The thunder don’t beat the wolves this past season. We didn’t have a matchup for Luka because of his size. But Jaden and ant will make it way tougher on Shai, even more so than what the pelicans did against Shai.
@@PhaeonXu Shai didn’t even do his work on herb jones. He did majority of his work on cj mccolum dude. When guarded by herb or naji Marshall he was not cookin. Also I’ve literally already seen ant play defense on shai. Jaden and ant are gonna be comfortable switching out that because Shai isn’t physically imposing as Luka and he ain’t as quick as kyrie or as crafty dribbling wise like kyrie. Those type players, ant and Jaden thrive on guarding. Hell naji Marshall held Shai to 37 percent guarding him and ant is one of the best 1v1 defending guards in the nba I don’t know what you talkin bout
@marcusfrm6263 weird I must have missed Ant being on the All Defense teams if he was so good. Oh wait he got 8 total votes and was behind Dort, SGA, and Chet. Head size must be wild for such a big cap. Also why do you think SGA cooked on CJ? Because we targeted him. You think OKC wouldn't just do the same playing Minny?
@@PhaeonXu this dudes just biased, shai cooks ANYONE as long as he has enough time to learn their style of defense. He's a learning machine. If the thunder face the wolves, okc will just target conley and rob. No one on the thunder is a bad defender since they got rid of giddey and replaced him with an all defense guard who shoots 40% from three
ima thunder fan and i’ve been watching this pod since probably around mid-late 2021 and man… to go from never being talked about to getting segments on my favorite team really makes a man wanna shed a tear
Lu dort is untouchable he had a massive increase in his efficiency on top of being an all defense caliber defender. Him and Shai have too much chemistry with each other, the biggest motor of the team.
Dort is not untouchable man yes he’s a great defender but he struggles against faster guards and is absolutely horrible at the rim for his size and can be streaky shooter
I love that we can say things now like OKC is going to win the chip next year and brain dead nba fans can’t say they are too inexperienced or don’t have size
The point differential in the Dallas series was 0 even with the Thunders glaring flaws they fixed all of that with their off season moves. We winning a chip
An overlooked aspect of the Thunder's success last season IMO was just how completely they bought into Daigneault's plan. In fact, the only two players that didn't mimic everything Mark said were Giddey and Hayward and they're gone. It's no coincidence they gravitated to one another after the trade. Giddey never committed to his role as evidenced by his lapses on defense. Hayward showed his displeasure by not shooting. Now Giddey is on a team yet to determine its identity and Gordo is waiting by the phone with his wife. I know Daigneault won't have any issues with Caruso. For lack of a better analogy, it's like raising a pit bull dog, you need to get your bluff in when they're puppies and Daigneault was Caruso's first pro coach, lol. Hartenstein is a winner, a what ever it takes type and now the Thunder can keep an elite rim protector on the floor at all times. Caruso doesn't have defensive lapses, neither does iHart and Shai is going to get a quick course on playing off a big pick setter this summer with Edey. We talk about our young guys getting better and forget that last season was Daigneault's 1st run as well. He'll be better.
We are poised to be THAT team. Atm we don’t quite have a big 3, more of a Big 1+0.75+0.75 It all hinges on JDub & Chet taking the leap to what we are hoping (confidently) to what they can be: All Star caliber players (unlikely to make the All Star but good enough to be considered All Stars)
@@coreyhiggins6890 okc just added caruso and ihart and got rid of giddey, who was a major factor in game 2s loss, a whopping -20 +/- in just ELEVEN minutes. This isnt even one of those "he subbed in at the wrong time during a run", no he caused these runs. Thunder no longer have any defensive weaknesses. I know dallas added grimes, marshall, and thompson but their starting line up is not very good defensively even if their bench tries to make up for it. I know luka was a bit hobbled but even if he was fully healthy, the results would be the same. Im sorry but caruso and hart > grimes marshall and thompson. and i didnt even mention okc bricking wide open shots and being afraid to take them, now that they know the playoff stage, they should improve
@coreyhiggins6890 sga had nobody to come along with him and still cooked Dallas, with dub chet getting experience and only getting better and with the new additions Dallas is fucked healthy luka or not 😂 you thought he was crying before wait till he has to deal with alex and dort
I don’t see ihart signing as an overpay. He may lack number stats but advanced stat pegg him as a elite defender and great playmaker and passer for a center. Okc paid adams 100 m for 4 years in 2016. 4m more per season for ihart is not an overpay. He’s 26 has room to develop in this system. He’s better rim protector than adams, similar rebounder and waaaaay better offensively.
lol the guy in the beanie doesn’t know much about okc, okc addresses there biggest weakness adds a all defensive player who shot 40% from 3 on 5 attempts in Caruso, and added a big man that is a solid playmaker still have Chet and dub and have a 30ppg scorer 😊
Teams were throwing all kinds of defense at okc last season guys. Okc will be even better this year I’m not worried about the offense. Dallas will be beat by okc this year
The take of they snuck up on teams is pathetic and so dumb. They maybe snuck up on ppl in the media, but ppl in the league knew they’d be trouble w Chet and how hard they play
I keep saying it over and over. If I’m the thunder I’m in win now mode. I’m going hard for giannis. If the bucks are under performing before the trade deadline, I’m calling the bucks and saying “ Chet and three firsts for giannis?”
No lol. I'm definitely not trading Chet. His ceiling offensively is bananas, and he arguably had a better defensive year last year. He's so young and a monster.
@@b33ft0n6 the odds of him ever being as good as giannis is slim to none. I also think he’s an injury risk. If Chet keeps getting hurt or if he never ends up being a 20 plus ppg scorer, you’re gonna wish they had traded him while his value was high
@tommartyn524 keeps getting hurt? He's had one injury in his entire ball career what are you talking about? And Chet is seven years younger and not ball dominant. No way I'm trading Chet for Giannis.
@@PhaeonXu Chet has been in the league for two years and he’s been hurt half the time. Guys with his frame usually don’t stay healthy. And like I told the other guy, there’s a world where the thunder regret not trading him for proven superstar. I think y’all overrating Chet. He’ll be good not great
Presti just got rid of a key piece of a team that finished #1 in the West and came within a play of most likely making the Western conference finals. I really don't get how anybody who understands basketball can think that this team is now better. The chemistry of that team is now changed and there is no guarantee that they will ever be as good as they were last year. Everybody should remember what happened when he traded Harden. They never made it back to the finals and never were as good. Trading Giddey was a HUGE mistake.
Clearly you didn’t actually watch the games from the Mavs series. Giddey got benched and saw a massive cut in minutes. A. He can’t shoot therefore teams would leave him open to double shai and jdub on the perimeter B. Jbud has developed into the second best playmaker in the team with shai. You don’t need a 3rd especially one in the corner wide open who can’t shoot C. With all the off the court stuff he dealt with his confidence was completely rattled. He’s numbers and efficiency were down
Giddey was, by all basic and advanced metrics, the worst part of that team. The team got significantly better without him on the court. He already didn't fit, now they just don't have to try to make it fit
@@kaufmankieran Yeah, a starter on a team that finished 1st in the West "didn't fit" !!! LMFAO It's almost unbelieve that there are so many fans out there like you that know nothing about basketball but make claims like this because you've heard it being said. You're just parroting things and don't even know the game. Giddey was a huge part of their success and was only 21 and getting better every year. You don't quit on a player like that.
