The Thunder Just Did The IMPOSSIBLE…

The Thunder Just Did The IMPOSSIBLE…

The Oklahoma City Thunder are the young team of this season we have a handful of teams that are exceeding expectations teams like Minnesota that are really good Anthony Edwards is really good but of course they have you know guys like Rudy goar some other veterans amongst teams that rely almost entirely on young

Players Oklahoma City is the team of the season and the conversation around them has mostly revolved around do they need to make a move do they need to make a trade but at this point I’m starting to wonder if one they don’t even need to make a trade during the year this year

And two if they are real players in the tender race in the Western Conference now we talked about the thunder before the season on multiple different channels that I have and the big X Factor for them was always going to be Chad Homen because they had plenty of perimeter Talent obviously Jaylen

Williams was awesome last year to you know start his rookie season SGA uh giddy still trying to grow as an offensive player they had plenty of pieces on the perimeter offensively the thing that they missed all of last year when they were still pretty good as well

As in years prior was some kind of presence in the front court whether it be as a school whether it be as a Defender and obviously chat wasn’t going to be this dominant physical presence in the front court but what we talked about before the year was he could be a top

Level connector for this team maybe not this early he has exceeded expectations in terms of how quickly he’s gotten there we talked about the possibility of him being able to space the floor being able to do some stuff in the ball screen action where he’s you know getting the

Ball in the middle of the floor and creating a little bit there defensively his instincts there and he has basically showed up and played at almost an All-Star level I don’t think he’s going to make the all our team but borderline on that level one of the league leaders

In blocks shoots threes well and is just everywhere on the floor and his ability to not only contribute but to do it immediately is the thing that has changed the the ceiling formula for this season for Oklahoma City because again we knew Jaylen Williams was going to be

Good we knew SGA was going to be good we knew that they were going to have spacing and a really good coach but the front Court presence was what they were going to be missing and Chad not only has answered a lot of questions for them but also has presented a really unique

Opportunity in terms terms of what this team could look like into the future I just I cannot say enough about how impressive he has been especially relative to some of the other guys in his draft class obviously he didn’t play at all last year due to injury so he’s

Going to be a little bit more impressive as a rookie quote unquote presumably but he it like this doesn’t happen like guys don’t just step in as rookies and become Elite highlevel connecting pieces on a team that’s really really good like that just doesn’t happen his impact level

Immediately has been unbelievable and I think that’s the spot where a lot of people have pointed to maybe Oklahoma City needs to make a move I’ve talked before about the possibility of trading away Josh giddy as well um kind of to get another front Court player alongside

Uh Chad hren they certainly need more size in the front court for example they just beat Denver but like for example in certain matchups against guys like joic and and this and that it’s going to be a problem for them if they don’t have someone with a little bit more size I’ve

Talked about Isaiah Stewart from Detroit as being a really good option for Oklahoma City as a guy that can shoot provides them size and rebounding and is on a cost controlled contract because that’s another thing with this group in the future is they’re going to have a

Ton of young Max contract guys and it’s going to be really expensive quickly so I’ve talked about someone like Isaiah Stewart for this team that to me is the point that we’re looking at for them in terms of inseason upgrades is getting someone with a little bit more size just

As like a matchup option in the front court that also plays well alongside Chad I’ve talked about the possibility of someone like low Mark in but like their offense is fine sga’s dropping 40 on certain nights they’ve got plenty of shooting space Jaylen Williams looks like he’s going to be a future Allstar

They’re good on that uh so I’ve kind of cooled off on that idea even though I think it would be really cool it make a lot of sense for them right now if you’re talking about an inseason trade uh I wouldn’t mind if they moved giddy for something but realistically they’re

Probably going to keep him until the off season and then evaluate that because I still have questions about his fit alongside sgaa and then of course bringing in someone in the front Court as I mentioned but really what like what I’ve landed on for Oklahoma City is two

Things one when you’re playing this well and you’re a young team and the chemistry and the vi are all there it’s kind of like how Orlando was at the beginning of the Season where I I wouldn’t want to mess that up like yeah you can look at the situation and say

Hey in Oklahoma City’s case if we make a move we might be a contender this year like we might actually matter within the race for you know the top of the Western Conference and that can be a really exciting possibility but when your team is playing so well with all these young

Guys I I would certainly hesitate to mess with that to to screw up the rotation to trade guys away that maybe are playing really well for you I would hesitate to do that even though it’s clear that they do need a little bit more help certainly in the front court

But the other part of that is they’re so talented and they’re so good and they play so well together and everybody’s role just fits perfectly that I don’t think it’s crazy to think that OKC could make the Conference Finals this year with the roster that they have like

They’re that good obviously it’s not a guarantee the West is loaded but I don’t think they need to make a trade to be a Conference Finals team I I don’t think they’re they’re on the level yet of like winning the title this year with this team but I think they could make the

Conference Finals and not make a move and that is an unbel believable thing to say about a team that has as many assets as Oklahoma City does moving into the future and that’s where this conversation lands is as much as I like this team as much as I like how well

They play together a trade almost has to happen for them at some point and you have to figure out what is the final piece cuz I think they’re officially in like final piece territory what’s the thing that we can add to this team that

Puts us over the top that puts us on the level of these top top tier contending teams and it’s hard to figure out what that is right because I still think that if they get to the off season and they can trade giddy for someone either in

The front court or the back court that fits really well with their with the guys that they have I think that’s the move giddy is fine I’m sure that he’ll end up being you know a decent player on another team but just I don’t like the

Fit between him and SGA and too often they play better when it’s just SGA and some shooting rather than SGA and giddy on the floor together as they are to start games and of course they have all of these assets like when I say they

Have to make a trade it it is partially because of the roster because they need a couple of other things but it’s also cuz they can’t keep all of these picks like they can keep kicking them down the road and get more and more future picks

And not actually use them in the draft but like when they have as many when you have as many picks as OKC does at some point you have to use them for something like you otherwise you’re just going to end up cutting first round picks every

Year off the team because you don’t have roster spots so that’s what I mean when I say they have to make a trade but I think right now if I if you just put me in charge of Oklahoma City right now I would I would I would I would kind of

You know look at the Josh giddy situation see if there’s a team out there that maybe wants him if not I would just chill I’d try and get someone like Isaiah Stewart maybe try and add a little bit more size in the front court and that’s about it like I I would just

Wait I would wait past the trade deadline I would see what this team looks like in the postseason and then evaluate my roster in the offseason and and look for that final piece but when you have a team like this that’s young that’s growing that is just unbelievably

Talented I don’t think it makes sense to make a move like that in the middle of the year like keep this this group keep this feeling going and then see what you have in the off season in terms of the final piece of the puzzle and maybe you

Could say that you it in that scenario you’re like wasting a season in which they maybe could have actually been a contender that’s a fine argument if you want to make it but if it was me I’d wait past the straight deadline evaluate things in the offseason but the bottom

Line is it’s unbelievable how good this team is as quickly as they have gotten really really good one I think it it really really helps that they nailed the like they absolutely nailed the coach like the coach has been good for a couple of years and people just haven’t noticed because they’ve intentionally

Lost games in the second half of the season but in the first half of the year they’re always good or at least 500 and then they fall off in the second half of the year on purpose um obviously SGA has developed into a wonderful player uh the

Jaylen Williams pick from last year it just continues to like dumbfound me how good he is and how quickly he has gotten to that point and then of course chat’s development as well and that’s the thing that it’s not that I didn’t anticipate what Chad would become I didn’t

Anticipate the timeline on which he would become the guy that he has so bottom line is okay see I I’ve watched a ton of them this year they’re one of my favorite teams in the league to watch and not only are they the team of the

Future but they might be the team of the present a little bit quicker than we all realized

The OKC Thunder are basically NBA title contenders with one of the youngest rosters in the league.

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