The New Look OKC Thunder Are A PROBLEM

The New Look OKC Thunder Are A PROBLEM

generally after winning 57 games in a season and falling just short of the Western Conference Finals you don’t go and improve your team in a dramatic way unless you’re Sam pry and the OKC Thunder of course Mar takes it inside block by hardstein down low inside oh blocked by hardstein they lead BYO Z for the lead and the scariest thing about the thunder entering this season is even if they hadn’t have made any moves they were likely to see major Improvement just from the development of their second and third best players who happen to be 22 and 23 years old respectively just take Jaylen Williams year 1 to year 2 jump for example where he went from averaging 14 points and three assists as a rookie to closer to 20 points and five assists in his second year whilst improving upon already good efficiency it’d be fair to expect a similar jump from Chad in his second year after looking like a damn near Allstar as a rookie but instead of just banking on that Improvement they went out and brought in one of the best defenders in the NBA they resigned two crucial role players including Aaron Wiggins who at $9 million a year is going to prove to be an absolute steal and just for the icing on the cake pause they signed one of the better centers in the NBA yes Isaiah hardenstein is truly that good not Nicola yic and Joel embiid level good let me make that very clear but if you were to just look at the eight points eight rebounds and two assists per game you might think I’m insane to say he’s one of the better centers in the league but that doesn’t tell the full story I mean how many other centers can make plays like this offensive rebound hardenstein good feed to heart and they get the two this is what you are getting with hardenstein a lot of the times big men will be forced to make decisions when their point guard is trapped and can sometimes survive but hardenstein doesn’t just survive he excels look at him here setting the screen for dece McBride and even after being forced Baseline he has the composure to make the perfect bounce pass to a cutting Burks or in this play where he runs a little give and go with Dante and immediately he shovels the pass to a wide open McBride for three there’s just an instinctual feel for the game that you don’t always see at the center position again on this play where Brunson is trapped he gets the ball 30 ft from the basket and he doesn’t panic looking off oin with the fake pass before putting the ball on the floor drawing Collins and then dropping it off to Precious it can’t be overstated how great his ability to make plays out of the short pick and roll will be for a team whose Superstar is consistently getting trapped on screens because not only can he pass he has one of the most deadly floaters in the game just look at this graph there are only two players with better efficiency in the 5 to 10 ft range since 2020 Nicol yic who is just not real and then aich zubach but only barely which makes the decision all that more difficult because if you try to drop back and force him to beat you with floaters and push shots well he can do that and if you step up then he’s going to dice you up as a passer and that’s just offensively defensively might be where the Thunder get even more value out of hardenstein madone goes inside blocked by hardenstein and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what OKC are building right now this is a team that is now stacked from top to bottom with Elite defensive Talent you’ve got length you’ve got versatility you’ve got an NFL linebacker in Lou Dort who will just go out and impose his physicality on you and most importantly they have one of the most talented defensive players we’ve seen in years in fact I firmly believe if not for wemi there would have been dpoy conversations around Chad holgren but he was so engulfed by what wemi was doing that people didn’t even look his way despite him leading the fourth best defense in the league finishing second in total blocks during the regular season and then first in blocks per game during the playoffs all as a rookie you now pair this unicorn with a a strong physical presence next to him to take some of the more physical defensive assignments and help the thunder in the one aspect of the game where they really struggled last year which was rebounding the ball giving the Thunder the flexibility to go bigger with hardenstein and shett or play five out like they did last year with Caruso and Dort and let’s not forget about Alex Caruso either because he might not be on the same contract as hardenstein but Caruso isn’t equally important acquisition and when you factor in his Improvement as a shooter shooting nearly 40% from three last year to go along with some of the additional playmaking he adds you as someone with a point guard background he’s pretty much the perfect role player and all they had to do was give up a player who was actively hurting them last year whatever you think of Josh giddy’s potential he was not a fit for this Thunder team Alex Caruso is no double comes this time and but Caruso picks the pocket gets the steel and it’s one thing to hear some random from Australia call Alex Caruso the perfect role player I understand if that’s not convincing enough for you but how about the words of Kevin Durant he’s a phenomenal player I don’t want to even call him a role player he’s a guy you can plug in with any lineup and he will make the right reads and right plays on the defensive and offensive side and the Bulls are lucky to have and KD didn’t just say that about Caruso unpr prompted this was following a game in which 6’5 Alex Caruso took on the assignment of guarding Kevin Durant and on numerous possessions he had KD in absolute prison look at him here with Caruso using his strength on the initial backdown forcing KD to repost and throw up a tough shot at the end of the clock or again in the post where Caruso just uses that strength to stop Durant from getting comfortable and does a great job at contesting vertically without fouling but the real highlight from this performance was just how active AC’s hands were against KD forcing three turnovers with this one in particular being special where KD gets a step on him but just as he’s going up for the layup Caruso swipes down at the right time knocking the ball out of his hands and if you want to see impact just look at the box score from this game with all of the bull starters having a negative plus minus whilst they were dominating Phoenix with kuso on the floor and this held true over his last three seasons in Chicago because every single year the Bulls haven’t just been a marginally better defense with him on the floor it’s been a Monumental difference at times singlehandedly turning them into an elite defense with all of the work he does both on and off the ball often working on and off the ball in the same possession just look at this play which is insane he starts by guarding Haywood which I know isn’t exactly difficult but he puts him in a straight jacket he then rotates over to PJ but recognizes Vu is already rotating so he quickly drops back to the corner before then sliding into the paint and stripping PJ Washington the movement is great but one thing about coroso is his ability to use his active hands to strip the ball from players much bigger than him attacking the rim Caruso is now joining a team with defensive Specialists all over the floor and I can’t stress this enough it cannot be stressed enough that going from a team with Nicola vvi as your Center to one with Chet hren is like going from traveling across country in an inflatable raft to traveling across country in a private jet and what makes this Thunder team poised to be such a dominant defense is there will be zero for opposition guards when playing OKC the Thunder have guys like Kon Wallace and Aaron Wiggins Off the Bench who were just terrific players already oh man the OKC Thunder are here and they’re here to stay now if you did make it all the way to the end of the video and want to see more content like this all throughout the offseason and going forward consider subscribing it’s free either way have a nice day bye

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