The Thunder Might Be the BEST Team in NBA HISTORY

The Thunder Might Be the BEST Team in NBA HISTORY

Yo, what’s going on y’all? It’s Con and this Thunder team might be the best basketball team to ever play the sport. I’m not saying that cuz I’m a Thunder fan. I’m saying it because the numbers early on back up that that’s going to be a conversation by the time we get to the end of the season. Tonight, they destroyed the Lakers was not even really close. It was a 30-point game by halftime and that’s on the second half of a backtoback after they annihilated the Warriors by 24 points. Also, not really a game once it got to the second half. Uh, this team is destroying everybody left and right. They are now 12-1 on the season and have an average margin of victory of 15 and a half points which right now is on pace to shatter the record that last year’s Thunder set at 12.9. Jaylen Williams has not played yet. Ludord has missed six games. Chat has missed four. Aaron Wiggins has missed four. Kenri Williams has not played this season. Multiple rotation players, Isaiah Joe missed the beginning of the year, too have been out in every single game the Thunder have played so far this year. It just hasn’t mattered. They still look like one of the best teams ever to start the season. The defense is somehow better. Last year’s defensive unit was in the conversation for the best we’ve ever seen. I think it was definitely the best perimeter defense ever, but you could argue some others as overall defensive units. Right now, the gap between the Thunder’s defense and everybody else’s is astronomical. It’s the biggest there’s ever been. And you know, maybe that changes by the end of the season, but right now the Thunder have a defensive rating of 103 flat. The Nuggets are at number two, which shout to Denver. They’ve been amazing this season. We’ll talk about them in a little bit. uh they’re at a 109.4. It is a 6.4 difference in defensive rating from number one to number two. We have never seen that before. For conversation, last year it was a gap of 2.5 between the Thunder and the Magic. And that in and of itself was historic. This might be the best defense ever. There are all defensive players left and right. Case Wallace just had multiple games in a row where he clamped up John Morant, then Steph Curry, then Luca Donic. Three players who are vastly different offensively and none of them could get anything going against Kase Wallace who should be a lock for an alldefensive first team spot this season if he plays enough games. Alex Cruso again Ludort has missed a lot of time hasn’t really mattered. You’ve got Chad Homegrren down low another alldefensive player. Isaiah Hartenstein is an extra rim protector and a really big body. Shay is good defensively. There is no weak links. Like even guys like Isaiah Joe, AJ Mitchell, Aaron Wiggins, everybody competes on that end. Not to mention Jaylen Williams has not played this season. Jada who was not only an allNBA player and an all-star last season, he was all defense. He was a lock guarantee on that team and he hasn’t even played yet. And the Thunder still have by far the best defense. It’s not even again a conversation so far this season. So, they’ve not only built up their biggest strength, one of the biggest strengths any team has ever had, but the offense is also vastly improved this season. The numbers might not reflect this huge shift, but it is the case. If you watch the Thunder, the eye test shows you this is a much better offense, one much better built to be successful in the playoffs. Again, even with so many guys missing time. Of course, the biggest part of that is Sha Alexander who’s giving again 33 points per game. Uh over 6 and a half assists. He has become a really good playmaker. There were multiple passes in this Lakers game that Shay wasn’t even thinking about making a couple of years ago, but now because he’s seen so many coverages, there’s really no way you can slow him down. I thought JJ Rek threw an interesting scheme. You know, they were sending a lot of help at the baseline. It just didn’t matter. Shay was throwing passes over the whole defense and finding somebody wide open. It took him like three possessions. He’s like, “Okay, I know how to score against this.” Once Shay sees the defense once, he kind of just knows exactly what to do. You can’t stop him in the mid-range. The three-point shot, especially that step back three, has become a big weapon. He’s getting some catch and shoot threes this season off of passes from AJ Mitchell, who we’ll talk about. He’s one of the best rim finishers in the sport. Shay is one of the best offensive players that has ever played the game of basketball. He’s given you 30 points and like six to eight assists a night in three quarters because guess what? Shay hasn’t had to play over half of the fourth quarters that we’ve had so far this season. He has played six out of 13 fourth quarters for the Thunder. He’s on pace to like sit at like 50 of them. He’s probably not going to, but that’s the pace he’s on right now. And again, I need to remind you Jaylen Williams has not played yet so far this season. Chad Homegrren is taking a big step forward offensively. The turnaround mid-range jumper has been lethal, just automatic for him. Uh he’s got a lot better, a lot more in control getting downhill and getting to the rim. The three-point shot, he looks more comfortable there. The footwork, uh Chad has taken a big time step forward. It’s similar to what we saw at the beginning of last season, which I tried to tell people that this year Chad was going to be in for an offensive jump because to start last season before he broke his hip, Cet was looking like a whole new player on that end. And when he came back, he didn’t have quite have the same aggression. He wasn’t involved in the same way. They were trying to figure out, you know, how do we acclimate Chet and Isaiah Hartenstein this double big thing and more often than not, the double big was a negative. Now, when Chet and Isaiah Hartenstein share the court, it’s like a plus 20. They are annihilating teams because of the rebounding, because of the defense, the size, the connection. There have been so many moments where Chad has gotten the ball in the middle. He’s flashed there in the middle of a zone or just got into that spot and defense collapses and Isaiah Hartenstein cuts it off the baseline and gets a dunk wide open. Those two have such ridiculous chemistry already and they haven’t even played that much together. They just kind of needed an off season and some time last year to get acclimated. Now they’re one of the most lethal front court duos in the entire sport of basketball. Not to mention Isaiah Hartinstein himself is just playing his best basketball, averaging a career-high 12.9 points to go with 11.4 rebounds. He’s attacking off the dribble more. Uh he’s going ahead and nailing that little floater push shot every single time. And again, we talk about the lobs. He had a career-high over 30 points against the Sacramento Kings, basically just bodying up against guys and diving to the rim because the Thunder have improved as a passing team in a big way. And part of that is AJ Mitchell. And if you didn’t pay attention to the Thunder last season outside of like the playoffs, you probably don’t know the name AJ Mitchell, you’re going to learn it over the course of this season, especially when he plays your favorite team because AJ Mitchell was a rookie last year. He was on a two-way contract. He played really well, but then got injured. I believe it was a toe if I remember right, and missed a majority of the middle chunk of the year. Played like one or two games in the playoffs outside of some garbage time, but he was not able to refine his spot in the rotation that late in the season. This year, he’s a staple. He has started four games and he’s the third leading scoreer for this team. 17.2 points per game to go with four assists and 1.8 steals as a guy who wasn’t even part of the rotation last season. And one of the issues the Thunder ran into in the playoffs last year was a lack of half court creation. Uh being able to get downhill outside of like Shay and Jon Williams. AJ has been an automatic paint touch this entire season. He’s really shifty. He’s really quick. He’s so good at finishing right-handed or left-handed. He had nice mid-range jumper. The only thing that’s not really been falling for him is the three-point shot, which was a huge weapon for him last year. So, I feel very confident it’ll come along. He’s got really good pace and vision as a playmaker through a great lob to Hartinstein falling down tonight. The teams that win the NBA championship and make all the records that the Thunder did last season are not supposed to have guys like him just pop into existence, but that’s the way that it’s going. And having him to play alongside Shay and Gon Williams as an extra creator makes this team so much more lethal offensively. Aaron Wiggins is averaging 15 points. Isaiah Joe is averaging 15.6. That three-point shot, his release is much quicker. It’s much more flexible. He can get it off in closer quarters. Kase Wallace is one of the biggest transition weapons in the league. I haven’t even really talked about Alex Caruso, who it feels like every game gets a steal, knocks on a three-point shot. It is a loaded roster. The Thunder are loaded from top to bottom. And again, this is a team that has been very injured that has not had an AllNBA alldefensive player play even a single minute so far. And they have the best record in the NBA, by far the best defense. They’re, I believe, six right now offensively. And he is the second option for this team. When he comes back, he’s going to be averaging 20 points per game on really solid efficiency once he gets back into his rhythm. And to add that type of guy when you’re already playing like this, it doesn’t feel like it’s fair. Not to mention, I haven’t even thrown out the fact, you know, this isn’t applied to the argument of the video that this is one of the best teams we’ve ever seen. Uh, but the Thunder also have the Clippers pick swap unprotected this year and they’re currently three and eight, three- seven. It’s just it’s ridiculous. Sam Prie deserves like 14 statues in Oklahoma City. I might put one in my apartment here in New York City. I don’t have a lot of room, but like right right over there in the back corner, I think I can fit one or at least a little miniature one because he deserves it at this rate. Uh, it’s just unbelievable how good this team is, how much they’re dismantling teams. The one loss of course came to Portland who shot really well from three and the Thunder were down like five, six guys. It was a very minimal rotation and that’s not to take away from the Blazers. Like that was a legitimate really good win for them. But even still, like it takes so much to even come close to the Thunder, never mind beat them. Just like almost nobody stood a chance. You know, the Pacers played them really close in the Rockets in the first two games of the season. A couple double overtime uh wins for the Thunder, but outside of that, there’s been like two games this season that felt like real challenges. They were down 19 to the Memphis Grizzlies and I was not at all phased even slightly and they won by double digits because I’m like, “Yeah, they’re they’re just going to make that run. Shay’s going to take over. The defense is going to swarm you, force a million turnovers. The offense is going to get humming and then you’re just cooked. There’s nothing you can do against a defense that’s one of the best ever led by one of the best offensive players in the history of the sport and Shay and who has such good supporting talent around him that’s only rapidly improving. Like this team, it’s not even a conversation from last year till now. As dominant as the Thunder were to win 68 games, I truly think if this Thunder team was healthy for the full season, they would have such a good chance of breaking the all-time wins record. I don’t think they go for it. I think this team probably wins like 68 to 70 games. If I had to make a prediction, I think 69 and 13 or 70 and 12 are both very attainable. They’re right now on a 75 win pace, but like they’re going to lock up the one seed and sit guys towards the end of the season. Shay might take a few nights off in the back half of the year. Jadub coming back from injury might continue to sit here and there. chat like the Thunder don’t need to chase the win record. They made a bunch of history last year. Right now, it’s about repeating, but to me, this is pretty clearly the best team in the league right now. I think there are other really good teams. Denver, like they got a 50 piece from Bokic, who was unbelievable. I swear he’s not missed a shot the entire season. Uh like Cleveland’s pretty good. The Pistons are playing some insane basketball. The Knicks, like there are good teams. The Houston Rockets have been awesome. But I think the Thunder at the moment are the clear favorite. I’m like Denver is the only team at the moment that I can see beating the Thunder in a seven game series. Actually, I but I think when healthy, nobody can do it. I think Denver presents the biggest challenge, but I’m taking the Thunder 100%. So, that that’s kind of my spiel on the Thunder this season, what they’ve been doing. If you haven’t been watching, which I kind of get because they’ve been they’ve had so many blowouts where at some point it’s like, okay, am I going to turn on this game because the Thunder are going to be up by like 20 points at halftime and then I’m just I’m just kind of out. Um, this team is so much better than last year and they’re already one of the best teams in NBA history, taking a look at literally every stat that exists. And the craziest part is if the progression continues, uh, the 2027 Thunder are probably going to be even better. So, yeah, shout out to the squad. What they’ve been doing so far, it’s actually just it’s insane. I feel so lucky that my favorite team, as dieh hard as I am, uh, is one of the best teams in NBA history. I think by the end of the year, if they keep up anything close to these numbers and go back to back, we’re talking about the 2026 Thunder in like the upper echelon, the Pantheon, the Mount Rushmore of best teams we’ve ever seen. Never mind best teams in like the modern era. Like I think they’ll it’ll be them in the 2017 Golden State Warriors at that point. Um, let’s go ahead and talk about some of the other games. There were a lot of them and I kind of yapped for a while about the Thunder. So, I’m going to kind of run through some of these. Yokic put up 5512 and six on the Clippers. Yeah, I I don’t think I need to say much more about that. Denver’s nine and two. They’ve looked amazing this season. Actually, have had the second best defense in basketball, which has been impressive. That offense is also elite. It’s looking like the Nuggets team I expected. I was pretty firm on my opinion that it was the Thunder and the Nuggets as the clear top two in the Western Conference coming into the season. And that is the way it’s looking when Joic is playing some of his best basketball for the Clippers. I mean, they got 238 and five from James Harden, but it was announced today that Bradley Beal was out for the season. They’re three and eight. Kawawaii is dealing with an injury. It might just end up being a loss season. like this may be the year that breaks James Harden’s playoff streak for his entire career. I just don’t know how they’re going to keep up if things keep going this way. They’re still talented, so I still kind of think they’re going to be in that mix, but it’s been a horrific start to the season. Uh Steph Curry goes ahead and knocks off the Spurs with 465 and5. Warriors went 125 to 120. WBY had a 3115 and 10 triple double. Again, we want to talk about the Thunder defense. Steph yesterday just basically non-existent. He goes up against another top defense in San Antonio and it’s 465 and five. Steph was just also, you know, cooking some really good defense from San Antonio. But, you know, there there’s kind of levels to this defense thing, but some people are overreacting yesterday saying that Steph was washed. It’s just it’s going to happen. You know, when he’s at this age, there are going to be inconsistencies. Uh, also a triple double from Stfan Castle, who’s been really good so far this season. He’s lived up to the Rookie of the Year Bill with 2310 and 10, 28 from Jimmy Butler. Uh Draymond played some really good defense on Victor Wimbeyama uh throughout this game and uh yeah, they go ahead and close it out. Rough one from Darren Fox, five of 14, but a really really fun game. Really fun back and forth. Always good to see those those Curry flurries, especially this late into his career. Uh the Orlando Magic got their most impressive win of the season, 124 to 107, knocking off the Knicks in Madison Square Garden. Big storyline is Jaylen Brunson tweaked his angle late in the game. I don’t know why he was still in there, uh but he left apparently in a boot and maybe on crutches. I I I’ll put a tweet up here to go ahead and verify. I’m not sure if that’s right. I can’t remember. At least I know there was a bit of a boot which is concerning. The Knicks of course absolutely need him. Hopefully it’s just precautionary and it’s not anything too serious, but 289 and four from Fron Vagner. Some big shots from Anthony Black and Jaylen Suggs to go ahead and stop a Knicks run at the end of this game. But Paulo missed a majority of the night and they’re still able to go ahead and win. They’re now up to six and six. Looking more like the Magic that I was expecting to see. Uh the Pistons without basically any of their starters, 124 to 113, beating the Chicago Bulls. In fact, they didn’t have a single starter tonight. Um, another great game from Dannis Jenkins. Duncan Robinson had 23 points with seven threes. Paul Reed had 283 six and four steals. He was ridiculous. Uh, Bulls are coming a bit back down to earth. They didn’t have Josh Giddy in this game, who of course would have made a big difference. Uh, but yeah, the the Pistons, they they’re just loaded. Like the talent is there. They are deep. They’re really well coached. Everybody’s stepping up. Uh, this is a team that feels like a real threat to make a run in the Eastern Conference. I feel very confident in that the longer that this season goes on. The Suns win another game, moving the Mavericks to three and nine. Phoenix seven and five. They might be do a video pretty soon here because I thought they were going to be bad. They’ve just been objectively good to start the season even with Jaylen Green injured. Uh but yeah, just 2639 from Devin Booker. I’m going to save all my thoughts about Phoenix until I make a video here soon, but they’ve definitely impressed me. The Blazers 125 to 117. Shaden Sharp on a heater right now 355 and three in this game. Derek Queen at 267 and4. It’s tough because the Pelicans are probably going to give the Hawks one of the best picks in this draft and it’s going to be a player that’s better than Derrick Queen most likely whether it’s AJ, Darren Peterson, Camboo or whoever. But Dererick Queen’s been so awesome. So I don’t want to talk about it too much because I feel bad. I want to both acknowledge Derk Queen is ridiculous, but also how did the Pelicans not find a different way to move up than giving up that pick that was just way too valuable to give up in a trade like that? Also, it sounds like Willie Green is probably going to get fired here soon, which is honestly overdue. The Rockets a very casual 135 to 112 beating of the Wizards. Don’t have a lot to say there. It’s just what Houston’s done all season. The Wizards are one and 11. Thought they might be a little bit more competitive. The Cavs 130 to 116 against the Heat. Pretty beat up. Gerard down 30 and 10. Big game from him. Uh another team that just continues to kind of find some momentum. Looking more and more like the Cavaliers I was expecting this season. No Garland, no Mitchell, and still able to go ahead and win that pretty comfortably. 131 to 95 win for the Celtics. Pton Pritcher with a 246 and9 game. Uh, no John for the Grizzlies. I I dropped a whole video about Memphis yesterday and specifically John Marant, but it’s just been a nightmare start to the season for Memphis. Sacramento has reached a new all-time low with this group. They’re 3-9 and lost 133 to 100 uh to the Hawks without Trey Young. Now, given the Kings were without Zack Lavine, but like I mean, come on. And this is now like the fourth fifth game in a row where they’ve just gotten obliterated. It wasn’t even close. Keon Ellis 20 points, six of 11 shooting. Hey, it’s maybe like he should play a little bit more. I don’t know why he’s been riding the pine for a lot of this season. Uh Jaylen Johnson destroyed them with 24. Hawks is a team shot 57% from the floor, 42% from three. It’s a team that can’t shoot the basketball and can’t defend anybody. Unsurprising that they suck. Uh I think this thing is going to be blown up ASAP if anybody is interested in those pieces. And finally, Charlotte Hornets beat the Milwaukee Bucks 111 to 100. Uh no Giannis in this game. We got some finesses on to the Koopa minutes though, so shout out to him. Ryan Rollins was really good for 25 points. Uh Miles Turner gave them 21 as well. Those two guys stepped up, but they weren’t able to stop the uh the Hornets offense, which did a pretty good job in this game. Ryan Calbrighter has been really good this season. I don’t think I’ve really talked about him, but 179 and three blocks. I he if we’re legitimately talking about guys that haven’t missed shots all season, uh he’s up there in that conversation. Trey man, pretty solid game, 13 and 50% shooting. Um yeah, Hornets just getting a win that a game that they should win if they want to try and push for the play in against the Bucks at home without Jana sent to Kmpo. But uh yeah, I believe that’s every game from tonight and those are my thoughts on the slate. Appreciate you all watching. Leave a like and subscribe if you enjoyed. Hit the notification bell so you don’t miss out on future videos. Let me know what your thoughts are on my Thunder. Do you think that they’re going to go back to back? Do you think they’ll come back down to earth a little bit? How many wins do you think they get? That’s kind of the big question I’m asking myself. Like even if they don’t really try for it again, they’ve been missing so many guys and they’re still just winning super easily. So what about when this team gets a bit healthier? Even if some guys rest here and there, how many wins can this Thunder team acrew? Is it 70? Are they going to join the Warriors and the Bulls as one of only three teams ever? Is it more like 68 like they did last year? Because this team does feel better. I don’t know. Would love to hear your thoughts on that. Um, as well as anything else across this slate of games, your takeaways overall. What teams you want to see videos on? I definitely want to make a Denver video at some point soon. Phoenix, Houston. Maybe I should make one about the Pelicans. Maybe when Willie Green gets fired, I’ll make one about the disaster that they are. Uh, number of teams. There’s a lot to talk about this early in the season. So, let me know what y’all want to see. Uh, and one more time, shout out to the uh, second channel, Fork Cone. I went ahead and made that one. Over 500 of y’all have already subscribed over there, so I appreciate that. Going to be trying to drop like daily I I missed today, but usually it’s going to be daily videos where I’m doing like NBA quizzes. I might do one coming up here with my brother and one of my best friends where the three of us try and go through it. Going to be some fun just miscellaneous content over there throughout the season. But yeah, I appreciate you watching. Also, I’m going to try and get more active on like TikTok and Instagram, things like that. So, I’ll be on the lookout for those. Those are both just I think three cone with no underscore. The Instagram might have an underscore. I don’t know. Sometimes people take three cone, sometimes people don’t. And just leave me the underscore. I don’t know. You’ll you’ll be able to find it if you look it up. But I appreciate y’all watching. I’ll see youall later. Rean say leave like and subscribe too if you enjoyed. I think I forgot to say that. I’ll see you later. Re say back. Whatever.

The Oklahoma City Thunder just destroyed the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors and have been dominating the NBA to start this season behind more MVP play from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, elite play from Chet Holmgren, lockdown defense from everyone on the roster, and they haven’t even had Jalen Williams yet this season. They’re 12-1 and seem poised to repeat and rival the best teams ever like the Michael Jordan Bulls and the Kevin Durant and Steph Curry Warriors. Not to mention they might get a top five pick from the Los Angeles Clippers.

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0:00 – Intro
0:12 – The Thunder are destroying teams
0:57 – This is the best defense ever
2:50 – Shai is somehow better
4:12 – Chet Holmgren is taking a leap
4:50 – The double bigs are cooking now
5:46 – Ajay Mitchell is a monster
7:15 – The depth is insane
7:36 – And Jalen Williams hasn’t played
8:01 – And they’re only getting better
9:59 – I don’t know if anyone can beat them
11:25 – The rest of the NBA
17:09 – Outro