OKC Thunder 2023-24 Regular Season Discussion

[Bremzi]

Got to admit, Giddey has been playing stellar. Good shooting, always in good position defensively, very helpful with rebounding, he isnt committing turnovers. All around good game. We’ll see how long it lasts, but there’s definitely a keeper there.

[RingoKid]

Got to admit, Giddey has been playing stellar. Good shooting, always in good position defensively, very helpful with rebounding, he isnt committing turnovers. All around good game. We’ll see how long it lasts, but there’s definitely a keeper there.

Playoff Giddey is a thing!!!

[Big nick]

Yes giddy has been real good but how about dort. Seems like nobody
talks about trading him now. His game really came around this year and the job he is doing on BI is amazing.

[Dadouv47]

Dort learned how to play his role perfectly. Credits to him for improving his 3pt% and being able to make the right pass. I think shooting less was obvious from the start since he had a different role playing with Bazley/Roby and other bad players. He embraces his role which is great. Just wish he could finish better at the rim but can't complain.

Giddey had a great game today...still not confident about him though

[Dadouv47]

Coach D deserves to win COY but playing Hayward at this point is stupid

[Big nick]

Coach D deserves to win COY but playing Hayward at this point is stupid

For sure on both statements Hayward is washed up and I would rather give his minutes to Wiggins for sure. I am a big fan of Wiggins he could start on a lot of teams very lucky we have him.

[slick_watts]

shai wasn't very good in this game and chet was a disaster on offense but you're probably going to win if you hold the other team to 85.

giddey made his shots today but the first two games he was at like 44ts.

[Dadouv47]

shai wasn't very good in this game and chet was a disaster on offense but you're probably going to win if you hold the other team to 85.

giddey made his shots today but the first two games he was at like 44ts.

We are going to miss a scorer coming off the bench in the next round because it's more than likely than two or Shai/Chet/JDub are going to have some rough offensive games.

Very impressive defense overall but the Pels don't have the pieces to hurt us anyway.

[bbms]

Dort learned how to play his role perfectly. Credits to him for improving his 3pt% and being able to make the right pass. I think shooting less was obvious from the start since he had a different role playing with Bazley/Roby and other bad players. He embraces his role which is great. Just wish he could finish better at the rim but can't complain.

Giddey had a great game today...still not confident about him though

this board had a very **** evaluation of dort.

[Devilanche]

Got to admit, Giddey has been playing stellar. Good shooting, always in good position defensively, very helpful with rebounding, he isnt committing turnovers. All around good game. We’ll see how long it lasts, but there’s definitely a keeper there.

Positively surprised with his shooting and defensive effort.

That rebounding is what we are used to and turnover is a game by game thing I guess.

If he can maintain 35%+ 3 point shooting that will be really good .

[Devilanche]

Dort learned how to play his role perfectly. Credits to him for improving his 3pt% and being able to make the right pass. I think shooting less was obvious from the start since he had a different role playing with Bazley/Roby and other bad players. He embraces his role which is great. Just wish he could finish better at the rim but can't complain.

Giddey had a great game today...still not confident about him though

this board had a very **** evaluation of dort.

This version of Dort this season is very different than past seasons.

Generally the taking of shots.

[Kizz Fastfists]

this board had a very **** evaluation of dort.

This version of Dort this season is very different than past seasons.

Generally the taking of shots.[/quote]

I do not believe anyone was more vocal about Dort's issues heading into this season. He has taken a big jump this season in accepting his role and performing in it at a high level. Barkley touched on it a bit, but he has greatly improved his 3pt shooting going from 30% as a rookie to 39% this season. Dort took 60% of his shots this season from 3 cutting out his attempts in the paint and mid-range drastically. He made 99% of his 3s with assists and I no longer cringe when he shoots a 3.

[RingoKid]

LuDo was built for the post-season. Tough hard-nosed defense first player.

That he's making his 3's is a bonus.

[slick_watts]

the prison ball the league is allowing in the playoffs this season also has benefitted lu dort.

shai, chet and jdub- none of them have been particularly great or consistent on offense but roleplayers are making threes. chet has been a beast on defense.

[Devilanche]

This version of Dort this season is very different than past seasons.

Generally the taking of shots.

I do not believe anyone was more vocal about Dort's issues heading into this season. He has taken a big jump this season in accepting his role and performing in it at a high level. Barkley touched on it a bit, but he has greatly improved his 3pt shooting going from 30% as a rookie to 39% this season. Dort took 60% of his shots this season from 3 cutting out his attempts in the paint and mid-range drastically. He made 99% of his 3s with assists and I no longer cringe when he shoots a 3.

Shot distribution as well . He used to be our top 3 shot takers but I think it has massively drop.

Can’t miss what you don’t take but that 39% this season is a huge bonus. Even if you think he’s overpaid you can’t really fault much his contribution this season .

[ThunderBolt]

Dort learned how to play his role perfectly. Credits to him for improving his 3pt% and being able to make the right pass. I think shooting less was obvious from the start since he had a different role playing with Bazley/Roby and other bad players. He embraces his role which is great. Just wish he could finish better at the rim but can't complain.

Giddey had a great game today...still not confident about him though

this board had a very **** evaluation of dort.

This board was right to be critical of his decisions and play. Dort changing and growing makes him more valuable. It doesn't disprove the criticisms of his game from previous years. The same can be said of Giddey each time he has a good game.

[bbms]

Dort learned how to play his role perfectly. Credits to him for improving his 3pt% and being able to make the right pass. I think shooting less was obvious from the start since he had a different role playing with Bazley/Roby and other bad players. He embraces his role which is great. Just wish he could finish better at the rim but can't complain.

Giddey had a great game today...still not confident about him though

this board had a very **** evaluation of dort.

This board was right to be critical of his decisions and play. Dort changing and growing makes him more valuable. It doesn't disprove the criticisms of his game from previous years. The same can be said of Giddey each time he has a good game.

no, this board was calling dort extension terrible, calling for trade because of addition by substraction

who would've know the guy with stellar tape in playoffs and crunch time would start to shine once this team gets good enough to be in those scenarios more often.

[ThunderBolt]

this board had a very **** evaluation of dort.

This board was right to be critical of his decisions and play. Dort changing and growing makes him more valuable. It doesn't disprove the criticisms of his game from previous years. The same can be said of Giddey each time he has a good game.

no, this board was calling dort extension terrible, calling for trade because of addition by substraction

who would've know the guy with stellar tape in playoffs and crunch time would start to shine once this team gets good enough to be in those scenarios more often.

So what? I can't speak of a general consensus but I recall multiple people acknowledging the contract wasn't as expensive as it initially seemed due to the expected increase in the salary cap. Dort's strengths and weaknesses have always been obivous. Seeing him play to his strengths and improve on his weaknesses is awesome but doesn't absolve all of previous criticisms as irrelevant or untrue.

If there is a player that can play better than Dort or do the same things with a better contract, I want that player. That's true of every player on the team. Dort is one of the first rookie contacts of this rebuild that isn't an obvious max. It's fair to scrutinize his contract and play. If I suggest trading a player it's because I think the team would benefit buy having someone else at his position. Is there no one else that can do Dort's (or any other player's) job better? If so, it's worth discusssing. Right now the pool of players worth trading Dort for continues to shrink. Good for him and us. It doesn't always work that way.

[bbms]

Seeing him play to his strengths and improve on his weaknesses is awesome but doesn't absolve all of previous criticisms as irrelevant or untrue.

thank god presti is a man able to see the whole picture not symptoms and epiphenomenons

lu dort's skillset is unique.

[Dadouv47]

I didn't mind Dort's extension at all but I was ok to trade him for the right price because I thought and still think that we can't win a championship with both Dort and Giddey in the starting line up. I was wrong to think that Giddey would improve his weaknesses more than Dort. I was too high on Giddey and didn't think Dort could improve his 3pt% so much.