What is krack alacing Hardwo Knocks listeners. I am Damp Valley, and I
hope that you enjoy that fancy schmancy new intro music that is perhaps still playing
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did not hit the wrong podcast, and if you did, we're happy that
you're here. Anyway, that was just some new intro music. I am
not with my fantabulous Times Infinity co host Adam Fromwell. This time, we're
continuing with our individual team. Look aheads, we are up to the Oklahoma
City Thunder. I am joined this episode by Olivia Punchall from Daily Thunder.
She's the co host of the cross Bolt podcast over there, does a fantastic
job covering this team. Her second ever appearance on Hardwood Knox. So she
was nice enough to come back, or maybe we accidentally tricked her somehow.
She's a medical student, so she's smarter than that, which means at an
endorsement of this podcast, it's only it's sub mediocre. That's what I keeps
saying. That is incredible it's amazing. The conversation was great. Definitely encourage
you to listen to the entire thing, although there will be timestamps in it,
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on about self promotion for this podcast. Let's get to talking some Oklahoma City
Thunder with Daily Thunders Olivia Punchall, Olivia, thank you so much for coming
back on the Hardwood Knox podcast to talk with me about the Oklahoma City Thunder.
First and foremost, though, how are you doing, I'm doing.
Wow. I'm ready for basketball to start again. I've missed it. It's
always a fun time to getting started with the season with media Day and meeting
all the new players, so I'm looking forward to it. And covering the
Thunder is probably a little bit different too, because the last time you,
yeah, it's been the off season, but the last time Shay Gil just
Alexander has played basketball like it's been it's been a minute. I don't even
know remember when his last game was. It was in and wow, is
in March before the pad Bashia stuff started cropping up. So that's a long
ass time. It's sure, it's sure as Yeah, I'm excited to see
him, to talk to him about how his off season's been and you know
what he's been working on during the off season, because even before his injury
he was having such a phenomenal season. I'm just hopefully he can pick up
right where he left off. That's the hope and the plan. Let's actually
start with him. Okay, so his injury, is there any work like
is he expected to be ready for the season at this point or have any
limitations or anything like that going in the training camp. Yeah, as far
as we know right now, he should be good to go for Game one.
We have our media day in our meeting with Sam Presty tomorrow, so
maybe he'll mention it, but as far as we know, he is ready
to go. The discourse for Shake Give the Talxander went off the rails leading
up to the draft mostly I don't think it really had anything to do with
the Thunder themselves, but there was just this idea with his extension coming up,
that maybe they would consider moving him, and if he was Bradley Beal
and like his thirtieth birthday was on the horizon, you can get it.
But he's twenty three years old. He is your timeline. Do you think
the extension that just reflects like that's how the Thunder he was a no brainer
Max? But do you think the extension kind of ensures that, Hey,
SGA is our timeline, that's who we are building around moving forward. Yeah.
I mean I think for other people, maybe outside of the organization,
it signaled that, but I kind of think that's always been true ever since
the Thunder acquired SGA from the Clippers. I feel like he's always been the
timeline the future for Okac. So that really wasn't a question in my mind.
You know, I don't I don't know for positive whether or not he
was actually mentioned in trades for the number one pick. I don't think that
he was, but I supposedly that is what happened. But I've always thought
and continued to think that Sgia is the timeline for the Thunder going forward.
Is there anything that you look for him to do that he didn't do this
past season? Or was just the way that he sort of I don't even
want to say reworked, but he was just responsible for so much of the
offensive load, generating his own looks, and was so efficient that if he's
just going to be that player moving forward, the Thunder are essentially absolutely set.
Yeah, after last season, I was kind of worried if he could,
you know, take on that leadership role and be like the primary person,
just after playing a whole season with Chris Paul, who was clearly,
you know, the leader of that team. I was interested to see how
he would handle that new responsibility. And I thought he did an excellent job
in that capacity, and you could see his confidence growing with every game.
So just like off the court and as a leader, I think he was
phenomenal. And then he had just an exceptional season before he left with the
plantar fascitis. He looked really comfortable with who he was, and you know,
he's a really great defender at his position already. When he starts to
like get in his bag and gets going, it's like literally like art in
motion. Watching him play basketball like really reminds me a lot of Paul George.
But I think he was still kind of figuring out how to be a
superstar and like what his superstar identity is. I don't think he's quite there
yet, but he's so close in like this offseason. I just read this
interview that he had and he called himself the Black Steve Nash, which is
just like the dopest nickname ever, and I'm so excited to see whatever the
heck that means. I'm all on board for that. So if that's the
type of season that we're having this year with SGA, sign me up.
I'm ready. I am sure see how he balances the at look. Yes,
and Black Steve Nash is objectively just instantly one of the NBA's maybe the
best self assigned nickname ever too. We tend to on players to assign themselves
nicknames, but I'm with it. I'm curious to see how he sort of
handles himself defensively moving forward while sort of shouldering the superstar volume, because after
we're three years into his career and I just don't that I figured out what
he is on defense yet. That's fairy. Yeah, I think he,
like I said, I think he's still tried to figure out, you know,
exactly what his identity is. I think he came into this league being
pretty good at a lot of things, but not necessarily like exceptional at one
thing. And that's kind of how it is with the defense too, Like
he's pretty good for his position, but you know, I think there's still
room for approvement on that end. But also just you know, being a
facilitator for other players on the team. I think that's a big thing as
well. I think two of the offseason transactions that left a lot from the
outside scratching their heads were the trading number sixteam for two future first, which
the protections on those things are just it has nothing to do with the they're
so funny they go out so far, and then buying out Kemba, which
is runs counters, or just what they've done with veteran contracts in the past,
which is reboot the veteran's value and then find a way to flip them
later. Some have criticized them for leaning too hard into the not chasing winds
model, where do you sort of land on just you know, that criticism,
just those moves that the Thunder made their minds set, which was,
you know, kind of set the tone for their offseason and how they're going
to carry themselves during the regular season. Yeah, initially, I was also
surprised by the Kemba buyout. After that trade happened, Sam Presty and his
spressors, seems like very much like at the end of the season that the
Thunder were planning to keep Kemba Walker, that they were going to you know,
build him into the team, and they were going to figure out how
to play Sga and Kemba together, And so the fact that they bought him
out before the season even started was pretty surprising to me. But in hindsight,
looking back at it, I kin I kind of see where their head
set. So I don't think that Kemba was ever going to be a part
of the long term part of the Thunder. I think exactly like you said,
we all expected them to keep him for a while, maybe trade him
before the deadline for more picks to contender or something like that. So the
time in which they traded him was a little bit weird. But I wonder
now looking back, if that had anything to do with SGA's extension. Not
necessarily that he wouldn't have signed the extension if Kembo was on the team,
but with both of them being star point guards, being ball handlers. Something's
got to give for one of them. Someone's going to be unhappy in that
situation. And if the Thunder really are committed to show you this, s
Alexander being the franchise player in building around SGA. Having Kemba Walker this season,
I feel like would have hindered SGA from being able to reach the ceilings
that we want him to reach the season. And so in that sense,
it kind of makes sense if we're thinking about long term for the Thunder.
But yeah, the timing was a little bit weird and the number sixteen trade
with the two future first Like you said, I don't really know if this
picks are going to turn into anything. We already have Houston's twenty twenty four.
They're twenty twenty six first round selections, which are top four protected,
and a pick swap in twenty twenty five. So maybe Sam Presti's just playing
the probability game here. One of those has to turn into something. I
don't really know, but I guess you can't really turn down two first rounders
for a numbers sixteen pick. I guess I don't know. Yeah, they're
I think they're from Detroit and Washington, and they're just they're protected forever.
And I just I think that singular transaction is there's no issue there, and
they had another first round pick beyond sixteen. It's just when you look at
their pick collection in some and this sort of leads me into the next question.
They have all of the picks. They just have all of the picks
at this point, and so what do you think the ultimate endgame is for
them with those picks? Is it they want to take as many bites at
the Apple themselves as possible? Do they ain't vision wanting to have extra assets
to move up in a future draft? Are they like a sneaky team?
It definitely would not happen this season, but in a down the line,
they want to be the team that is going all in on a disgruntled star,
especially if the trend is going to become that these guys are agitating to
get out of their situations earlier than we ever thought. Right, Yeah,
I think that they're consolidating picks to either move up the draft board, to
have the assets to move up, or to you know, get multiple bytes
at the Apple. I think what they're waiting for is for a draft class
that has one of those truly transcendent players that can immediately common change a franchise,
which honestly, we haven't seen, I don't think since Luca's draft class,
and so I think they're just waiting for that type of player. I
feel like they feel like they have their superstar and SGA and the ultimate goals
to build around him. It seems unlikely that even the best trade package that
they could, they their best combination of picks if they could receive and then
retain a top five NBA player. That's the biggest thing is retaining the players.
So even if they're able to get them like how they were able to
get you know, Paul George, will you be able to keep them for
the long term? And I think that's kind of where the issue is.
And that's just a factor of you know, being Oklahoma City. That's something
we'll always have to deal with. But I feel like they're trying to pick
the right player and the draft like they did with Katie and Russ and Abaca
and Harden and all those players in the past. How did you feel about
the Josh and Kitty selection at number six, Now that you've had some time
to ruminate on it, and he did seconds in Summer League, right,
it was like a whole fifteen seconds. I personally, you know, I've
watched all the hype tapes that go around on Thunder Twitter. Sure, but
I just like, can't really, you know, Garner any real information on
that. Honestly, I've gotten some no giddy the most through watching his TikTok's.
He's like your classic. I know, we're just moving into that age
now where our draft picks are like TikTok stars. But it's interesting. I
was not that excited about it when it happened. I think that the Thunder
did try to move up to you know, like a one or two,
but I don't think Detroit was even entertaining any any trades for the number one
pig. I think it was an underwhelming pick. I personally wanted Kamina,
but Presty really never picked too. I think he will and most of the
time he's right. Sometimes he does go so far off of like I'm going
to pick someone that nobody's even thinking about, and then it turns out that
he was actually just wrong. And a great example of that is Terence Ferguson,
who I love, But it just was not. That was not the
pick that we needed. I don't think that Giddy will have an impact right
away for the Thunder, which is why I kind of wanted Kiminga because I
thought Kmingga could have an impact right away. So I guess I'm guess all
that to say that I'm not that pumped about Giddy, but I'm willing to
have my mind changed. I hope he plays above what I expect him to.
Yeah, I think the question for me is does he have like an
off the dribble jumper we haven't seen, or even just a mindset to score
more? And if anyone has only ever seen him in summerly the only thing
they're going to see him getting a bucket basically, So that sounds moronic that
that's the question. I think, knowing they were going to get rid of
number sixteen and buy out kemball Walker by the way, I might have liked
to see him take a bigger swing, And I think Kamingo was the bigger
swing because he feels like he might be more of a project. Because Giddy's
passing and envision and just control over defenses feels like it should translate eventually.
But kaminga projects to me just based off what I've seen him as the more
comprehensive or all around player, even if he takes a while longer to marinate.
Yeah, I think, yeah, maybe he'll take a while longer to
kind of become exceptional. But I do think he was like ready to like
slot into an NBA team right away, And I just I just feel like
Giddy's not quite there yet. He kind of he's kind of giving me Poku
vibes where he might have to, oh boy, you know, work on
him a little bit before it turns into anything useful. But I could be
wrong. I, like I said, I haven't. I haven't seen him
that much. So Polk who could probably give himself confidence lessons when it comes
to taking a shot though, So that might How did you feel about the
Trey Man pick I was after they took Giddy? They have SGA, they
have Tail Maldon and lu Dort that came to get a real chance to play
or is he going to be a little bit I don't want to say trapped,
but maybe someone buried behind those guys. Yeah. So the thing with
this thunderwroster as it is right now, is there so many guys on this
team that are roughly at the same level of talent, and so, in
my opinion, I think that's great for tray Man because I think that no,
nothing is set in stone, not even the starting lineup is really set
outside of door n SGA, and so I think there's lots of opportunities for
players to fight for those spots, fight for those minutes, show what they
can do. And I think if Trey Man specifically, I was able to
bring a unique skill set, I think that he could take one of those
spots and move up ahead of you know, a giddy Year Basley. And
so for him, I feel like three point shooting is kind of his skill
set that he could really use as a leverage to move up in the lineup.
I know at Florida he was setting like forty percent from three. Probably
won't be the same in the NBA, But I think he has the potential
to be the best three point shooter on the team, and if he does
that, he'll be invaluable, and I think that he'll be able to get
more minutes like that. Do you think there's probably a clearer path to Jeremiah
or Robinson to getting more minutes than tray Man in year one. Yeah,
so we're super high on Jerry, as we like to call him a daily
Thunder. He was such a steal at thirty six. I think he also
just has such a good hat on him. You know, he's like a
work hard, willing to do it all attitude. I don't think that he
has one thing that he's super exceptional at, but I think that that's not
necessarily a bad thing. I think that makes him easy to fit into an
existing system, and so I really think that he like Honestly, I think
I would put him above Trey Man to get more minutes, even though he
was the later pick. I think he was a steal at thirty six.
Thank you for I keep calling him Earl Robinson, and I honestly just why
instead of Robinson Earl? And anticipation this. I did watch some more of
his Villanova and he's a better off ball shooter than I thought. Look at
his shooting percentages and they're not great, and you think, oh, there
you go again, thunder drafting a guy who can't shoot. But as long
as you're not putting the ball in his hands, he I'm a little bit
higher on him than I thought. I was going to be, and I
think I just automatically thought like, well, why are you giving up thirty
six and thirty four for this dude? Was he not gonna be there?
Yea, So maybe it was just a roster spot crunch thing, but I
actually was coming into this not very much liking the thought process there. But
I actually watched him, which imagine thinking that and I'll be higher on it
than I thought I was gonna be. Yeah, exactly. I think that
fits so well with what the Thunder already have. You know, they don't
need, you know, a guy creating his own shots. They don't need,
you know, a playmaker. They've got that. What they need is
someone that they can put alongside you know, Sga and Dort who can kind
of just fit right in there. And I really feel like Jerry is that,
And like I said, he just has such a great attitude that I
really think fits with what the Thunder has been last season I and I assume
they will be this year. I'm calling it like grit and grind two point
zero, where everyone there has something to prove and we have a young coach
who also has something to prove, and just that combination, I think has
been really like, you know, we've found a lot of diamonds in the
route. We've been like digging deep and finding some real talent in unexpected places.
And I feel like Jerry could also do that as well. I promised
to learn the correct order of his make. I would just want to say,
like James rol Jones, it's just like rolls off the tongue. But
yeah, Jeremiah, I just want to call him James for that reason,
But yeah, Jeremiah Robinson Earle. So I'm sticking with j Are for short.
I think I'm gonna have to go with JR. Because that's easy.
That sounds better than jay E R. So I'm more like I remember JR.
Yeah, so poku, how heavily were I don't want to say what
type of license is he going to have this year because I feel like he
was on a obviously a very short lease last year. But you probably need
offensive creation more than they did last year at this point and year two for
him, So do we expect him to have built up the good will to
get some like real playing time this season? I think so. I think
he's going to start. I think he ended the season on a really high
note. Last year, after he spent some time in the G League,
he came back and he looked a lot more confident, sometimes overly confident with
his shot, but that's better than being under confident, I guess. But
he seemed to just like understand and see the game a lot better than he
did before he went to the G League, and we love that kind of
in season development. I think that he will start, and I think that
he'll get the opportunity. The thing that we need from him, though,
is just consistency in size. So he was, you know a little bit
spotty. Sometimes he would have a like really good game where he'd get a
lot of boards and you know, just really hold his own, and then
sometimes he was just getting like absolutely just demolished by like Anthony Davis. And
so he needs size, and just based off of creeping on Instagram and social
media, I don't really think he look not much bigger than he did last
year. But maybe it's like a skinny strong We'll see. Yeah, Look,
he's the shots he takes makes me want to believe in him. I
just don't know whether he's be taking them. And I will say it's not
always pretty. I don't know how much. I trust him to put the
ball on the floor, but just the way he moves with the ball sometimes
feels like he's teleporting with the ground he can cover in the ball in his
hands. So he's I don't know if the best word. I don't know
what he could be. I just don't have a strong impression of him,
but he is. I'm drawn to him. He's like the way he's played
is very magnetic to me. So I can't wait to see more of him
a year two right, And that's exactly why the thunder took him. He
had like the lowest floor but the highest ceiling, and so it's just like
and with where we got him, I don't know, it just it could
go either way. It really could. And I feel like he's trending more
towards being a player that we can rely on than he is not. But
it's gonna it's gonna really depend on the season and the strides that he takes.
Darius Baisley kind of had none even year last year, even when he
went on that scoring slow to close the season, It just he didn't have
the cleanest splits. I'm still such a big believer in him, though it
feels like they're still trying to figure out what he is and that there's been
you know, with shooting percentages are all over the place, but he does
find ways to reach the basket. He's hit the occasional, like off the
dribble jumper. His handle can be high and loose, but he's also testing
out spins and gutsy changes in direction and so I appreciate that self discovery and
they have they've really tried to, you know, test him on defense a
lot too. What do you see like for him or what's realistic expectations or
what does the thunder need to see from him as he goes into year three.
Yeah, it was kind of tough to see him struggle last season.
He's been one of my favorites since he was drafted and he was absolutely outstanding
in the bubble and so I feel like he was set up for just like
a really like a meteoric rise this season, and he definitely did not live
up to that for me. And unfortunately, I think the roster as it
is now will actually make it harder for him to get the type of minutes
he got last year. Like I said, there's so many young players are
hungry for a spot and for minutes, and I don't think that coach Diagnol
will hesitate to give other players minutes over basically if he feels like that is
the correct decision. So I feel like basically really has to take big steps
in terms of everything that you said, so like handling the ball better,
having confidence, being consistent, improving his defense. If he wants to keep
a spot in the starting lineup or otherwise, I think he's going to be
coming off the bench this season. Yeah, and I also wonder if you
would benefit from like another like a second just proven shot creator and maker on
this team. Feels like it would simplify or streamline a lot for him offensively.
Unfortunately we don't have that, but that would be nice. I'm asking
about so many individual players because I feel like that such is the way the
thunder rosters built. What are we What were your impressions of tail Maldone in
year one nominal? I'm so excited for him. I want him to get
more minutes. I'm excited for him to play behind Shay. I think we
can experiment with a lineup that has Sha, Teo and Dort. I think
he has one of the bigger upsides on the team, and he's such a
good passer already for being so young, that I think this could really be
a breakout season for him now that he'll get the minutes that he didn't get
last year. Do we do you expect him to be the starting point guard
for this team? I guess it depends on how you consider Sga. I
would consider Sga to be the starting point guard. But I think that there
is a good lineup, maybe even for closing games, that has Teo at
the point guard and SGA at the two, and I think that could be
interesting. But I do not think that he will start. I think it'll
be SG and Dort and then well, I don't know, it gets a
little bit tricky after that, maybe giddy Poku in favors. I don't really
know. It gets weird after that. We don't really have a center.
That's a whole another problem. Hey, that's the next question. Are they
have them to get a little weird at center? I think a tweet of
yours, I'm not sure if it's last night or the day that we're recording
this came across my timeline where you mentioned ken Rick Williams playing more center,
and that's just that warms my heart because I'd love to see that he had
a fantastic year last season. But are they so? Are they built to
get a little weird at center because they have Isaiah Roby, they have Derek
Favors, and I guess you throw Mike uscolland there. But like that's not
you know, one guy of those three that I just mentioned might be a
part of their long term core. They don't seem to have that. You
know, they're not. They just don't have a lot of staying power in
those two front court slot. It feels like, yeah, absolutely I have
I feel like they have no choice but to get a little bit weird because
they've got Favors and they've got Robi, and those are the only two people
that are like true ish centers and the twenty twenty one cents of the term.
And then they've got four guys who are basically just like power forwards moonlighting
as centers like Beasley and Poku Miscala who's probably not going to get that many
minutes. And then ken Rich Williams, who I will die on this hill.
I think Kenrich Williams should absolutely be in the starting lineup. I think
that he was phenomenal last season. I think that he just he's just so
impressive to me from where he came from to where he was last season,
and so I think I feel like Williams should definitely get more minutes, more
time at the center. And even though Derrick Favorits doesn't necessarily fit the long
term timeline, I think people might be underestimating how much he's going to play
at the start of the season. I kind of been viewing this as like
an Al Horford situation, except this time they'd probably like to get him traded
before the deadline. But I do hope that ken Rich Williams gets gets more
minutes. I think Miscala will just continue to get the same you know,
three four or five minutes here there. But that's okay. Yeah, Look,
Kendrick Williams shot forty four percent on threeason seven percent on twos last year.
He had a hell of a season, hell of a season, hell
of a defender, you know, just great size, great brit Like.
I don't know, I just I think he's fantastic. I think he could
be the second best player on the Thunder of the season, assuming I'm telling
you this, man, It's just like if he can pick up right where
he left off. I think that he can be fantastic because he can do
more offensively than Dort can. And this is also assuming that Derrick Favers is
no longer on the Thunder. But I love Kenrich Williams. I will die
on that. I'm totally here for that. I won't be the one to
try to kill you. So does little Dort have another gear offensively or is
it just like if he can hover within striking distance of thirty five percent from
three and play all defense level defense that this is just still a fantastic player
and that's fine. So how is he still so young? I feel like
he's been around for forever, and then I look and he's only twenty two,
and it feels like he's yeah, yeah he is. He's super young.
And I do think he has another level offensively. I don't know if
so much if it's like a skill thing as it more of it is like
a shot selection thing. So I feel like for him, he can he
can shoot threes very well, but maybe not consistently. And then sometimes when
he's not necessarily hitting the shots, he just keeps putting them up, and
that I think is problematic. So I think if he can work on his
shot selection, you know, maybe be a little bit more selective with the
three pointers that he's taking, I think that could be a way that he
can improve offensively and just trying to close that gap between how good he is
defensively and how good he is offensively, because otherwise he's at risk of becoming
like the next Andre Robertson and becoming an offensive liability for the Thunder, and
that's definitely not what you want because he is so good defensively that you want
to make sure that you have him closing games and guarding the best player on
the other team and not being an offensive liability. That's important. And he's
also built like a freight truck that can move laterally. It was like it's
the literal square, that's which is what I think of when I see Blue
Dort. I can't I can't remember who tweeted this from a member of the
Thunder media while ago, but it's like lu Dort is built like a big
freight truck made up of smaller freight trucks. It was something along those lines.
I couldn't stop laughing. He just has the body though, where it
feels like he should be doing a better job of finishing through contact and at
the rim and be like that threat too. Oh, I can attack close
outs, Like I'm not immediately just gonna put up this three, but I'm
gonna make that. I feel like he needs to. He needs to go
watch some some Russell Westbrook highlight tapes and just watch how Russell westbrig bodies his
way through the lane to get to the basket, and Blue Dort could absolutely
do that. Like he's not like obviously like rust, they're not the tallest,
biggest guys, but they've just so strong and so like forceful that that
could be a move for him as well. I know that he's good at
shooting threes, but that doesn't have to be the only thing that he does.
This is I'm like reticent to ask this question, but is he a
low key trade candidate this season with him having one year left on his deal
after this one? It's a team option and knowing that the Thunder how the
Thunder thought about players like non stars along these lines in the past, is
that something to watch more? Do you think that's a non starter? I
mean, like I've obviously learned from personal experiences as an a Casey fan that
nobody is truly untradeable, but I kind of think that Ludoor is as close
to to not on the trade block as you can be, especially for a
team that's rebuilding where it seems like everybody is tradeable. I feel like lue
Dort and s Ga are the two players that I think the Thunder want to
hold on too. I think they like what they have with lu Dort,
and I think that not a lot of other teams really see the value of
Ludort, like like Thunder do you. I don't think that other people know
his potential or how do you utilize him necessarily the way the Thunder do,
And so I don't even know if that would be, you know, advantageous
for the Thunder to trade him. I think that he's as close to untradeable
this season at least as you can be. And also at some point it's
like, what are you giving the Thunder that they don't already have because he
doesn't make a ton of money? So what are you gonna give him the
draft equity? Because they had decades? Who needs that? Yeah? Who
will be? And I think I know you're answering this question now, who
will be this team's second leading score if it's not ken Rich Williams, and
I'll be reasonable and I'll say I'll say Ludor. I think last season he
probably was the second best score, might have been close between him and Al
Horford. But I think that just virtue of the amount of playing time that
he's going to have and the youth of the rest of this roster, I
think he will be the second best scorer on the Thunder. I'm like,
I think you could legitimately talk me into four or five names here. You've
already just sold me on Williams. There, yeah, Dort, if you
told me it was Darius Baisley or Tail Malton, I don't know that I
would really flinch at that either that I don't think that would shock me.
The second the second unit for the Thunder, it's going to be super interesting.
It's going to be chaotic for sure, But I feel like, I
don't know, they might surprise us. They might surprise us. That was
a leading question into who on this roster gives okay, see the best chance
at finding or already having, let's say, a future co star for SGA,
because that does feel like the next step of this rebuild, finding that
number two or that just that running mate to pair with Shay. I still
think it's Dort. I think with the people that are on the team right
now, I think it's Flu Dort. It may not always be, but
I feel like they compliment each other very well, especially with their their skill
sets. And you know, Dort being so good defensively that he's able to
guard the best player on the other team and then have Sga guard, you
know, the second best person in let's Sga have a little bit more energy
offensively and vice versa, and so I feel like they really work well in
tandem with each other. They play very well off of each other. They're
very good at closing games together. They trust each other. I feel like,
if you just gave me the option of the people that are on the
roster right now, it's Ludort. But I think in the future the Thunder
might be looking to add someone a little bit more closer to Sg's level in
terms of superstardom. Yeah. I think that's where a lot of people take
issue with where the Thunder at is, because if lu Door is the answer,
any very well might be. I love lu Doort, but that's kind
of a problem when you're yeah, in the long haul, I don't think
so. On this team as it is constructed today, it's ludort and I
didn't throw the outline attent you, but the Thunder's offense was just I mean,
it wasn't good. It was It was actually thirtieth and points a lot
of possession between a point score possession for cleaning last. What's the path to
them to getting noticeably better there? And I'm assuming the answer will they have
to figure out how to survive the sha Jil just Alexander minutes. But then
how do you flesh out your lineups where schas on the bench to ensure that's
a possibility. That's a difficult question. I think it just it so depends
on what players look like this season and who we can consistently count on to
score. I think Tao Malodon is going to be a very big part of
that, and with the second second unit, I think he's probably, like
you said, he could you know, he's probably not going to be the
second best scorer, I don't think, but I think he'll do really well
with the second unit, So I would say utilizing him is important, trying
out different combinations trying out different lineups. Like I said earlier, I don't
think really anything is set in stone as far as line ups go, except
for maybe that SGA and Door are going to start, and so I feel
like trying those different different combinations is to be very important to those minutes when
she giel to Alexanders not on the floor. We've now entered the most unoriginal
portion of this podcast because these questions. I ask every single guest in these
looks, who's the player from miss roster most likely to get traded before the
deadline? Derek favors That's easy. He doesn't fit the timeline. He's good
enough you can flip into a contender for picks later in the season. And
that's exactly Sam prest stype. And if it ends up being Kenrick Williams,
we riot correct, yea, we do Riot. So what do you think
this is? This is a loaded question just because I don't know how many
closed games. OKAYSE is gonna be actively trying to win, but let's assume
it's crunch time they want to win. What do you think should be their
go to closing lineup? I mentioned this earlier, but I think it would
be really interesting to have a lineup with Taro Maldon at the point as She
at the two, door at the three. They did something similar with Chris
Paul. Obviously, Tao Maldon is no Chris Paul, but I think it's
still interesting to think about because es, She and ort are good enough defensively
that I think you can run a three guard lineup and it not be too
dangerous on the defensive end. I think that would be really interesting. I
have no idea who fills the other two positions right now, but you know
it's twenty twenty one. Basketball is truly positionless. I say, let's do
it. To that point. Is there a quirky, out of left field,
odd ball lineup that you're that you think they should try or hoping they're
try, or if you're you're the head coach of the Thunder now that you
would just be rolling out at some point this season to see what would happen.
Oh, if I'm head coach of the Thunder and putting Kenras Trull Limbs
in the starting lineup, that's easy. I think he deserves it. I
think it's worth a shot. I think it's interesting. I don't know,
though, because there's so much young talent. I don't know if you really
want to like stack everyone in the starting five and just have the second unit
be chaos. But I really think that kenrad S Williams should be in there,
and that it's my quirky lineup. I don't know if playing Teo,
She and Door together is also quirky, but probably to somebody who thinks basketball
still has positions, it's probably weird. So I think mine would be and
I feel like it would be very combustible, if not just flat out bad.
But I need to see it is Jeremiah Jr. Because now I know
those names, Kendrick Williams, Darius Baisley, Lu Door, Jjil just Alexander.
I don't know if they get enough shooting out of that, but I
would just be like, that's a bunch of just like that's like everyone's essentially
a wing in that lineup. So, and I love I tend to lean
towards the small ball lineups. I have an affinity for them. It's clear
that I don't think they would try this, but if I would head Gorge
to the Thunder, I would absolutely deploy those five together right. Well,
one good thing about their roster is there are multiple people that can play multiple
positions. If we already talked about SGA playing point, playing the two,
we've talked about several players that can play power forward and center. So I
feel like they do have a lot of flexibility and they could come up with
some thing I conventional. I know that if you had told me, you
know, a couple of years ago that all line up with Sha Door and
Chris Paul or war with Dennis Shrewder would be as effective as it was,
I would not have believed you. But that was there easily, far and
above their best lineup that they ran, and they closed so many games with
that lineup, and so I feel like I want them to get creative.
I don't want them to stick with the same thing all season long, and
that's good for the players, to the young players to be able to develop
and get more minutes if we if we switch it up, it's like,
not like we're trying to win here. We don't need to pare it down
to a seven seven player line up or anything like that. And that's a
great point about that three guard lineup. Different coaching regime, different arrow thunder
basketball. But I'm just sort of wondering. So you have Shay, you
have You'll play Shay and Teo together and then like, do you just give
it a shot with Trey Man or Josh Giddy alongside them to try and you're
not going to replicate it, but just go to the three guard model and
see what happens. I would be this team. The longer you stare at
their death chart, which I am doing at this very moment, is they
are just built to do some wacky things if they really wanted to. Yeah,
I agree, and I think that they absolutely should because it's literally no
risk to them and it's the only way they're going to find out which players
are a part of the long term future with the Thunder and which ones can
be packaged into a trade. That's literally the only way, and so I
think they should get creative with it. The worst that's going to happen is
we only win twenty games, and that's actually the best thing that can happen.
So that works for me. It almost seems like that's what they're trying
to do based on everything that's happened, because look, the tired take is
that the Wired excu the Thunder were so concerned about Kemba's knees that they thought
it was better just to shave money off of what he was owed than trying
to rebut his value. The Wired take is that they were concerned about winning
so many games because he and Shay are so good that they just needed to
get rid of him and stay within that twenty to twenty three win territory.
Oh. Absolutely, I completely agree with that. The Thunder have no problem
taking on the most washed players with the worst contracts. That's clip, that's
not an obstacle for us. But you have it only to a certain point.
Like Al Horford is a perfect example of this. Al Horford knees not
great, but we took them on. We flipped him back to Boston and
that's great. Al Horford's happy. We're happy. We didn't win too many
games. You just have some home for a half the season around for a
long Yeah, that did happen, But I think that he was okay with
that because now he's in Boston and he can live his best life. And
there's like for them, there's probably somewhat of a bad taste in their mouth
because you don't get the Houston pick this past year and you ended up sixth,
which is in a position where you kind of knew who was going to
go in the top five. Scottie Barnes going at four might surprise some people,
but like that'd be that close to Jamlin Suggs, who just goes a
fine. So there's like sort of a everything seemed like it was anarchy after
those top five, where it was a bunch of different players could go in
different orders, and I think we saw that with Josh Giddy going at six
on the Spurs deciding that they were just going to take Josh Primo at twelve.
So it's not a major disappointment because you've seven, You've you know,
you have all these bites at the Apples moving forward, but given the opportunity
you could have had relative your lottery odds in Houston's, that's you know,
somewhat of a less than ideal outcome. Oh definitely. Yeah, that was
super frustrating because there's a game that they won. Have they not won that
game, they would have been like four or something like that as opposed to
wherever they ended six, and so that is a problem. And I feel
like this season they if they're going to try to get the number one pick,
they really need to be in the bottom of three, and but they're
gonna have to take properly this season. They're often a good start, I
think, yeah, their win total. That's a great segue. Is this
podcast set at twenty one point five? Would you be over or the under
on that? Because look, they're they're they're not great on paper, but
twenty one point five is a very low over there. Yeah, so I
said the over, but barely. I think that they're going to be near
the bottom. I need them to be bottom three, but I think they'll
be near the bottom definitely. But they're going to win a handful of games
that they have absolutely no SMIs winning, and that's what's going to keep fans
excited throughout the season because it's going to be a long, long season for
Thunder fans. And when they win those games where they beat the Lakers and
double overtime for no reason at all, that's the kind of stuff that I
think makes people excited and it gives us hope for what the future of this
team could be like when we see them like, oh, like they were
able to like Poko was able to take a d under the rim. Not
that this is whatever happened. But like that kind of stuff is what gets
you excited or you're like, oh, like SGA. There's like a battle
of SGA and jaw and s clearly looked so much better than John Moranted,
and that's why he's our franchise player, and that's why he's the future,
and that's why we're going to be so much better than Memphis and all that
kind of stuff, and that's what keeps keeps Under fans interested in these trying
times that we're in. And so I feel like they'll win a couple more,
but they'll have some some very interesting wins that made people think that maybe
this team has actually some potential. And the other thing here too is they
were on a twenty five twenty six win paced last year. That's with sending
out Horford home Shade Jos Alexander being injured, So it's like, how are
they supposed to get that much worse? I kind of want to take the
under anyway. I'm some envisioning like Sam Presty, just ensuring that no one's
worse than them, but it's so low that I just I have to take
the over. But I would follow up the question with where do you see
them, like, is there a team in the West that you potentially think
could end up having a worse record than them? Is there a team the
league that you could see having a worse record than Oklahoma City this year?
You can always count on the Sacramento Kings, maybe the Rockets, is like,
could be yeah, maybe the Yeah, I don't know, that's tricky.
Yeah, I think Sacramento. I would be a little bit surprised.
I was now, but I think to your point before Charlott, Yeah,
and if they're going to be bottom three, bottom two in the West teams,
like, if they're better than fourteenth in the West, I think that
would be like one team was blown it up or suffered catastrophic injuries or something.
Right, Is there anything that I did not ask you about these thunder
heading into the twenty one twenty two season that you think needs to be covered?
I think we covered a lot of grounds. We talked about a lot
of individual players on the roster. But do you have one question for you?
Do you think this is finally the year that SGA becomes an All Star?
Who? That's a great question. I'm just gonna say yes, because
when you look at his like scoring inefficiency last year he was basically on par.
The only players to match what he did on twos and threes while averaging
his many points were Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. And he would have been
my most proved player had he played the entire season. That's like, and
he's not a bad team, so he would never get voteed like that was
all NBA level territory. And so I do get that the talent in the
West is crowded, but when you look at this season, it's like,
Okay Clay is not going to play a good chunk of the year, Kawai's
out. If he's gonna get classified as the back court, maybe Kawhi doesn't
matter as much, but this might be the year where it could be set
up for him. Chris Paul is older, and then maybe he and Devin
Booker kind of cannibalize from each other. And this is just very clearly there's
no Al Horford, there's no Kemba let alone, no CB three like this
is shake. You'll just Alexander's team. And if he puts up the numbers
that he did or even anything like resembling those on the efficiency that he has,
I'm gonna say, yes, I'm gonna go out on a limb make
a positive prediction for this Thunder and say that Shay Gilder Alexander is an All
Star. And I'll also go as far as saying that I flirt with putting
him on an All NBA team. Nice, Okay, good, good answer.
I completely agree with you. I think he's been like right there,
like two seasons, and so I feel like this is finally the year.
Follow up question, do you think that this is the year that lu Dort
makes an All NBA defense team? Ooh, that's a great question. Somehow
did not make it last year? They got one vote for NBA First Team
for defense. Tell me how about makes sense? It doesn't, And the
whole voting process very often doesn't mean too So here's what's tough with it's even
All Star voting too. People play so much stock in a team record or
if they're voting all defense, in where the team stands defensively, I don't
know. On the Thunder were twenty six and defensive efficiency last year? Do
you think they're built to be better than that this year? Because I think
they probably need to finish outside of the bottom ten for lu Dort to get
the amount of attention that he'll deserve. And I do think we need to
go beyond like be able to separate an individual players performance from where the team
actually finishes, because lu Dort isn't playing forty eight minutes a game and defending
all five players at once, right, But I do think the thunder need
to be like not shitty on defense for him to be considered. I think
so too. Yeah, I think that's the hardest thing. Is Like,
if we were just looking at the individual in a vacuum, I think he
would easily make it just for his ability to constantly guard the best players on
every team and you know, really hold some of these superstar players to very
limited points. As we saw him, he'd guarded James Harden absolutely phenomenally in
that playoff series and all season, And so if we're looking at him in
a vacuum, yes, But I think you're right if if you can't give
someone on a team that's you know, like bottom five in defense an all
NBA defense position, so hopefully they'll be a little bit better than that.
I don't know where they're getting that additional defense from necessarily. Kenrich Williams yes
to say ken Ridge Williams. So yeah, maybe maybe Kenrich Williams can help
us out our dear favors. We'll see, but yeah, it'll be tricky,
but I would like to see both of those things happen for them.
If the whole season is going to be, you know, like a twenty
win season, that would be nice to have USGA as an All Star and
for them to get some macclades at the end of the season. Yeah,
so he Okay, here's a scenario to layoff where you or just a choice
SGA making an All Star team, lu Dort making an All Defense team,
and ken Rich Williams being the second leading scorer on the thunder Which is more
likely? Which is more likely? Or which do I want to happen more?
I know what you want to happen more like? Okay, well,
to be on to be fair, if you asked me which one of those
do I want to happen the most? Is actually the same answer for which
I think is the most likely? And I think it's SGA being an All
Star. As much as I love ken Rich Williams and I want him to
be phenomenal, and I want both sides of this pill to be cold and
for him to never have a bad Monday and everything good to happen to ken
Ridge Williams. I do want Sga to make it as an All Star because
that to me cements the future for the Thunder. That's what I care most
about is, Yeah, we're in a tough time right now as Thunder fans,
But if there's that promise at the end of this that it was worth
it and that Star really turns out to be the player that we we believe
that he is, I think that would be the best thing that could happen.
If he doesn't make one and is in the conversation at least, I
that would be like one of the new arguments for why are we still doing
it by even separating it for frontcourt, back, quarter or even like we
need at that point we need to extra All Star because I just go through
the West. There's so many good guards there. It might help him that
Chris Paul's older, although that that really hasn't mattered lately. Jamal Murray's injured,
but like, you know, what they really need, Damian Lillard needs
to request a trade to an Eastern Conference team. That right really set that
sets the stage for Shay Gil just Alexander just take in take one of those
you know, incumbent All Star spots where you look at these players like Luca,
Steph and Dame and just say, oh, well, they're clearly going
to get an All Star spot, Like you need one of those guys to
not be in the mix. And Dame already seems like he hates Portland and
is just waiting for next season, so they need him to up his timeline
a little bit, right, Yeah, Like after this whole conversation we've had
today, it just it's so clear that separating into front court and backcourt just
doesn't make any sense because players just fit into so many different roles on their
teams. Now, Like what is Lebron? What does the honest like,
where do those players fit in that criteria? And so I feel like they
really need to just do away with that, Like who cares if the if
the Western Conference All Star team is five point guards, let's do it.
I'm here for it. The game is pointless and meaningless anyway, So what
does it even matter, like what the positions that the players play? I
think it's the actual game itself is unimportant. It is the honor of being
selected. That matters in my opinion, and so I feel like I agree
with you that the whole process could be a lot better. And I think
the NBA's even kind of admitted that because, I mean, with all MBA
this year, we're like you, they had like Yokich eligible power forward and
same within bid because they wanted the best players to make the best teams.
It's like, Okay, neither of those dudes was ever a power forward any
metric, So let's just get away with positions at that point. Maybe it
works the same for All Star. I mean you mentioned Lebron is a perfect
case study. He's always a like eligible at forward and really never point guard.
For All Star. He's the Laker's point guard. I don't care if
he's not guarding point like he's the Lakers point guard. So yeah, I'm
going to make the prediction and say he makes it though. That's going to
be my bold positive thunder prediction. Okay, sounds good. I hope so
too, Olivia. This was fantastic as always. I appreciate you coming on
to school us on some Oklahoma City thunder. Can you tell our listeners where
they can find you on Twitter and check out your work at Daily Thunder.
Yes, you can find me at Olivia NBA on Twitter. Good. We've
got a weekly show cross Bolts at Daily Thunder where we argue about different Thunder
topics and we just came back from our offseason this week and at our first
episode of the new season yesterday, so chut that out, we actually discuss
who we think the Thunder lineup starting lineup for Game one should be, and
obviously I put Kenrick Williams in my stay in line up, So feel free
to roast me on the comments on that on Twitter. That's innovation that I
will not roast. And also, this is in your bio, so I
know you don't. I don't know how you find the time to do this
stuff and be a medical student, because that just sounds unbelievably exhausting to me.
Honestly, this is like my distraction from school. I love it.
I think it's important to have hobbies and things that have nothing to do with
school, and so when I get to spend time talking about basketball, I
love doing that. Unfortunately, all of my brain is full of meaningless basketball
information. I can tell you the most random stuff about the NBA that I
need to make room for the for the medical stuff now, Kenrick Jilliams knowledge
is far from meaningless At this point, I think we've established Thank you again
so much for coming on, and I will talk to you soon. Thank you,