Latest / Bring The Thunder Podcast / IS SGA THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD? Luka, Jokic & Giannis Debated!

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IS SGA THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD? Luka, Jokic & Giannis Debated! · Bring The Thunder Podcast

0:00
What's going on, Thunder fans, welcome back to the Bring the
0:03
Thunder podcast for episode 26. I can't believe it's already
0:06
been 26 episodes of this show. Tonight we have a very special
0:10
guest, Kaden at OK C access on Instagram.
0:14
Guys, go check him out. He's one of the bigger OK C
0:17
pages on Instagram. Kaden, if you just want to
0:19
introduce yourself really quick before we start the show.
0:22
Yeah. Well, like you said, my name is
0:23
Kaden, I'm based out of Oklahoma City and I started OK C Access
0:27
back in May of 2019. It's a very good community that
0:31
we have and love the fan base, love the team and very stoked to
0:35
do it every day and blessed to do it every day as well.
0:37
Awesome, awesome. So pretty much like what we do
0:40
in our episodes here is what we're just going to get straight
0:43
into our first topic, which is we've been kind of focusing on
0:47
SGA for the past week individually now, I kind of want
0:51
to compare them to the top other superstars that have been
0:53
absolutely balling out to start the year.
0:56
Them being obviously Jokic, Luka, Doncic and Giannis, who
1:00
just went down with his injury. But Shay's averaging 32 points
1:04
this year, off to a great start, barely playing in any fourth
1:07
quarters. How do you compare them or where
1:10
do you rank him? Kaden to the other guys like
1:13
Luka, Giannis and Jokic. Well, completely unbiased, I, I
1:17
really do rank him above those guys.
1:21
Number one, obviously generational score.
1:23
He's a guy that really, we haven't seen an archetype like
1:27
this quite since Kobe and really he's his own archetype.
1:30
I also, the thing that I love the most about SGA and, and what
1:34
he is for this team is the kind of leader that he is.
1:37
Cause you'll see some of these other guys have laps and lapses
1:40
in leadership moments and, and times where they could step up
1:43
and really be that teammate that they need.
1:46
And he kind of just makes everyone around him better and
1:50
everybody loves him. And he's kind of more of a, of a
1:52
silent killer. And I think that the MVP last
1:55
year was deserved. And assuming he plays the 65
1:57
games this year, I think it'd be deserved as well.
2:00
Absolutely. I completely agree.
2:01
I'm going to swing it over to Jack.
2:03
Obviously Kaden has him ranked one and we are being non biased
2:06
here. I promise you Jack, your
2:07
thoughts on this ranking system here.
2:10
Yeah, I mean, obviously we're going to choose Shay, but if you
2:13
watch the games, you know he's the best.
2:16
Like he doesn't play fourth quarters.
2:18
We see him do it every night. Like he just could.
2:21
Like he says he's consistent. But the thing like Kaden just
2:25
touched up on is the team culture he's implemented has
2:29
been so monumental for the success.
2:31
Like every night, the togetherness, the defence first.
2:35
You don't see Luca or Jokic leading the way and like on
2:38
defence and trying 100% of the time like you do with Shay.
2:42
Be honest, you do. But it's, yeah, it's a bit
2:45
different. But Shay's just miles ahead of
2:48
Luca. I don't know why people are
2:50
putting him back in the conversation again.
2:52
And he's winning basketball like Luca.
2:55
I said it the other week when we played the Lakers, but he's
2:58
never going to win a championship with the Lakers
3:00
with this roster. Shay, he sets a tone and we can
3:03
see it through 1 to 15. All 15 guys are playing to two
3:08
sides of the ball because of him.
3:10
Right SAP here. Oh.
3:15
SAP here. Right now I got you, I got you.
3:18
So for Shay, the three things that I'm going to look at is
3:22
he's the best two way superstar that we have out of the group.
3:27
He's the best closer out of the group if I had to choose anyone
3:31
and his game, I think, you know, there's no debate about this
3:36
translates the best when it comes to the playoffs.
3:38
And I think those are the three categories when you're, you
3:42
know, debating between these four guys, you know, in whatever
3:46
order, Shay's leading the pack in those three categories.
3:49
So that's where I think he's no longer just arguably the number
3:53
one player in the league. I just think he's just outright
3:56
the number one player. It's just everyone else is just
3:59
a little too slow to, you know, catch up to that point.
4:03
Yeah, for me, it's funny, I actually got into a huge
4:05
argument last night. Well, more of a debate with a
4:08
couple of my buddies. We were actually doing the the
4:11
Shay Yokich thing, which I absolutely hate because once
4:14
somebody says Yokich, in their mind they stick to it no matter
4:17
what. They don't hear you out, They
4:18
don't do nothing. OK C is one of the most hated
4:21
teams in the league, which is unbelievable because one of the
4:25
smaller markets in the league. And I guess once you have start
4:28
having this much success, the hate comes for me.
4:31
I, I'm going to go with SGA and I agree with all the things that
4:34
you guys just said. So I'm not really going to
4:36
repeat everything you've said. But for me it's just listen,
4:41
MVP, conference finals MVP, finals MVP scoring title.
4:46
Jack mentioned it rubs off on everyone on his team to play two
4:49
sides of the ball. And yeah, I, I think Jokic is
4:53
clearly 2 for me. And then Giannis and and then
4:56
Luca. I think Jack, again with Luca, I
4:59
think he's being thrown up in there.
5:01
He's having, you know, an incredible start to the season
5:03
offensively, But then he goes into OK C and gets smothered by
5:08
three different defenders and he doesn't look too great and they
5:10
get blown out by 20 plus, right? So it's it kind of he has good
5:15
games and then he has bad games against better teams.
5:18
I also think him being in LA puts his name out there a little
5:21
bit more than even than it was in Dallas.
5:23
But Kaden, I'm going to come back to you.
5:27
Do your best here. I know it's hard to rank these
5:29
guys, but why don't you rank one to four Shay, Luka, Yokich and
5:33
Giannis? I would I would honestly, I have
5:37
Shay one and while I I am not a huge fan of Yokich's game, I I
5:43
think that he's a very close second to SGA.
5:46
He's been to the summit, he's won the title, taking his team
5:49
all the way to the top and their team is still consistently good
5:52
even if they don't have the depth that they necessarily need
5:56
to make it far. Kind of like we saw last year.
5:58
I mean, it was just the six man rotation essentially.
6:01
I would say Lukas per Jokich is probably a close second and then
6:05
I put Giannis 3rd and then Luka 4th and those guys are are
6:09
pretty close together as well. Yeah, I think I absolutely agree
6:13
with the same exact list. I think you got to put Luka
6:15
less. He hasn't won a title yet.
6:17
Everyone else in that discussions, the Finals MVP,
6:20
Jack, I guess you could rank and then SAP here right after and
6:22
then we'll move on to our next topic here.
6:25
Yeah, I've got the same ranking, Shay, Yokich, Giannis, Luca, but
6:28
I wanted to state that it's Shay, Yokich, Giannis and then
6:33
Luca like there is a fall off. It's it's a 3 three man race for
6:37
the MVP and I I don't see Luca winning it.
6:39
So as much as I like Luca and his game, this is just me being
6:43
like honest about it. Yeah, same ranking.
6:49
The one thing I'll add to this, because I think we all agree on
6:52
the ranking and kind of the structure of it, there's other
6:55
guys starting to creep up on Luca Doncic like a Kate
6:59
Cunningham coming into the league.
7:01
Donovan Mitchell is like inserting himself as a guard.
7:04
So I think the lack of work that Luca put in across his several
7:10
seasons in the NBA is starting to finally catch up to him,
7:13
especially on the defensive end. He's starting to put in the work
7:16
now, but it's hard to reteach yourself habits.
7:20
And I think that's his weakest point was he didn't build the
7:23
right habits. And that's something that I
7:25
spoke about when I talked about Shay many years ago, You know,
7:29
when I was evaluating them, I was like, yo, he's in the lab
7:33
every single time. Every single summer.
7:34
You guys see my content. And it's always around the fact
7:37
that Shay is in the lab every single summer.
7:40
And that's what's differentiating him.
7:42
Giannis and everyone you know talks about Jokic not putting in
7:46
the work, but he clearly does. He clearly loves basketball.
7:48
So yeah, that's that's kind of my two cents for what's going on
7:53
right now. It's kind of funny you bring
7:56
that up because in the debate I was having last night, one of
8:00
these kids literally with a straight face told me, well,
8:03
Jokic doesn't even try. Are you sure about that?
8:08
Like, Are you sure about that? And he continues to he follows
8:11
up and he's like, he doesn't even put in as much as work as
8:16
much work as Shay does in the offseason.
8:17
I'm like, well, whose fault is that?
8:19
Are you going to blame Shay for what Yokich has come on now?
8:22
I mean, they're just trying to pick things up as they go to
8:26
help their argument. But I I think, listen, I'll be
8:29
as honest as anybody, Kaden, we do post game lives after every
8:34
game. And during the playoffs last
8:36
year early when we were struggling, we had that game
8:39
three against Memphis. We ended up coming back and
8:41
winning and then we had a poor game 4, even though we won that
8:43
game. And then the start of the Denver
8:45
series was a little rocky. Savio and I were I was
8:49
questioning if Shay was the closer for this team.
8:51
I really was like, we're fully honest on this show.
8:55
And then obviously throughout the rest of playoffs, he shut me
8:57
the hell up. But I just want to put that out
8:59
there like we're all ranking Shay for a reason.
9:02
We're not just here saying, oh, well, we're Thunder guys.
9:04
We're going to be homers. Like he's got to be 1.
9:06
So I just want to put that out there.
9:07
Moving on, I want to call this topic Robin's Robin because the
9:13
question is Caden, there's Chet, there's J Dub and there's Shay.
9:17
Obviously. The question is who is the
9:20
Thunder's third most important player?
9:23
Could be, you know, J Dub, Chet, Alex Caruso could be anybody.
9:29
Who Who do you think is the third most important important
9:31
player for this roster this year?
9:33
It just, it all kind of hinges on #1 being healthy, which to
9:38
this point in the season we haven't been.
9:41
I I think that that will start to pick up.
9:43
It seems like a, you know, a few little ticky tech kind of
9:46
injuries. But really any given night, the
9:48
third most important player can show up and, and show out.
9:51
Like we see some nights where, yes, the big three does
9:54
absolutely obliterate whoever's on the other side and puts up a
9:57
combined 85 points together. And then you'll see Aaron
10:00
Wiggins put up 41 against the Kings and it just, it just kind
10:05
of changes. And I think that's that's the
10:06
beauty of having such a deep roster and such a well
10:10
constructed roster that everybody just kind of works
10:12
together so well that it would it would be hard to really put a
10:16
name down. Big 3 is kind of a cop out
10:19
answer. But if I really had to say a
10:21
third most important player consistently every single night.
10:24
I think what Isaiah Hartenstein does for this team is just so
10:28
massive. He gets on the glass, he play
10:30
makes he's good at getting to the nail and then finding the
10:32
guys out on the wings on the corners and just being taller
10:35
than everybody kind of allows them to to be able to be that
10:38
connective passer that we have always kind of looked for.
10:41
I know they look to to make Adams that at one point back in
10:44
the day, and Jay Will does that to an extent, but Hartenstein is
10:48
just so elite and so many different traits and obviously
10:51
the floater is just a thing of beauty.
10:52
So I'd say that he's probably the most consistent, third most
10:55
important player to this team. I like that pick for sure.
10:59
Jack, go ahead. Yeah, I guess like Kayden said,
11:04
at any given night it can be any different person because of our
11:08
depth. But if I have to rank it, then
11:10
it's Shay and then J Dub is our second option and Chet is our
11:14
third because even when he's having poor offensive games, his
11:18
defence is always there and he just anchors his team in the
11:21
paint. Like we saw it, especially in
11:23
the finals, he wasn't that efficient.
11:25
But so neither was Mars Turner because he was matched up
11:29
against Chet. And like, his defence is just so
11:32
valuable that even he's the third most important player
11:38
regardless of his offense. And we, we had this discussion
11:41
about Ludo the other night about how no matter what he does on
11:44
the offensive end, we'll always need him on defense.
11:46
And I feel like we can always rely on chat no matter what.
11:49
So give me give me him as the third, third most.
11:55
All right, I am I prepared. I prepared this one.
11:59
So I have to go with first, I'm going to lay out the case for
12:04
each of these guys. The case for J Dub.
12:06
He's a you know, he's going to be a 20 plus point per game
12:09
scorer. He's probably the second best
12:12
shot creator on the team, most one of the more versatile scores
12:16
on the team. You can take a lot of pressure
12:18
off of Shay and you know, he's obviously an All Star.
12:22
He's got clutch shot making. So without data we usually
12:26
hinder in the half court. So we have those scoring
12:28
droughts at times. You'll probably see it.
12:30
It's a lot less now with AJ in the group, but that's kind of
12:34
his case for J Dub. My case for J Dub and then the
12:37
case for Chet is probably the best one that I can make is he's
12:40
the defensive anchor. He's a DPOY candidate.
12:43
He shoots a high percentage from three.
12:45
He has that at least elite floor spacing for Shay.
12:48
I feel like he's just a bigger version of J dub.
12:52
The more I think about it, it's like you get all the benefits of
12:55
J dub just at a taller height and a better rim protection and
12:59
then he I think he's just the most irreplaceable defender on
13:03
the roster when it comes to the back court.
13:05
We see that like it's not the same defense when he's not
13:09
there. So I I feel like we become an
13:12
average defense from a rim protection standpoint.
13:15
And then the case for the other guy that I'll make and the third
13:20
guy, I guess on this is, well, Shay's obviously number one.
13:26
He's elite scorer. So, you know, we already kind of
13:28
know the package that he brings. But if I had to do a ranking on
13:32
this, I'm going to go with Shay Chet and then J Dub as our third
13:42
guy. That's consistent every night
13:45
for us, if I had to choose. Yeah, I mean, the beauty of it
13:48
for me is obviously we don't chase the guy, but anyone else
13:53
could be the second option on any given night.
13:56
Like even J Dub was the first option when he dropped 40 points
13:59
in the NBA Finals game against the Indiana Pacers.
14:02
So I mean, one day it could be Chet, one day it could be J Dub,
14:05
the next day it could be Cason, Caruso, Hartenstein, it could be
14:09
anybody. I think that's the beauty in
14:11
this team is they don't care who, who's going to be the guy
14:14
on it every single night. Like whoever's the hot hand,
14:18
they're going to feed. If whoever has a mismatch,
14:20
they're going to feed. So for me, I don't really even
14:23
think there is a core on quote third option.
14:25
I think as of right now throughout the season, I like
14:29
Caden's choice with Hartenstein in the beginning of this year.
14:32
I think he's been running the offense super well.
14:34
It was something we've talked about since he's joined the
14:36
team. But you could also talk about
14:41
even Lou Dort in a big playoff game where he hits 900 threes
14:47
and 1/4 to beat the Denver Nuggets.
14:48
You know what I'm saying? So any team, any player on any
14:51
given night could be the third option on this team.
14:54
Heck, even the first option. And that's why they are
14:56
champions and that's why they're looking like a heavy favorite to
15:00
repeat. No, I got to push.
15:02
No, I got to push you for. I got to push you for an answer.
15:06
You got to rank them man. I know you're gonna for me, it's
15:09
for me. It's Shay J dub chat.
15:11
I think it's easy for. Me, but OK, yeah.
15:14
If I had to, if I had to rank them, sorry, I didn't mean to
15:17
cut you off. If I had to, if I had to rank
15:19
them, rank them, I'd probably say J Dub Chet as well.
15:22
But Chet and J Dub are so interchangeable.
15:25
I mean, and and Jada and Chet's impact defensively is, like Jack
15:29
said, so consistent every single night.
15:32
I mean, he is just a force to be reckoned with on the interior
15:35
for this front court. So that's probably my ranking as
15:38
well. Interject before we change
15:41
topics. So I'm outvoted.
15:43
Right now it seems like 3 to 1. So I do want to bring up a good
15:47
case for Chet just in case maybe I can get you guys to swing to
15:51
the side or at least think about swinging over to Chet side as
15:56
the second option. The reason I mention it maybe
15:59
not just for present case, but I think for longevity.
16:04
I think Chet's going to, I guess he, he puts in a lot of work in
16:09
the gym and then I think the, you know, mentioning that point,
16:13
I think his offensive leap is still yet to be seen.
16:17
So him having a the one of the highest defensive floors, I
16:21
think that's where I look at both those guys that I'm
16:24
thinking, all right, this 7 foot guy, he's showing me flashes of
16:29
honestly greatness, especially this season with the dunking and
16:32
his interior force. And then he's already spacing
16:35
the floor once his ball handling gets there to the level that we
16:39
need it to get to, I think he's going to be cementing himself as
16:43
that second guy. So that's just my opinion.
16:46
No, I can definitely agree with that.
16:47
The ball handling is coming, coming along.
16:49
He hit. He hit DeRozan with a tween
16:51
cross tween to the rim and then dunked on his feet last night.
16:54
That was great. You're right.
16:56
The the offensive leap has just begun.
17:00
It's nowhere near to where it's the level it's going to be.
17:03
I think Shay even said that the other night, Like they know what
17:05
Chad's Chad is and they know what he's going to be.
17:08
It's not even close to, you know, a complete product, which
17:11
I mean, I'm I'm sure, OK, Presti knew that.
17:14
You know, Chad was really raw coming into the draft.
17:17
He's improved every year. He won a championship.
17:19
He's got the most blocks in a game seven in the finals ever,
17:23
but there's still room to improve, and that's what's so
17:25
dangerous. I was going to say the last
17:27
thing for me is, listen, J Dub got a little bit more money for
17:32
a reason, and it's just a level of consistency and availability
17:37
is probably the reason why he did get paid a little bit more.
17:42
But I don't want to choose between either one of these guys
17:45
did. They got paid the same amount.
17:47
He just got a little bit more because of the star and his
17:51
availability in that sense. But if Tet was available for the
17:55
season, he he's clearly going to be an All Star this season or he
17:58
should be. So I feel like from that sense
18:00
they're they're right neck and neck.
18:02
It's just kind of who do you prefer?
18:04
What play style do you prefer? I guess between the guys, yeah.
18:07
Before we move on to the next topic really quick, I you kind
18:12
of already answered my question. I want to go across the panel
18:14
with a yes or no answer. Nothing more, nothing less, just
18:17
yes or no. And we'll start with Kate and
18:19
we'll go to Jack. And obviously Safi already
18:21
answered. Is Chet Holmgren ending up being
18:23
an All Star starter this year? Not an All Star, an All Star
18:27
star. Starter.
18:31
Starter. What's the Do you know the
18:34
format? I'm sorry, I know it's supposed
18:35
to be yes or no, but is. It like 3 teams I believe
18:38
they're doing world versus US this year aren't aren't they?
18:42
Yes, that's correct. OK.
18:44
Well then in that case, I'd say yes, yeah, if he's on the US
18:47
team. Jack, don't hate me.
18:53
But I'm good. I'm going to say no.
18:55
I I have reasoning, but I, I guess yeah.
18:59
What? So after.
19:00
He's going to make it, but I don't think he'll start.
19:03
I'm so confused I can't think of I can't.
19:06
It's an easy yes, but I still can't believe Jack's saying no
19:09
because I can't think of another American born center off the top
19:13
of my brain. Better than Chet Holmgren in
19:15
general, actually. Andre Drummond.
19:19
It'll be It'll be a. Tournament again though, so let
19:24
me switch my answer to yes. Yeah, yeah, the the format's
19:29
really weird, so. The format is so it's terrible.
19:32
Yeah, I'm going to finish that up with yes, I think I think the
19:36
season is now. He would have been an All Star
19:38
last year and he's going to he's going to be a starter this year.
19:41
All right, let's move on. Actually, it's funny, we ended
19:44
up talking about Jet because major news, Victor Wembinyama
19:48
goes down with a calf strain, be out two to three weeks, maybe
19:52
even more. Very unfortunate.
19:54
But with that being said, Chet now moves to the odds on
19:58
favorite to win DPOY by a wide margin.
20:03
He's at plus 140. The next guy down the list is
20:06
obviously Wembi at plus 3:20. And then you got guys like Evan
20:10
Mobley, Amin Thompson and Dyson Daniels to follow up.
20:15
The question to the panel, and I'll start with Kaden of course,
20:18
is, is he in your opinion the odds on favorite to win DPOY and
20:27
then who's another couple guys that you would keep your eye out
20:30
for the rest of the year? Well, a couple guys I'd keep my
20:36
eye on are probably just the rest of the Oklahoma City
20:38
Thunder roster, to be honest with you.
20:41
I think that at this point, and first of all, Wimby is
20:46
absolutely generational as a defender.
20:48
I think he is such a good player.
20:50
And I know that there's, you know, all this beef between US
20:53
and Spurs fans, and I personally hate the Spurs, but I can't stop
20:56
watching Wimby because I think that he really is that guy.
21:00
But if he doesn't meet the the games criteria, then I think
21:03
that Chet should be the leader. Mobley is also a guy that that,
21:07
you know, stays with it every single night.
21:09
And then I honestly think that if Lou Dort can remain healthy
21:12
and get rid of his shoulder bugs and injuries and things like
21:15
that, he's been he's been absolutely locking down the top
21:18
guy every single night. You look at in the last, I think
21:21
I saw this today, it was in the last 14 games, the Thunder
21:24
haven't allowed anybody over 30 points.
21:28
And that is, I mean, that's ridiculous.
21:30
That's a ridiculous stat and that's primed and that's the
21:33
forefront of that is Lou Dort, I think.
21:35
So I would definitely be on the lookout for him, especially if
21:37
Chet does go down with another, you know, anomaly type injury.
21:41
Yeah. And here we go.
21:42
I just pulled up the list. So like I mentioned, Chet plus
21:46
140 huge odds. You do have Lou Dort up there,
21:49
You do have case of Wallace up there.
21:50
You even have heartened sign up there.
21:53
So like you mentioned, it could be anybody from the Oklahoma
21:57
City roster. Before I move on to Jack, I want
21:59
to ask Kaden again. I guess it goes hand in hand.
22:03
How many players do you think can make an all all defensive
22:06
team from OKC this year before they say that's too many?
22:09
Well, I think now that we've, you know, won the title and put
22:12
the league on notice, there's two all defensive teams, so that
22:15
means there's ten guys that can make it.
22:17
Last year we saw Dort and J Dub make it and I don't I don't
22:21
think Chet did. Yeah, Chet didn't because he
22:22
didn't meet the the games criteria.
22:24
But I honestly truly think that out of out of the guys that we
22:29
have Chet for sure. I think Dort can make it.
22:33
I think Cason can make it, Caruso can make it.
22:36
I don't know that J Dub will meet the 65.
22:39
But out of out of our group, I would say for sure Chet, Cason
22:43
and Dort out of the three. I don't think Caruso plays
22:46
enough in the regular season to get the the award.
22:49
Yeah, that's true, Jack. I'll swing it to you.
22:53
Yeah, I think Chet will win it, unfortunately.
22:56
Maybe he is just dealing with couple bugs.
23:01
I mean last season he shouldn't have been out but I guess it's
23:04
the trade off for being 7 foot 8 and shooting threes.
23:07
So he I mean he's going to win them for like the next 10 years
23:11
right? Anyway, so it'll be good to get
23:13
chat one this year. But.
23:16
If, if, if Wembley is healthy or replace the criteria, I think
23:19
it'll easily be him and if not, I think chat it'll easily be
23:23
him. So I don't.
23:26
I don't see Evan Mobley winning another one.
23:27
I think they kind of panicked last year and we're like, oh,
23:30
Wemby's out. Who do we give it to?
23:32
Because. Right.
23:34
So yeah, I think Chet Chet should win it this year as long
23:37
as Wemby doesn't meet the criteria.
23:39
But it's it's a two man race really.
23:43
Sabia. Yeah, I just think it's going to
23:47
be a little too close for Wemby in terms of how long he's going
23:52
to be out. So I think he's just going to
23:53
miss it by a little bit. And then between Chet and Evan
23:58
Mobley, Chet being kind of a first time DPOY winner would
24:03
make a lot of sense. I think I've probably been his
24:07
biggest fan when it comes to the Wem B versus Chet talks.
24:10
If you guys see my comments anywhere, I'm always kind of
24:13
roasting Wem B because he kind of gives me the same vibe as, I
24:18
don't know, the same conversation as like a Luca
24:20
versus SGA and I see, you know they I will give Wemby the
24:25
credit. He puts in a lot of work in the
24:26
offseason, but I think he doesn't have that consistent
24:30
shooting on the offensive end. And I know it's not just about
24:33
offense when we're talking about the DPOY player, but that's one
24:37
thing that I look at when comparing these two guys.
24:40
But just from a defensive standpoint for a guy leading his
24:44
team, obviously we can't say the same about Chet because he
24:47
hasn't had the opportunity. But for the hype that Wimby
24:50
gets, his team doesn't do the most amount of winning.
24:53
And I know this season they started off pretty well and it's
24:56
kind of simmered down as he got that injury.
24:59
But I do want to see more sustained winning just for
25:02
Wimby's sake. Their team continues to improve
25:05
around him and I don't know if his play style or his defensive
25:11
impact is kind of on the same ranking as Chet is.
25:17
I think his defensive rating from last season for Chet was
25:21
one O 3.1. You know he's a league leading
25:25
rim block percentage. I think that's where what what
25:29
I'm talking about when it comes to impact.
25:30
He's in the 98th percentile defensively.
25:33
So I think he should easily win this award as long as he stands
25:37
the test of durability. The other person I wanted to
25:40
mention for the players that could be in that the defensive
25:45
teams, I think Shay go just Alexander's a lock to win that
25:49
because or be in that because he's always been one of the
25:55
stocks leaders. So steals plus blocks.
25:57
So him and Chet are usually top 15 in those rankings.
26:00
So Shay's one of the most durable players.
26:03
So I I, I know for a fact he'll make a defensive team, maybe not
26:08
first team so. For me, I believe Chet should
26:14
win it. I don't think that Wimby will
26:16
end up meeting the criteria even if he is to come back from this
26:21
Cap strain. We've seen what Cap strings have
26:23
done to people in the past and I'm not wishing that on anybody.
26:26
I hope they kind of sit him for an extended period time just for
26:29
his safety because we saw what happened to Halliburton, what
26:32
happened to Damian Lillard last year in the play offs.
26:36
So with that being said, Chet is definitely the clear favorite to
26:41
me. Now if Chet doesn't meet the
26:45
criteria because he's been sitting back-to-back and if he
26:49
picks up a little injury throughout the year, I can see
26:52
Ahmed Thompson weigh in this I really can.
26:53
He's been really good for Houston.
26:57
He's probably one of the better guard slash 4 defenders in the
27:01
league. He he made Donovan Mitchell
27:03
miserable last night in Cleveland.
27:06
I think he's a fantastic defender, but other than those
27:09
two guys, I really think it it goes to chat if he meets the
27:12
criteria for me. All right, Jack to finish up
27:16
here, we have a pretty cool segment.
27:19
You want to introduce our last segment of the night.
27:21
Yeah, I got it. So we're going to do a snake
27:24
draft, drafting international OKC Thunder players.
27:27
We're going to draft a three on three team with one sub.
27:33
Yeah. So I guess draft order will be
27:36
Satvia, Kaden, Joe and then myself.
27:39
And then we'll loop background until we have 4 players each.
27:42
So if you want to take it away, Satvia, but yeah, I guess you're
27:48
muted. Yeah, I'll, I'll take it away.
27:51
I'll go with Shay Gill, this Alexander for my first pick.
27:58
I feel like if I fumble that I'd get destroyed in the comments.
28:03
For. Sure.
28:05
Is this all? Is this all time or is this
28:08
current? All time, all time.
28:10
All time OK, man, I'm, I'm trying to think and I, I could
28:17
just be totally blanking on, you know, our second best
28:21
international prospect. Or player we're all going to
28:25
miss. A few, yeah, Yeah, that's all
28:27
right, man. And is it OK?
28:35
Question real quick. Is it their time with the
28:37
Thunder or is it just their time in the league?
28:40
Good question. Let's say time with the Thunder.
28:43
Time with the Thunder. I was going to say Victor
28:45
Oladipo. Oladipo.
28:47
'S a good choice that could easily be one of the top ones
28:51
that that's we even we were talking about international guys
28:54
the other night and we didn't even pull his name out.
28:57
So I like that pig. Yeah, yeah.
29:00
I think that's the one I'm going to roll with.
29:02
And he was really good in his year here.
29:04
Yeah, Hell yeah. That's a, that's a sweet pick.
29:06
Actually, For me, I'm going to start with Serge, Serge Ibaka.
29:11
I got to get interior defense down first with Shay being off
29:15
so and Oladipo, probably the two better guards in in this draft.
29:19
So I'm going to start with Serge.
29:22
Yeah, I'm going to go giddy, and then I'm going to go with Steven
29:28
Adams. I think it would be blasphemous
29:31
if I didn't take Steven Adams. Yeah, and I'm kind of glad you
29:34
did take Adams, because I'm going to stay down low in the
29:36
paint. We're going to build inside out.
29:39
Kamianas Kantor, one of my favorite Oklahoma City players
29:42
all time. Ennis Kantor and Serge Ibaka
29:45
reunited. So I have some, I have some
29:48
really bad news. Victor Oladipo was born in
29:52
Silver Spring, MD, so he is maybe not international.
29:57
So I don't know if I can keep the pick or not, but Lou Dort,
30:02
Yep, OK, that'll work. Lou Dort is going to be my
30:05
second pick, so got the nice little backcourt there.
30:08
It's a good pick. Oh my goodness, I'm already up
30:12
and you guys have taken a lot of the guys that I thought of or
30:19
wanted. Lou Dort would have been perfect
30:25
next to Shay. That's such a championship
30:27
winning core right there. I think I'm going to go with the
30:32
next best thing to Lou Dort and Thabo Sephalosia.
30:36
Locked down defender so I'll go with him.
30:40
That's that's a good pill. I just did.
30:46
Awesome. You have to choose two.
30:47
Yeah. I'm sorry.
30:49
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the other person that I'm
30:52
going to take here is I still want, man, do I want spacing or
31:00
do I want? You only get 4 players, three
31:07
and three basketball might need some spacing for that.
31:10
That is true. And I I need a big man at some
31:13
point because Lord knows Joe's stacking up on him.
31:20
Gosh, I'm going with Dennis Schroeder.
31:24
He's just one of the best international ball players and I
31:29
was debating between him and another guy for the floor
31:31
spacing. I know Joe knows what I'm
31:33
talking about. So yeah, those are the two guys
31:36
I'm I'm going to take. Yeah, it's frustrating, but go
31:40
ahead, Kane. Have we?
31:41
Have have we picked Steven Adams yet?
31:44
Yes, yeah, I took him. OK, OK, OK.
31:47
I'm trying to think I'm I'm desperation going on Google
31:52
trying to find all of our international players and it's
31:55
only giving me American born ones.
31:57
So that's not very helpful, but. Shoot, there's a couple on the
32:02
team currently, yeah. You can see a couple.
32:06
That's true. That's true.
32:07
That's true. Man.
32:10
Usman Jiang is is really tempting.
32:12
I'm not going to lie. Shoot, let me think about this.
32:18
So I have a little depot. I got Lou Dort and I probably
32:22
need some sort of some sort of big.
32:25
And so I, I would honestly just say Isaiah Hardenstein would be
32:28
the the best slot in there for sure.
32:30
Yeah, definitely a a great big thing.
32:35
All right, Yeah. So now I'm in a predicament
32:36
because I was going to stay big and then if not, I was going to
32:42
go with Schroeder. Well, I think we do have a guy
32:46
currently on the roster desk just a little bit than Dennis, a
32:49
little bit better than Dennis Schroeder or will be eventually
32:52
if he's not already. And I need a ball, Andrew.
32:54
So give me AJ Mitchell, the Belgium mate.
32:58
Joe, you missed out on a player, I'm telling you.
33:01
Did I? I think I know what you're
33:02
talking about, but I wanted AJ. OK, OK.
33:05
AJ was. That's fair.
33:06
AJ was my next pick, so you've messed up my draft strategy.
33:09
Now I'm going to go Al Horford. I think he's got some Dominican
33:18
descent. And then I'm going to go with
33:22
either Alex Sabrina's or Danilo Gallinari.
33:28
But I'm going to, I'm going to go Brenna's.
33:30
I I feel like I'm missing someone here because of the way
33:32
ZAP is acting but. No, that's the name that was,
33:36
yeah. I think Abrina's fits three or
33:42
three bars for quite well so. That's true.
33:45
What? So we got one player off the
33:47
bench now? Yep.
33:48
Yep, all right. So I'm going to take Galinari
33:53
that. That's solid.
33:54
That'll be my pick. All right, that'll work well
33:57
since it's a guy coming off the bench and hopefully he can get
34:01
his current situation figured out and all prayers up to him.
34:05
But I'm very intrigued at the prospect of Nicola Topitch.
34:08
So that is going to be my bench guy love.
34:11
That good pick? I I have to take the goat, I got
34:16
to take him out. I think I know what it's going.
34:20
Yeah, I got to take Poku here, man.
34:22
I need a big. I need someone coming off the
34:25
bench with the floor spacing and he's been crushing it in
34:29
international ball so I'm going to take him.
34:32
Fair enough. I'm.
34:33
Going to take. Is that going to?
34:36
Is that going to wrap it up? Yeah, that'll wrap us up.
34:39
We will do a mini tournament between us on our Instagram
34:42
story, so keep an eye out for that.
34:44
We'll go head to head with the polls so you guys can vote for
34:47
the best team and we'll see who who did the best draw.
34:50
Yeah, I just want to go over the teams really quick and before we
34:53
put them out. SAP here, who's your 4?
34:56
I've got Shay, Dennis, Schroeder, Tablo, Sepolosha and
35:03
Popashevski. Yeah, we might get cooked.
35:05
I'm not going to lie, Kaden. I've got the American born
35:09
Oladipo. I have Isaiah Hartenstein and I
35:15
honestly can't remember who my second round pick was.
35:18
Yeah, it was Lou Dorr. Lou Dorr.
35:19
That's right, that's right. And then I got the go tow pitch
35:22
coming off the bench. That's.
35:24
Also a really good team. What did I I went with Cantor,
35:27
Serge, AJ Mitchell and Danilo I I like that.
35:30
I like that. I don't think I'll get many
35:32
votes for that team, but I like that team for sure.
35:34
And then Jack Giddy, Steven Adams, Al Horford, Alex
35:38
Sabranos. So he's got a mix of shooting
35:40
he's got well, actually he's got a stretch big in Horford too.
35:43
He's got a good shooting right up over there.
35:45
Is that right? So we'll post these after.
35:47
Yeah, we'll post them tomorrow. What not, but I guess that's
35:49
going to do it. First off, I want to thank Kaden
35:51
OKC Access everybody for coming on to the show.
35:54
It was honestly our pleasure. It was a great time.
35:57
So I want to give them a nice round of applause.
35:59
Act like the comments section is there.
36:01
Even though we aren't live right now, we're definitely seeing
36:03
this tomorrow. But for real, man, we really
36:05
appreciate you coming on. And to all of our subscribers,
36:09
fans, whatever you want to come to all Oklahoma City Thunder
36:12
fans really quick. I just want to share that these
36:16
are the golden days. So stay present.
36:19
These are going to be the times that we look back on.
36:21
So stay present. Root for this team root for this
36:23
city. I'm going to go back-to-back
36:25
this. You have a really strong feeling
36:26
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So go check out that on the channel and you guys will see
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this episode Friday at 3:00 PM Central like every week.
36:51
That's our episodes, and if anyone else has some other
36:54
words, last words, you can shout it out now.
36:56
If not, we're going to end this up.
36:59
Man, it was really fun to to hop on with you guys.
37:01
I think you guys are doing a great job and I had a good time
37:05
just talking about the best basketball team in the whole
37:07
world. So thanks for having me on.
37:08
Oh. Yeah, man, go every everyone go
37:11
follow at OK C access on IG and Thunder out baby.
37:15
Let's go. We'll see you next time.