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Bring The Thunder EP.19 - Champs Odds, Russ News & More! · Bring The Thunder Podcast

0:01
All right, welcome back to Bring the Thunder Podcast.
0:03
We're going to be on episode 19. We have a couple topics lined up
0:07
for you guys. First, Landon's going to kick us
0:10
off here and start with his first topic.
0:15
I got something to share here. It looks like we already got
0:19
some early championship odds for the 202526 season.
0:25
Probably. Guess who's at the top?
0:26
It's the Thunder. They believe that we have a good
0:29
chance to go back-to-back. We lead by a pretty significant
0:32
margin. We're plus 240 and the second
0:35
team, the Knicks, is +700. Looks like they're kind of
0:40
favoring the East with the second and third odd putting the
0:43
Knicks and the Cavs, which makes me think they really think the
0:46
Thunder are going to win the Western Conference.
0:50
I know some people are leaning, leaning towards the Cavs in the
0:53
East this season. I'm I'm actually a Knicks
0:55
believer. I don't mind that.
0:57
And with odds, they normally put the odds where the money's going
1:00
to go. And they know people.
1:02
New York's a very popular team. There's a lot of New York fans.
1:05
So they probably know that if they put New York in the second
1:08
spot that people are going to put money there.
1:11
And then I'm kind of looking down low.
1:15
I think the, I think the Hawks and The Mavericks are a little
1:18
undervalued. I think there's some sleepers.
1:20
I think the Hawks could fare well in a weaker Eastern
1:23
Conference this year. And I think that The Mavericks
1:26
are healthy. That's a + 3 + 3000 might be it.
1:31
You know, just slap a dollar on that and hope for the best.
1:34
Something like that. It looks like down low the
1:39
Pelicans, Nets and Jazz are kind of fighting for the number one
1:42
pick sweepstakes. I personally think it'll be AJ
1:46
Debansa who ends up being that number one pick, but we'll see.
1:50
But yeah, that's all I really have to say as far as the odds
1:53
go. I think the Nuggets are being
1:56
underrated quite a bit here. I know that.
2:01
I think the say that just shows me they really believe in the
2:04
Thunder to go back-to-back as Western Conference.
2:07
It's. Good for us, I guess.
2:11
The one team that I'm looking at is the Bucks at +5000 with
2:15
having our boy Giannis over there.
2:19
I think Giannis by himself can probably dismantle most of the
2:23
Eastern Conference teams even without a Dame LED, you know,
2:28
roster. So I feel like plus 5000, that's
2:32
where I put my money for the most value out of all the other
2:38
East teams. I'm not really liking any of
2:41
their odds. It's crazy that they have us at
2:47
plus 240. I still can't wrap my head
2:49
around that leg post championship.
2:52
This is probably the best odd since the Golden State Warriors
2:55
in 2016, that 20/16/17 season. So that's pretty impressive on
3:02
our part. And then also I wanted to
3:04
mention real quick, go ahead. I cut some teams out of the
3:10
picture on accident. No, no, that's everyone.
3:14
I cut off the Pistons, the Celtics.
3:17
I don't know how I managed to do that, but yeah.
3:20
No worries. I see.
3:22
I was going to say there's no way the Pelicans are that high.
3:26
I see there's a Wizards in Charlotte in there.
3:29
I was going to say, the Pelicans don't have their first round
3:31
pick next year. They traded it.
3:33
So for them to be in that sweepstake is hilarious.
3:38
I, I, I think with the Kings, if they weren't in the Western
3:41
Conference, they would be a lot higher.
3:43
Like if you put the Kings in the East, they would be a lot higher
3:45
than they are right now. I don't think they would be.
3:48
Plus, what is that 50,000? That's pretty crazy.
3:52
The other team sons at plus 50,000 where it seems pretty
3:56
ridiculous to me. Like they could easily, you
4:00
know, at least be a top six seed or something like that.
4:03
At least a six to 10 seed next season.
4:08
They added a lot of defense. That roster, we kind of see
4:12
what. Else very high in 76's favorite.
4:16
Yes, 3300. I just don't know how the match
4:20
is going to be with Jalen Green and Devin Booker.
4:22
I don't know if that will benefit Jalen Green's game or
4:28
hurt his game playing alongside Booker.
4:33
I think it's really easy to play alongside Booker because like
4:37
when he gets the ball, you know he's going to put it up.
4:40
So it's like, you know, kind of what you're going to get from
4:42
him. So it's a lot easier to kind of
4:45
like know that you're kind of the second option versus I feel
4:49
like on the other team. Like it was kind of him and he
4:53
was kind of battling for that first spot.
4:55
Now he kind of can know what his role exactly will be.
4:59
I think he has a more defined role.
5:03
Yeah, that's true. Less pressure on him.
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The ball won't be in his hands as much.
5:08
Yeah, I think the worst, I think the worst for your money is the
5:13
Rockets at +800. Like the Rockets could end up
5:17
either a top three seed or they could really fizzle out and you
5:21
know, being a playoff play in like late playoff seeding type
5:27
of situation in my opinion. Like, they get one injury to
5:30
Kevin Durant and they traded a lot of depth away, so I wouldn't
5:35
want to risk putting my money there.
5:42
Next up, we got most likely to I'm going to give you some
5:46
scenarios and you got to tell me which player on the roster right
5:49
now is most likely. Yeah, so I'll say the most
5:54
likely and then Landon, you can be a player then set they give
5:57
you and then I'll give you one. Yeah, most likely to be traded.
6:06
Who's I'd go? Who's is this potential?
6:11
I do. I still think he has a lot of
6:13
untapped potential, yeah. But I don't know if he's ever
6:16
going to get his opportunity on the Thunder.
6:18
And money's going to get tight. And if he does stay for the full
6:24
season, it will be this coming offseason that we decide whether
6:27
to keep him or not. So yeah, that's who I'd go with
6:29
this. Who's Monday?
6:34
Yeah, 7:00. Kenrich, he's making like 7
6:39
million and I just think age and money, like he's easy to kind of
6:46
move. He's a wing.
6:48
People probably would want him. He's pretty valuable.
6:51
So I don't think his stock can get any higher than coming off
6:55
of this, this run. For me, I think I said Joe, I
7:00
think he's got a pretty tradable contract and slipped out of our
7:02
rotation at the end of last season, so we might not need
7:06
him, could upgrade. All right.
7:08
Next is who is the most likely to come back and help coach or
7:11
scout on the team when the career is done.
7:17
Coach on the team. Oh.
7:20
That's actually, now that I think about it, I feel like
7:23
Caruso, I feel like he, I feel like he enjoys the mentor role.
7:26
He enjoys coaching up the younger guys.
7:28
I've seen him coaching off the bench, kind of playing the
7:30
assistant coach rules. So I actually feel like that's
7:33
quite an easy choice. That would be my top choice on
7:35
that one. I think I'm going to go with
7:39
Hartenstein. He's really involved with the
7:40
community. I think he actually like enjoys
7:43
being in OK C overall. I think he stays long term in
7:48
general and even if he doesn't, I see him being a guy that wants
7:53
to come back and be involved with the organization.
7:57
Good pick. I also had Caruso, so similar
8:02
reasons. So next one, who's most likely
8:05
to catch a body next season? I'll I'll go first on this one.
8:10
I got Cason Wallace I think. You stole mine.
8:13
I was going to say Cason too. Dude, he's been throwing down
8:16
crazy freaking bangers, man. I'm looking.
8:19
For it. And he's not scared of an adult
8:22
like. I got a sleeper.
8:24
Don't sleep on Brooks Barnhiser. That dude's not a that dude's
8:28
relentless. That dude's not afraid to go up
8:30
on anybody. Yeah, I could see him getting
8:32
one if who's gets more minutes. He's gotten way more athletic.
8:39
I've seen what I've seen from him in the G League.
8:42
I think he's a guy that can like sneakily just run up on somebody
8:46
and just boom. Obviously top obviously top
8:50
choice would still be Cason Wallace.
8:52
Yeah, yeah, we also, I'm surprised no one mentioned Joe
8:56
as a Joe he's got. Yeah, he did get up on Jeff
8:59
Green. That was pretty nice.
9:02
Yeah, got to mention him. Sleeper it could it?
9:04
Could really be anyone on the team, or almost anyone.
9:09
All right, Next up, be on the be on the other side of the poster,
9:12
so most likely to get dunked on next season like a a top ten
9:16
highlight. I'll.
9:18
Get I'll get, I'll get it out of the way and I'm going to say
9:22
Chet Holmgren, he's been down to a couple times last year, but I
9:26
think it's only because the best shot blockers get down to and
9:28
he's going to be contesting everything.
9:29
So something's going to slip through but and we'll only see
9:34
that something and we won't see all the locks and all the all
9:36
the defence but. You know what, I'll just, I'll
9:39
just go. I know Sorber's a great, was a
9:42
great rim protector in college, but I'll just go with him
9:44
because of the because of the rookie experience.
9:46
He doesn't. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
9:50
That's exactly that's exactly what I where I was going with
9:53
that. His welcome to the league
9:54
moment. Yeah, yeah, I was thinking
9:56
Sorber as well because he likes to get up for blocks.
9:59
The next person I'll go with is J Will because he's another one.
10:02
But the way J Will goes up for blocks is like 2 hands and like
10:06
I can just see him going with two hands and then Jah just
10:08
coming out of nowhere and just yamming it.
10:12
Hopefully not Next up who is most likely to never leave OK C
10:17
so they'll retire on the team 1st for me.
10:25
I have Jay well, I think we already saw him take a pretty
10:29
team friendly contract. So I think he's happy to be here
10:31
and he's happy to just be part of the team and like he's not
10:34
going to try to go somewhere else to prove himself he's cool
10:37
here. I think, I hope, but.
10:40
For me, yeah. For me, it's a mix of Shay and
10:45
Jay Will. I feel like if Shay has enough
10:48
of one or two more rings under his belt, that's going to be too
10:51
much to like. Like even he could be mediocre
10:56
to close out his career in OK C would still keep him around just
10:59
because he delivered us those championship rings and was the
11:05
number one option on those teams.
11:08
Thunder legend yet? I'd love that, to be honest.
11:12
You got thinking a lot there, savvy.
11:15
Yeah, I'm still trying to think. It feels like it's not easy
11:20
because when you have a championship roster you're
11:22
you're accounting for a lot of turnover.
11:26
So I'm trying to think who would take the most team friendly
11:30
deals to just stay? I know this is going to be
11:32
weird. I think I said Kenrich is most
11:34
likely to be traded or something, but he's also another
11:37
guy that could just end up staying for the rest of his
11:39
career too because he is on a team friendly deal where if he's
11:44
like one more extension away from just.
11:46
He he did once come out and say that he never wants to leave.
11:50
OK, C So I don't think unless we get rid of him, but I don't
11:53
think he's leaving us. Yeah, yeah.
11:58
All right, who is most likely to play all 82 games next season?
12:05
I'll go first. Chet Holmgren, Chet Holmgren's
12:08
playing 82. He's a dog.
12:09
He stays in the gym and outside of like freak injuries and
12:14
stuff, he played a full season so I can see him doing it again.
12:21
I'm going to go with Casey Wallace.
12:23
I think he's young, got the legs, doesn't really have an
12:26
injury history as much as I know of, but yeah.
12:32
Kind of people trying to think of people who haven't got hurt
12:34
playing for us. Oh no.
12:42
Obvious answer here. I mean, I don't think Shay will
12:50
play all 82 because of, I don't know.
12:54
I'll go, I'll go. I know, I know he's had injuries
12:57
in the past, but I'll go. Chad.
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I feel like if he's healthy, he's going to play no matter
13:00
what. Then I was, I was, I was, I was
13:04
hinting towards Shay because his injuries are more like he needs
13:09
rest rather than like, actually. I don't, I don't think 82.
13:14
I don't think he'll play every single back-to-back.
13:17
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't expect him to, but I
13:19
don't think like that should count against him.
13:22
He practically plays all 82 anyways.
13:25
All right. More than some of the other star
13:28
players in this league, so. This one's going to take a bit
13:32
more thinking, so take your time, but The Who is the most
13:35
likely person in the next season to break an OKC single game
13:39
record? And what's that record going to
13:40
be? You said single season record.
13:48
Single game. Single game, yeah, we're gonna
13:56
need a little bit of time here. Yeah.
13:59
It's a tricky 1. I'll go with Chet Holmgren
14:04
blocks that. That was the one on my mind.
14:09
Yeah, I think that's the easiest one because he just, he's
14:13
already gotten some records for blocks and stuff and as long as
14:16
he's healthy and he has more time to get them, like he can
14:21
break a record for that. I got Nicola Taupich most
14:26
assists by rookie. Oh, OK.
14:31
We can we can categorize by rookies, huh.
14:34
That that would be a single game record, so.
14:37
All right, fine then. Brooks Barnheiser, most stills
14:40
by a Thunder rookie. I like it.
14:42
I like it. That's fair.
14:43
That one will probably happen to be fair.
14:47
All right next, who is most likely to forget their shoes in
14:50
a training whilst going to a training?
14:53
Forget their shoes going to the training.
14:56
Oh man, yeah. I wanted to make a joke but.
15:09
I'm going to go with the rookie Sorber.
15:12
I can see it. He's running.
15:17
Forgot to bring shoes? Yep, to practice.
15:25
I feel like Wigan, just because he's goofy, which his goofiness
15:29
probably goes kind of go, goes hand in hand with leaving stuff
15:32
behind. I feel like me, Jalen Williams,
15:38
I could just, I, I could just see it happening.
15:41
I don't know why. Not much rationale to it.
15:44
All right, finally, who is most likely to start a podcast?
15:50
I'm going to say Jalen. Wouldn't.
15:53
Yeah, I almost want to go roll. Like I almost go.
15:56
With Go ahead. I just wanted My Mind Goes right
16:03
to role players because I've seen so many role player
16:05
podcasts recently. One of them is Jeff Teague.
16:09
I saw Raymond Felton on another. I don't know, I just I'll just
16:12
scroll social media and see random role player podcast.
16:17
See, I can, I can see J Dub because he's been on quite a few
16:19
and he's pretty on to it, like with social media and
16:22
everything. So I think he'd like to speak
16:24
his mind quite a bit. He's been on JJ Redick's and is
16:28
it the young man and the three or whatever that one is?
16:32
Yeah, give me the Give me the Williams Bros podcast.
16:35
I could see. I could see when Cody's at the
16:37
tail end of his career and about to retire.
16:39
I could see Jada hit him and up when they start a podcast
16:43
together. Yeah, I think that's a pretty
16:46
obvious one with his social media presence.
16:48
I think the other two is the other person that's pretty
16:51
present on social media recently is X Crusoe.
16:56
I think he'll be another guy on a podcast at some point.
16:59
And then the other sleeper pick, Hartenstein, is pretty active
17:04
social media wise. So those would probably be my
17:07
top three. And I think all the three of
17:08
them probably end up having podcasts.
17:11
Hey I do want to say A Williams A Williams Williams podcast with
17:15
J Will and J Dub would be 1 entertaining.
17:19
Podcasts, yeah, that would be. I definitely tune in for that.
17:24
All right, that's all for the most likely, I think.
17:26
Moving on. You got it 7.
17:31
Yeah, we're going to be talking about the three different pretty
17:37
much haters of the OKC all season long.
17:41
This is what you guys have been waiting for this whole time.
17:44
ESPN parting ways with Shannon Sharpe after he had a settlement
17:49
lawsuit. And then we had former NBA star
17:53
Gilbert Arenas arrested in connection with an illegal high
17:56
stakes poker games. And on top of that, we had
18:01
Marcus Morris, NBA veteran, ESPN analyst as well on fraud charges
18:09
and he was arrested as well. So we kind of had a trifecta
18:13
this week hit us after their wrong predictions with Gilbert
18:18
Arena saying that Thunder had 0% chance at winning a
18:21
championship. Marcus Morris pretty much was
18:25
the Clippers insider saying there's a Western Conference
18:28
team that doesn't think, you know, OK C can go all the way.
18:33
And I believe we all know Shannon Sharpe with his OK CUFC,
18:39
you know, Lakers and five stick that he had.
18:42
So I, I definitely had to mention these.
18:46
I think, you know, Shannon Sharpe is still going to carry
18:50
on with his social media presence because he has his own
18:53
media corporation. So he'll probably carry on.
18:56
Gilbert Arenas has a little bit more high stakes federal
19:00
indictment on him. So he's kind of in a different
19:05
pickle. We'll kind of, it's still to be
19:08
seen with all three of these guys kind of what ends up
19:10
happening. I think the only person that was
19:11
really in the clear is Marcus Morris.
19:15
They were saying they're fraud charges.
19:16
Essentially what happened was he had a couple late bills on a
19:19
casino payment. He got arrested for that and I
19:23
think he's already out and it wasn't too big of a deal.
19:26
But for everything that happened and us to win a championship, I
19:31
just hope that the rest of the ESPN and new or old media
19:36
members kind of learn their lesson with going against this
19:40
Thunder team. Man, I'd love to hear y'all's
19:42
thoughts on. It's very, it's very
19:46
coincidental. You mentioned 3, but I'm just
19:48
waiting for the ESPN and Doris Burke parted ways with each
19:52
other notification. Oh my goodness.
19:56
Yeah, maybe that will come next week.
19:57
I've seen the. Please rumors about.
20:00
It but I don't I think she'll get instead of parted ways.
20:05
I think the rumors was more she'll get kind of demoted.
20:08
Someone will take her place for the playoffs.
20:12
It was. Probably it was called your
20:13
regular season. It's cool.
20:15
It was cool until she hit the whole thing.
20:17
She was like, and This is why people hate Shake.
20:19
I'll just Alex Aaron her because of this baiting or whatever it
20:22
was, she said. She still doesn't know what that
20:24
means. She still doesn't know what it
20:27
means, man. Like I I refuse to believe she
20:30
knows what foul baiter actually means.
20:34
Well, comma bro comma. No.
20:40
I see who talks bad about the front of the season.
20:42
See how they got. I think, I think out of the
20:45
three, you take Sharp, Morris Arenas.
20:47
I think Morris said the most ridiculous things out of the
20:50
three. Morris, Morris really put us
20:53
down. He thought he thought we weren't
20:55
worth crap. Less true.
20:57
You didn't even think. You didn't even think we could
20:59
win the Leicester Conference. That's true.
21:02
I mean, he kind of backed on us every chance he got, but he has
21:07
a personal stick with the Thunder.
21:09
By the way, I have to mention this.
21:11
His brother Markeith Morris, was actually on the Thunder during
21:14
the Paul George days, and we didn't give him playing time.
21:19
So Marcus actually came out and said a bunch of stuff about the
21:22
Thunder, you know, not putting him in the right situation.
21:25
So he's kind of held that grudge.
21:27
And Markeith surprisingly has let it go on national TV.
21:30
Like he was actually like, you know, pretty positive about the
21:35
Thunder and his time with us. So it's kind of funny that his
21:38
brother still salty about that and then this happened and then
21:42
his I don't know, this whole situation is kind of crazy.
21:46
Gilbert Arena's funnily enough, had Shay's dad on his arena's
21:51
podcast or whatever that they have going on.
21:55
So it's kind of weird that he bagged on us the way they that
21:59
he did and then, you know, still managed to have that interview
22:04
and then I think the following day they kind of bagged on us
22:07
again, so. Yeah, I did see one comment.
22:11
It was like if if Markeith, if Markeith showed up to court
22:14
instead of Marcus, do you think the court would even notice?
22:17
That's a good one. That's a good one.
22:20
That's ridiculous. All right, we I think we've had
22:24
enough fun of making fun of these guys.
22:26
We've gotten our championship. We should just take the good
22:30
karma as it comes. We won't bag on them anymore
22:33
than than this episode right here, but let's move over to
22:39
another interesting topic here, Russell Westbrook possibly and
22:45
some conversations here with the kings.
22:49
I think this is interesting for them.
22:51
One thing I will mention the reporting is that the Kings are
22:54
looking to make a trade because they don't have the roster space
22:57
to actually get Russell. It's.
23:00
Not even. It's not even just that they're
23:02
just so crammed at the guard spot.
23:04
They have a ton of guards because they dropped, they just
23:07
drafted D Clifford and then they already have Bunk, Devin Carter,
23:11
some other guys. Is Nick Clifford a God?
23:18
It's like, I think he's a tweener.
23:21
I think he played two and three, yeah.
23:24
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm looking at.
23:28
What they're? Depth chart looks like, It looks
23:32
like they have Schroeder, Dallas, Carter, and then I guess
23:43
Zach's. So for guards, I, I don't think
23:48
that's too deep of a guard rotation.
23:50
I think they could. Schroeder too.
23:55
Funnily enough, imagine them trading Schroeder again like
23:59
Schroeder's been moved so many times in the league.
24:03
No, I can see it. I don't think they paid him.
24:06
I think they paid him too much just to move.
24:09
Him. They did seem pretty high on
24:10
him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I, I just.
24:12
Thought, I think hilarious. I think it's too late in the too
24:15
late in the offseason. Everyone's already spent their
24:17
money elsewhere on other things. Yeah, I'm trying to look at
24:20
where, who they would move. I think a guy like Dario Sarge
24:24
is already out of there. I mean, it's going to be, it's
24:28
going to have to be someone. You know, it's also buzz around
24:32
them. Get there.
24:33
They've also been linked to Kamingo a lot.
24:35
Basically, Kamingo came out and said if the opportunity
24:39
presented itself for him to play for the Kings, he would take
24:42
that opportunity. Interesting.
24:49
That'll be bad. That'll be quite a big hit for
24:52
the Warriors. I think that would actually be
24:54
perfect because then the Kings can get him, you know, picks up
24:59
their roster death situation. And I think it'd work out both
25:04
ways because I don't think he's signing with the Warriors with
25:06
the way they kind of treated him in the regular season.
25:09
Plus, this negotiation has been really poor with him.
25:14
Kim Thomas and Josh Giddy's contract negotiations have been
25:19
rough this offseason. I think the CBA in 2028 got to
25:23
be renegotiated with the players because this is going to keep
25:28
happening to all of them. He's super, he's super confident
25:32
in himself and he values himself as a star, but as long as Jimmy
25:37
Butler and Stephen Curry are in Golden State, I don't think he's
25:40
ever going to be able to reach that star level that he's think
25:43
that he thinks he's capable of reaching.
25:46
Yeah, start. Talking about Kaminga.
25:49
Yeah, also Kerr doesn't like him.
25:52
Like he just didn't plan. So it's like I'd be looking to
25:58
ask for a trade if we don't have anything else to talk about.
26:04
For the Russell Westbrook topic, let's move over to AJ Mitchell
26:10
versus Nikola Topich in the regular season.
26:14
Who do you guys think is going to get that, you know, backup
26:18
guard minutes, rotation minutes? I'll let Jack start it off
26:23
because he seems really ecstatic to do so.
26:27
It's it's hard because obviously you have to play both.
26:31
AJ has just been too good to ignore and Hobbit, we spent the
26:35
12th overall pick on him so and his upside is incredible.
26:39
And I wonder whether they try to transition AJ into more of a 2
26:43
guard and see how that works and then who knows.
26:48
But I hope that they both can get good minutes in this system
26:52
and because I really love seeing both them play, especially in
26:55
summer league. But AJ is one of my my personal
26:58
favourites on this team. So I really wouldn't want to see
27:00
his his minutes go like completely and then touch comes
27:05
in. But who knows man.
27:08
I think pre season training camp like nothing is decided at this
27:11
moment. They'll have to have to earn it.
27:13
And I think coming into game one, we'll have a different
27:18
rotation to Game 2. Like we see it well, we saw it a
27:21
lot last year, but it'll be more evident this year where the the
27:24
roster, the rotation, it's going to be so different game to game
27:27
and we just have too much talent.
27:29
So you got to try things out during the regular season.
27:31
I think some some games, maybe one of them won't play one of
27:34
them well, but hopefully I both them develop both of them.
27:39
Yeah, I think it's, I think it's super situational.
27:42
We have a super situational coach and Mark Daniel and this
27:45
isn't a bad problem to have. This is a good problem to have,
27:48
having two really talented younger guards.
27:51
I think if we're looking a little out of pace and we need
27:54
someone to clean up our like offense, make it look more
27:57
fluid, we'll go with toe pitch. If we need more score, If we're
28:00
down, we need more scoring. We're not getting enough scoring
28:03
output. I think we'll lean towards AJ.
28:06
But I think what we will see happen is if toe pitch struck
28:09
struggles early on and he's turning the ball over doing
28:12
that, I think I think we'll still play him during the
28:15
regular season because in the past we've really valued playing
28:19
rookies through their mistakes and kind of using that as a
28:22
learning experience for them. But yeah, that's basically my
28:27
thoughts on it. Yeah.
28:30
It's kind of a weird addition. Do you want to, you know, have
28:34
your both overall pick that's actually more of a top five pick
28:39
develop because of its potential or do you want to see that
28:43
second round or that looks really consistent, you know, get
28:47
the minutes? It's a tough spot to be in.
28:49
It's like what what do they value more?
28:50
I think they probably, like you guys are mentioning, have a
28:54
balance. But I guess if I had to pick,
28:56
I'd probably pick Topitch just because of just the higher
28:59
ceiling overall because he also plays a more traditional point
29:06
guard role. And that's kind of what you need
29:07
next to Shay and J Dub versus scoring because we have enough
29:11
scoring in terms of guard play. So if I had to choose, I would
29:15
probably choose Topitch if I was the coach on a more consistent
29:18
basis. But I see the reason for AJ.
29:22
He's super versatile as a combo guard.
29:24
He has solid defense, solid play making.
29:28
He can kind of get to the basket however he wants.
29:30
So he's a little bit more consistent overall.
29:33
But I think long term, like developmental wise, I'd probably
29:38
just squeeze a couple extra minutes over to topics just just
29:43
for that, just to see a little bit more from him.
29:46
Yeah, let's talk about this Malavi Leon's exhibit deal.
29:55
We have a bunch of Exhibit 10 deals that will be coming up for
29:58
if you guys don't know, that's kind of like a one year non
30:02
guaranteed deal that they give to Geely guys during the
30:05
offseason. You can sign up to 21 players
30:08
during the offseason. We'll have a bunch of those guys
30:11
probably sign just to kind of have them in and around the
30:14
team. Probably at the end of the deal
30:17
they'll get, you know, stick with the G League, whatever.
30:21
But this is kind of to get a closer look with them, work with
30:24
them more in the offseason. I think it's a solid, solid deal
30:30
for him. This kind of indicates he
30:33
probably may not get this two way or he could at least fight
30:37
for the two way. He's probably in the contention
30:39
for that last two way spot. So he's got some time to you
30:44
know, you know, part be part of this non guaranteed training
30:47
camp contract and just kind of see what his two way ability
30:53
shows. What what do you guys think
30:55
about this deal for him? I'm just happy he got signed to
30:59
this because it's basically locks him in for another season
31:01
of the OKC Blue, which he killed it in.
31:04
He's my top pick for the two way.
31:05
I'm not going to pretend he's not.
31:07
So I'm really happy. Hopefully he shows him what he
31:11
can do in training camp. But I guess, yeah, it just shows
31:16
that he's probably one of the top.
31:18
I mean, we thought we've covered it in a previous video, but he's
31:21
one of the top 2 prospects for that two way between him and
31:24
Youngblood. So I guess they're just going to
31:27
be fighting it out in the training camp.
31:29
And I'd really love to see that, to be honest, like seeing these
31:32
guys fighting for this last spot.
31:33
I mean they'd go ham and just be diving on the floor.
31:38
You know, they really want it. So it'd be cool to see, but who
31:42
knows who's going to get it. I trust press you to make this
31:44
right decision but I'm really happy that Malabar got signed so
31:48
at least he's he'll be on the blue worst comes to worst.
31:53
Yeah, I think As for this goes, I think it will be he sticks us
31:56
up with us in the summer and then ends up getting another
32:00
year on the blue, which I think the Thunder are kind of banking
32:03
on his future. He's like six, 10611, can shoot
32:07
the ball, can space the floor, decent rim protector.
32:11
So I think he does have some NBA that that stretch 5 play style
32:19
translates well in the NBA nowadays.
32:21
A lot of teams look for that playing style.
32:24
So I think he's worth, you never know what could happen with
32:28
Carlson. I think Brooks keep Brooks,
32:31
Barnhiser around, but you also never know what he could be.
32:35
The third two ways guy we sign, you never know, but we could
32:39
also sign someone else and they could end up leaving at some
32:42
point. So it's kind of just good to
32:44
have Leon's around as backup if he does end up staying on the
32:47
blue. But I think with those two way
32:49
spots, we really value character in those spots.
32:51
Especially being a championship winning team.
32:53
You want guys who are going to boost the players around them's
32:56
confidence, kind of be a energy guy off the bench, on the bench.
32:59
We saw it with Dylan Jones last year.
33:02
Always rooting for the guys, giving them high fives, dancing,
33:05
doing all that stuff. So I think they definitely look
33:08
into character when choosing guys for those two way spots.
33:12
Brooks Barnheuser is another character guy.
33:15
Carlson's a good game to have. And I, I was saying that I think
33:20
that'll favour Malavi because I remember after his, I saw a
33:24
report after his first G League game, he went around the media
33:28
pen and introduced himself to all the OC media, got to know
33:31
them. And I think they were all very
33:34
impressed about that. He's a, he's a good dude.
33:39
So fingers crossed. Yeah.
33:43
I'm really, I'm really cool with, I trust whoever we go.
33:46
If I'm really cool with whoever, it's, I mean, at the end of the
33:50
day, they aren't even able to play in the playoffs anyways.
33:54
So I just want someone that I'm going to like and going to like
33:58
to see in a Thunder jersey. Yeah.
34:01
The other thing I want to mention before we head out off
34:04
this episode here is for this Exhibit 10 deal.
34:08
I think in the episode that me and Jack recorded, we mentioned
34:12
how we have a couple injured players on that summer league
34:15
roster. I think some of those guys will
34:17
probably end up signing deals on this to give them a chance to
34:21
see if they can have that two way spot.
34:23
So I think that'll add an interesting mix to the arty guys
34:27
that were kind of considering. I think like Gortman and
34:31
obviously the Youngblood and Malavi are kind of the top
34:34
three, but I think some of those injured guys, maybe this gives
34:38
them that training camp space to, you know, show out.
34:42
And I'm kind of interested to see if, you know, we'll see some
34:45
footage of that or if we get some playing time from them for
34:49
like a preseason game or something like that.
34:51
Like they show something, you never know, like they could
34:54
easily get the spot because that's really all it takes is
34:57
you, you know, showing out in one or two games.
35:01
That's really what it's about. And I think for all these like
35:05
two way spots or bench rotation spots, I think we're trying to
35:09
aim highest ceiling possible. I think that's the best case
35:12
scenario because you want obviously a guy that's on a two
35:16
way rotation player to have the highest ceiling so you can lock
35:19
him up on a long term deal and, you know, pair him up, you know,
35:24
as a role player next to Shay. So I'm super excited about that.
35:28
Hopefully you guys enjoyed. Not just.
35:32
Go ahead. I was going to say they can also
35:39
play them in the preseason games, and I also think that
35:43
Peyton Sanford from Iowa will get one of those Eaton spots.
35:49
I'll lean towards that. And Victor Larkin, I believe as
35:53
well. But.
35:53
Yeah, other than that at about, he wasn't the one.
35:58
He was one of the injured ones, right?
36:00
Yeah, on the summer league team, so they see something there.
36:07
Yeah, also for opening night, we're facing the Rockets, if I'm
36:11
not mistaken. So Kevin Durant will, funnily
36:14
enough, see us get the trophies, the rings, the real rings.
36:20
So super excited about that. All right, guys, Thunder up.
36:26
We'll see you guys for the next episode.
36:28
This will drop at Friday 3:00 PM Central every Friday, so peace
36:34
out.