NBA Today | Chet vs. Wemby: The Battle for Rookie of the Year – Wind previews OKC Thunder vs. Spurs

NBA Today | Chet vs. Wemby: The Battle for Rookie of the Year – Wind previews OKC Thunder vs. Spurs

Schedule tonight the top two rookies squaring off for the third time Chad holgren and the Thunder has won both matchups against Victor wanyama and the San Antonio Spurs by an average of 31 points here but that hasn’t stopped odds makers at ESPN bet in the Rookie of the

Year race Victor is the heavy favorite as you can see there against shett but let’s not forget these two have history they were Rivals before they even entered the NBA so what’s Victor’s mindset Brian headed into this one I think Victor’s mindset is the Thunder have a lot better team than the Spurs

And a year from now he’d like the Gap to be closed and two years from now he’d like it to be really closed I one of the things that’s happened over the course of this season is Victor has played better and better put up more efficient and more impressive numbers shown that

He can be durable shown he can place the center position which he wasn’t at the start of the season but he’s also made it clear he’s not thrilled with where the Spurs are the team is not as good as he expected it to be and frankly doesn’t

Have the Personnel to to compete and I don’t think the Spurs are going to be able to quote unquote get away with a slow long build like the Thunder have done quite frankly and chett sat in the sidelines this whole first season and entered a team was in much better shape

I think the Spurs are going to face some some interest from Victor to start getting it going much sooner than maybe they they would even prefer Victor is as competitive as anybody he wants to win the other day when he had that 5×5 in in crypto.com Arena and we told him

Afterwards I said you’re the first player since Michael Jordan to achieve uh this specific statline for in two games in he said okay well did Michael Jordan win those games and I walked out with him and I said yeah I I I looked it

Up hate to tell you yeah he did win and he goes dang I’m jealous that is the kind of competitive fire he this season for Victor is not acceptable normally you’d see a rookie even a rookie of the year who wouldn’t be so stressed on wins and losses it really really bothers him

It’s it’s it’s who he is and I obviously a professional basketball players want to win I know that that’s not unusual but I don’t think it’s in his mindset to you know to keep this going wemi has exceeded the hype as a rookie I mean when you look at everything he’s doing

On both ends of the floor and the way he’s surging toward the end of the season when a lot of rookies hit the rookie wall just an absolutely Sensational above expectations for me rookie season and the good news about what Brian is saying about how the Spurs

Might have to accelerate it is you can do that when you have a generational Superstar they don’t need to have too many bites at the Apple cuz this dude is that good they’ll have one other high pick this year and maybe that’s it and maybe that’s okay we saw that with

LeBron you get a generational Prospect like this you don’t get to pick in the top 10 so many times CU your guy is that good I think this is an interesting summer for the Spurs I think they know they need better guard play they have picks to trade they have cap flexibility

I’d expect them to be active at least looking around for upgrades and looking at that tandem it just make it reminds me like this was going to be one of the to thewire Rookie of the Year races right wemi is the Rookie of the Year in my opinion like watching what he has

Done exceed expectations in Zack L’s words but on top of that at one point we’re saying well we need to see him get his rebounds up now he’s in double digit rebounds yeah oh we need to see him knock down threes now he’s getting in his bag in between the legs step back

Threes everything that I think we have said he should be able to do he’s added that to his game in one NBA season Midway to me that’s wild and he leads almost every statistical category there have only been two instances ever of a guy having 150 blocks 150 assists and 75

Threes in the season Chad holgren and Victor wanyama this year he might get another 5 by five game before the end of the season he’s going to break the record for 5 by five games and then it’s going to come April and the San Antonio Spurs will not be playing and the

Oklahoma City Thunder will be so how far far can OKC go in this postseason well they’ve been in first place they’re going back and forth with Minnesota in first place I know no one’s been paying attention outside Oklahoma City but they’ve only won six consecutive games by double figures they’re pounding teams

And it’s not just Chad Chad’s been awesome it’s not just Shay who basically scores 30 points whether it’s rainy whether it’s snowing whether it’s sunny he scores 30 points every night then you got Jaylen Williams who is one of the most efficient scorers in the entire NBA

Who out there also defending like Mark dagal has like issues find finding which nine guys to use because this team is so deep I think the size is going to be an issue depending on their matchup but good luck thinking this is going to be an easy out in the postseason I’m not

Thinking it’s going to be an easy out FR not also necessarily thinking that they’re going to be going to the NBA finals or even the Western Conference finals and history says at least right now after the Warriors and the Cavs they face each other in four straight NBA

Finals we’ve we’ve now seen five different NBA champions in the last five seasons most recently the Nuggets over the Heat last June the Nuggets they face off for the first time since matching up in the finals with in tonight’s matchup right when we’re seeing the nuggets and

The and the Miami Heat do you think that this what’s a path back to the finals for the Nuggets here uh it’s going to be harder than it was last year the West is better top to bottom they’re third I think they’re okay being third and not

Having homec court all the way through like they did last year they learn they grew they know they get through the playoffs but every round is perilous this year there’s not going to be any cakewalks for them and it’s going to be really really hard and really I mean

Depending on the matchups you just don’t know what every round is going to be and of course injuries who’s going to be able to stay healthy all the way through I hate to say that but that’s going to be a factor these teams are so tightly

Packed that an injury at a certain time could could impact who wins it and also I think what you’re going to see is size the way the size matches up because you’ve got some teams like Golden State like Phoenix that like to play small you you’ve got some teams like Minnesota and

Denver that like to play Big you’ve got some teams that struggle against size like the Clippers like the thunder so not only just you know individual matchups but size matchups are going to be a big factor in who gets through this conference and you know what the Miami

Heat benefit from the East right they’re eight- two in their last 10 games it’s like February it feels like the temperature goes up it’s like we’re ready to do what we always do show up what is it is it right so the path there it just like

Okay if this team keeps building are we about to it’s going to be hard to do exactly what they did going from the plane all the way to the NBA finals but still this squad I mean watch them this time of year because it feels like all

Those issues that they had before in and out of lineup trying to figure out how to acclimate Terry Rosier all that type of stuff like okay we got it we got it it’s our time to shine now on the Nugget side though these guys are still my

Favorites I mean we watch them I think most of us were there uh across the street when we watched them play in person not too long ago yep they are long they are athletic they’ve got Shooters they’ve got the best player in yic like even though the West is better

It’s still the Nuggets to lose we have enough they won in Sacramento the other night without six players they’re one game out of fourth right those Sly Boys in Miami here they come can’t you see them Zach in that second round playing the Celtics look can’t you see it

Happening again here’s the reaction of any good team in the East when they see Miami on the opposite side of the bracket oh God these guys this is going to be horrible physical nasty mean in the mud nobody wants I don’t care what their record is I don’t care what their

Seat is nobody wants to see these guys nobody wants to see Jimmy Butler beating people up bam beating people up and SPO on the sideline crafting zones and schemes and being one step ahead they’re a nightmare you know what this was this is my dream though this was not a

Nightmare this is what I absolutely unequivocally wanted to see ever since we saw Jimmy Butler on uh media day pull out the Jimmy uh yeah did you guys catch this Jimmy Butler is in the new Fallout Boy uh Prince Vibes music video there okay that’s a nice little D okay look at

Him go I inspired by what Beyonce I mean emo Jimmy the alter ego the pride of Tomball Texas y’all that’s where I’m from we got to get that outfit for you for somebody somebody need and you shall receive all right let’s check out today’s smart play

Brought to you by into it Credit Karma Zach did you see this last night oh yeah Nicola yic what is happening here he f takes the charge gets the deflection and it leads to a steal he just still does stuff that surprises me he’s one step

Ahead of Trey LS doesn’t know what to hell’s going to charge what does he do his arm is there yoink and then he’s and then it’s G he doesn’t know what the hell’s going on anything that M makes Zach say yoink po Troy allows we got to

Show this five times I don’t think he was faking the charge I think he’s just so fast that he reacted to the path he’s had his fair share of magical moments in Madison Square guard in the latest being breaking the three-point record but that was two years ago Jan this is a very

Very different Warrior Squad what makes it so they have a plethora of perimeter players since we’re staying on the PS but let’s dive into their starting lineup okay so this is them the starters for the Warriors when healthy is this their strongest lineup would you use

This lineup to close games I would maybe not to close games but I think it’s rolling as a starting five I hope Andrew Wiggins can come back soon best to his family Clay’s rolling Off the Bench I like this lineup I like Draymond at Center we’re Rolland so if Clay is

Having a heater you know he’s coming off the bench but you want him to close how would you do that Zach I probably go to I’m sorry Brandon psky you’re awesome a great rookie year if I got to pick one of these guys because I need Wiggins

Defense I obviously need Draymond I need kinga’s offense and two-way play put clay in there that’s the old starting lineup before they switched it up I like that group gotcha but one thing we have noticed as of late is that Steph might be a little bit of tired right he’s been

Shooting under 36% four out of the last five games so how do you sustain success with Steph off the floor so he can get his gas back up well this dude up here I think they call him the point guard he just he just came back from from a long

Injury absence let’s give him some more minutes the whole reason they brought him here was to prop up the offense without step and gp2 if you need to shut somebody’s water off on defense throw him in a three guard lineup four guard lineup get crazy they have a lot of op

Who would you put him in for I don’t know Wiggins kaminga pick just whoever just whoever this is Steve Ker’s life he’s got a lot of choices now click look this is a lot of Versatility we have here for the gold State Warriors they just got to get them win right they have

A plethora of choice that they need to be making here so we’re going to see the Golden State Warriors in Madison Square Garden tonight taking on the Knicks remember no Andrew Wiggins he will miss his second straight game due to personal reasons but that is not the only matchup

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NBA Today | Chet vs. Wemby: The Battle for Rookie of the Year – Brian Windhorst previews OKC Thunder vs. Spurs