind it. The 5% difference between say SGA and Giddey is 5 per 100 and over the course of a 7 game series neither are shooting anywhere near 100 of them. Maybe Giddey shoots 25 and SGA 30? Maybe the total point differential is 6 points or 0.8 points per game? Players get wayyyyy too caught up on marginal stuff like this, Curry at 40% over 12 shots per game is massively different than SGA at 37% over 4 shots per game. JJ has to realize this. The difference in games is getting extra possessions, protecting the boards, limiting easy baskets, protecting the ball, getting good shots early in the shot clock, not 3-5% 3 point percentage differences. Have we become this threecentric that we've forgotten how winning works?

There's some match up concerns with OKC in the playoffs. Jokic, Giannis, Embiid are players they might struggle to win a series against. Winning a series or two would be huge for this team, though, and I expect them to do that. Going forward, they should be title contenders for the foreseeable future. Adding Chet to an already talented, emerging young group was an amazing stroke of good fortune. It's looking like OKC made a number of great moves building up. I wonder how long they can keep it together.

tims analysis of shais offense was so spot on, he didnt put up 30+ on every single team in the league on accident, its literally impossible for teams to properly scheme against SGA

Congrats to JJ getting an early promotion in Klutch Sports/Lebron Media

They did add Hayward who without looking it up, surely has some playoff experience

They have to continue playinh as they are doing and have trust in themselves and their coach!

That's right JJ,j dub is comfortable with differing to Shai and not get into a battle of " I'm a super star so I'll take over not you Shai" I think that's a huge difference between KD and Russell and as a thunder ⚡ fan since they came to the city in 2008 I've seen how that goes. I love this thunder ⚡ team and honestly believe they are the best team we've ever had. I'm blessed to have this team and wish and hope they defeat all odds and win the championship this year. Thunder ⚡⚡ ⚡ up ❤

on the note of the thunder in the playoffs, I do feel like JDUB has that killer instinct in the 4th quarter that I think can transfer really nicely to the playoffs possibly quickly.

Historically the great teams had a few years of growing pains had to lose to the dominant team that's been at the top of the league a few times in the playoffs before they get the experience to seriously contend but not all so they have a shot.

Yup that Playoff Experience will matter......New Teams in the Playoffs always have a hard time handling pressure....I dont know if getting Gordon Hayward will help them handle that Playoff Pressure

What you described of Jalen Williams is literally why people call him the most underrated player lmao So while you may make fun of people who say that, you obviously just said the same thing as those people.

Mike muscala and Gordon Hayward have experience as well.

Of course it matters, game planning and playing a team is way different than regular season games.

Okc young but they have a bunch level headed young players. They are pretty quiet like Denver which is great they are focused.

Thank you for not spending an inordinate amount of time discussing the usual large market teams in the league. There's a few smaller market teams that are making moves and showing that their rebuild is bearing real fruit -- namely Thunder, Magic, and Rockets. These are teams who chose to actually develop their young talent instead of importing a superstar to maintain some relevance.

Look back at any young team that has this type of season and their arrival to the playoffs, it went well. Now, there's only been like 2 or 3 of these teams, but winning 50 games should prove they are built for big moments because winning 50 requires consistency. What do the playoffs require?

JJ is right, SGA has counters. But in the playoffs it's collective play that wins you a series MOST of the time.

If I may offer a counter point to Ledger. SGA led team Canada to a FIBA Bronze in 2022. So SGA had played and defeated top teams. (Luka, Ant, et la ).

OKC is at the top of the stacked western conference. So, this should make them either top favorite or second top favorite behind Celtics. Of course, they can make a good run. That run has 50% chance to end with a championship.

Jalen Williams is THAT DUDE

Giddey shooting 34% on open 3s

Props to JJ REDICK for giving OKC airtime they deserve. Espn, TNT and Sports Center are to busy always sucking off LeBron.

Chet also has averaged 10rpg since all star. Seems to be a focus of his in the last month

#ThunderUp

True that the majority of the team is inexperienced in playoffs but people forget SGA has played in 2 playoff series. Bubble year (Dort also) and 2018 clippers.

Definitely matters. Kings last year, Memphis year before. Celtics as well. Young top teams struggle in the playoffs. Will take probably 2 years, for a WCF appearance

always does

The thing about the Thunder is It's not just the players that lack playoffs experience But their head coach lacks playoff experience As well

The Thunder’s made it to the finals before with little to no playoff experience before