TBU Podcast Unscripted | Episode 2: Jalen Williams | OKC Thunder

TBU Podcast Unscripted | Episode 2: Jalen Williams | OKC Thunder

[Music] welcome into the Thunder basketball Universe we’ve got an exciting episode this time we are talking about Jaylen Williams J dub in his second year an incredible step forward for him showing some incredible signs of improvement offensively defensively and we saw some new things in terms of um I don’t know crowd engagement this year shall we say um so we have a lot to break down from Jay Dub Season I I think we all you know a glimpse of what jdub could be in that first year here um obviously is a guy that just Rose through the draft boards and um the Thunder you know made sure that they got in that uh Lottery but to see the strides that he made in year two really Sensational and the fact that he’s able to be a three-level scorer and extremely efficient clip to be a four to five position Defender um and do that at a really high level I mean it just it’s a guy that you have a really hard time not leaving on the floor for All 48 minutes and guess what when it comes to winning when it matters you need as many of those guys as possible and jdub um you know just has an obvious bright future in that department 100% I love what kenri Williams said he’s said I’m thinking about being a GM because he said at the very outset of jdub’s rookie season we talked to kendri Williams I believe it was in training camp it was training camp it was in training camp of his rookie season and he said yeah that’s going to be an Allstar one day yeah jdub allar jdub’s going to be an allar yeah so he called the shot on jdb being an incredible player and I would say things are are panning out to be that way yeah and JB knocked down the door you know you know came relatively close to that this year I would say just given the numbers that he had at the break and um the the impact that he was having on a team that was at the top of the West exactly so let’s get into some of the things for jdub this season starting with our stats of the season for jdub what were your stats that popped out okay um I want to hit you with 68% okay and then I want to hit you with 6.8 so the same numbers but differently oriented so they’re not correlated not correlated well correlated slightly so 68% 68% that feels like an incredibly High field goal percentage that is an incredibly High field goal percentage it is what jdub shot in the clutch no he shot 68% in the clutch this year which is just insane for a 6’6 wing to shoot that efficiently and then 6.8 is number of fourth quarter points he avered on the season and uh so again jdub a guy that was really impacting things on the offensive end of the floor in times of the game that it really mattered for this team and you think you know it kind of makes sense given his skill set to be able to play off of a guy like Shay who attracts so much attention and to have that level of impact and be able to to finish those plays was huge you know this is how you know we’ve been doing this together for a a long time now because my stats of the Season 57 53 and 79 is that his fourth quarter shooting numbers sure is Miguel it sure is wow I did not think that you were going there and and to take it even a little deeper okay so these are the numbers that he shot in the fourth quarter period he had the sixth most total points in the fourth quarter in the NBA okay sixth most period during the regular season do you want to hear the names of the five people ahead of him or do you want to try to guess okay so sixth most points of anybody in the fourth quarter yes total points total points yes all right I will try to guess here dear Rosen has to be on that list um he’s third let’s see third okay um LeBron James number one okay uh nicoa yic mm-m not not your nope not in the top six wow um one is a former Thunder oh uh let’s see Paul George Kevin Durant Kevin Durant Kevin Durant okay um all right you’re gonna have to hit me with the rest of them the other guys are dear and fox okay and Yannis aend Dumbo nice Jaylen Williams is sixth Steph Curry is seventh that’s amazing and even more than Shay which than is a remarkable thing and out of all of them JB shot the highest three-point percentage which is just goes to show his incredible efficiency and it it just it was jaw-dropping when I saw those stats and I was like wow that it his impact in the fourth quarter just so precise and decisive among all things and he had a couple of big shots in fourth quarters not just like you know big momentum swinging but like game-winning shots like he’s had a couple of those this season and so to see the growth that he took in that that clutch time fourth quarter when he’s Aver he was averaging nine minutes per fourth quarter um incredible stuff and he was no slouch during the rest of the action Ian he’s one of four guys to shoot 50 40 80 on the season overall so um this is a guy that uh was remarkably consistent All Season continued to bring two-way impact throughout the playoffs as well uh and you know got a great taste of what postseason basketball is all about all right let’s get into our made you looks I love mine I love mine go for it it is it probably made you look at home if you were watching any sort of OKC Thunder Instagram Twitter during pregame warm-ups you’ve seen this and it was Jay dub towards the end of this season especially into the playoffs started rocking some different warm-up t-shirts than the rest of his teammates this guy marches to his own beat he does his own thing and he would wear t-shirts with like his teammates face on them he even had one with Mark Mark dagal was the best that was the best one out of all of them and what I love is that like each time you wore like a guy’s face on his shirt like that guy would kind of have a good game yeah they went kind of like did a great job and um so I just I love that because it’s very indicative of Jay dub like he’s his own guy yeah but he’s also all about his teammates he’s very tied to the people around him it’s so he’s like always swirling around all of his teammates just perpetually like uh kind of puffing them up with more energy and um hyping them up and he just you can tell he’s very fascinated by each of them as individuals and like what they who they are what they bring to the table um it’s it’s very infectious the way that he’s able to kind of breathe life into things we even had a little Nick Gallow on one of those shirts it’s true that was down in New Orleans that’s right that’s right that’s right had the dogs on it and then Nick Gall he he really wanted to make sure that I saw it after the game in that walkoff interview see the shirt so good all right that’s what made me look what made you look the lobs to chat homegrid it was so good something that we talked with these guys about heading into the season that this team you know had not had a you know true lob threat in the past a guy that is you know a downhill vertical spacer you know obviously we know C can give them horizontal spacing so many guys on this team can give him that spacing in terms of uh being being able to lift up behind the ark but to be able to convert up top is huge too throughout the course of the year that we really kind of saw that jdub had the best chemistry with Chad in those alley oops uh we saw a massive one actually from Shay in the playoffs saw some nice ones from Josh giddy to to Chad in the playoffs too but jdub and Chad really had that thing humming and um it’s just these continued morsels of the connection as this this team continues to build continuity together as 23 year olds 22 year olds 24 year olds um that those things are going to be even more and more second nature I’m glad you brought this up because we talked so much about his scoring jdub’s scoring especially in the fourth quarter and throughout the season but his facilitating so strong his ability to you know see his teammates make a great pass you know have a high basketball IQ to anticipate plays really really strong for jdub and to go back to your point about the labs I remember in training camp when Chad was you know being reincorporated into the team and these guys are playing with him for the first time the lobs were something that this team was very open about having to work on because they needed to figure out how to make sure they got this smoothly in games and weren’t throwing the ball off the side of the backboard and obviously the lobs are loud assist but to your point about JB the playmaker he’s one of those guys where you look up at the scoreboard and you’re like oh my gosh he’s got seven assists he’s got eight assists in fact one game uh I told him that he had seven assists in the game and he said really I did um but you know in a similar way to how Shay can sometimes get to 30 points and you’re like where did that come from it just was so methodical and within the flow of the offense that’s how jdub passes the ball uh very functional within the team concept and it results in good looks for his teammates not always flashy plays but always the right play Yeah by jdubb what is your Shay that again of choice for jayd duub from his end of season interview so you know jdub most times when he’s in a press conference setting is looking for every Avenue possible to crack a joke or you know lighten the mood or something and so that’s why this kind of stood out to me a little bit because uh this was very uh kind of focused and S and and heartfelt to have the year that we had now and be disappointed is also like a really good thing you know doing what we did so um something that we’re going to build on and brought us really closer together this is a guy that’s all about being closer together to his teammates he’s all about the fun and the joy and the camaraderie I I think his recognition that the experience that they just had as a team going through two really hard-fought playoff runs a sweep of New Orleans and then a six-game you know dead even series with the Dallas Mavericks that didn’t go their way and recognizing the bond that that’s going to create too maybe in a different way than the t-shirts or the the the you know mugging everybody at the end of games and and that kind of thing um recognizing this is gonna have a similar impact I I like that a lot yeah don’t let the jokes and the Antics fool you because this guy has an elite mentality you don’t get to where you are right now Jaylen Williams you don’t get here after being under recruited after being you know looked over during the majority of the draft process and get to where you are today without an elite mentality and Elite confidence and a belief in yourself but also a good healthy relationship with adversity and jdub with this quote showing that you know look I know this is going to be for the betterman of this team and we got to go through this to get on to the other side and this guy has used that even last season to get better this season yeah it’s just it goes to show the depth of jayd duub as well and it’s it the whole team has this this balance of levity but also professionalism and joy but also seriousness and it’s so impressive for such a young team to have both of those things in one place Aaron Wiggins said in his end of season interview that jayd duub and Jay will combined were the fuel to the fire and the fun of this team and I thought that that was a perfect encapsulation jdub is I a dynamic human being and he lets everyone see all of that and I think that’s a really uh awesome thing that this fan base gets to experience in that little world that that they get to be led in on to add to this a little bit here’s my shay that again for jdub this is from kenrich actually talking about jdub you know the thing about uh jdub is he’s a he’s just a different type of guy uh he’s not your normal you know Rising Star he’s he got a little different type of Swag to him he was saying this kind of in a way to explain how good jdub is this was after his quote about yeah I think I’m going to be a GM one day cuz I called it jdub’s going to be great but theas reason he’s great is because you can’t just do the same stuff that everyone else is doing and assume that you’re going to get to the same place they’re going you have to be your own guy you have to be who you are do something a little bit different in order to be great and that’s what jdub is doing he’s not scared to be different he’s not scared to you know go a different way try something else and as a result he’s he’s a rising star in this league and has taken massive strides forward and he’s done that within the team concept I think maybe part of what kenri is saying there is jdub his ability to be a rising star in the context of this team where he’s not one a featured option you look at some of the the people that are maybe like his peers as a rising star in this league Palo benero um vikor wanyama um a guy like maybe Lori marinan would be like a decent comper example those guys are clear in a way their team’s number one option every single play they’re going to get as many shots per G game as they want Jaylen Williams is doing this in a different context and so it’s so cool to see people on this team recognize the way that jdub can impact things and be a star as a part of this group and still all about the team all about the team while still being himself and who he is and highly productive and efficient yeah and being a very fun guy which leads me to our bless your timeline for our man Jay dub I’ve been on record saying I’ve barked at at Target or or Starbucks and I can only imagine Jaylen Williams jdb just you know I don’t know walking through the Frozen aisle at whatever you do as an NBA player in Target and just some random person just barking at him from a distance and he was like because the question was you know do you think the Barking will continue on the next season he was like I hope so I think it’s great but I mean I’ve been barked at at Target I’ve been barked at at a gas station Ms are we could calm down on that stuff but everything else is great I’m like actually that’s kind of awesome you know he should know having a little brother that uh this is very much like you started it energy from the from the fans around town of like hey you got us all to bark we’re barking and we’re gonna bark right at you little dose of the dose Michael cage reference nice I like that I just I loved that Insight from JB into a little bit of his world of just like look this is this is coming back on me a littleit okay what blessed your timeline well it’s sort of uh you know kind of tangential to what you just said right there or you know very related is that uh the one of the moments that really kicked off this whole thing was um Aaron wiggin’s walk-off interview in San Antonio Chad hren was the initial Barker but Jaylen Williams was G delivered the line why you so efficient why you so offici and he’s making weird faces at high 22 for you only 11 to do it why are you so efficient out there you know this was after a game in which Wiggins you know really was able to help seal a good victory on the second night of a back-to-back in San Antonio where the Thunder stomped on the Spurs yeah and um you know Wiggins was one of these like unsung heroes uh Shay I think was being interviewed by a national broadcast and I had a chance to talk to to Aaron after the game and so jdub Jay will Chad all come uh you know crash around Aaron who’s another sort of cult-like figure um will you know he’s he’s got his own story that we’ll get to but um jdub you know just hyping him up you know making all sorts of funny noises and faces and then I asked Aaron the question you know why are you able to be so efficient out there on the floor and why he so efficient and that just why isn’t that a t-shirt why is it that a t-shirt I mean of all the things that have been made t-shirts this year that has to be uh one of so yeah we need an Aaron wig why you so efficient t-shirt and this is again this is back to the ways in which um jdub just you know pumps everybody up with with uh energy and air and and U you know warmth is like that is that is jdub to a te is like here’s a guy that plays the same position as him who got to be the star of the night and job is like the number one guy right there like let’s give this guy his shine let’s make him have this let’s make Aaron Wiggins the star of a of a oh my gosh yes incredible choice I remember that I remember that like it was yesterday and now I want it on a t-shirt just for my memories okay let’s let’s give you a little insight into what’s coming up for Jaylen Williams Jay dub um as with a lot of guys he will be in the gym and one thing that he actually revealed to us that he focuses on every summer he said every summer I try to pick something one thing and I dedicate my summer to it I dedicate my summer to getting better on it um and get really really good at it and then just kind of incorporate other elements of my game and last year he told us that the big thing for him was like picking his spots also getting stronger that was a very obvious one that he came back looking a lot different than he did when he left um but picking his spots was something that he really wanted to work on last year and he said you know that move where I kind of you know get to the elbow and and get to my mid-range that was something I couldn’t do in my rookie year but something that I really worked on in obviously was a huge huge key for him this season and so it’ll be really he didn’t reveal what he what he was going to hone in on this offseason but something’s cooking yeah unlike most things JB did keep that close to the vest and and so dub uh I we can all not wait to see uh what you got yourself into this summer and the way that you attack that you JB almost kind of laid it out like like a summer schedule that it was like the first x amount of time I’m going to be devoted to just this one skill and Hyper focused on that and then as the summer gets to the later stages well then I’m really sharpening and rounding all parts of my game with that piece included I thought that was uh really I I have no idea where he learned that I wish I’d asked that follow-up question now thinking about is like where did you come up with that strategy for your offseason regimen yeah and obviously it worked for him last year gonna follow that same regimen this offseason so a lot to look forward to when it comes to Jaylen Williams jdb and this entire Thunder roster but that wraps up our podcast thank you so much for watching and listening be sure to like rate and subscribe wherever you get your podcast thank you so much to our producer Matt bishop and until next time Thunder up and catch you later

Ep. 2 – Unscripted: Jalen Williams

In this episode of Unscripted, the TBU crew discusses the second-year leap from JDub where he took strides forward both offensively and defensively by becoming a three-level shooter and his ability to guard four to five positions, his impact on late-game situations, efficiency shooting, playmaking ability, camaraderie with his teammates and more.

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