2023 Summer League - Cason Wallace, and Chet's return

[Dadouv47]

Last year Chet was looking smooth and killing it. Tonight he's racking up fouls and looks hesitant. Let's hope he ramps up a bit and gets some confidence before the season starts.

He looked good in the second quarter.

Man, that Tre Mann dunk. So majestic. So explosive. He’s terrible.

[Patches Perry]

They’ve been challenging and trying to bully Chet from the tip. Chet hasn’t played spectacular but he isn’t backing down an inch. A lot of dudes are going to try to dunk through him for awhile and a lot of dudes are going to find both of his hands on the ball at the rim.

Chet will be baptized a couple times this season, but at this rate, for every time he gets dunked on, he'll block or change 100 shots. I just hope he takes the mentality of all the all-time great rim protectors and doesn't let getting dunked on shake his confidence.

[jake_swivel]

Heh, this Utah crowd doesn’t seem to like Chet.

[The Servant]

Heh, this Utah crowd doesn’t seem to like Chet.

Some ugly jealousy. We all know how Utah rolls.

[Patches Perry]

Kind of a clunky game for Chet. Some good some bad. I'd like to see a shooting coach get his release point on his shot a bit higher. It's a little low right now. It'll also be a process to figure out where Chet belongs on offense. He stands around a lot and it reminded me of when Durant was here. I'd like to him operating more out of the high post and potentially along the baseline, and of course he'll be a pick and pop/roll threat as both the ball handler and screener.

I can't wait to see Wallace when the trade becomes official.

Jalen Williams is so good.

[jake_swivel]

I wasn’t real discouraged by Chet’s game. There were bright spots. He’s been out for a year.

I do think this game underlines why it’s a pretty wild plan to roll into the the regular season with this frontcourt, though. This team is too good 1-3 for Sam to do this to himself.

[Clav]

In my original post I noted that Jaylin and Butler weren't listed on the roster, Mann, too, but obviously they were added. That page was from rosters listed the week before.

Good game by the Thunder -- they were down, looked out of sorts, but really picked it up. Lulled again in the 4th, but made some timely plays and got contributions by a messy collection of fringe players to win.

Chet was looking gassed and not running back on D as much, but he was effective and a presence on the court even so, and was a +13. He's going to get a lot of good looks and only needs to focus on his conditioning and being healthy this year, it will go a long long way in his growth.

Jalen Williams - good as advertised, he doesn't need to play much more tbh.
Tre Mann - helped the team a lot, he needs to continue to have that approach, and try to play better D.
Dieng - missed all but one shot but he was looking eager and not hesitating.
Jaylin - no matter the game he contributes 2-8 points it seems and 2 charges.

The interview at the end with the guys all staying together and complimenting each other was nice to see. The crowd chanting overrated is funny to me, for a guy who hasn't played an NBA game. Ahh good ole Utah.

[The Servant]

Kind of a clunky game for Chet. Some good some bad. I'd like to see a shooting coach get his release point on his shot a bit higher. It's a little low right now. It'll also be a process to figure out where Chet belongs on offense. He stands around a lot and it reminded me of when Durant was here. I'd like to him operating more out of the high post and potentially along the baseline, and of course he'll be a pick and pop/roll threat as both the ball handler and screener.

I can't wait to see Wallace when the trade becomes official.

Jalen Williams is so good.

Honestly they are missing some pieces that are needed to enable Chet a bit. I think with Giddey's passing and SGA out there Chet will slot in a bit differently. He looked rusty and a bit hesitant out there for sure, he didn't seem as confident in terms of creating his own and I agree with the release point. He will look good posting up against miss matches and having an actual point guard out there.

Really liked seeing Chet out there defensively, I hope they get a nice C who can body and we can funnel people into and then let Chet roam as help D at PF. They really should have drafted Lively or made it happen imo. They could be competing hard this year if they find an answer at C. Presti likely still sees this as a bit of a development year and a year for the guys to get yoff exp. GET A C THOUGH!

[slick_watts]

chet looked great for his first game back, at altitude. defensively he was what you'd expect. offensively, he struggled without a pnr creator on the court. these guys he played with were scrubs, and the first few minutes with jaylin williams on the court, it was jaylin in the pnr action and chet basically playing as a wing.

summer league doesn't matter and good / bad performances don't matter, either, but i think it's really clear that chet needs to be the center when he is in the game and involved in the screening action at both ends of the court. sitting chet in the corner offensively, asking him to be a creator off the dribble, and having him roam the perimeter on defense is not getting the most out of him.

chet is a center, he will be an elite drop pnr defender immediately. the thunder don't need to acquire any other big man to put next to him except maybe a situational backup. chet's defensive skillset is not roaming on help defense on the wing. it is as a drop pnr defender.

[Big nick]

Guys l actually thought Mann looked very good tonight especially compared to last year. But his d is poor. And he has filled out his body looks very strong.

[jake_swivel]

chet looked great for his first game back, at altitude. defensively he was what you'd expect. offensively, he struggled without a pnr creator on the court. these guys he played with were scrubs, and the first few minutes with jaylin williams on the court, it was jaylin in the pnr action and chet basically playing as a wing.

summer league doesn't matter and good / bad performances don't matter, either, but i think it's really clear that chet needs to be the center when he is in the game and involved in the screening action at both ends of the court. sitting chet in the corner offensively, asking him to be a creator off the dribble, and having him roam the perimeter on defense is not getting the most out of him.

chet is a center, he will be an elite drop pnr defender immediately. the thunder don't need to acquire any other big man to put next to him except maybe a situational backup. chet's defensive skillset is not roaming on help defense on the wing. it is as a drop pnr defender.

I’m with you on all of this, but it would be very helpful to have a full sized PF or two. Perhaps not a “big man”, but someone who isn’t between 6’5 and 6’7 or Josh giddey. I would also like a better backup than Jaylin who is a very good 3rd big.

[slick_watts]

chet looked great for his first game back, at altitude. defensively he was what you'd expect. offensively, he struggled without a pnr creator on the court. these guys he played with were scrubs, and the first few minutes with jaylin williams on the court, it was jaylin in the pnr action and chet basically playing as a wing.

summer league doesn't matter and good / bad performances don't matter, either, but i think it's really clear that chet needs to be the center when he is in the game and involved in the screening action at both ends of the court. sitting chet in the corner offensively, asking him to be a creator off the dribble, and having him roam the perimeter on defense is not getting the most out of him.

chet is a center, he will be an elite drop pnr defender immediately. the thunder don't need to acquire any other big man to put next to him except maybe a situational backup. chet's defensive skillset is not roaming on help defense on the wing. it is as a drop pnr defender.

I’m with you on all of this, but it would be very helpful to have a full sized PF or two. Perhaps not a “big man”, but someone who isn’t between 6’5 and 6’7 or Josh giddey. I would also like a better backup than Jaylin who is a very good 3rd big.

they'll experiment with the sga/dort/giddey/jdub small ball thing with chet. but yeah we need some more big bodies available for sure. i don't think jaylin williams is good.

[jake_swivel]

chet looked great for his first game back, at altitude. defensively he was what you'd expect. offensively, he struggled without a pnr creator on the court. these guys he played with were scrubs, and the first few minutes with jaylin williams on the court, it was jaylin in the pnr action and chet basically playing as a wing.

summer league doesn't matter and good / bad performances don't matter, either, but i think it's really clear that chet needs to be the center when he is in the game and involved in the screening action at both ends of the court. sitting chet in the corner offensively, asking him to be a creator off the dribble, and having him roam the perimeter on defense is not getting the most out of him.

chet is a center, he will be an elite drop pnr defender immediately. the thunder don't need to acquire any other big man to put next to him except maybe a situational backup. chet's defensive skillset is not roaming on help defense on the wing. it is as a drop pnr defender.

I’m with you on all of this, but it would be very helpful to have a full sized PF or two. Perhaps not a “big man”, but someone who isn’t between 6’5 and 6’7 or Josh giddey. I would also like a better backup than Jaylin who is a very good 3rd big.

they'll experiment with the sga/dort/giddey/jdub small ball thing with chet. but yeah we need some more big bodies available for sure. i don't think jaylin williams is good.

if Jaylin is actually a decent shooter, his passing, positional defense, charge taking, and good vibes make him about the best 3rd string center any reasonable man could hope for.

[Zagor]

summer league doesn't matter and good / bad performances don't matter, either, but i think it's really clear that chet needs to be the center when he is in the game and involved in the screening action at both ends of the court. sitting chet in the corner offensively, asking him to be a creator off the dribble, and having him roam the perimeter on defense is not getting the most out of him.

I hope he will not dribble too much in his rookie season. He should set screens, play pnr and simple basketball. No step up threes and similar tough shots.

I also want to mention Ous. Man, he definitely looks worse than in his year in NBL. I think problem is his height increase, before we drafted him, he was something like 6'9, now he is more like 7 ft tall.
He doesn't look agile and quick like in NBL. It seems that game is too quick for him, and this is just summer league.

[ThunderBolt]

I’m proud of this group for no crazy overreactions to summer league. Regardless of what happens we know Chet will be fine and Tre Mann sucks.

[Dadouv47]

Teams gonna have an hard time to defend Shai, Chet and JDub when they are together on the floor.

Glad Mann got his "moments" but he looks the same. I'm a bit pissed at Dieng, always the feeling his head is somewhere else...too shy, fearful. He's still young and can work on this but that's a big reg flag to me.

[timO]

Dieng looks like a bust, its time we asume it. Reminds me of Poku, Poku played some well in third year, both guys needed to be drafted and stacked and Dieng needs more NCAA years, they are just too green and younger for NBA.

Jalen looks like a star, hes gonna boost his stats this year like 20-5-4.

Chet started very shy and bullied by scrubs, in second quarter started to feeling it and finish with a decent game.

You want a center?, Jaylin is our real center, hes gonna be a 20 minutes center for OKC again, Chet is still so skinny despite the pounds he added.

Mann as usual, hes a chucker, today his shots fall, tomorrow he will do a 3/14 or similar.

[ThunderBolt]

Shai is probably the only player in the league that prevents me from having Jalen as my favorite guy on the team.

[Devilanche]

For all those worried about Dieng performance do remember that he seemed to have had a growth spurt so it might take him a while to get used to playing with his new height . From 6’9” to 7’.

Additionally for this season this is all we need
Chet - proof he can play some C minutes
Jaylin - proof his 3 points shot is real and he take the rest of the C minutes
JRE - same as Jaylin . I think right now Jaylin has a much higher chance of getting a 2nd contract with us.
Poku - continue to show growth and play some PF/C.
Dieng - play more GLeague . The better he perform there the earlier he get minutes with the main team.
Kenrich - the more of the earlier folks underperform , the more minutes he get at PF/C . Don’t forget there’s some PF minutes that Giddey/Jdub will play .

This summer league game today. Nothing overly bad from those that wants to be on the main roster come starting of the season.

[jake_swivel]

For all those worried about Dieng performance do remember that he seemed to have had a growth spurt so it might take him a while to get used to playing with his new height . From 6’9” to 7’.

Pretty sure that was a meme. He’s certainly not 7’.