Don’t Overlook OKC’s Team Chemistry | The Mismatch | The Ringer

Don’t Overlook OKC’s Team Chemistry | The Mismatch | The Ringer

And I was like every story I hear about them I like them More it was in January that I saw this clip that was about how ched holgren uh I believe he’s from Minnesota was getting his jersey retired at his high school and he’s getting his jersey retired at his high school and the whole team showed up they all went

They all walked in and they supported Chad at his High School ceremony right the whole team went to that yeah and it stood out to me as something cool I was like wow that’s cool you know what I mean it’s not I mean teams do it for

Sure especially if they’re on road trips but it’s still cool that you get that kind of participation and you get that many guys going to somebody else’s High School uh retirement on Saturday night uh or no Friday night the night that I was at WWE Smackdown you know my uh local producer John

Roser uh is calls games for the Memphis hustle which is the g-league team they were playing the Oklahoma City Blue there’s nobody at these games okay and he just he said the entire Oklahoma City team just walked in and they’re sitting on the front row and it was like and and like Usman

Jings playing for them and a couple other guys whatever and I just say this to tell you like you could see it on the court and then there’s two different examples of off the court of like this togetherness that they have as a group that I do think is something that’s not

Necessarily tangible but can matter a great deal and I do think is very special when it comes to a very young team it seems like they are legitimately friends and I do think and and and honestly they’ve not had bad issues this year so they’ve gotten a lot of minutes

Two years in a row together out on the court but it does seem that they’ve got a a very special group there that and and and I’m saying like guil Alexander all in for them and and and and even when the last time that uh Memphis played there on the road our social

Media guy told me he sent me this picture and it was like before the game that guil Alexander goes out like super early and works out and then he walks over and he said this dude just signed every single autograph I mean I’m telling you Kevin there were throngs of

People throng like sixd all through a section he said he worked his way one by one inside every single person’s autograph and I was like every story I hear about them I like them more and then you know you see what they did that you know it’s not the biggest deal in

The world for them to all go together to something I’m just saying I think it speaks to it does matter though Chris you’re spot on the chemistry aspect look that’s one of the reasons why Sam presy decided not to try to overpay for someone at the trade deadline or why he

Decided not to go for Daniel Gafford or PJ Washington like Dallas got because they wanted to ride it out with this team that has A+ chemistry to see what they have and so like normally if a team was a one seed or in competition to be a

One seed and they didn’t make a big trade I’d be ripping them for it like how do you not go completely Allin when you have an opportunity to try to win a championship you need to go for it you have all these future picks you got to

Go for it you got to try to overpay for like an Isaiah Stewart type from Detroit somebody who’s not available a Jared Allen overpay and go get that guy right but because the chemistry is so good on top of the fact that the team is great

As is I understand why they would want want to ride it out as is to find out what they have with this current group for this team to grow together as is and maybe it turns out if they make it all the way to the Western Conference Finals

That they decide to stick with pretty much the roster as is and just make little tweaks because this team definitely has something to it and I don’t think they can beat the Nuggets I think the nuggets are too big I think yic is Unstoppable at this point they

Don’t have a answer for him we’ve seen the issues they have against size like the Lakers Maybe even in a seven game series Minnesota with their size could present issues we’ll see how the playoffs go for Oklahoma City but they’re not a team that doesn’t have a

Chance to go all the way all right I would just say two teams you know if you want the I want to see them in the second round of the playoffs and not be one of these like one seeds that like oh it’s just a year too early there’s their

Playoff scars like gota they got they gotta make it to round two at least just stay away from Dallas or La honestly like if you want to play sack if you want to play I’m not saying they’ll beat all these teams what I am saying is sack

Phoenix Golden State uh who’s the other one that’s down there uh towards the towards the playin that’s AIX yeah well no Phoenix there’s four of them right that are down there towards right now right here are the standings as of as of Monday Night the games aren’t over yet

So standings could change slightly Monday night Monday night Pelicans are the five seed they’re game and a half half up on three teams the Kings the Mavericks and the Suns and then the Warriors and the Lakers are three games back from that group of three teams yeah

Okay so I’d say I’d say Kings sons are warriors and stay stay away from LA or Dallas I mean it’s highly unlikely they would get New Orleans matched up with them at this point the way seating is if anything New Orleans is going to catch the Clippers they’re the five they game

Back from the Clippers right now it’s looking you know most most likely that it would be Kings Mavericks or Suns unless they’re the one seed then maybe it ends up the Warriors or Lakers um but honestly I’d pick the thunder in any of the series I’d say I think I pick

Oy in any of them I just don’t want to I I I would much rather I think for also aesthetically pleasing watching that team get up and down the court as well and not have the size really hurt them you know those teams are not going to

Destroy you with size the ones that I mentioned right Golden State’s not doing that Sacramento’s not doing that Phoenix isn’t doing that you know the other two teams can play pretty big and can also just they’ve got the two guys that kind of like just control the pace of the

Game yeah and slow it down to a slog and could turn it into a 96 92 game and that’s just not that’s not where you’re best suited to play um but anyways I think when you’re when you’re when you’re looking for reasons Beyond just the hardcore basketball reasons they’re obviously well coached

They’ve obviously got a superstar playing point guard who is a really good guy and everybody the the only reason I I I told the story about himid in the autograph is because everybody I know that’s come in contact with him loves him and so I do think that that matters

When that guy’s at the top of the top of the chart there um and also acts just like he’s part of the team uh rather than this Mass superstar that he has become uh and kids the reaction to guil Alexander was huge kids love him kids love SGA like little kids he’s

Like one of their guys I think it’s just you know obviously he’s fantastic but he’s also cool like they think he’s cool and so it was interesting to uh it was interesting to see that and I was really impressed I was really impressed getting

To see them as a team and unit um and then that off the court stuff impressed me as Well

The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor and Chris Vernon discuss the OKC Thunder and how their chemistry as a team has helped them all season long.

Check out the Bill Simmons YouTube channel: youtube.com/billsimmons

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