2022 Summer League Thread - Beginning of the Chet Era

[slick_watts]

sam presti seems content with waiving players with guaranteed salary now. i wonder if it's just for agent favors. even if he finds a trade for green and favors we would still be cutting guaranteed salary since everyone else on the team is at least partially guaranteed for 2022-23 except kenrich williams. is he really going to send a pick to get off derrick favors?

it is still unbelievable to me, for example, that theo maledon was not cut before his guarantee date. maledon's agent is doug neustadt who only has one other active nba client (deni avdija), however he was the agent for darius miller who sam presti also helped out for no reason.

even vit krejci has 50% of his salary guaranteed. so that's a cool 700k for doing nothing if he's cut before the rosters need to be pared down. krejci's agent is alex saratsis who is famously giannis' agent but two of his 7 other clients are thunder players: giddey and JRE.

sam is entering a space lately where he's just giving away money to make players and agents happy. i wonder if this will ever be addressed by the cba.

[Old Man Game]

Double post

[Old Man Game]

The closer we get to the start of the season, the more I’m struggling to understand how we are gonna get minutes for all the young project players.

If you care about winning, these are the guys you would want to give most of your minutes to.

Giddey
SGA
Dort
Kenrich
Chet

JDub
Ty Jerome
Wiggins
Muscala
Favors
Green

That leaves a bunch of guys who need playing time but are still far away from contributing to winning imo.

JRE, Mann, Maledon, Poku, Bazley, Dieng, Vit, J Will.

We are getting to a point in the rebuild where we want to start showing improvement towards winning to keep the main core invested going forward. We can’t afford to keep giving guys like Poku and Bazley big minutes when their chance of developing into solid players is very small.

Supposedly Green won't be here. Sam Presti said it at the presser for the draft picks they would find him another home. So there's playing together for JRE right there.

[Dadouv47]

sam presti seems content with waiving players with guaranteed salary now. i wonder if it's just for agent favors. even if he finds a trade for green and favors we would still be cutting guaranteed salary since everyone else on the team is at least partially guaranteed for 2022-23 except kenrich williams. is he really going to send a pick to get off derrick favors?

it is still unbelievable to me, for example, that theo maledon was not cut before his guarantee date. maledon's agent is doug neustadt who only has one other active nba client (deni avdija), however he was the agent for darius miller who sam presti also helped out for no reason.

even vit krejci has 50% of his salary guaranteed. so that's a cool 700k for doing nothing if he's cut before the rosters need to be pared down. krejci's agent is alex saratsis who is famously giannis' agent but two of his 7 other clients are thunder players: giddey and JRE.

sam is entering a space lately where he's just giving away money to make players and agents happy. i wonder if this will ever be addressed by the cba.

yeah this is a bit weird. I don't mind Presti willing to make it right for players for OKC reputation (CP3, Horford) but he's losing value on some trades and losing money by doing it too many times. You can't abuse on this if you want the counterparty to be valuable enough.

Also think he might have sent Roby elsewhere for a 2nd round pick instead of waiving him...minimal value but still.

[Big nick]

I have been very impressed with Wiggins shooting and all around hustle.

[Big nick]

Mann not so much he looks like he didn't work on his game when he was off this summer.

[ThunderBolt]

Mann not so much he looks like he didn't work on his game when he was off this summer.

Mann looks like an extremely poor man’s version of Coby white.

[Old Man Game]

You-all notice how bad the spacing is in summer league!

[Mr Thunder Nick]

Mann has to reflect about himself and his game. One 35 points game in the NBA means not a glorious career.

[Dadouv47]

I have been very impressed with Wiggins shooting and all around hustle.

yeah we don't talk enough about how Wiggins is playing well during summer league. Really hope he can keep improving because I like him a lot.

[ThunderBolt]

So my meaningless thoughts on summer league performances-

Chet is as advertised, for better and worse. But mostly for better.

Jalen Williams seems like a guy that has ability and the knowledge to be a good player. We seem to struggle finding both of those traits.

Dieng is a project and summer league hasn’t shown any differently.

Wiggins has looked good. I hope he doesn’t become the next Roby that gets overlooked for guys Sam thinks have higher potential.

Giddey’s shot is still broken but it’s not like he’s had 6 months to retrain it. He’s also younger than a lot of rookies.

Mann shot selection concerns me more than missed shots. Shooters miss shots. Mann miss really dumb shots.

Poku’s play is the least surprising story of summer league.

JRE is fine and I like what he offers for where he was picked.

Krejci and Jaylin haven’t really stood out. Vit had made a few nice plays.

[Dadouv47]

I'm not worried about Chet at all (right now). I would still pick him #1 for the upside...he moves fast for a big, his shot is legit (there's no reason he couldn't be a good 3 pt shooter in the NBA) and his defensive instincts are impressive. A lot of things to work on but I think he fits very well in today's NBA and in our roster especially. Not that worried about his frame, more about him staying healthy.

Wiggins could be in the rotation for a playoff team, he's pretty impressive right now. JRE bouncing back pretty well after some injuries.

I started believing in Mann in the second half of last season but he has a lot to work on...still worried about his defense and overall BBIQ than his shot selection that can be easily fixed. I hope he's willing to work hard because he could develop into a very good player if he does.

[Dadouv47]

We definitely need Giddey to develop an average shot. That would be the difference between him being a meh point guard to an all star.

[Patches Perry]

Since no one commented on Jaylin Williams, I think he has shown flashes in these summer league games. He is not a crazy athlete, but he is good enough and seems to have a great feel for the game. Some of the passes he made last night were very advanced. On top of that, he seems like a great locker room guy to have on your roster.

Their personalities are different, but I get kind of an early Collison and early Harden vibe with Jaylin and Jalen. The high post and backdoor passes seem similar.

[timO]

We need shooters from 3 like eat.

At least Chet can knock down 2-3 a game.

Giddey is like 0/12 from 3. We can forget of him shooting much better, he dont have touch even at the rim. Hes a great playmaker and rebounder.

Wiggins >>>>>>>> Mann

Good chemistry between the JWs, Giddey and Chet, seems like they play together for years and being friends too.

JRE is a solid big backup.

[ThunderBolt]

We need shooters from 3 like eat.

At least Chet can knock down 2-3 a game.

Giddey is like 0/12 from 3. We can forget of him shooting much better, he dont have touch even at the rim. Hes a great playmaker and rebounder.

Wiggins >>>>>>>> Mann

Good chemistry between the JWs, Giddey and Chet, seems like they play together for years and being friends too.

JRE is a solid big backup.

I think Giddey will improve his offensive game. He is smart enough to read the defense in ways that will allow him to get to the basket. His floater is pretty good. I see him becoming an effective scorer but not a good shooter barring something changes with his form. Have I mentioned I think we need a shooting coach?

[kdthunderup]

I think this shows how much Chet contributes to winning even if he hasn’t put up the most eye popping box score numbers

“ Thunder are a +66 with Chet Holmgren on the floor. With him off, they're a -28. A +94 swing.”

For me he is already the second most talented guy on the team. Can’t wait to see what he can do with SGA out there taking more defensive pressure away from him.

[Devilanche]

I have been very impressed with Wiggins shooting and all around hustle.

yeah we don't talk enough about how Wiggins is playing well during summer league. Really hope he can keep improving because I like him a lot.

I think cause he been on the team last year some of us want the shooting to continue a while more. To see if it’s an actual improvement .

[Sun_Tzu]

I have been very impressed with Wiggins shooting and all around hustle.

yeah we don't talk enough about how Wiggins is playing well during summer league. Really hope he can keep improving because I like him a lot.

I think cause he been on the team last year some of us want the shooting to continue a while more. To see if it’s an actual improvement .

It's not just the shooting. Wiggins has been good in all phases. Just watch what he's doing off ball, offense and defense. He is showing that he knows how to play. Right now, he looks like the kind of player that will have a positive impact even when he's not scoring. His off ball movement and spacing has helped Giddy and Williams' playmaking.

[Dadouv47]

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