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Bring The Thunder EP.24 · Bring The Thunder Podcast

0:00
What's going on? Thunder fans, welcome back to
0:02
the Bring the Thunder Podcast episode 24.
0:05
Can't believe it's already episode 24.
0:08
Shout out, Kobe, but you know, we're going to get straight into
0:11
it. First off, before we even start,
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we really appreciate everybody who's been tuning in, subbing to
0:18
the channel, joining us in our memberships, chatting in in our,
0:23
in our members only chats. It's been fantastic, such a
0:26
great start to the season. So we want to thank you guys so
0:28
much and we're going to do our best to continue to to provide
0:31
the best content that OKC Thunder fans could ever want for
0:34
you. But with that being said,
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episode 24 has begun and we're going to start off with our
0:38
first topic. Reggie Miller made some big
0:41
headlines the other day. Reggie Miller called or compared
0:45
Shay's Thunder to MJ's bowls, comparing Shay to Michael Jordan
0:50
and J Dub to Scottie Pippen. Now, Satvia was big on the
0:54
Scottie Pippen J Dub comparison early in the season last year.
0:57
So we're going to give him some credit for that because that's
0:59
before he even did all the things that he did in the
1:01
playoffs for us and won a championship.
1:03
So I just want to hear you guys thoughts like that.
1:06
That's some high praise and I'll start with Satvia first.
1:09
Yeah, I think it's the mix of the star power and just how
1:16
young they are and how dominant that they're becoming.
1:20
I can't believe that. I guess, you know, I said that
1:22
before going into the playoffs 'cause I think Jada wasn't
1:25
having the best run in the season and he's kind of The X
1:28
Factor for most people. Like Stephen A Smith had
1:30
mentioned him as The X Factor between US winning a
1:32
championship and not. And I guess I didn't really have
1:35
any doubts 'cause I saw like, how consistent he is, even
1:38
though he doesn't get his 'cause he doesn't get, you know, that
1:41
part of the game. But the part he's really
1:44
dominated on, similar to Scotty, is his defense.
1:47
Like he's a top high end, small forward, power forward,
1:51
whatever. Like he can guard one through 5.
1:52
It's super rare skill and he has an underrated amount of
1:57
strength. Like people don't really mention
2:00
how he's able to stop centers and guards.
2:02
Like it takes a lot of versatility.
2:05
So I think he has the best comparison there.
2:07
And then Shay with MJ just I feel like those just shoot out,
2:12
shoot themselves out until they win the game.
2:14
And it's been rare that we've seen guys like that like Kobe
2:18
also gets making alongside Shay's name.
2:20
So I don't think, you know, Reggie's too far off.
2:24
And I think we started to hearing rumblings of like that
2:28
Scotty, MJ pairing with these two, but now it's kind of way
2:33
more visible after their first run and it feels like they're
2:36
going to kind of continue that run.
2:38
So. Yeah, go ahead, Jack.
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I think I I think this it's a First off, I think it's a
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wonderful high praise from Reggie coming from a guy like
2:48
Reggie because Reggie Miller's an all time guy.
2:49
He's a legend Hall of Famer. But I guess just to add off that
2:54
my question for Jack would be, do you see the similarities?
2:58
Because I could understand, I actually think I can understand
3:02
the J dub Pippen conversation more than I see the Shay Mji
3:07
kind of see more of Shay Kobe, which was Kobe was MJ after MJ.
3:11
So I get what he's saying, but how do you see it?
3:15
Well, First off, I think it's, it's pretty cool to see from
3:18
Reggie Miller, especially after obviously we just beat his
3:20
Indiana Pacers. So I think it's it's a cool,
3:23
cool praise. But I, I think it's pretty,
3:26
pretty accurate. I I love to see Jay have got the
3:28
spotlight for his two way play because some people, I mean,
3:31
some people just call him overrated or I mean, all the
3:34
casuals just don't understand his game.
3:36
But his impact on both ends is insane.
3:40
And then obviously Shay is just dominant like MJ and I think
3:44
they're different in some respects, but in regards to like
3:47
mid range and efficiency and being pretty talented on
3:51
defense, I think they're pretty similar.
3:53
So I I like the comparison and I hope we can repeat and, you
3:59
know, fulfill fulfill the prophecy.
4:01
But if we if we are the Bulls, who do you reckon the the Dennis
4:05
Rodman is on the team? It's Lou Dort, right?
4:10
It's got to be Lou Dort, that just defensive playmaker.
4:13
He's obviously not as much as the crazy rebounder that Rodman
4:16
was. But the thing about this OKC
4:18
team is I feel like they got a bunch of Dennis Rodmans on the
4:21
team. Not necessarily the rebounds,
4:22
but I'm talking about that defensive ferociousness.
4:26
Cason Wallace as as a guard on defense, obviously Lou Doort's
4:29
defense, Alex Caruso's defense. But we are going to get into
4:32
defense in just a little bit here.
4:35
Moving on to our second topic, It's not that we didn't expect
4:39
this, but blazing start to to start the NBA season for the
4:43
Thunder. We just started 8.
4:44
No, they lost it on the second night of a back-to-back last
4:47
night, said Portland extremely injured.
4:50
But they just look fantastic. The offense is clicking ever
4:54
since Isaiah Joe came back, they're really starting to be
4:56
able to shoot the ball better and they're doing this all
4:59
without the Scottie Pippen. They're Jalen Williams and
5:03
they're also doing it without a bunch of other players as well.
5:05
But mainly J Dub he's he's he's a top ten, top 15 player in the
5:10
NBA already, and we're assuming his ascension is even going to
5:13
climb even higher this year. How impressed are you guys?
5:18
Because we knew they were going to be good.
5:19
But to start this fest without him?
5:22
Just tell me your thoughts on that.
5:24
Yeah. I think just the way we've been
5:28
able to sustain kind of the growth and Shay mentioned it
5:31
best, it's more about kind of the journey than it is just
5:34
about reaching that destination. And I think that's the overall
5:38
theme for the team when it comes to games and wins and just how
5:41
they look at the season between Mark and Presti, like kind of
5:45
leading that charge. So the fact that, you know, we
5:48
have great player development, you know, the returning
5:51
chemistry, the buy in from these guys, it just adds to that elite
5:55
level consistency we had last season.
5:57
And then that's carrying on into the season where we were like,
6:00
oh, how are we winning games in these scenarios?
6:02
And then we're doing that same thing now.
6:05
And yeah, we'll drop a couple here and there where it's like,
6:08
oh, we lost the game. But even last night's game or,
6:11
you know, the game against Portland where we lost, it's
6:14
like, well, we dropped one where we shouldn't have.
6:17
Like most of the games, even last season, we were like, you
6:19
know, like only like 4 of these where we actually really lost
6:23
where we didn't have a center or something like that.
6:26
And in this case, we have so many injuries that where we got
6:28
a loss but healthy, it feels like we're just an unstoppable,
6:32
unmovable force right now. Yeah, for sure.
6:36
And I think I'm kind of thinking of it in the light of obviously
6:41
if we're healthy, then we're going to be unstoppable.
6:43
But we've been so injured. So that's it's is starting to
6:46
become a bit of a concern for me with how much injuries we're
6:49
facing. But I guess it's better to have
6:51
it at the side of the season than the end.
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But we won't really know how the injuries go until until that
6:56
happens. So hopefully we can be healthy
6:58
for playoffs and for the rest of the year.
7:00
But at the moment I'm starting to get a bit concerned with all
7:03
the injuries. But obviously if we're healthy,
7:05
then I mean he's stopping us with Adam one without half our
7:09
team, so. Yeah, For me, I I think it's the
7:13
continuance of the last regular, last year's regular season of
7:17
just being constantly banged up. And hopefully we could get more
7:22
healthy throughout the year, even though that's going to be a
7:23
challenge too, because even our healthy players now, you know,
7:25
people get banged up. But if we are able to get this
7:28
full team back together, this is the regular season team that
7:33
plays their ass off. And then obviously they have
7:35
post season success as well. But like there's a lot of teams
7:38
in the NBA that play really hard during the regular season.
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This team that just won the NBA championship plays the hardest,
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so it's going to be a really successful regular season as
7:46
long as we get our guys back. We definitely need them back
7:48
because we saw a little bit of fatigue on our players last
7:50
night, especially #2 Shay, He was real tired in the in in the
7:56
late 3rd end of the end of the fourth quarters.
7:59
But once they all get back, you know there's going to be some
8:02
tough games in the regular season.
8:04
You know, there's good teams, Denver, Houston, whatever, but
8:07
those easy games, like no offensive fans out there.
8:12
But the Utah Jazz, you know, the bottom, bottom of the barrel
8:15
teams, Washington Wizards, those are going to be super easy for
8:18
us this year. While in the past OKC has
8:21
dropped games to like the Brooklyn Nets at home, where
8:23
it's like, come on, really like this team's different and they
8:27
don't do that. And if you're thinking, oh,
8:29
well, they just lost to Portland last night.
8:31
One, they didn't have anybody on their roster and two, Portland
8:35
has beaten OKC, Denver and Golden State already to start.
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And the Lakers. And the Lakers, actually, they
8:41
lost to the Lakers on Monday. They competed that whole game as
8:44
well. So it's like, actually, no, they
8:46
did beat the Lakers. I'm sorry.
8:47
They did end up beating the Lakers.
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Though. They've beaten a a bunch of good
8:53
teams since the the scandal with Chauncey.
8:56
He's off the court and Portland's pretty much on fire.
8:58
So that's a that's a that's a honest loss.
9:02
Like that's a fine loss. Last night.
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They still competed their asses off and they're going to
9:05
continue to do that. And I'm really excited to see
9:09
where this season can end up. Now we transition to the
9:12
defense. The defense was amazing last
9:15
year. It started in the regular
9:16
season, continued to all all the way throughout the playoffs, and
9:19
the team that just won the championships already leading
9:22
the league in in defensive rating.
9:25
The guys, none of their mindsets have changed.
9:27
It's still the same goal every single night, every single play
9:30
on defense. Savvier.
9:31
Tell me how they do it. The main thing right now is we
9:38
have a three headed monster and then we have you mentioned who
9:42
do we think Dennis Rodman is? And I think that force is going
9:45
to be Chet Holmgren with his blocking ability and just as you
9:49
know, general thing. And then those three kind of
9:51
make up the other X factors of like working really hard.
9:54
But the other guy that's been a top rated defensive ace right
9:58
now is AJ Mitchell. Just in terms of advanced stats.
10:01
I don't know if you guys caught that like he is on fire on
10:05
defense and I think I saw like sparks of it where he could have
10:09
been a two way player in a two way guard.
10:11
But the way we, you know, get guys like Wallace and AJ and,
10:15
you know, continue to build around two way guys is honestly
10:19
like getting really scary for the league because honestly, we
10:23
could have Knights not shooting even 20% and still win games.
10:27
And yeah, the ratings going to only get better.
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And I think we could beat our own rating from last season.
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So that's my prediction at least.
10:39
To answer your question on how we do it, I think Shay is is the
10:44
answer because he sets the Tyne on defence.
10:46
You see a lot of stars, we were talking about this the other
10:48
night, but a lot of stars take defensive possessions off and
10:52
they can't be bothered and they'll save their energy for
10:54
offence. But he he gives it his all on
10:57
defence. And I remember Isaiah
10:59
Hartenstein finding it pretty shocking when he first came over
11:02
and obviously he played with Jaylen Branson.
11:03
So I think Jaylen Branson doesn't mind taking a couple
11:06
plays off on defence. So I think he just sets the Tyne
11:09
and if the MVP, one of the best scoring players ever, can do it,
11:14
then so can you as like a a two way or a second round pick.
11:19
So I think everyone. Just frees up that energy.
11:21
Fun stop for Shay. He's leading guards in blocks
11:24
right now, so he's definitely putting in the work and he's
11:27
usually top of the list, top five every season in stocks,
11:32
which is blocks plus seals and test right there with them.
11:35
So there's they're going to be in like the top 20 again in
11:38
those and maybe even into that top ten between both those guys.
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And that's like a lot of defensive players, and for them
11:45
to still be that high on the list is pretty ridiculous.
11:50
Yeah. And I think you guys both hit it
11:52
right on the nose. I mean, just the effort it it
11:54
comes from the leadership in the locker room and it comes from
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the best player on the team and SAP here extremely right.
12:00
Like their monster defensive rating.
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It it's it's already a monster defensive rating.
12:07
And they're missing Jalen Williams, who outsiders might
12:10
think, Oh yeah, like he's their second best scorer.
12:13
He's like our best defender as well.
12:15
Like or you can't even rank these guys.
12:17
He's one of our best defenders. He's an all NBA defensive type
12:20
of player as well on the offensive side.
12:23
So it's only going to get better.
12:25
The more healthy they get, the more fresh they get, I think.
12:30
I think this team's going to be unbelievable this year.
12:32
And we'll talk about record predictions coming up in this
12:37
episode next, talking about injuries.
12:42
We had a guy came back, his name's Isaiah Joe, and he's
12:45
really turning up to start the year.
12:49
Ever since he's come back the last few games, OK, C3 point
12:52
rating has gone up, Their offensive rating has got up.
12:56
I think Joe's like has like the best offensive rating in the
12:59
whole NBA right now. Even almost made a game-winning
13:04
three or a game tying 3 last night late in the in the fourth
13:08
quarter, got fouled. It was a 2 point or whatever,
13:10
but this guy has been so essential to the to the success
13:13
of this team so early in the season.
13:15
He looks extremely more comfortable and confident than
13:18
what he did last year, especially in the play offs.
13:21
He looks like he put on some size and he also looks like he
13:24
has a quicker release to his three-point jump shot.
13:28
Where do you guys see him fitting, not only during this
13:31
regular season, because we know he's a great shooter during the
13:33
regular season, but does he fit in the playoff roster this year?
13:38
I mean, I'll handle this first, you know, to be in a category
13:42
with other perennial stars like or pretty much stars like Luka
13:46
Doncic, Anthony Edwards, Jokic, Giannis, when it comes to this
13:50
type of stats. And, you know, calculating how
13:52
many points a player creates within 100 possessions and then
13:56
playing alongside one of the most efficient guards and then
13:59
being able to have this type of offensive rating with just over
14:03
like 24 minutes per game. I think his rating is at like
14:06
1:30, which is ridiculous. I mean, he's a season guard
14:12
averaging like 18 points, shooting one of the best clips
14:16
right now. And one thing I have to say, I
14:19
try to be an early mover on everything.
14:21
We've been saying this for years, but this guy has to be in
14:24
the three-point shooting contest.
14:25
Like I don't know how they snub him this year again, like it's
14:31
just getting ridiculous. I don't know how we have to get
14:33
in front of the league to get him on there.
14:35
But like, I think fans outside of like Shay getting MVPI think
14:40
that's probably the agenda that I'm going to push the most
14:42
'cause I think he deserves that. Like Blue Door got ours for
14:45
being a defensive ace. He should get his for being a
14:48
three-point specialist. Yeah, I mean, hopefully with
14:50
this now that we want to cheer and we have all the spotlight on
14:53
us, I think he should make it this year just being the best
14:56
shooter and the best team. There's normally one that makes
14:59
a three-point contest. But and I I don't want to say I
15:03
think the main improvement for Joe this year for me is
15:06
consistency because last year he showed flashes of this.
15:09
He had that like 30 point game in New York and he some some
15:13
nights he would be really good, but then some nights you just
15:15
couldn't rely on him at all and he'd almost sell the game
15:19
because you're expecting something from him.
15:21
But I think this year he's been consistent and you get what you
15:24
expect. And I think it's just been key
15:26
to just with the trust to to put him in.
15:29
So if he continues like this and plays the whole season as he is
15:33
without going like too inconsistent, I think he might
15:36
slot into a pretty good pretty decent minutes come post season.
15:40
Yeah, I think he's going to have to at this point and I think
15:43
he's been playing a decent defense to start.
15:45
Obviously defense is different in the play offs, but we were
15:49
used to Isaiah Joe maybe, maybe having like eight points, couple
15:53
threes, 9 points and a game like with no points.
15:57
He came back against Washington, he put up 20 points and six
16:00
rebounds. He had 13 and five against New
16:03
Orleans. He had 22 and three against the
16:06
Clippers and obviously last night, 14 points.
16:08
These are really good numbers off the bench, especially for
16:11
the contract that he's on and especially for the shooting that
16:14
he brings. We're going to leave it up to
16:16
Mark to figure out where he's going to slot in, but especially
16:19
for the rest of this regular season, he deserves a lot of
16:22
time on the floor moving on. I I got to I got to add some
16:26
stats to this before we transition.
16:29
He has a player rating of 105.1 before this Blazers game, which
16:33
is the NB as best. He also had a great or pretty
16:37
good defensive rating of 116. In the three games since Joe
16:42
returned to the lineup, the Thunder are outscoring opponents
16:45
by an average of 23 points. And he's also boasting a really
16:49
high plus minus of like 36. And I don't know how those stats
16:53
change from last night's game, but that's still really good.
16:55
Just to kind of put in perspective, like how well he's
16:59
playing for us. Absolutely.
17:01
Now we're moving on. Next we have.
17:05
What do we have next year? Update on an unfortunate story
17:11
out of Oklahoma City. Shay Gildus Alexander's house
17:16
was broken into luckily when him, his wife or fiance and son
17:23
were at the game and nobody was in the house.
17:28
What are what are we doing? What are we doing?
17:29
This is it must have for me. I don't want their allegations.
17:33
It must have been a pre plan thing.
17:34
Something bigger than a few morons just, oh, let's rob this
17:38
house. But like, come on.
17:41
This is this is ridiculous. We saw it happen to Jaylen Brown
17:45
last year. Kind of threw him for a ride
17:47
throughout the year. He had to deal with, you know,
17:49
relocating his mom and figuring out what they were going to do.
17:52
Shay looks like he hasn't missed a beat since.
17:55
And he touched on it and say, you know, everyone's good.
17:57
So that's all that matters, You know, get focused on basketball.
18:00
But can we just do better? Like what do you, what do you,
18:04
what do you need? What do you need?
18:05
Unless it's like some type of scare tactic but I don't know
18:08
your guys thoughts on on this stupid ass update that we're
18:12
talking about right now. I'll let Jack go first.
18:17
I mean, it's kind of sad to see. It's kind of like, yeah, I, I'm
18:24
just glad no one, no one got hurt.
18:25
And it's not a bigger thing than it needs to be.
18:29
But what I'll say is we've seen this across sports right now
18:36
where robbers are robbing guys during games.
18:40
So they planned like the robbery happened at 7:45 on an away game
18:46
against the Wizards on the 30th. So they knew exactly.
18:50
Obviously he's not going to be around whatever.
18:52
So I'm just surprised that, you know, these sports athletes
18:55
haven't started beefing up their security systems or like getting
18:59
teams around them because they have the money to do so.
19:01
Like I'm seeing it across the NBANFL and not spreading it
19:05
everywhere else. Like not just just Shay is
19:08
dealing with this. Like it feels like it's
19:10
happening like once a month and it seems like it could be the
19:13
same set of couple robbers that are planning this out and doing
19:17
these heist or whatever. And since Shay's such a
19:21
upstanding guy, like I'm sure he doesn't think he has many people
19:24
he's against. So he's probably way relaxed in
19:27
terms of his security. So that's the type of people
19:29
they kind of go out there. So definitely unfortunate.
19:34
But yeah, I think he handled it super maturely.
19:38
And yeah. Yeah, that's really, yeah,
19:43
That's really all we can say on that.
19:45
It's just super unfortunate. And you know, I guess maybe it
19:49
wasn't, it wasn't even a thought like you said, like that that
19:52
could even happen. That would be a possibility.
19:56
And then also like where he is, it's a pretty safe place, you
19:59
know, where Shay lives. So probably didn't come off the
20:02
top end. And it honestly, it shouldn't
20:03
have to be that way. He shouldn't have to be thinking
20:05
that way, but that's the world we're in right now.
20:08
So glad everything's OK on his end and he just continues to
20:12
provide entertainment for us on the nightly.
20:15
So we appreciate that. Moving on to 1 of another sore
20:20
subject that but we have to talk about it.
20:23
Jam Williams has been. Awful from the three-point line
20:27
this year he's doing a career low 26 percent, 26.8% from 3.
20:33
So I'll give him 27%. I'll give him the benefit of the
20:35
doubt, but if that doesn't do much for him and this team, you
20:39
know they're missing it because he's still wide open when he's
20:42
shooting. And compared to the last few
20:44
years where they it was pretty much knocked down, he hasn't
20:48
even looked remotely like close to making these shots.
20:52
They kind of look bad. We know he's got the shoulder
20:54
banged up, but it's opposite shoulder of shooting.
20:56
Now it's got me touching both of my shoulders live on camera.
20:59
But yeah, 2026% is not going to cut it.
21:03
And to refer from last season, he was shooting 40% from three
21:11
last year and well, just under 39.9% from 40% from three last
21:17
year, 37 the year before. And even as a rookie it was 40.
21:21
But that was limited shots. But so we know he's a good
21:26
shooter and we're hoping that it's just a little bit of rust,
21:30
but we're also kind of hoping that he could get through it
21:31
pretty quick because we need those shots to be made.
21:34
And because they're there, they're there every time on that
21:36
pick and roll. Do you guys think this is just a
21:39
slump to start the year or is it something bigger that we're not
21:43
missing or that we are missing? I'll go first.
21:47
I think this is just a slump when a guy shows you who they
21:51
are, even though his form kind of is a little bit weird at
21:55
times for me, But he's been proven to make his shots and
21:59
generally his field goal percentage is higher too.
22:02
That's something that's low. It's at 35% versus he's in the
22:06
upper 40s. So even close to the basket,
22:10
he's not getting his attempts off.
22:11
So I don't know if it's fatigue, how the summer workouts went for
22:16
him because I don't think I saw much on his end in terms of
22:20
workouts, you know, just calling it like it is.
22:24
And then on top of that, like it's probably because of the
22:28
summer and he's starting off slow and it's just a slump and
22:32
he'll pick it up. As, you know, he gets a little
22:34
bit more cardio. Also, his time in terms of, you
22:38
know, on in terms of the lineups and stuff is usually a lot more
22:43
sporadic because of his role is just kind of a plug and play
22:46
guy. So it's hard to get consistency.
22:48
Typically when he's been in for limited amounts in each quarter.
22:52
He's always been really consistent on his shot.
22:54
So for me, it's just a surprise to see him not knock it down.
22:57
Like every time he's in, it feels like he's shooting a
23:00
pretty positive percentage. So I'm not going to look too
23:04
much into it. It is kind of weird that he's
23:06
taking so many threes or like significant bump up.
23:11
I don't know if that's something he was directed to do to create
23:15
that spacing, but I'd like to see him first starting to go
23:18
into the inside and get consistent on that and then move
23:21
to the outside. So yeah, I'm I'm.
23:23
Going to jump in here real quick, Jack, right before you go
23:26
just because SAP here kind of just sparked my mind.
23:28
I the bump up of the amount of threes and the quantity of
23:32
threes that he's taking is pretty substantial.
23:37
I could raise the question. Yeah, he's being used a lot to
23:41
start this year, especially with Chet kind of resting a few games
23:45
and they say he got banged up. And obviously J Dub is huge down
23:49
low for us as well. So he's been in the game a lot
23:51
more than probably he's ever been outside of like the Nicola
23:57
Yokich minutes that he got in the playoffs.
24:00
But the shots are just open. So like we're pretty comfortable
24:03
with him shooting that amount of threes because he was shooting
24:05
40% last year. We used to talk about it last
24:08
year. I remember specifically us just
24:10
like after a post game. It's like, yeah, every time he
24:13
shoots that ball from top key, we think it's going in.
24:15
And I think once he can get back to that, hopefully we won't have
24:20
to talk about this again. Jack, your thoughts?
24:23
I think from what I'm like watching with my eyes and from
24:27
my memory that oh, open threes, really, it's not like he's
24:30
taking silly shots or anything. He's just missing them straight
24:33
up, which is like at the end of the day, any if you have an NBA
24:37
player and he has a wide open three, you can't be too mad if
24:40
he shoots it like it is what it is.
24:42
But I think the whole team got off to such a rough start from
24:46
three and I think he's one of the last to get back into it.
24:50
But I'm hoping with how everyone else is shooting, he'll follow
24:55
along and get get into his groove.
24:57
But I think it's just a slump to start the season and the stats
25:01
are there for the last couple years.
25:02
Like he he's a decent shooter. So I think he he'll work through
25:06
it. He's also missing his buddy J
25:08
Dub, so once J Dub is back I know those percentages are going
25:12
high 50s. Yeah, I, I mean, I, I think, I
25:16
think you're right there too. Our next topic of this wonderful
25:20
episode 24, we're going to go at somebody a little bit that we
25:25
went out in the playoffs, but probably with a different
25:28
mindset this year. What's great coach Mark and what
25:31
he's done through the 1st 9 games.
25:33
I think he's been, I think he's been wonderful.
25:36
I think he's been very good. I think he's been super
25:38
aggressive with the challenges and he listens to his players
25:40
when they tell him that they it wasn't a foul.
25:43
He's challenging and they're getting it right mostly every
25:45
time so far this year. I think he's playing his cards
25:48
right with the the players that he's, you know, having to put in
25:52
the games and what lineups and and figuring all that out, what
25:55
the injuries. And I also see him getting more
25:58
animated this year than I ever have, which is something I like
26:01
to see out of my coach. Not all the time, but you know,
26:04
every once in a while, which we weren't really used to seeing
26:07
last year. Your guys's thoughts.
26:10
I think he's been great for me. I'm actually going to give this
26:12
a grade. I don't think I could give
26:15
anything outside an A minus. I think he's been fantastic to
26:17
start the year. Yeah, I was I was going to touch
26:20
on the the animation, but he's been huming sometimes with these
26:25
cools like I've never seen him that a motive before.
26:27
So it's it's cool to see like the passion seeping through.
26:31
But I think he's done a great job and especially with playing
26:36
AJ Mitchell and not cutting his minutes, even though some guys
26:40
are getting back or if like he's he's balancing the whole roster
26:45
really well because we have this chat the other night about how
26:47
we have so much talent and we don't know what to do with it.
26:50
But I think he's managing to play everyone pretty well.
26:52
But it will only get harder when J Dub comes back and there's all
26:56
these minutes. But I think for now he's he's
26:59
done a great job in that. And the other night with
27:02
Portland, he might have put out one of my favorite signing line
27:06
UPS of all time in OK C Thunder history of Shay, AJ, Wiggins,
27:10
Cason and Haunstein. So I'm pretty happy with how
27:13
he's done. Yeah, I would say he'll probably
27:18
get like a A minus for me. I still think there's some
27:22
things he could clean up, but overall, like he's got some,
27:26
He's gotten more balanced in terms of the roster usage.
27:28
He's trusting all his guys, which is really good to see.
27:32
The defensive system has always been great and I've never really
27:35
seen cracks in it. Like they know exactly what
27:37
scheme they're looking to play. I think the things that he could
27:41
improve on is maybe some of the late game substitutions, just
27:46
like in the final two minutes when it's really crunch time.
27:50
I want him to be decisive rather than trying to take chances.
27:55
I guess like I don't mind, obviously it's the regular
27:58
season, take some chances here or there, but I don't know, like
28:02
if you have the opportunity to win a game like and we're in the
28:05
last minute, there's no reason to just, I don't know, put a
28:09
player that you wouldn't normally do.
28:11
I think he had it was out there on some minutes that I was like,
28:17
is this really the time mark? Like, I get it, but like,
28:20
please, please, we're trying to win some games here.
28:24
That's my only little critique of him.
28:26
I think the other one that I was going to mention earlier about
28:28
Shay and the injuries and everything, this kind of ties
28:31
along with Mark. I think he's got a, the
28:35
organization's got to get locked in on Shay's minutes a little
28:38
bit. I'm kind of getting worried.
28:40
He's pulling such a heavy toll right now early and I don't
28:44
really prefer that. Like here he's this is the
28:47
second season he's having to do that with a star player injured
28:50
and eventually it catches up to you like all the big players
28:54
this happened with. And especially he's not that
28:57
young. Like we've seen a guy like Steph
28:59
Curry that roster kind of get depleted with injuries over
29:04
time. So, you know, I compare them to
29:07
him because similar players, similar type of builds and
29:10
everything in terms of his versatility and injuries and all
29:13
that. So I need Mark to lock in on
29:17
Shay's minutes. I don't mind if he plays a
29:18
little bit less moving forward, especially if this is how the
29:22
injuries are going to go for the season, because all we need to
29:24
be is a top three, top four season.
29:27
I don't really care where we are.
29:29
As long as we're top four, we should be fine.
29:32
Yeah, I absolutely agree at that last part there, like in a game
29:37
against Portland last night. I know we're depleted, but there
29:41
still is a case where you can still put a line up out there
29:44
that doesn't include Shay. He put him in with like 8 and
29:47
change, 8 minutes, 8 1/2 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
29:51
I was kind of hoping, you know, that he could have left them off
29:55
until about 5 and a half, six, no matter what the score was,
29:58
just because it's a regular season game.
30:01
The guy's playing a back-to-back nights.
30:02
He's playing like 37 minutes a night at this point so.
30:05
Yeah, the usage is going a little too ridiculous.
30:08
Like I'm not used to him. Like I want him to play it and
30:12
show us that he has the stamina. But when you have like back to
30:15
backs like this, like there's no reason to show off that he has
30:19
that ability. Especially seen now that he has
30:22
already proven that he's won a championship.
30:24
Like we don't need to prove anything in the regular season
30:28
by putting him out there. I feel like we're starting to
30:32
get into a weird territory here. People hate the word load
30:36
management. I know we made a video about it,
30:38
but hey man, you got to keep the stars healthy and not playing
30:44
them. But that does mean managing
30:46
their minutes throughout the game, so.
30:48
And it also didn't help starting the season off with two
30:52
back-to-back double overtime games.
30:54
So the usage have been up, but it'll clear out once we get some
30:57
of these guys back, especially J Dub.
31:00
Let's finish this episode off with our last segment.
31:03
Everyone's favorite updated record predictions at 8 and one
31:07
through 9 games. OK, C has been on fire to start
31:11
the season. That being said, they may have
31:14
picked up another injury last night, we're not too sure.
31:17
I'm not going to confirm it, but Aaron Wiggins was missing for
31:20
the last 5 minutes of that game and there's a time out called
31:23
with like 439 left and he was on fire and then he wasn't seen on
31:27
the bench. We haven't heard anything out of
31:28
OK, C and I looked, we all looked, but there's nothing.
31:33
So hopefully it's not as bad, you know, hopefully it's not
31:36
bad. But with that being said, I'm
31:39
going to let Satvier start. We're eight and one now.
31:42
Satvier, we're looking fantastic.
31:44
We're going to get healthier. It all just matters when that
31:47
comes. We're winning 68 games.
31:53
I was at 70. I'm dropping it down to 68.
31:57
I think with that loss that we just had, and I don't know, I'm
32:02
feeling more comfortable dropping it down with the
32:06
injuries and everything. And I think eventually we need
32:09
to slow it down. Like we need to give Shay a game
32:12
or two off here and there. So there's opportunities for
32:16
losses, but 68 games, one is still above the betting markets
32:21
totals that they had. I think they had the line set at
32:24
like 62 1/2 right now on bet GM MGM.
32:28
So I'm still going to take take that.
32:32
If you guys are even below that at like 65 and 17 or something
32:36
like that, like I can understand it.
32:39
I think the lowest I could go for this this team specifically
32:42
is like I don't see them winning any less than 60 games.
32:45
Like, there's no way. Yeah, at.
32:49
At the start of the season I was predicting around 60 just
32:53
because I thought we'd cruise through maybe a couple injuries
32:56
would hold us back. But these first nine games
32:58
showing that that won't happen. So I think I'm I'm up from maybe
33:03
about 58 to about 66 wins. I reckon 66 wins because I think
33:11
yeah, they'll they'll be if fed up's out for a little bit more
33:15
and if shades out for a game then they'll be a couple losses
33:17
but obviously 66 would be very good.
33:20
But I somewhere around what we did last year.
33:24
Yeah, I think I started the season off at 68 again, maybe a
33:29
bit under, but I believe I said 68, eight and want to start the
33:33
air with all these injuries. It's telling me you got to just
33:35
keep taking the over on the wins, whatever it is.
33:39
I'm going to sit at like 64 wins.
33:43
I believe that's still a fantastic record, 64 wins, but
33:48
the toll of this season's already been so much without our
33:51
guys. And then we're going to have to
33:52
get guys back in and they're going to be getting into game
33:55
shape, getting into, you know, back into their roles.
33:59
I think 64 is a good number. It's it's a tough schedule to
34:02
start the year. We're like one of the only teams
34:04
to only have 9 games played already.
34:06
We're playing back to backs. We have another back-to-back
34:08
next week against the Warriors and the Lakers that that's nice.
34:12
Thanks to to, you know, really start the season off strong here
34:15
with these back to backs. But yeah, I I think 64 wins is
34:19
probably right where the well, where they'll sit around and I'm
34:24
looking forward to watching the rest of the season.
34:27
With that being said, ladies and gentlemen, thank you guys so
34:31
much for tuning into the Bring Thunder podcast episode 24
34:35
Again, we appreciate everybody who watches tunes in interacts
34:38
comments like subscribe. If you are enjoying the content
34:41
still, make sure you tell us down in the comments below.
34:44
Like the video? Subscribe to the channel, go
34:48
check out our memberships. Like I said, we already have
34:50
people filling those out. We're going to have many videos
34:53
coming out soon for our members and that's really it for me.
34:57
Anything else from you guys? No, man, I'm super excited for
35:02
what's to come into the new year and these next couple months
35:07
here too. We're starting to ramp it up and
35:11
I'm excited everyone's joining us for this journey.
35:15
Yeah, it's great. All right, we will see you guys.
35:19
Well, you'll see this video tomorrow morning.
35:21
We'll see you guys for the game preview, the Kings game preview
35:24
tomorrow evening and then we will see you guys tomorrow night
35:28
to recap, hopefully our first NBA Cup game win tomorrow in
35:33
Sacramento. See you guys tomorrow.
35:36
Appreciate everybody and Thunder up baby, let's go.