The OKC Thunder Will Be BEST In The WEST In 2025! (NBA Deep Dive)
The OKC Thunder Will Be BEST In The WEST In 2025! (NBA Deep Dive)
In this video I will be explaining why I think the Oklahoma City Thunder have had one of the best offseasons of any NBA Team in 2024 acquiring Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein! I will also be doing a deep dive on OKC’s Roster led by players like 2024 NBA MVP Runner Up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA), Jalen Williams (J Dub), Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, 2024 NBA Draft 1st Rd Pick Nikola Topic and More! The Oklahoma City Thunder have the best chance to be the 1 seed in the NBA Western Conference in the 2025 NBA Season in My Opinion! Hope You Enjoy!
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20 Comments
Who's Stopping This Team In The West? OKC Fans LMK! 🔥
I can't disagree. The Thunder, Wolves, & the Grizzlies with a healthy Morant are my top 3 in the West.
SGA is the most veteran player on the team. Lu dort joined half way through SGAs first season with the thunder which would be the 2019-20 season. Great video man!
Big time Thunder fan and great video didn’t realize okc was as deep as they are
On paper they look amazing, but i wont get my tail feathers in a "bunch" until we see who they ALL ARE on the court, and neither should anyone one else.
Thunder Fan here, thanks for the video!
It's a long season, so I see Isaiah Joe starting as SG, with Caruso coming off the bench to spell SGA in the 2nd Quarter and then playing the bulk of the 4th Quarter. This will save his legs for the playoffs. And Hartenstein will start or come off the bench as the specific matchups dictate.
Thunder
Wolves
Mavs
In that order. I’ll see y’all in June.
11:00 jdub is consistent never faild me on bets haha and yeah we do need him taking more shots
Nice video and good take on OKC, especially for somebody who is cheering for different team at first. I have to say you didn't miss too much and nothing major for sure.
Generally I agree with your predictions but as you said, JDub and Chet needs to get better in playoffs. At the same time I expect this to happen since this was their first experience like this so they will feel more comfortable for sure. If Thunder play as good as in the regular season then they can win it all although the preassure will raise after each series so we will see how young guys handle it.
As for the lineup it's going to be so fun to watch. I bet they will use multiple different setups. Starting 5 will be similar but I think they will use IHart or Caruso to replace Giddy depending on the opposing team. The same for closing the game. As we know coach D will use the guys that have a good night and bench these who are off the particular day.
I expect OKC to have historically numbers in terms of oponnents scoring. I mean it's not going to be lower than before 2000 obviously but I think it will be something we haven't seen for years.
We can lock down all the best scorers for the oposing team the whole game and select the best fitted defender. Dort and Caruso surely be the best in this regards and probably the most universal players but also Cason is just getting better and really nice defender already. Especially if there is an issue with a smaller and quicker guard, Wallace might be a better fit.
One thing about Caruso that I believe will make a big difference defensively wise is his ability to knock the ball out of attacker's hands when they drive to the basket and try to gather the ball. We have guys that are elite at knocking it away when oponent dribbles the ball, we have great help from Chet when it is about blocking shots but this skill from Caruso looks to me unnoticed by people.
So basically OKC will be a threat defensively in all stages of oponent's attack scheme.
IHart will obviously help here drastically as well. He's is really big and strong and that is something we missed a lot. It will make it much easier against teams like Mavs where they could play Gafford or Lively and push us around.
Offensively it also looks great. We have a great 3 point shooting team improving each year with the best shooting coach in the NBA. We run the ball fast, and have plenty of guys who can cut/backdoor to the basket and with every player on the court being a good passer it will click like it was in the past. Not a single selfish player in the team helps here and pretty much everybody being a hustle guy who will not hesitate to dive on the floor.
I can't wait to see Topic play. It is a big steal of the draft and if somebody told me 2 months ago that we get him I would be amazed. But here it is ! We have an absolute gem and even if he doesn't fit the system due to for example defensive issues (I think the shooting will be ok as I believe Topic is a good FT shooter), we can always do a similar trade as we did with Giddey and get good value in return.
Ajay Mitchell looks like another steal of the draft being drafted at #38 ! It's interesting if he works out against better and bigger players but seems like a really overall skilled and smart player.
Dillon Jones also looks like a nice addition.
It's difficult not to get excited for the upcomming season!
When no one sees you coming, it's easy to overachieve. Being crowded a champ before the match starts………everyone's gonna play to shut the media up! Extra fuel. And I'm a OKC fan!
If OKC surprised you last season, youre not paying attwntion or evaluating teams.
Im calling it now thunder vs celtics for 2025 finals!
Bro I believe Lu Dort is the best perimeter defender for the team. Even better than caruso
Yes sir !! Give us our respect 🫡 OKC !!!
Wallace is 6'5 same height as caruso
Top 3 teams in the west Nuggets, Thunder, Mavericks
The Thunder have 9 core players who are all excellent at their clearly, assigned roles. None of them are unproven or past their prime. All 9 played more than 70games last yr & Their Coaching & team chemistry are elite. We have 6 elite role players who all complement our 3 star players. Their is no question who is our leader & no one wants to dethrone him. We have two players who are elite at running the offense, three shutdown perimeter defenders & two elite rim protectors. We have 5 of the top 21 ranked players in Defensive EPM(Min 60games) & that doesnt include Dort. We have players who could lead league in pts, stl & blks. We have elite 3pt shooting everywhere. All 7 of our returning core players had a .784+ FT%. Hartenstein is clearly our worst, still .707 FT%. You couldn't create a more perfect 'team' in a video game.
Power house!!!
I love Black Ops 1
I think we’ll see a lot of Caruso and hart switching in starting roles depending on nightly matchups. The lineup we’ll be able to throw out will be ridiculous