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Bring The Thunder EP.23 · Bring The Thunder Podcast

0:01
What's going on, everyone? Welcome back to our first Bring
0:06
the Thunder podcast episode of the 2526 NBA season.
0:12
We got some pretty cool topics to run down today.
0:14
I'm here with Sapir and myself, obviously.
0:17
And just like you guys know, we're going to get straight into
0:20
it. First topic of the day, some
0:27
pretty, I guess, interesting news.
0:30
A report came out that Victor Wenbanama has been motivated by
0:35
Chet Holmgren winning the championship last year.
0:37
Obviously they were, I don't know if you want to call them
0:41
rivals, but they they're highly competitive against each other.
0:43
They're compared to each other a lot, especially before they were
0:46
drafted in like the U20 leagues and stuff like that.
0:50
So I guess the question is, is Chet Holmgren like his dad?
0:54
Is he looking up to him or what? I mean, it feels like Chet's
0:59
kind of beating him on every punch it seems like, you know,
1:04
from them being young until now, like he's kind of had the wins
1:08
over him when Miyama technically is looking up the chat for that
1:13
fuel that he's looking for as the big man that he's trying to
1:16
aspire to be, Which is wild to say because how young Chet is.
1:21
And I think it's a special duel. We're kind of seeing the rivalry
1:26
come together more, I guess, on its own, more organically now
1:30
that Wen Miyama's talking about it himself.
1:33
Because before it was more of like a ESPN thing.
1:35
And, you know, they kept pushing it and both guys to always push
1:38
it off in interviews. But this is the first time in
1:41
their rival rivalry where one of them has taken a shot at the
1:45
other. And now I think Chet's
1:47
definitely going to have it on top of his mind as well.
1:49
Like, OK, like this guy's talking and we know how Chet is
1:52
in terms of being Uber competitive, so I think that's
1:55
going to feel him this season as well.
1:56
Like especially for the DPOY race.
1:58
We'll definitely get to the Thunder defense as a topic later
2:02
on. But I think it's going to be a
2:04
historic, historic race between both of them.
2:06
And I think this is the next great big man rivalry.
2:13
We're seeing one guy that's a little bit more fundamental, a
2:17
little bit old school of a big in Chet and he has that new
2:20
school in him as well. But he's not out there dribbling
2:23
midcourt, going behind the back or anything like that.
2:25
Like he'll make some of the attempts here and there.
2:27
We'll see some flashes, but that's not what his bread and
2:31
butter game is. He's figured out he's a way
2:33
better slashing guy against other fours and he can kind of
2:37
take advantage of little men. And you know, he's a little bit
2:40
more fundamental. He's getting into that, into the
2:42
basics, whereas Victor seems like he's going in the whole
2:45
opposite direction. He's pulling up from 40 feet.
2:48
He's pulling up and doing every kind of Jamaal Crawford skill
2:52
move that you could think of. He's pretty much just button
2:55
mashing all the way down the court until he gets there in
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this taking shots like he's, you know, just on a playground.
3:02
And I think that is building the narrative and their play styles.
3:07
And now they're kind of getting to talking.
3:09
And I think the first meet up for them is going to be a lot
3:11
more personal next time around. Even if Chet's not going to say
3:15
it in the media, we know it's a lot more than before, so I'm
3:20
excited about. That and, and it's it's weird
3:22
you brought it up. It was always kind of pushed by
3:25
ESPN and maybe they did have a bit of a rivalry.
3:28
I mean, it's been mentioned before, but for, you know, the
3:32
report to come out, I don't want to confirm it, but I mean it,
3:35
it's a pretty good source on ESPN.
3:37
So for the report to come out that Wenbaniyama is talking
3:41
about this out loud and he's he's he's saying, yeah, like
3:44
that's definitely motivating me. I don't want him to be better
3:46
than me and anything and you know, stuff like that.
3:49
That's a it is. It's the making of the next big,
3:54
big man rivalry in the NBA and could just spark that OK C spurs
3:59
rivalry again, because obviously they had a plenty of playoff
4:03
battles with, you know, the Westbrook and Durant LED OK C
4:07
versus Tim and them. So the West is looking like OK C
4:13
at the top right now and a bunch of solid teams below them,
4:17
including Denver and like Golden State.
4:20
But the better the Spurs get and they're getting good fast, we
4:24
could be seeing the Spurs in OK C at the top of the West very
4:28
soon. And I'm I'm here for it.
4:29
It kind of brings me back like 8-8 years.
4:32
So it's fun. OK, moving on.
4:35
Second topic of the day. This is a big one and it's very
4:40
controversial. I don't think it's controversial
4:42
at all. On my end, three straight games
4:46
SGA has been held under 4 free throws, 2 last night to the game
4:51
before and I believe four against Atlanta.
4:54
So in three games he shot 6 free throws.
4:57
He's attempted 6 free throws. He made them all as well.
4:59
But what is going on in the NBA right now?
5:04
We know the topic of conversation is, oh, he foul
5:07
Bates. He gets fouled too much.
5:09
Now he doesn't get fouled at all.
5:11
And he's still leading the league in drives.
5:13
He's still leading the league in points in the paint from a
5:18
guard. Shafir, what the Hell's going on
5:20
with this officiating? I mean, Shay's leading in
5:25
scoring and he's having this dip in free throws, especially being
5:29
the most consistent driver in the league over the past five to
5:32
six seasons. He shoots a high percentage from
5:36
the free throw line, which I think makes it worse when it
5:38
comes to like NBA, Twitter or the media, because he's getting
5:42
so many points generated that we typically don't see from stars
5:45
because they're not 90% free throw shooters or even better.
5:49
And so I think that's, you know, one source.
5:52
If if he get kept up his first couple games output, he could
5:55
have been, you know, top ten and I guess free throws, but now
5:59
he's dipping a lot. I just think the stats built the
6:04
narrative one way and now they are overcorrecting like it's
6:07
obvious. But I wonder if, you know, in a
6:12
couple games from now, like as Thunder fans are going to get
6:15
more upset and go to the media the same way, I wonder if
6:19
there's going to be another overcorrection for the
6:21
overcorrection for my estimation from what we recorded last time
6:26
was I just think we're going to have to start getting used to
6:29
Shay getting even less and less free throws.
6:32
The big thing for me is not the regular season as concerning as
6:38
it is. But if this we did see this
6:40
carry on in last year's playoffs.
6:42
And we mentioned this as a huge issue because we're we are
6:45
dependent on Shay's free throws because none of the other guys
6:48
are free throw reliant or they don't really generate free
6:51
throws. We have AJ now.
6:52
He's really good at getting to the line, but.
6:56
Dub started to at the end of the playoffs.
6:58
As well Dub started to but he still does not get the respect
7:01
for the level of driver he is. Like he should be as close to
7:05
Shay in terms of free throws that he should generate and he
7:09
gets way less than Shay does. So if Dub's not getting it, AJ's
7:13
getting a couple and then Shay's not getting any and we're super
7:17
reliant on just defense and our three-point shots not falling.
7:21
That's, you know, creating a huge issue for us 'cause we're
7:26
having to push that much harder on the starters and on all the
7:29
players in terms of injuries and things like that.
7:31
That's the only place after our topic or like that conversation
7:35
yesterday was you were, you mentioned like you were worried.
7:39
I got to thinking, I was like, OK, now I'm a little bit more
7:41
worried in the sense of injuries, in the sense of having
7:44
to push our players. We have depth, but this isn't
7:47
what we should be using our depth for.
7:49
We shouldn't be having to, you know, circle around this issue
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and it even be an issue like we should just, he should be
7:57
getting 9 to 10 free throws like every other superstar, and even
8:01
that's less than what he should be deserving.
8:03
But that would be fine, right? But the amount he's getting
8:06
right now is just ridiculous. Ridiculous.
8:09
And for him, like I said, like I said, for him to be leading the
8:11
league in drives every year and for them to just say screw it,
8:14
we're not calling the fouls anymore is one thing.
8:16
Like I can understand maybe in the regular season you're I'm
8:22
not going to call that jump shot foul.
8:23
I'm not going to call like the RIP through foul, fine.
8:26
But for him to be getting hacked underneath the basket and still
8:28
scoring, I mean, come on, officials, like there's got to
8:31
be a fine line here. You can't just go on NBA Twitter
8:34
and have NBA Twitter win. There's also another thing where
8:38
he's shooting 26 free throws in double overtime games.
8:42
Meanwhile, Luca and Reeves are putting up 20 free throws in
8:45
four quarters of a game. So I I'm not really
8:49
understanding where this is coming from.
8:51
I'm sure everybody's enjoying it.
8:53
Mind you, he's still putting up 30 nightly.
8:55
So that proves your your narrative isn't very true at
8:59
all. But they're they're they're
9:01
going to have to figure this out because if he's getting fouled
9:03
and the film shows that he's getting fouled, you have to call
9:06
the foul. It doesn't matter what you know
9:08
who it is, what type of play it is.
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And then also that is the reigning MVP and the reigning
9:14
Finals MVP and the reigning Finals champion, right?
9:16
So you got to get some type of respect.
9:18
You cannot just shut him out. And he doesn't complain much
9:22
too. That's the thing.
9:23
Like you could see it coming. Like last night he was like,
9:26
what is going on? And hopefully looking for like
9:30
moving forward they get back together because he should be
9:33
averaging 12 free throws a game. That's just what it is.
9:35
If he's driving 30 * a game, he's going to average 12 free
9:38
throws a game. That's just how it is.
9:40
And he's like he was seventh before last night on average 3
9:44
throws attempts per game. And now he's all the way down to
9:46
like, I forget what number was he's he's in the teens and
9:50
that's NBS leading driver. That doesn't add up too well.
9:55
Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm just baffled that this has become a thing,
10:00
like something from media can impact US sports.
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It it's just baffling to me because I think about other
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sports, this could never happen. Like, I don't know, it is, it's
10:15
just with the gambling and this and I don't know, it just seems
10:18
a little little weird, but. After there's way too much going
10:22
on right now, it's like you mentioned, I didn't want to
10:24
bring it up, but with the gambling, we're not going to
10:26
talk about that. I know we're not going to talk
10:28
about it, but man, it just. It's the gambling and you see
10:32
things like last night, it's really frustrating.
10:34
Like so our report, James Harden, Harden's over under was
10:38
20 1/2 last night. He had 20 points at halftime and
10:42
he didn't score a single point in the second-half.
10:44
And it's just terrible timing. Obviously that could have just
10:47
happened, but it's terrible timing.
10:50
You also see all these guys dropping 50 and 40 and 35
10:54
nightly. Lori Markin dropping 50, Tyrus,
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Maxi, obviously Shay and a few other guys that dropped.
11:02
I mean, Lucas had massive game for that's, Luca Reeves had 50
11:06
already. It's a crazy league right now
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and that's all I'm going to say on that.
11:12
But let's get it together. Put some respect on the MVP's
11:16
name, please, especially when it's deserved.
11:18
All right. Anything else savvy on that
11:22
topic? I honestly just hope that it
11:27
reverse back to the mean at some point.
11:31
I just, I don't know, I think he deserves a little bit better,
11:35
but we'll we'll see over the next couple weeks what happens.
11:39
I do think at some point he will start speaking to the official
11:44
officials because he has that authority, like super generally,
11:48
yeah. Like Jokic can speak to the
11:49
officials however he wants. There's certain super superstars
11:52
that can. So I think it'll get to a point
11:54
where eventually he'll realize, like he's got to assert himself
11:57
into the conversation. And we see Luca do it all the
12:00
time. We see all these guys do it, and
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that's been the great part about Shay is like he's getting there.
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There's such a big narrative around it and he's pretty much
12:07
ignored it. And every time he's asked about
12:09
it, he's like, it's not a big deal, Like I'm still going to
12:11
win games. That's been his pretty much his
12:14
whole thing about anything he's asked about.
12:16
So I'm curious to see how this kind of unfolds.
12:20
It feels like drama's entering a little bit of the Thunder and
12:23
it's exciting. All these new and different
12:26
topics, we're kind of getting them all over the place.
12:28
Right. It is exciting.
12:30
You're right, but 2A game is unacceptable.
12:32
NBA do better moving on. Funny enough in A2 free throw
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game performance when OKC took after OKC took down the Dallas
12:43
Mavericks a couple nights ago, Jason Kidd went on to to say,
12:47
you know, Shade's the best in the game and he joins us in
12:50
Nuggets coach from last year saying that and a few others.
12:54
I mean, not that we didn't already know that, but Sapir, I
12:57
mean, that just got to make, yeah, not us feel good.
12:59
But Shay's got to take that a good way.
13:01
I mean, he's probably not overreacting because he probably
13:03
thinks he is anyway, but. Yeah, I just feel like we're
13:07
seeing a shift and casual fans are always behind on any of
13:13
these shifts when it comes to regular ball knowledge is what I
13:17
call it. Because like everyone that's in
13:19
the media or watches the sport heavily enough, they know these
13:23
things. But when you're kind of outside
13:24
looking in or you only get so much information that you can
13:27
take in per day or whatever, you won't realize all these things.
13:31
But we've seen it really started with the players noticing him
13:36
first, and then I think we were the first ones to notice him.
13:39
But from there it kind of shifted to the players and now
13:44
it's shifting to like coaches, execs and everywhere else.
13:47
And then slowly, like when that messaging starts seeping out
13:50
from kind of all corners, it seems like everyone has caught
13:54
up to this except for the fans. You guys are the only ones left.
13:58
The Shay hitters that are out there are the only ones left on
14:00
their little island of he's not the greatest in the world, he's
14:03
a free throw merchant, whatever else.
14:05
Like that's pretty much, I think the shift is here now, once you
14:10
have pretty much the whole NBA community, that's the hardcore
14:13
community bought in on this, Eventually the casuals end up
14:17
shifting. What do you think about that
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narrative? Yeah, I I think you're spot on
14:22
on that. I think it's, it's funny to me
14:26
because, you know, we won, so it doesn't really matter at this
14:29
point. But the the fact that they
14:31
continue, I thought it would be much less right.
14:33
But they continue to go on into this year after all of his
14:37
accomplishments last year and he's continuing those.
14:40
Obviously the 55 point game, the most clutch points in the NBA by
14:46
over 30 already in five games of the year.
14:50
He's just continuing his greatness. 77 straight 20 plus
14:55
point games is the best ever. Now he passed Wilt Chamberlain,
15:01
he passed Jordan last year. I think the hate is just like
15:05
more rage bait at this point than anything.
15:08
And if there's people out there that are actually agree with
15:12
those hate statements, I feel bad for him because they're just
15:16
missing out. They're just missing out.
15:17
Like there was a bunch of LeBron haters when especially when
15:21
LeBron reached his peak and his peak was a very long time.
15:25
I wasn't a fan of LeBron, but I could respect the hell out of
15:28
what he did, right? Like, I wasn't shunning that
15:31
out. I was accepting and be like,
15:33
wow, this guy's great. But you know, being a fan, you
15:37
get to choose whatever you want to do, right?
15:39
So I do feel bad for those guys that aren't going to accept it.
15:42
But the NBA knows, the players know.
15:44
We've seen multiple interviews. Obviously the coaches know and
15:48
then starting five they knew too, so it doesn't really matter
15:53
to me and I'm sure it doesn't matter to him either.
15:55
Yeah, I think he's definitely well past it and I think we're
15:59
about one more season away from where it's going to be such a
16:03
minute issue. Like I think it'll continue
16:06
similar to like how rage bait things do in this modern era
16:11
that we're in, but over 1 I think like.
16:14
Sorry to sorry to interrupt, but one last thing about LeBron.
16:17
They call him no bag James on Twitter.
16:21
That's the guy who leads the NBA in all time scoring has no bag
16:26
is the all right. OK, cool.
16:30
Like, yeah, there's a lot of narratives on LeBron himself,
16:33
too, if we really think about it, since he's been the best
16:35
player. Like he's not clutch.
16:37
He's not this. He's not that it.
16:38
Comes with it. It comes with it like LeBron had
16:41
to join a super team to win. OK?
16:43
Didn't Kevin Garnett join the Celtics to win that championship
16:48
like Shay with the free throws? OK Kobe averaged way more free
16:53
throws in the O five O 6 season when they won in that season
16:57
when he won MVP, he shot over 800 free throws that year.
17:01
Last year Shay only shot like 639.
17:04
So it just comes with it and that's a good thing.
17:08
Honestly, if you're getting that much scrutiny and you're winning
17:10
championships that you're doing something right.
17:13
They're also trying to make up stuff for him because there's
17:15
not much hang on. He's just such a role model
17:20
player on and off the court that it's like he's got a great
17:23
signature shoe. He's got a good family life.
17:25
It's similar to LeBron. Like you just kind of come up
17:27
with narratives that you can spin into the media to get the
17:30
clicks because his name runs very well similar to LeBron.
17:34
So I think he's entering that stratosphere of being so well
17:39
known that whatever story that you can make up on him, like
17:42
you're going to throw it out there and hopefully it sticks.
17:44
And if it does, then you kind of just got that narrative or
17:48
talking point out. And that's kind of where we're
17:51
at with the sports nowadays. I feel like that's a whole
17:54
different category of more casual sports, casual sports
17:58
fans. And I don't think it's going to
18:01
stop. I think it's going to get worse
18:03
in some ways. But overall, like his respect
18:07
level will increase the longer he plays at this level.
18:10
So he's doing it year after year.
18:13
I don't think he's going to slow down.
18:15
I think he's he's about to have a career year this season with
18:19
the kind of mix of injuries and everything else.
18:20
So super excited about it. Yeah, me too.
18:24
And one, one last thing is like let it, let it continue.
18:28
If we continue to win games, to win championships, that's all
18:30
that matters. And yeah, All right, moving on,
18:35
next topic. This is a big one for OK C They
18:40
are 5 and O, but the obvious is the obvious.
18:43
When Mark Dagnald says the Thunder must improve their
18:46
three-point shot quality, obviously the percentage is low,
18:49
but he said shot quality savvier.
18:51
Kind of explain to me what he means by that and to the fans
18:54
out there. Yeah, I think we went from a
18:58
shift of like one season where we didn't have that good of a
19:04
season in terms of a lot of shot output.
19:06
And we lost in the playoffs against The Mavericks.
19:08
And that was kind of a big factor of like, OK, we're not
19:11
putting enough shots out. And then last season we put
19:14
enough shots out to get a good percentage because we had the
19:18
personnel to do so. With J Dub playing so well, Shay
19:22
playing so well, and just kind of the flow that we were in from
19:26
the start of the season. This season I feel like he's
19:29
kind of reverting back to like, OK, it's fine.
19:32
Guys like don't force so many shots up just to get them up to,
19:36
you know, have that shot quality, I guess not that
19:39
volume. But I think personally we should
19:43
continue to just keep shooting shots because at this point, I,
19:48
I think I mentioned it the other day yesterday, I don't think the
19:53
shot quality is going to get better, you know, overnight.
19:56
And what the personal is is what the personal is, right?
20:00
Like they're not just going to randomly become better
20:03
three-point shooters. They'll maybe increase like a
20:05
three percent, 5% gain per player.
20:08
And that is a big, big game. But I don't think that should be
20:13
an expectation of like, OK, now we got better quality shots or
20:17
like more open shots that the Thunder are going to be able to
20:20
hit those because we didn't do that in the playoffs when it
20:23
mattered most. So having seen that in.
20:26
I think teams have figured out what style we're trying to play.
20:29
They've adjusted. They've had a full playoffs to
20:32
watch us in our best and so they know what all all our best play
20:36
calls is. That's another thing I've
20:38
definitely noticed this season. Last season they did not know a
20:42
lot of the play calls that Mark was calling out with what he
20:46
does with Chet and Shay and everything else.
20:48
Now he knows it's going to be guard to guard screens.
20:51
They're way more well adjusted to the spacing that we have.
20:55
And so that's creating issues for us because when you're a new
20:58
team and you're not the one, you know, being hunted, it's super
21:02
easy to create those quality shots.
21:03
Now that everyone knows what the style is and they studied it and
21:06
they're trying to copy it, it's way easier to come into a game,
21:10
be prepped and they know what we're looking to do.
21:12
So it's kick, you know, get to the lane, kick out, do guard to
21:16
guard screens and have a lot of movement.
21:19
And the teams have adjusted to just saying, OK, we'll just
21:22
switch everything, move as quickly as we can.
21:24
And if you guys want to waste 20 seconds of the clock and, you
21:28
know, get a shot off, that's not going to be the best look, we'll
21:31
take it. Like we'll take that from the
21:32
Thunder rather than Shay going into an ISO, which is probably a
21:36
lot more dangerous or, you know, heavily, heavily relying just on
21:40
him. Like teams would prefer other
21:42
guys taking shots. And we've seen that adjustment
21:45
from them. So I don't think it's just going
21:47
to be reliant on, hey, let's just get more quality shots when
21:51
the other teams are starting to make adjustments.
21:53
I think our adjustment is just going to be getting a little bit
21:56
more healthy and repetition continue to keep the volume.
22:01
Just you can't really give up on the three-point shot 'cause
22:05
that's what really wins championships nowadays along
22:07
with the defense. I agree defense wins
22:10
championships. We already, yeah, we've already
22:14
got that. So it's we've already
22:16
established that we're the best defense in the league.
22:19
I think we just got to start hitting shots and it it comes
22:22
down to that. I think we averaged a lot more
22:28
made threes last season. So hopefully just some of these
22:33
guys pick it up, man. What do you think?
22:35
Yeah, for me, I agree with a lot that you said.
22:38
I also just think it's not having J Dub out there is so
22:43
huge. He creates so much offense.
22:45
He's a decent shooter himself, but he creates more spacing on
22:49
the floor. He gets guys open.
22:51
I think having him back in the game will create a lot more open
22:55
looks, the ones that Mark is looking for especially.
22:57
I also think it'll be much harder for defenses to match up.
23:00
I mean, he's such a prolific player, obviously only getting
23:03
better 40 points in the finals, probably his best game of his
23:06
career up to that point. So I believe when he gets back,
23:10
things will start clicking more efficiently on offense,
23:13
especially outside the three-point line.
23:14
It's really all for me. But yeah, just they'll keep
23:19
shooting them and eventually they're going to drop.
23:20
Like, yeah, we're not the best shooting team.
23:23
That was proven last year, but I believe that we're we're decent
23:29
enough to win the championship. I was also proven last year
23:33
we're not this bad and it'll it'll come back for sure.
23:36
Yeah, Last season we were 107.5 defensive rating, which was the
23:42
number one in the NBA. We also allowed just 43%
23:46
shooting from opponents and that really helps us on, you know,
23:50
just staying a little bit more rested.
23:52
I think if we can continue to get back to that, that'll get
23:55
less tired legs. We've also played a lot of
23:58
double overtime games, things like that in a injury real right
24:01
now, I think we usually make a lot more quicker substitutions,
24:05
keep guys a lot more fresh. If you guys watch a lot of
24:08
Thunder basketball, you guys know Mark's always rotating in
24:11
guys, trying different lineups and that helps keeps guys fresh
24:14
game to game, everything like that.
24:16
So I think that has a lot to do with it as well.
24:19
So hopefully that helps a little bit on the percentages.
24:22
And honestly, that's all we need is just a little bit of a bump
24:26
because we're already winning games.
24:29
All we need is that extra 10 points to start, you know,
24:31
creating that distance in space. Exactly.
24:33
And once they start falling, you know they start raining in so.
24:36
Right. I mean, just to just to end that
24:38
conversation off pretty like what a good detail is last
24:42
night, terrible shooting night to begin the last minute and a
24:45
half they hit 3 threes and it was over.
24:47
So you can kind of see the runs that they go on when they do hit
24:51
the shots and they will. Moving on to the next topic, I
24:54
kind of put the banner up a bit early, but we're here.
24:58
OK. So you obviously had the best
24:59
defense last year in the whole NBA and had multiple all all
25:06
defenders on all defense teams and Lou Dort even in the
25:09
defensive Player of the year conversation.
25:13
So I guess the question to you is not will they have the best
25:19
defensive rating in back-to-back years, but how could they
25:22
continue to have that level of defense throughout a regular
25:25
season where you just did want a championship?
25:28
So there's going to be some nights where you just can be
25:31
like, let's just get to the playoffs.
25:34
Man, I think we just have an over abundance of really good
25:41
defenders like Cason, Chet, Wallace.
25:45
I mean, I, I just, I don't know man, we average what, 10 steals
25:51
per game, 5 and 5 1/2 blocks per game.
25:55
I think it's just very, it's a sustainable model for us and we
26:00
have multiple guys that are able to at least be close in the DPOY
26:04
running between Jada being able to guard up and having a DPOY
26:09
level impact on this team and then Shay getting as many steals
26:13
and blocks as a guard. I think he's been top three and
26:16
top five in both categories in the past two to three seasons.
26:20
So it's like we have the stats to back it up between all the
26:23
guys and they're all pretty consistent.
26:27
I think the big difference this season for that type of
26:30
sustainability is if our offense can pick up a little bit.
26:33
So similar to football, best analogy is it'll help support
26:38
the defense a lot more if we can hit some shots, you don't have
26:40
to run in transition as much the more you're missing.
26:43
So I think that's going to impact similar to what I was
26:47
saying was, you know, we help teams to low shooting
26:49
percentages. If our shooting percentage goes
26:51
up, it also helps us getting back on defense a lot smoother.
26:56
And so that's what I'm looking forward to.
26:58
Absolutely. I'm very happy that you brought
27:01
up the Shea stat because seals plus blocks, they call them
27:04
stocks, right? Leaders so far through five
27:06
games in the NBA, you would think, oh, it's probably big
27:08
men. It's Victor Wimbunyama, 25.
27:10
Obviously he's above a lot of everybody else.
27:14
Evan Mobley at 15. And then third on the list is
27:17
Shea Gildus Alexander with 14. So he's got one less stock than
27:20
Evan Mobley does through five games.
27:22
I believe that's how they'll continue to to ride it out.
27:26
It's just leading by example. He won every accomplishment you
27:30
could get in one season last year.
27:31
He did it and he's still working his ass off on the defensive end
27:35
and obviously doing his thing on the offensive end.
27:37
But you are right, the more shots you make, the easier it is
27:41
to get back on defensive. Easier is to get set.
27:43
You don't want to be running in transition all night every
27:46
night. So you are right there.
27:48
And then just moving on to how does that really impact DPOY for
27:53
me, I'm just going to say it doesn't just because Wenbanyama,
28:00
I mean, if he gets the, the, the, if he gets the amount of
28:03
games needed for to be considered for the award, I
28:06
mean, he should be winning it every year for the next who who
28:09
knows how long. I mean, if, if Rudy Gobert could
28:12
win 3, how many is Victor Webanyama going to win?
28:15
This is really the question we should be asking.
28:18
I got to, I got to. I got to jump in here, man.
28:21
I fully disagree. The reason Rudy Gobert won so
28:25
many seasons of DPOY was because he always carried his team to
28:30
the top defensive rating. And we've seen already last
28:33
season the Thunder being that. And you know, we didn't have
28:37
Chet for a lot of that stint. But I think if we become the
28:41
best back-to-back defense in back-to-back seasons and have
28:44
Chet here for the regular season, I think that does impact
28:47
his DPOY odds along with winning, along with having a
28:50
defensive impact and, you know, having the stats and analytics
28:53
to back it up. Because we know back in the day
28:56
it was a more of a vibes thing. Now it's also a little bit of a
28:59
stats thing. And one thing that I guess Wimby
29:02
does not have in his favor is that win column at times also
29:05
that defensive ranking. Obviously he's going to be
29:08
pretty high up there. But when you're kind of
29:11
scratching between who are you going to vote for those?
29:13
Those are things that they're looking at.
29:15
I'm, you know, I know the, I guess the Spurs are winning
29:18
right now, but I don't know how long that'll continue for them.
29:21
It it could continue all the way up until you know.
29:25
They're young. It's super hard to tell right
29:27
now. Yeah, usually young teams start
29:30
out pretty hot and then you know, we we will know a lot
29:33
better post All Star game of where they actually stand, how
29:37
they actually fare when team starting to lock in in the
29:40
second-half of the season. I think we're dealing with two
29:43
Unicorn rim protectors. We've only got 1 award, and it's
29:49
honestly just shaping up, you know, both anchoring top five
29:53
defenses. They're just redefining what big
29:57
men should be at the end of the day.
29:59
And I'm curious to see if Chet can actually win this out
30:03
against him 'cause that would be a huge, huge accomplishment for
30:07
him, in my opinion, to be a guy that you're saying like can win
30:11
ten of these things, right? Like especially early on.
30:14
I think that would shift the narrative a lot for the upcoming
30:17
DPOYSI think if if Wimby wins it this year or like any of the
30:21
years after that, he's going to just continuously win them.
30:24
Because when you kind of get your name associated, similar to
30:27
Rudy Gobert, he won his maybe first or second one, and then
30:30
after that, it becomes a lot easier.
30:31
Same with we think guys like Anthony Davis or whatever,
30:35
Draymond Green even like that cachet kind of just rolls over
30:39
season after season when you win an award like that.
30:42
Absolutely. All right, moving on.
30:45
Actually, one last thing about that is another funny thing that
30:47
you said that because obviously Wemby's probably favored by a
30:52
lot this year, but if Chet's able to get there and win it,
30:57
how much more does that motivate Wimpy?
30:58
Because obviously he's already motivated about the
31:01
championship. But we will see.
31:03
I'm going to read you a quick set of stats and then I want you
31:07
to tell me how much do you think this player should be getting
31:10
paid per year? All right.
31:13
First game, 18 points on 50, just under 50%.
31:16
Second game, 17.7 rebounds on 50%.
31:19
Fourteen points on over on, just under 50%, seven rebounds of
31:23
seven assists. 4th game, 26 points, 3 rounds, 3 rebounds, 4
31:27
assists, just under 50%. And 5th game, 16 points, 2
31:32
rebounds, 2 assists, 50% shooting just in 15 minutes in
31:37
that game. To me it sounds like that guy
31:40
should be getting pretty decent bench money, Six man money, or
31:42
even starting starter money. To me, yeah.
31:46
Some of the guards that are averaging like 18 points have in
31:51
the past gotten starter level money.
31:55
One name that just comes up is like Russell Westbrook when he
31:57
signed with the Lakers, he had like 18-7 and seven.
32:00
So just thinking about that like that is starter level numbers
32:04
and they could probably be better if this bent piece was
32:07
starting for us so. Right.
32:09
So with that being said, I want you to kind of break down the
32:13
contract of AJ Mitchell because he is playing like an absolute
32:17
six man of the year candidate, if not even a starting role
32:19
guard and OKC got away with another one it looks like.
32:23
Yeah. Other guys, I guess I would
32:26
mention in this type of category is a guy like Andrew Nymbhard
32:31
that signed on a pretty young deal and they kept him afloat
32:34
over there on the Pacers. Another guy that comes to my
32:36
mind is Peyton Watson that had like a 8 to $10 million deal
32:41
over, you know, several seasons. This guy, I mean, his averages
32:46
before this season, honestly, I wouldn't even look at those
32:49
because the, you know, they're, they're in spot minutes, low
32:52
amount of games. I believe Jack mentioned this,
32:55
he's only on his like 40th game total.
32:57
So his first what, 35 games? Even if he's only averaging like
33:01
6 1/2, two rebounds, 2 assists over 36 games for a second round
33:06
guy, like that's OK, cool that that that's like a good
33:09
expectation to have when you're on a super stacked roster.
33:12
But when you go into the following season after just
33:14
signing practically a 2 + 3 deal on, you know, we've signed them
33:20
practically for 3,000,000 a season.
33:23
That's literally the best contract in the NBA in terms of
33:26
value. Like we have other guys that are
33:28
on a similar value. Like we think about it, we got
33:32
like Joe and Wiggins essentially on like 10 million per year or
33:36
whatever, or 8,000,000 per year. And he's making that across
33:41
several seasons over at least the next three to Four Seasons,
33:44
whatever. And I mean, this is it's one of
33:49
the biggest steals that Presti has done.
33:52
And he's done this same strategy where he gets guys at a low cost
33:56
early and then he usually pays them on the back end.
33:58
Like a lot of these guys shouldn't expect to not, you
34:01
know, to continually get low balled.
34:03
And if that that is the case that you, you know, they can
34:05
move on to better opportunities, make their money elsewhere,
34:08
whatever. But he usually ends up if you're
34:10
performing, he ends up paying you what you deserve over a
34:14
longer term where injuries are a play.
34:17
There's so many factors that can go into, you know, what a player
34:22
is able to make and he always like pays out on a longer term
34:25
deal. That's team friendly for one,
34:28
and then really good for a player for what they're at.
34:30
Like if you were to tell AJ, hey, you're averaging those
34:33
averages and we're going to give you 10 million.
34:35
He's like, I'll take it right now, which is exactly what he
34:38
did, right. And then Presti obviously relied
34:41
on the fact that, hey, this guy is going to be a way better
34:43
player than what we're paying him right now.
34:45
And if down the line, similar to like a Aaron Wiggins or anyone
34:50
else for that fact, like top, top pitch or anyone that was
34:53
able to blossom like a Sorber, Presti will figure out cash
34:58
base. That's one thing we don't have
34:59
to worry about in terms of cap navigation or paying someone
35:03
their worth. He's paying between Chet J Dub
35:07
and Shay, the largest contracts in the NBA, like he's going to
35:11
pay up. So I thought this was a money
35:14
move, smart business move, low risk.
35:17
And most of the moves that Presti makes are really low risk
35:21
and high reward and he just keeps hitting the jackpot on all
35:26
these picks for a second round guy still can't believe it man.
35:29
I can't believe it either during this, during the season last
35:32
year, you guys were all over him.
35:33
You gave. I was, you know, I thought he
35:37
was a second round pick. He was playing well, but we'll
35:39
see where it goes. This guy's money, he's money off
35:41
the bench. I love me some Aaron Wiggins.
35:45
Aaron Wiggins and AJ Mitchell off the bench together are
35:47
fantastic for this group. It's something we haven't had
35:50
ever really with those two caliber players coming off the
35:54
bench together and they could both play in the starting lineup
35:58
in a lot of in for our team and for a lot of other teams in the
36:01
NBA and obviously on cheap deals.
36:06
OK, C is really privileged, I'd say to have both of them, both
36:13
those guys coming off the bench for the for the amount they're
36:16
paying them for now. We'll see.
36:19
You know if AJ continues, we are only 5 games in the season but
36:22
he's looking like the 6th man of the year and he could argue to
36:25
get into that starting line up but we'll see.
36:29
I have a little bit more to mention about this.
36:31
We got a six foot guard that's really good at shooting threes,
36:34
great in the pick and roll navigation and on three million
36:39
a year. I think, you know he's fitting
36:40
the mold in terms of what we're going to do for the future.
36:43
I want to kind of lay this picture out for everyone.
36:47
We're going to keep the core of SGA, Chet, J Dub, and these are
36:51
the types of contracts that we're going to continuously sign
36:53
and then the bigger contracts slowly move off of and then put
36:57
these, you know, players into those roles.
37:00
And let's say, you know, he does end up hitting.
37:03
We'll pay him for 2-3 years what he's worth and then do the same
37:06
thing with another upcoming player and another upcoming
37:08
player, especially around the age of the other guys like Chet
37:12
and J Dub. We still got a whole another
37:14
decade with those guys. So this isn't going to be the
37:17
only time that we see a lot of team friendly deals where guys
37:21
want to end up running it back with the core that we have.
37:25
And I think just the way the CBA ended up working out and the way
37:31
Sam Presti has figured it out so well and knows exactly the
37:36
direction he's going to take it is honestly, like, we keep
37:40
saying it, it is a master class. But it's like, I don't think
37:43
people comprehend, like, how well he's running the
37:47
organization to maximize US winning basketball games.
37:52
I mean, the amount of flexibility is ridiculous.
37:56
So yeah. You can finish up.
38:00
That was all I was going to say. Just the cat flexibility is
38:02
getting ridiculous to kind of match up with from other rosters
38:05
because they could be in the same age range as us or they
38:09
could try to get as many picks as us.
38:11
They're always going to be behind because they're not able
38:14
to navigate the landscape as well as Sam Presti is on all
38:18
fronts. Like, not just OK, we got the
38:20
draft capital. Not just over locking up young
38:23
players. Oh, not just that.
38:25
We already have a young core. He's kind of doing it all in
38:27
one. We've seen other teams like the
38:29
Rockets. Perfect example.
38:31
You have something set up with Chen Goon and a young core and
38:35
you mess it up by bringing an old SAR and messing up your
38:37
draft capital. And then you even have the
38:40
opportunity to go back and get some draft capital from the
38:43
Suns. But instead instead you go with
38:44
an aging player. So many teams out there that
38:48
those little moves or like one or two moves can make the
38:51
difference between you having a decade long run versus A1 year
38:55
run. And that's where we're at, so.
38:58
Yeah, Yeah, I absolutely agree with that.
39:00
And final thing for me would be he just he's always made the
39:07
right moves, even if they're not loud.
39:10
I'll say like people on Twitter, NBA Twitter, they're like, Oh my
39:14
God, OKC got away with another one.
39:16
Like no way. With this AJ Mitchell, it's
39:19
going to continue to happen because he still has all those
39:21
draft picks. He nails them most of the time.
39:25
And with the volume of draft picks that he has it, it's just
39:28
bound to keep on happening. And he just plays his cards
39:31
right. So good luck, NBA.
39:33
All right, let's finish this episode up.
39:36
Just give a quick injury timelines for Dub, Topich,
39:41
Kenrich and Joe. Yep, so I have.
39:45
Let me see here. Let me make sure I got the right
39:49
stuff for us. So J Dub is predicted to come
39:56
back at least mid November, at least that's when his RE
40:01
evaluation is. It's coming up in like the first
40:03
two weeks of November. So we should at least hear some
40:06
news from him. Nikola Topich and Kenridge are
40:09
kind of on the same target date of like November 11th, like 11th
40:14
or 12th. At least we should hear some
40:15
news. And Isaiah Joe honestly should
40:18
be day-to-day because I think his day was the 28th for RE
40:23
evaluation. So he could be playing sometime
40:25
this week, most likely at least by next week.
40:29
He's probably the earliest guy that we should be seeing,
40:31
followed by Topitch Kennish Williams and then day Dubs the
40:35
probably the furthest out considering we're not hearing
40:38
any rumblings of oh, he's getting closer or here's a
40:41
target date. So that's why I'm setting it to
40:42
like the re evaluation date, which is mid November.
40:46
So all right. With that being said, ladies and
40:51
gentlemen, that concludes the first episode of the 2526 NBA
40:59
season of the Bring the Thunder podcast.
41:01
We are so grateful and happy that you all are here listening,
41:04
commenting. We'll continue with the postgame
41:07
lives, and that's really all we got for you tonight.
41:12
So we will see you guys tomorrow for the Wizards game, and we'll
41:20
see you Sunday, and then we'll see you every day for the rest
41:23
of the year. And savvy, do you have any last
41:26
words? No man, I'm excited to win some
41:30
more games. We got some exciting games
41:32
coming up and I just want us to continue winning these games,
41:36
man. That's that's really what it is
41:38
like. We make it seem so easy.
41:42
I think we had some winning withdrawals last season as well
41:44
'cause it was hard to come up with topics when you're winning
41:46
so much. And honestly, I don't miss that
41:50
at all because we've had a lot of tough seasons as Thunder
41:53
fans. So honestly, if we can just come
41:55
on and just have a good time, talk about the team and they
41:59
continue to win with whatever they way they can, that's the
42:03
best thing ever. So.
42:04
Yeah it's gonna be a great season appreciate everyone like
42:08
the video subscribe to the channel if you're enjoying the
42:10
content We will see you guys next time and Thunder up baby
42:12
let's go let's. Get it?