The Thunder Have A BIG Problem 

not quite the small ball rockets from a handful years ago, but they're in the ballpark

I hate to be the "actually" guy, but during their championship runs only once were the Warriors on the bottom half of total rebounds. And then they were 17th, so pretty average. So in a matter of fact, not so perfect example.

@@tmac5135okc plays more half court ball than a lot of teams and that skews the total rebound stat. Slower pace = less available rebounds to grab

@@SpaceGhost92 That's just not true. They're 10th in pace this season.

Thank you finally someone who actually watches okc and understands why okc plays small

@@Wrestle_Kingdom Chet has held his own against every single big that was listed in this video coming off a broken foot in his first season playing basketball, and a lot of those teams listed play one dimensional basketball compared to OKC that have different ways to attack you, they’ll see us in June my guy !!

didn't you struggle against the mavs bigs without luka?

@@nattobaby this is such terrible logic also the only big okc struggle with was gafford that’s it

@@Wrestle_Kingdom because luka wasn't there to feed them. luka is also the mavs 2nd best rebounder averaging 9 a game

I'm certainly not expecting OKC to win it all this year. But I think they would be stupid to give up all the huge advantages their lineup gives them in favor of a more traditional lineup. The current lineup is great and should just be given time to develop. I wonder if people in 2012-2013 were talking about how the Warriors could never win because Draymond Green was too small...

@@1O1O11 completely agree and you said it even better than I with the Golden State point. He admits that DG is like 6”6 and yet they are a dynasty and have been competing for a title the better part of a decade now. Even this season there are (some) who believe they can go far. I’be been a pistons fan my whole life, Ben Wallace mostly scored on dunks and was short yet DPOY multiple times. Tayshaun Prince wasn’t much of a scorer either, better than Ben, but not by much PPG. It wasn’t long ago that people said Minnesota is not going to be good because they have two big men and the league has moved on from that team build. Yet those are the same reasons he brings up why MIN or LAL can beat OKC. Narratives are wild to me because I’ll bet that if Boston played in the West this year they wouldn’t be talked about the way they are now. They’re playing excellent but they also only play 30/82 games against the far superior conference so your numbers will look better playing against lesser teams. But nobody in media seems to be able to comprehend that or be considered a Celtics hater for questioning something. Sorry so long, hope everyone enjoyed my Ted Talk.

Basically everyone in the media wants to see trades and signings and anything to have more 'news' to talk about. If OKC just keeps this young lineup and makes no changes for multiple years, it is going to make a lot of media people very annoyed. The media wants more teams like KD's Nets... but I don't think Presti wants that... I hope OKC is SGA, Dort, Giddey, Jalen, and Chet in 2029-2030... @@AdamLovesHorror

@@1O1O11 I wouldn’t hate that team. I get why they want the clicks and views on let’s say ESPN or Fox but on RU-vid it’s rare to see people who can say whatever they want not say much about these things. Like you said he basically contradicts himself when you consider what GS has done in the Steph era. It also doesn’t mean that Sam Presti won’t be drafting, signing, or trading for bigger body to play there but it would need to be the right player and not rush just to fill the need. So many teams today are competitive but have like 1 draft pick in the next 6 years. No thanks. Good to know I’m not alone in the common sense population. Take care

How? They literally are in their first year of contention

They are a top 3 team in the NBA and basically tied with the Nuggets... You know, the Nuggets that won the championship last year? With that one guy who wins a lot of MVP trophies.

They need another big, everyone can see that. They could've easily outbid the Mavs for Gafford on the cheap, they have a 100 fucking picks. Presti and OKC have a history being cheap and it fucking them over, what is the point of all this pick equity if they don't start trading for win now pieces? Especially since they are so close, it just has 2013 vibes. OKC should have won at least one ring, they drafted 3 top ten players and had great role players, but wouldn't pay the tax and wouldn't consolidate. Now here we are a decade later and it's the same shit

@@1O1O11they’re actually 3-1 on the Nuggets this season

I watched all 4 of those games. The Thunder seem to have the Nuggets figured out... But I didn't think I even needed to mention that, as being #3 in the current standings is already more than enough to show that the Thunder are incredibly far ahead of schedule in developing a team that should compete for years to come. That, and I remember when the Spurs knocked the Thunder out of the playoffs in the KD era despite beating the Spurs 3-1 in the regular season... @@TheDeven1000

It’s very simple it not apart of their plan, most fans don’t understand how okc operates and what they’re trying to do, majority of bigs that possibly was available okc was never going to trade due to what okc wants in there players and how they want to play the only players that got traded that fit what okc looks for is Kelly olynk Okc wants certain players who are versatile and not one dimensional that fits okc offensive and defensive scheme and majority of big don’t fit that also when it comes when drafting players as well it why okc never drafted traditional big when people constantly mock them those players. The purpose of why okc gather so many picks is to have flexibility and to make trades for role players when necessary similar to how Denver did when trading for role players but drafted as well

@@Wrestle_Kingdom Yeah, olynyk or lauri. Bro I was salivating before the Jazz were good for a small stretch before the deadline because it almost looked like Lauri could've been traded to OKC for like four or five firsts, but alas.

Yeah they could have packaged 10 picks for Davis

No

“How big of a fan are you?”

Yes

Allen sucks playoffs time they should lowkey bring back Adams for leadership and rebounding

You clearly don’t watch okc, the bigs that dominant okc is ad,sabonis and gafford, and the only teams okc really struggles against is lakers and mavs Okc play well against every other team, the clippers match up is perfect for okc zubac is not a center that dominate offensively and isn’t good enough defensively to stay on the court, the pelicans okc play Jonas off the court due to his bad defense with okc spacing and Zion we typically just send multiple players at him so he can’t drive,the same thing for nurkic applies to zubac and gobert doesn’t score enough offensively to make okc struggle with his size which is why okc play the timberlwolves well

I think Josh Giddey is a good example of why the Thunder have potential to be better at rebounding than the stats this season show. The guy was a point-guard who is now in the role of being the #2 rebounder. The guy is 21 years old and has plenty of time to adjust his positioning on the floor. There is no reason to believe that OKC can't improve their rebounding with the exact same players on the floor. Do people really think Holmgren has peaked at his rebounding ability 75% of the way through his rookie season? That there in no ceiling beyond that?

Maybe Kendrick Perkins wants to come out of retirement and return to the Thunder.

lmao why would they do that, Looney is washed and useless now. Even before he lost his mobility his strength was switchability onto guards, not for dominant defense on big centers. He was and is useless against the likes of Jokic and Embiid, so he doesn't address the Thunder's size problem at all

Okc was never taking lively they drafted him for the mavs so the trade can go through also lively wouldn’t work in okc due to how okc likes to play and he wouldn’t get any PT plus he wouldn’t make okc better due to how okc run their offense and defense

And then make the same mistake when they traded Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins? I don't think Presti wants to repeat that mistake again. That team with Jeff Green was always the blueprint in small ball OKC basketball. A bunch of versatile playmakers and 3 levels scorers who can also defend multiple positions.

There's literally video evidence that we saw it coming 😂

I mean in regards to the video’s presentation. Someone who claims to be a fan, and then tells you the reasons why they aren’t going anywhere in the playoffs is a silly premise. I actually am a fan of the Thunder and anyone could see what they’re building is special. But, anyone who says they saw them battling for top spot in the west at this point is lying. Way ahead of schedule and they have room to grow. It’s good to be an actual fan of the Thunder. Not someone who still doubts their talent and ability to close games in the postseason!