Who has Popped at NBA Summer League for OKC Thunder? Dieng’s Progress Report with Brandon Rahbar
on today’s locked on Thunder podcast we’re joined by Bren RAR Brar on Twitter to discuss the Oklahoma City Thunder summer league who stood out where is zusman Jang at and his progression and are the Thunder the favorites out west you are locked on Thunder your daily Oklahoma City Thunder podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day let’s get it going on the lockdown Thunder podcast on the lockdown podcast Network your teams every day I am your host media member and inside the thunderbeat rider Ryland Styles follow me on Twitter Ryland Styles follow the show on Twitter at L thunderpod on today’s show brought to you by FanDuel make every M moment more at fanduel.com we’re joined by daily thunderbeat Rider radio extraordinaire Brandon orar brener abar on Twitter Brandon how you doing today here in the offseason I’m doing good we’re getting pretty close here Ryland like becoming a a more of a regular guest enjoying this time with you we love having you on uh I appreciate you coming on uh we’re gonna talk about summer league right off the top as a disclaimer we have not seen the Thunder play the heat as a peak behind the curtain Brandon I I’ll let you know as you’re a gamer that people might not know that you that you also play video games uh I’m getting ahead this week on recording uh so I can really lock into college football 25 so I really appreciate you jumping on here on Sunday night we still have plenty to cover from summer league and if the Thunder are the favorites out west is the question of the week that I’m really interested in diving into but Brandon you gonna play college football are you gonna be up on the latest game I’m I’m going to I got to be honest like that was that and Madden and 2K were always my games like you know like once everything changed like firstperson Shooters I was like I’m out like I love like you know the old school consoles so once that happened I just stuck to like my sports games and that was basically basketball games and football games and then you know the college game went away so yeah I have been I’m pretty excited about it now I got a question for you are you gonna play with The Jayhawks or yeah are you I’m I’m gonna rip open the Kansas Jayhawks cannot wait uh for all of that but Brandon we can talk to under basketball now I appreciate you coming back on it’s been great to have you on offseason uh almost weekly here since the draft but Brandon summer league has come and gone let’s talk about the F Well it’s not gone yet but it’s getting winding down let’s talk about the biggest story so far and that is Usman Jang getting shut down for Salt Lake City this this caused a massive uh Dialogue on social media am I downplaying the situation I don’t think that it really matters I think that like we see this all the time like these these third year second year guys that go to summer league they only play a handful of games the Thunder play in two summer league stretch es where like he played three games already so he didn’t quite make it to Vegas like if he would have played three games in Vegas and none in summer league and none in Salt Lake City people wouldn’t have like acted as though it was like an early shutdown or anything else so do you think it was a big deal and then overall like what is your outlook on Usman Jang now uh as we enter year three yeah first of all I don’t think it’s a big deal because like you said he played three games back to back already and the Thunder have a lot of data we talk non-stop about Mark dagal talking about data points and collecting this data and information the Thunder have two years of Usman Jang whether it be an NBA play whether it be summer league play whether it be g-league play where they’ve seen him play and he’s got a whole summer still to progress a couple months he’s got training camp he’s got pre-season the Thunder kind of know what US man Jang is I don’t think that anything he would have done in you know Las Vegas would surprise the Thunder I don’t think also I I think this needs to be noted I don’t think that them shutting Jen down means he’s going to be in a trade or anything like that I mean if if he was going to be in a trade I I don’t think that the decision to play him or not play him in Las Vegas would affect things one way or another so I don’t think that has anything to do with any sort of trade or anything like that uh I just think they know what Usman Jen brings to the table they want to see him in in Salt Lake and they saw him in now they get to focus on the rookies as far as like my long-term you know analysis of what o is doing look everybody knew when he was drafted that he was a project that he was kind of raw it would take a few years to develop and he’s on that path you know he’s he’s been getting better which is what the Thunder talk about they want to get better every day and Jen was going to be a guy that was going to take a while to get you know ready to play in an NBA rotation and I do think that the Thunder still high on him they still want to develop him now does that mean he’s going to be in the rotation is he going to get minutes is he gonna make it in the NBA is he gonna be a rotation guy with the Thunder I don’t know about that the Thunder is so deep right now you know for sure the nine dudes there are nine guys absolutely the Thunder gonna play every single night after that you know you have Jen and Kenny hustle and and Dylan Jones now and Jay will that are going to be fighting for some minutes and I think he’ll play some minutes some nights I don’t think he’ll be in the nightly rotation but I think we’ll see him here and there and the Thunder will continue to develop him so I would agree like I don’t think that anything changes I think that this is the rhythm of the G of the summer league period where these returners play two or three games typically it happens all in Vegas so it feels it feels like they’ve been playing a while but uh for what would have changed had he played against Toronto and dominated if he dominates then people are just going to say well it’s it’s g- League competition we have plenty of data points of him playing in the G league and him playing in that environment if if he doesn’t play well then people are going to overreact in that way whereas like you mentioned he played three straight games in Salt Lake City and played really well in two of them uh you know you can you can pick apart his first game for sure uh in Salt Lake City but the most important step for him I think is just going to be growing his game overall uh and you don’t necessarily need those ingame reps I think that like the ingame reps are valuable for Dylan Jones and AJ Mitchell as they shift into the speed of the NBA a little bit and why it’s more valuable for them I think is that like in in major basketball you’re not playing guys top to bottom on a roster who are on the doorstep of the NBA in summer league basketball you are like these guys top to bottom have either made it to the NBA or they are the best of the best of the G League that you really want to get a shot for I mean you look at like Darius basley that you went up against in s Lake City like yeah he’s not a good NBA player and he but he got the opportunity to be he was a first round pick he played in the NBA and he’s better than you know anybody in the mid major conferences in the most case so like these are still valuable Reps for uh you know these young guys whereas with us we have enough reps of what that looks like and you know I think that you you head into year three what I would wonder if this happens you know we we know that the Thunder love to explore and love to uh over change their roster and rotation do you think that there’s a chance that the Thunder could like play him a lot in in you know October November see where they’re at see if he sinks see if he swims and then make their evaluation from there yeah what’s interesting about oo is he was actually in the rotation for the first couple of months last like till around mid December he was actually in the Thunders rotation most nights so that was even you know this is a team that obviously finished first in the west 57 wins and it’s easy to forget because he fell out of the rotation but for the first couple months of the Season he was in it so now they’ve gotten even deeper you had you add hartenstein you add Caruso you know obviously gidd is not there anymore but but minutes are going to be hard to come by I do think that they may prioritize ooze minutes early on as far you know we talked about how it’ll be kind of a battle between Jay will and and kenrich and Dylan Jones and ooze for minutes but we also know Ryland that Mark dnal likes to play sometimes night 11 guys maybe 12 guys on any given night then the next night maybe a couple of guys that 10th and 11th guy don’t play and and two other guys do play that didn’t play the night before so you know I I think that Mark will look at it you know matchup dependent he’ll look at it like who did well in practice this week and earned minutes those type of things I do think that ooze will get minutes early on um especially you know this is a long NBA season the Thunder are deep um you know the Thunder probably going to win a lot of games by a lot of points so there’s going to be some fourth quarters where he gets some burn uh you know maybe like the last six minutes of some fourth quarters uh early on as well so I I don’t know what to predict as far as like usu’s you know minutes but I do think we will see him in the rotation uh maybe kind of like a revolving rotation with those deep bench guys yeah I think that they’re going to let him you know stretch out a little bit as you mentioned it could just come from like the Thunder being so good that you know the end of games allows that flexibility it also could come from the Thunder not being afraid to play 11 12 guys like every single night even when when they’re at their Apex of like just dominating 57 wins is an insane Mark like that’s a impressive Mark and they did it by you know going deep into their rotation I think they’ll do that again this coming season speaking of which can the Thunder see the rookies crack their rotation as they’ve impressed in summer league we’ll talk about that coming up but first want to tell you right now about our good friends over at eBay Motors check out Ebay motors right now because passion Drive patience that’s the formula for winning championships it’s also the formula to keep your ride or die alive at eBay Motors it has everything that you need to maintain your vehicles and level it up to people performances with superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re into speed or power style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 Million Parts to choose from it’s your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you’re looking for with eBay guaranteed fit it’s guaranteed to fit your ride the first time every time or your money back because with eBay Motors you’ll be burning rubber not cash with all the parts that you want the prices you want check it out today at eBay Motors to keep your car the MVP and bring home a huge win get your ride or die and keep it alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply eBay Motors guaranteed fit only available for us customers we’re back on the lockdown Thunder podcast on the lockdown podcast Network your teams everyday joined today by Brandon RAR Brandon it’s SEC media days you can check out lockdown Sooners to discuss all of that they have boots on the ground over there uh media day for the Thunder not for a long time that’ll be our second chance to talk to the rookies on this roster Dylan Jones and AJ Mitchell who I think that they’ve impressed in their summer league stint tier what’s been your initial reaction let’s start first with Dylan Jones yeah I think Dylan Jones is just as advertised it’s easy to see why the thunder were so into Dylan Jones like trading those five second round picks to get into the first round and get him they liked him for a long time Dylan said that you know prey kind of wanted to draft him the year before was disappointed that he didn’t come out last last year he’s a a big dude that can handle the ball and the playm you know the Thunder Lov jumbo siiz players they love guys that can handle and they love passing and and that’s to me what’s popped the most about Dylan Jones is his ability to handle the ball at that size and his playmaking we’ve seen him score we’ve seen him rebound which you know the rebounding you know was something that popped at the college level but to me the playmaking is what really stands out you just it’s so unusual to see a a guy of that size and that physical stature you know handle the ball and and to to playmake like that so he’s a fun player to watch like just watching him he’s so fun and it’s really easy to see the vision of like a connective piece on the bench like a kind of doit all uh guy like a Swiss army knife that can he can score and we saw him you know he had a couple games where he went off from three um and and he can rebound and I think he has some defensive potential because of his IQ and because of his size and his a his ability to scale up and scale down the lineup um but yeah I think the playmaking is what pops for me I think that Dylan Jones just also showed the same thing that sort of AJ Mitchell showed of like the benefit of taking mature you know four-year players who are pro ready this is not like the cream of the crop NBA but I think that they showed like in summer league it’s tough to to take everything with the gr of Sal of what you can actually take away from Summer League my biggest takeaway is that like they’re mature enough to play should they be needed and right now like you look at this team and we just went through it with us of like how do you get on the court this team’s too stacked this team’s too good last year the Thunder had just unbelievable injury luck this is still an 82 game marathon and and like maybe not you and hopefully nothing dramatic happens but even some some minor stuff like you twist an ankle stepping on a camera guy you you get an elbow to the face when you’re boxing out like you see these things that happen that could cause you to miss a couple games or or maybe it Miss You miss a week but it’s a week that you’re playing three and four and so you’re going to need someone to step up I I think that should you need you know to to use Dylan Jones you use AJ Mitchell to supplement some of your rotation during stretches of this game during stretches of this season I should say then the season at that point is not like an automatic oh no like what’s going on what’s going to happen can they survive this the very survivable player as rookies I think yeah no absolutely it’s funny because the Thunder took Nicolo topic the youngest player taken in the lottery uh with their first pick but we’ve seen this with the Thunder with their later picks whether it’s later first round or second round picks they want those mature guys the guys that are ready as rookies to come in and contribute like look at Aaron Wiggins like he was an older rookie obviously job was an older rookie like I think everybody kind of feels like s pesty only takes young guys but especially with where the Thunder are now I think it’s really valuable especially with this new CBA and knowing that you need to have some guys on some some cheap contracts that can contribute right away to take guys like Dylan Jones and AJ Mitchell who are kind of seasoned for rookies you know they’re coming in you know older than a lot of players that were on this team last year that won 57 games uh you know J was the youngest player on the summer league roster older than these rookies uh so I do think it’s very valuable like you said to have these guys that can step in any given night and maybe be a part of the rotation you know and I talked about Dylan Jones but I very much think that AJ Mitchell is the same way very you know and the Thunder value IQ the maturity and things like that and and you know we talk a lot about you know off the court and the character but their onc Court maturity and and their IQ and the ability to process the game as rookies I think could be valuable yeah I I think that AJ Mitchell a two-way contract guy I think they’ll play with the blue obviously uh just in terms of like needing to have that consistent Runway that consistent reps but AJ Mitchell has has impressed with his ability to fit into this system I think that when you look at both Jones and Mitchell getting them around you even better athletes than they were around in their respective colleges allows you to see more the defensive picture that they can integrate into especially as you envision that with even better defenders in the actual NBA with the actual Thunder uh that like I think that Mitchell like he has it defensively to be someone who can stand out next two guys obviously not like uh the guy defensively like not the guy you want at the point of attack on the perimeter but as someone who can complement a very good defense and then offensively he is just the the built-in a lab Thunder player of a guy that can just get to the paint at will and dish it out from there yeah again playmaking has popped for AJ Mitchell um he’s had a couple games where you he scored double digits every single game um I I like the fact that both of these guys are the dribble pass shoot you know that and they’re both jumbo size both high IQ processing the game like they’re very much Thunder players and AJ Mitchell I do think even though he’s on the twoa I would not be surprised to see him you know get involved in this rotation at some points as well we’ve seen the Thunder do that and despite the fact that they’re in contention now I think they’ll continue to do that I think they’ll continue to develop these young guys with real NBA minutes and you talked about them fitting into like you know other NBA players and I do think that you know they’re being asked to do more right now in summer league uh than they will be obviously with the Thunder like when Dylan Jones and AJ Mitchell if they get into the rotation they’re going to be surrounded by Cas Wallace or hartenstein or Caruso or jdub or Chad or SGA and so they won’t have to take on you know the kind of the heavy burden of of being on Ball and and kind of you know leading the offense they can be a connector piece and I think both of these guys could be really nice connective pieces and I think that both guys can hit open shots I think that that both guys can can play Within the defensive scheme so I really like the idea of these guys scaling down the responsibilities that they have right now and fitting them onto the Thunder and and especially with that bench unit and so we’ll see kind of what this future season looks like but I wouldn’t just like like we’ve been saying put them in a box of like well this team’s too good for them to play I think that they’re going to play and they’re going to get opportunity whether it be from the Thunder being willing to go really deep in their rotation which we know that they will be or hey at certain times somebody’s got to step up uh for certain situations so that will be very impactful as well but the thunder made a lot of moves besides just the draft moves that we don’t get a glimpse of in summer league we only have to wait for the October pre-season and regular season did it did they do enough to become the favorites out west Vegas thinks so but do Bron abar think so coming up on lock down Thunder but first want to say right now A bu of good friends over at FanDuel check out FanDuel right now every customer right now at fandle uh can get a boost and bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long because we know that in the summertime Sports aren’t really sportsing like you want them to the playoffs are over you’re kind of waiting uh for for them that next kick but FanDuel lets you uh Play All Summer Long and they give you the Boost that you can dream of uh and so they can keep you in the mood all summer long at f.com go there right now for that all customer boost every single day maybe you only want to bet on the NBA they do have summer league action like tonight against the Miami Heat for the Thunder uh they will be they will be uh plus six and a half I hope you do not bet on that uh the other last night but uh the Thunder also second favorite to win the NBA Finals you can play some bets on that we’ll talk about if they’re contenders but go there right now at f.com lockon we’re back on lockdown Thunder with Brenan orar daily Thunder check him out over there check him out on like every audo station known to man uh getting a piece of Brandon abar and the lock down Thunder podcast Brandon appreciate you hopping on uh but we’ve seen the offseason play out it’s not as though it’s like completely over but I think that we have a good enough picture right now to to make some educated guesses where does the West shape up for you I mean this is going to be a blood bath of a conference but if you had to decipher a top five in the west where does it start where does it end so I think that there’s a clear four that’s ahead of the pack the Thunder I think you know at one they were the one seed and they got better they added hartenstein they added Caruso Josh giddy I think is going to be good in Chicago but he didn’t fit with this team so you take away those minutes and give them to Caruso and hartstein plus the younger guys developing and getting better internal development um so I think all those things are going to make the Thunder better obviously um I also think that the Mavs got a little bit better I think that they’re right there I think that the Wolves they added Rob Dillingham they didn’t really lose anything an may get you know a little bit better may take another leap and I think the Nuggets even though they lost kcp I would put kind of put them at the bottom of this four but I still think that they deserve to be in the top four because it’s the nuggets and they are very topheavy they don’t have much depth losing kcp hurts but I still think they’ll be there the Five Spot is really interesting to me I think right now I would put Memphis there they’re a little bit of a wild card they’re a little bit of an unknown but you know with jawb back Desmond Bane jiren Jackson Jr Marcus Smart you I do think you know Zack Ed looks like he may be ready to contribute from day one at least you know give them some size that they need I think I would put Memphis there there’s some there’s some wild cards there like we don’t know the Lori marinan you know Domino what what’s going to happen with that like if he were to go to the Warriors maybe they jump into that Five Spot maybe not you know you could argue it I guess uh they’re the favorites to get him right now if he gets traded I think the Thunder hope he doesn’t get traded for a couple of different races um so right now I’ll put Memphis in that spot i’ go OKC Mavs wolves nuggets Memphis so we have the same group of teams in the top five and I’m glad you’ve included Memphis I you know you and I both discuss zachi pre-draft everything I think about zachi pre-draft I still think today I think that there’s no other environment though that could have that could have fostered such a impactful working season for him as Memphis I mean whenever you get to pair him defensively with Desmond Bane on the perimeter with jiren Jackson Junior next to him you get to give him that defensively to limit his his kind of limitate you know highlight and kind of counteract his limitations and then offensively you come down the court and you’re setting screens for John Morant to get downhill you’re playing with a team that’s used to playing with a guy like this like that they had their Peak success aore with Stephen Adams like and they had a lot of success with Valen chunis like they they they’re used to having a player like that in their system so it’s not going to be an adjustment or a learning curve or like thrown off to their Rhythm or anything like that so it was the perfect match he’s been playing well in summer league you’d expect that from him given his sheer size and and athletic ability as a big man but I think that he can look even better in the NBA because of those out outstanding factors even as the talent gets better of course on the other side too as scores and maybe that hurts him defensively the the Grizzlies are in such a pos position to protect him defensively that I think that they can get all of his positive traits and really negate his negative traits yeah no I think so too I really think because and we did talk about him pre-draft out we thought I think we both thought that he could be a good player but just not for the Thunder he didn’t fit what the Thunder were going to do so I don’t think either of us thought that the Thunder would would take Zack because he’s not a fit for their five out system he’s not a guy that can you know like switchable on the perimeter things like that and Chad was always going to be the five um but yeah I think that he feels a need that they very much had you know losing Stephen Adams and you know we saw how well they played with Stephen Adams so he’s kind of like a blueprint there you know the size and physicality and that presence you know and like the space that he gave for jaw you know so many times on on drives and things like that so I I like the fit I like the fit a lot I think that you know a lot of people kind of thought it was crazy that Memphis took him in the top 10 but you know so far it’s just summer league and I don’t think you can ever overreact one way or another to summer league but I do think that you can kind see some positive things that are going to carry over and translate and I do think that we see already he’s playing with you know NBA against and with you know NBA caliber at least players and I think that he’s going to fit in the NBA I think that this is the right landing spot for him I agree so I have the Thunder Dallas Denver Minnesota and then Memphis as my top five uh so I really enjoy our our five teams here what does it mean for you that that we both have the Thunder at one Vegas has a thunder at one but like they’re also this really young team that you still need to see jayb do it in the playoffs you still need to see another year of chat in the playoffs we know what feel like we know what Shay can do in the playoffs after his last run and after back-to-back top five MVP finishes what does this do for you in terms of what you’re expecting like that’s the big word we love to throw on what are the expectations for this team what is it for Oklahoma City yeah I think now with the with the way they finished last year and now you know everybody said they need two things they need playoff experience and they need size well they got playoff experience and they got size and they had 57 wins already they have another year of development I do think you know especially going out and getting hartstein and adding Caruso they have the topend talent and SGA MVP caliber player you got the big three with s jdub and ched then you have this depth you have this insane amount of defensive talent but so many of these guys are two-way players I do think expectations I mean I’m not saying that they’re going to go out and win a title but I think that the expectation is they are going to contend for a title they are right there in that group that you could you know you could pull every year you can pick a handful of teams and be like okay these teams could feasibly win the NBA title this season and I think the thunder in those handful of teams yeah the Thunder are going to be on the short list of teams that can Hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy it’s going to be fun to see their path and journey and if they can pull that off but Brandon where can they find all of your work as we cover a team that that has Championship aspirations yeah uh you can find me on Twitter at Brandon rbar I am on franchise radio 107.7 and kref radio as well and and of course daily thunder.com is where I do some dabbling and riding daily thunder.com Brandon RAR thank you so much again for joining us cannot wait to have you back already looking forward to that enjoy college football hopefully you win a National Title sooner rather than later but again thank you Brandon and until next time be good and be good to one and
The Oklahoma City Thunder have seen the NBA Summer League reach the halfway point, how has popped at Summer League? Dillon Jones and Ajay Mitchell cracking the rotation in year one? Brandon Rahbar joins Rylan Stiles to also give a progress report on Ousmane Dieng, plus are the Thunder the favorites out west?
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