The Oklahoma City Thunder Know Exactly What They’re Doing

The Oklahoma City Thunder Know Exactly What They’re Doing

this recent trade of Alex Caruso from the Chicago Bulls to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Josh giddy is a GameChanger gameer and I already know the first thing that came to mind the Thunder just got a steal and didn’t have to give up any draft picks for the Thunder acquiring Caruso means getting a battle tested defensive Maestro with an NBA championship under his belt his accolades including two NBA all defensive team selections and the NBA hustle award highlight his ability to make an immediate impact on the defensive end and on the offensive end Caruso is a sniper from Deep range making the defense pay if they leave them open the Thunder added a win now player to a team that is ready to make a deep playoff push but what exactly is it that Caruso will bring to this Thunder team well hey right off the top if you’ve ever watched Caruso operate on the floor you can see that he has this doglike defense just hounding Defenders and it’s anchor by’s exceptional ability to read the game which constantly disrupts opposing offenses his quick hands and impeccable timing make him a nightmare for ball handlers often leading to Steals and deflections that can ignite fast breaks when you look at his on ball defense is just as much of a problem as he has a knack for staying in front of his man using his agility and strength to contest shots without fouling and last but certainly not least his defensive versatility allows him to guard multiple positions providing the Thunder with a valuable asset who can switch seamlessly during defensive assignments and this adaptability is crucial in today’s NBA where defensive schemes often rely on switching to counter the offensive possession when guards get a screen to get released from Caruso they’ll think this pass to the roller is going to lead to a bucket but with Caruso on the prow at all times he swats this right out of John Collins’s hands on the recover it’s these plays where it looks like your guy is going to be wide open so you send it over the top but when you have someone whose hands stay active the ball pops right out of Al Horford’s hands for the Bulls to go the other way this aspect of cruso being able to recover off screens make him an annoying pest as here when a be catches deep in the paint you would think this is a forh bucket but no it’s a stripp and dip it may not seem like a gamechanging skill but trust me this helps cruso average 1.7 steals per game which ranked him at number four this season take those active hands and pair with his agility on the floor and the result is a defensive Savant you may think when you’re catching in the back court you’ll have that space to bring it up but no cruo is going to speed you up while staying attached to you the whole time and when you finally think you see some daylight he’ll close that down and shut the window it’s one thing to deal with a guy who’s just in the right spot at the right time but when you’re dealing with a guy who can swiftly move on the court he’ll beat you to the spot on the court giving you some resistance and before you know it the ball is no longer in your possession let me ask you something how how many guards do you see stopping the ball handler on the push to then release often when they pass it and perfectly swipe the ball out yeah let’s be for real it’s not really many as it takes absurd eye tracking hustle and correct placement on the courter when you sit down and actually watch the film of Caruso you’ll notice that he’s constantly scanning the offense to see where they might try to go so once hardenstein cuts to the rim on Dante DW’s Baseline kuso sees this and immediately launches at the ball to break up this entire play for the offense they have to be aware that Everything That Glitters is in Gold because I get it this P the hard way in the corner looks like easy money but when you’re dealing with a player that has those Spidey senses well now you end up throwing a turn over on this inbound play here you can see that cruso has his head on a swivel tracking everyone’s movement so when Duncan Robinson breaks fre down the middle kuso is able to swipe at the ball but does miss the Ste attempt and then instead of giving up he blocks it with the opposite hand the key to this is the ability to anticipate the play before it fully develops because when Shay gets the screen to get away from cruso here Alex notices is L door to slip into the basket immediately and Shay wants to pass it there but trust and believe Caruso is two steps ahead at all times as when he’s guarding Beverly on this dve Baseline Demar shifts over to help out which makes jaon Carter have to slide down and cover Maxi allowing Robert cson to cut to the room so with all this happening Caruso is the only one to see it playing out and releases off Beverly to prematurely jump this pass so he can run right through it when it’s delivered you might not realize that this screen is being set so spies can have the mismatch down low on Kobe white but Alice Cruz who has seen this many times and leaves Batum in the corner to make a play on the ball when it’s sent down low for OKC it’ll be nice to have a guy like this who can save plays on the back end and pick off passes to guys in the open floor but what really takes things over the top is that he can lock down guys oneon-one and blow up actions constantly I’m not saying that guys on OKC can’t hold throne but with someone like Alex Caruso who has seen many offensive schemes and understands other players tendencies he can be that anchor that brings this defense up a notch teams like to search for these mismatches assuming that it’ll be instant offense but kuso is strong enough to absorb bumps and quick enough to pick your pockets so this doesn’t really work out like I’m being serious you put him down there with a big like bam out of bio and cruo will still stand his ground just showing you that his defensive instincts are stronger than your offensive bag basically you need to be careful with the w cruo is in front of you because he’ll constantly Hound you while you’re trying to operate and the longer you keep trying to create space opens up a bigger window for cruso to force a turn over it’s truly scary when you know there’s a guy on the opposite team who can match up with guys one through four and hold his own and even if he isn’t on the ball directly he can cause players to alter everything they do key example when Trey comes off this capella screen they like to throw this lob so Caruso is able to get low enough to take that pass away but since he has absurd recovery skills Caruso gets a great contest on the shot when it’s passed out which results in a Miss once again on this play Caruso is in position to pick off a pass to Luke cornette if pyton tries to throw it over so when it swung back out cruso can get out quickly which makes samher not even look at the basket and swing get instead so now when deleno puts it on the deck cruso can show great help to make him pass it back out to Hower get all the way out there to get a hand up and it’s a Miss off the back at the room when you look at OKC their best one-on-one switch Defender is Lou Dort who causes guys a lot of problems when they get on his Island so just think about adding someone who can do all the same thing as Dort and even more defensively when you look at L Dort he has more of an aggressive defensive nature while kuso gives off more of a snake like approach but regardless when you put them on a court at the same time it’s going to make opposing defenses crumble if you think about it even further they could choose to stagger Dort and kuso’s minutes as well throughout the game so now at any given time on the court they will have one of the best defensive players in the league on the floor so yeah talk about scary right and the thing is it doesn’t even stop there I know if you look at his averages of 10 points three rebounds and three assists it could seem underwhelming but when you notice that Caruso SS 40% of his four three-point attempts per game it’ll make your eyes light up with guys like Shay and JB who love to push to the rack and gener help having another light out shooter from deep is going to make them even more deadly if you leave him open for even the slightest moment he’s going to bury right over you if you make any mistake on the defensive end he will expose you and at any time in the game he will put his body on the line Caruso adds another level of intensity and a doglike energy to this OKC team and with another solid piece added things should be interesting for them going forward if you enjoyed this video be sure to hit that like subscribe and make sure you turn on post notifications so you’re first to know when I upload I think thank you all for your support and I’ll see you in the next video

The Oklahoma city thunder traded Josh Giddey for Alex Caruso and to say they won the trade would be an understatement. Alex Caruso is a defensive savant who can add a tremendous amount of value on that end of the floor and with his great 3pt shooting he can be a sniper on offense as well.

What do you all think about this trade?

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