OKC Thunder 2023-24 Regular Season Discussion

[Dadouv47]

Very good game from OKC (Shai,Giddey,JDub,Joe;Wallace;Dieng).

But don't overate this victory, because Chicago is not a good team and have poor coaching.

yeah that was a game we were supposed to win if we want to make the playoffs. Gonna be another story against Cleveland and Denver.

We really have a tough schedule to start the season: first 13 games we face Cleveland twice; Warriors 3 times; Nuggets, Suns, Kings.

[Kizz Fastfists]

Rockets lost by 30. That coin flip in the next lottery is gonna be stressful. Hope we get lucky for once. Thought we could get pick 8 or 9 after they signed Van Vleet and Brooks but they are a mess.

Give them time to win themselves into a pick for us .

That team isn't winning anything. FVV was just a splash to try to sell tickets. Seguin is decent and Green can be solid if he becomes more efficient. Outside of that none of that roster has a positive impact on winning. Brooks is a negative player just like Dort. He was brought in, assuming Houston understands what they are doing, to negate any positive impact FVV would bring in. Then at the last minute they got rid of Porter Jr and that was a needed good player if they were going to have any chance at sending OKC that draft pick.

[Woerzboerg]

Rockets lost by 30. That coin flip in the next lottery is gonna be stressful. Hope we get lucky for once. Thought we could get pick 8 or 9 after they signed Van Vleet and Brooks but they are a mess.

Give them time to win themselves into a pick for us .

That team isn't winning anything. FVV was just a splash to try to sell tickets. Seguin is decent and Green can be solid if he becomes more efficient. Outside of that none of that roster has a positive impact on winning. Brooks is a negative player just like Dort. He was brought in, assuming Houston understands what they are doing, to negate any positive impact FVV would bring in. Then at the last minute they got rid of Porter Jr and that was a needed good player if they were going to have any chance at sending OKC that draft pick.

Even if they will end dead last, it will be a coinflip whether we get the pick or not. So I'm optimistic.

[jake_swivel]

It’s not that they beat the bulls that is impressive. It’s that they calmly dismantled them in a workman like way, playing inside a system that they know well, while accepting defined roles. It’s that Chet as a defensive anchor, even without contributing much on offense or blocking many shots completely changed the geometry of the bulls offensive choices.

This team is good. The schedule is difficult at the start. There will be bumps and bruises, but they are going to be a playoff team.

[Zagor]

yeah that was a game we were supposed to win if we want to make the playoffs. Gonna be another story against Cleveland and Denver.

We really have a tough schedule to start the season: first 13 games we face Cleveland twice; Warriors 3 times; Nuggets, Suns, Kings.

Games against Cavs and Kings will be great test to see can this team be better than them. They are some kind of benchmark because they finished last year regular season as fourth and third.

Next five games against Cavs, Nuggets, Pistons, Pelicans and Warriors. I count Nuggets as only real favourites, other games should be very close.
Expect something like 3-2, and hope for 4-1.

[retrobro90]

Chet still scored 11 points on 7 shots and kept it humming on offense even if he didn't pop off like prime KD. Feel like thats getting a little lost here. He's a rip n run threat unlike anyone we've ever had at the 5. Transition was key for us last night and he was a big reason why our offense got into it early on every possession.

[Big nick]

Bertans is unlikely to see much playing time due to the contractual consequences. He'll be saved for when injures force them to play him. They want to limit him to 60, or less, regular season games. If they limit Bertans to 60 games they can trade him as a $5M cap hit to a team with a couple of 2nd round picks. If he plays 62 games he jumps to $16M next year which would be much harder to find someone to take that cap hit. Unless we are operating under the assumption that Presti plans on sitting on cap space forever instead of trying to win a championship in the near future.

I think Sam is building a championship team rome wasn't built in a day.

[Devilanche]

Give them time to win themselves into a pick for us .

That team isn't winning anything. FVV was just a splash to try to sell tickets. Seguin is decent and Green can be solid if he becomes more efficient. Outside of that none of that roster has a positive impact on winning. Brooks is a negative player just like Dort. He was brought in, assuming Houston understands what they are doing, to negate any positive impact FVV would bring in. Then at the last minute they got rid of Porter Jr and that was a needed good player if they were going to have any chance at sending OKC that draft pick.

Even if they will end dead last, it will be a coinflip whether we get the pick or not. So I'm optimistic.

They will get themselves into some wins by the all star break. And if they aren’t clearly the 3 worst teams in the league by then, there’s no reason for them to tank if it’s only top 4 protected.

[Big nick]

And remember we did destroy the bucks in pre season against there starters.

[Clav]

I am encouraged by the first game. Shai dismantled Patrick Williams in the 2nd half with many slick moves. My friend was over watching the game and he said, "Man, #44 on Chicago is on skates." The offense looked quite good especially shooting. Shooters were open and connecting, love to see it. We had 30!!! assists.

The defense slowly chipped away at Chicago and turned it up in the 4th Q. The Bulls were close but the run in the 4th by OKC... in the middle of the 4th really, it basically put the Bulls in a spot where they couldn't make a run in time and they just gave up.

I like how OKC broke Chicago down to the point of having a players-only meeting after game 1. That's really rough when a team gets humbled at the home opener and they are already questioning each other on how it happened. Oof.

Regarding Micic and Bertans DNPs, I think it's pretty evident that Davis will suit up for a maximum of 59 games and the lineup was a little more 'standard 22-23' to get a feel for the game. I'd expect to see Micic appear in more games going forward, especially if we're up big earlier.

Wallace played well though, he's got game.

[Big nick]

Wallace was very good last night I could see mark starting him in dorts place. But dort is sgas buddy so it won't happen. I hope fans just relax and let the rebuild happen we are very close to a great team.

[Dadouv47]

Allen is out, Chet vs Mobley will be a nice match up.

Gonna need to defend super well against Mitchell/Garland to have a chance to win this one.

[Clav]

Also Garland was questionable with a hamstring issue. I'm not sure he plays either

[Dadouv47]

So far so good. SGA superstar, Chet doing super well against Mobley and Cason looking like a vet. I didn't like the pick but our FO had a really good plan because he can stick to his new role perfectly and it looks like he's being part of our roster for a few years.

JDub struggling so far though

[ThunderBolt]

Shai’s going to win mvp.

[jake_swivel]

The team’s movement and decision making has been awful on offense. Shai is being a superstar. Josh and JDub are playing especially awful. Chet’s defensive impact is wild. When he figures out his offensive role, this team is going to be wildly good.

[Dadouv47]

The team’s movement and decision making has been awful on offense. Shai is being a superstar. Josh and JDub are playing especially awful. Chet’s defensive impact is wild. When he figures out his offensive role, this team is going to be wildly good.

lack of spacing with our starting 5 is still a big problem. Fixing some defensive issues with Chet but still gonna need to replace one of Dort or Giddey long term.

[jake_swivel]

lack of spacing with our starting 5 is still a big problem. Fixing some defensive issues with Chet but still gonna need to replace one of Dort or Giddey long term.

I love Josh, but I don’t think he will be worth to okc what he will be worth to a ton of other teams. When he gets to run the show surrounded by a bunch of shooters, he’s going to shine. Of course dort should go too (though he’s played well tonight).

[kdthunderup]

The team’s movement and decision making has been awful on offense. Shai is being a superstar. Josh and JDub are playing especially awful. Chet’s defensive impact is wild. When he figures out his offensive role, this team is going to be wildly good.

lack of spacing with our starting 5 is still a big problem. Fixing some defensive issues with Chet but still gonna need to replace one of Dort or Giddey long term.

Cason will probably start in a year or two. He is already a much better shooter than both.

[Dadouv47]

Need SGA to play like he did in the first half to win this game..terrible 3rd quarter