Cason Wallace is a LOCK for All Defense | OKC Thunder IMPROVING | Ajay Mitchell Legit

Cason Wallace is a LOCK for All Defense | OKC Thunder IMPROVING | Ajay Mitchell Legit

On today’s Locked on Thunder podcast, I’m going to tell you why Kase Wallace is a lock for the alldefensive team. You are Locked On Thunder, your daily Oklahoma City Thunder podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Let’s get it going on the Lockdown Thunder podcast. And the Lockdown Podcast Network, your teams every day. Now the number one sports podcasting network in the world. I’m your host, media member and beatwriter for thunder onsi.com. Ryland Styles. Follow me on Twitter at ryland_styles. Follow the show on Twitter at lol thunderpod. On today’s show, we’re diving into our confidence level in the following statements. Looking at Wallace being a lack for the alldefensive team, SGA putting himself together. Another impressive MVP campaign. Chad Homegrren’s offense and more. Today’s show brought to you by Game Time. Go download the Game Time app, create your account, and use code lock.in. NBA for $20 off your first purchase. We’re joined today by Michael Martin at Michael on sports across social media. Let’s talk Thunder on YouTube. Michael, how you feeling today as we uh near the middle of November. We are getting to the thick of it with the regular season. Um we’re getting our sea legs under us. I mean, it’s been a quick turnaround for all of us postfinals run, but uh I’m feeling good. How are you? I’ve been doing good. I I want to ask you this off off the cuff. What’s been the what’s been the most interesting fan fodder for you so far when you’re surfing through social media? Has it been the dreams of this Thunder team breaking the win record and all that people have discussed with it when it comes to that? Or has it been the collapse of the Clippers who lost again on Sunday afternoon and they have that unprotected pick Oklahoma City does from LA? It’s the Clippers. It’s more fun just to see. Well, because you have two fan bases going at it with that with the Thunder. Can they chase 73 74 going back to back? It’s just one fa fan base kind of talking and you’ll have a few other ones kind of going back and at them. But with the Clippers, like not to kick people while they’re down, but it kind of reminds me of the Mavs last year of you’re just kind of laughing at just how crazy it is. You’re kind of laughing at at least it’s not me in that situation. So, I’m going to have to go with the Clippers. Yeah, with the Clippers, it’s like it also means more. It’s like the SEC. Like, if the Clippers hand over the Thunder a top five pick in the draft, that would literally be unbelievable. And if this Thunder team goes and breaks the win record, it’s like, yeah, that’s cool. But on some level, it doesn’t mean a ton after you’ve won a championship and you’re looking to win another championship. Like, I think that everyone would much prefer that the Thunder don’t win 70 plus games in this season. But they do win back-to-back championships. And they do that by taking care of themselves and resting up at the end of the season. Whereas this pick, like if they somehow land a top pick and this loaded draft class where you’re looking at Darren Peterson, Cam Boozer, AJ the Band, so you’re looking at Nate Amint from Tennessee like Caleb Wilson like if they if they somehow land a top player in this draft all because of that Clippers trade which is already like the most lopsided trade in NBA history. It feels like outside of the Luca trade which is just un unreal that in short success we’ve had to already change that title. But it’s just the Clippers. It has to be and it has to be them because of the fact that you didn’t expect it. Like you this Clippers team after the offseason that they had and they were boasting up John Collins and they were they were boasting about the Bradley Beal. He’s going to reshape his image in LA and now he’s out for the season. It’s not looking good for the Clippers and there’s also an investigation looming over their head. Yeah, with the Clippers it’s almost like the Thunder coming back around once again where it’s like we’ve stolen your house. we’ve taken uh all your money, everything in your bank accounts, your car, and then you circle back one more time to this guy who’s on the street and you go, “Give me your shoes, too. I need everything.” And the Clippers is just, it’s unbelievable for them. So, yeah, I’m right there with you of like going back to back is the most important thing. Winning 74 whatever games would just be sort of NBA legacy stuff. But, as they’ve said many times, doesn’t mean a thing without a ring. It doesn’t. and and there’s a lot of talk right now about how, you know, the Warriors run, for example. It was really a detriment to them to to go break that record. But let’s get our concern meter and our confidence meter, I should say, 1 through 10. 10 of course being that you think that this is an absolute lock jab happen. One being that you don’t think it’s going to happen at all on the following Thunder Statement. Starting out with this one, Michael Kase Wallace is a lock for all defensive team. I would say that’s around a seven just given some of I think that there’s going to be some level of the the voters wanting to give this Thunder team a lot of credit for how good their defense is going to be. Once again being an all-time regular season defense, but we know that Dub’s going to miss a lot of games. He’s probably not going to be even eligible. Uh Dorton Cruso, I think, might be in the same boat. But what Kase’s been able to do of just leveling up with his work in the film room, he’s one of the league’s leader in steals, total steals, steals per game. He’s been really, really impressive. So, I’d be pretty surprised if he doesn’t get it. But then again, like you have certain guys like Wimy’s coming back. He wasn’t in he wasn’t eligible last year because he didn’t play enough games. And with it being positionless, that’s where I would get a little bit more nervous. But more confident than not. How are you feeling? Yeah, I’m all the way up at like a 9.8, eight, close to a 10 because like it is positionless. That does throw a wrench into things, but this Thunder defense is already the best defense in the league. And like the last update, they were six points better than number two without having a large chunk of their defensive presence. Like Jaylen Williams, yes, has missed all of the season, but Alex Caruso has missed multiple games. Chad Homegrren has missed multiple games. Even Case Wallace missed a game in that stretch as well. And yet here they sit as a team. Kase is obviously leading the league in steals right now. this point of the season already, he’s already at six games of three or more steals in a single contest. That trend, I think, is going to continue. And you you’ve seen him now have to take on the likes of Luca and Steph and do it by himself. Lou Dorse missed a ton of games. When you when you get to the end of it coming into the season, we were talking about this team splitting votes from one another and how that could hurt his case. I think that it arguably hurt his case last year from all the ways that they split votes and the fact that like you just couldn’t keep putting Thunder guys on the list last year with this season. I don’t expect us Cruso to be eligible for this frankly like he’s he’s questionable this on Monday with a right hand soreness injury. So I don’t expect him to like be gungho about making all the defensive team and they want to save him for the playoffs. I don’t expect JDub to be eligible for these awards and and you look at Chad and Lou already missing some time. I think that Kase has had a great start to this season, obviously a great impact on that end of the floor and that he’s going to be the guy who gets in and he might not be the only guy who gets in the defensive conversation for OKC and makes the team, but he’ll be one of the one of them for sure. Yeah, all defense is weird. We’ve talked about this before of like it’s kind of like how the Heisman used to be when we were growing up of like you have to put together a year before that kind of qualifies you in the race for the next year. And all defense is one of those things that’s sort of hard for the voters, I think, at least because I don’t think that they’re watching all the games. And defense is super super reputationbased. So like it took Lou forever to crack that list. So I I’m optimistic for Kase, but I’d be a little bit wary of some of those little factors like that. But he’s been awesome this year. And not to say that they’ve like babyed him in any way, but it feels sort of like they’ve taken the training wheels off this season in terms of just unleashing him. Some of it’s been, you know, just opportunity based and situational with Lou and uh AC missing some games, but what he’s been able to do, you mentioned those three matchups of Jaw, Steph, um, and then Luca, he he’s been unbelievable. To book in this segment, before we get into more Thunder topics, I want to throw this one at you because it ties to our first question about uh the fanfare on social media. The Clippers, the Clippers are going to make the playin tournament. On a scale of 1 to 10, how confident would you be as they sit right now in the 11th seed, four and nine, but the Jazz are at 10 that the Jazz have to bottom out and they have to do that in a hurry because the Thunder own a top eight protected pick from the Jazz. And the and the bad part about this for the Jazz at sitting at four and eight, which is nothing to truly write home about, but better than we expected. Like you look at you look at the positions in the in the pecking order of which like they would for sure own their pick and have no chance to slip to eight. That’s only at the top three. And at the top three teams, they all have one win already. New Orleans has two at three. Brooklyn has two, tied with three. And then you have Sacramento, Dallas, Memphis. Like, it’s getting late early for Utah to start bottoming out. So, they need to start doing that. And that’s one spot that already opens up. The Suns right now are sixth in the NBA where we’re not sure if that’s going to hold or not. So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you that this Clippers team just simply makes the playin? I’d say like a three or a four. And maybe this is wish casting, but watching this team, like we saw them earlier against the Celtics earlier on Sunday and they put up a good fight, but for a lot of that game before that comeback, they just looked like a team that was just sort of beaten down and sort of defeated like they didn’t have a lot to play for. And I think they’re desperately waiting for like Kawawaii to come back or some sort of shot in the arm. But James Harden looks tired. We’ve, you know, I’ve made the joke all the time of like you can count on one thing and that’s James Harden. He’s not going to quit on your team. But like it’s going to be really really tough sledding for them especially in this Western Conference. I think Dallas has a ways to go. They could jump up a little bit. I think the Grizzlies are the most obvious team that you look at of just like their competence. They get Zack Edy back. They look a little bit better. But the Clippers, it just feels like their talent level isn’t there between guys like Beal being out even though he was a detriment at times. Kawhai’s missing a lot of games. And then Zubac especially I think is the biggest piece. He just doesn’t look like himself. So, I’d put it around a three or a four of them making the play in, but beyond that, I’d be pretty skeptical. Yeah, I would have it as as a five just because it’s kind of right in the middle and I could see it going either way. I really don’t want to buy into this being like some disastrous season from the Clippers wire towire. Like, I think at some point surely they’ll figure some of this stuff out. And with Kawhai coming back, that would help. Although, the question is for when when does he come back and for how long is he back because he’s not one to play. My biggest concern that would push me toward the fours, the threes, the twos on this meter would be the fact that Bradley Be’s out for this season simply because I already questioned if he could replace the level of production you got from Norman Pal last year. He didn’t uh to start this season when he did play. Now he’s out for the year and now you just have no chance to replace that production. Chris Paul has not looked good to start this season. a lot of the the moves that you touted in the offseason for the Clippers have not paid off for them and we’ll see if it does or not. But it it certainly cannot go above a five for confidence that they’re going to make even the playin, which even in the playin, if they were to make the playin and still lose in that in that tournament, they’d still be handing OKC a lottery pick. And with the flatten lottery odds, we’ve seen every year a team jump up. Most notably last year the Dallas Mavericks lost a play and jumped up to get Cooper flag uh in the NBA lottery. So, it’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out. But coming up, we’re going to h go on this meter again. The confidence meter in chat homegrren is offensive leap being real. The first one’s right now. My good friends over at Robin Hood, folks. Go check out Robin Hood today because Robin Hood is awesome. Your ambition just met us match with Robin Hood. You play for the win, not just on game day, but every day. Looking at at the opening that you have, beating your PR, beating it again, channeling that drive into your money is a good thing. Robin Hood puts you in control of your money. Trade stocks and ETFs, options, futures, crypto, allin-one platform. You can now build and execute your own trades from a desktop with Robin Hood Legends advanced tools. Or take advantage of the new Robin Hood strategies with a tailored portfolio managed by a team of experts. 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And they’re zone deals. It’s a complete game changer. You pick the section you want and Game Time picks you. The seats that you save the biggest on. You can find NBA tickets for under $25. Under $25 for NBA tickets. Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Game Time. Go download the Game Time app. Create your account. Use code lock on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. Again, that’s code L O C K E D O NA for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. We’re back on the Lockdown Thunder podcast on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your teams every day here talk with Michael Martin at Michael on sports across social media. Let’s talk Thunder on YouTube. I’m Ren Styles and let’s dive into our confidence meter of Chad’s offense being sustainable. Chad Homegrren has had to step up with JDub out for the season so far to this point. He hasn’t made a season debut yet. Chad Homegrren has been someone who they’ve relied upon. You look at that game against Charlotte, it was really Shay and Shut that had the offense going uh to keep them afloat only, you know, keep them within six points and then they eventually blew out the Hornets in the third quarter. Michael, on a scale of 1 to 10, how sustainable is this version of Chad offensively? I’d put it at like an eight or a nine. I think the only thing that would hold it back is just sort of the shot frequency cuz like when you get Dub back, those those shots have to come from somewhere. He’s going to get more shots back. He’s not going to just relinquish a bunch of those looks, and you don’t want him to either, but I think the efficiency is here to stay. Um, I think the mid-range has been an awesome piece for him to add. He just looks so much more comfortable and so much stronger. So, I’d put it around an eight. But, um, his process has looked really good. The shot looks good. The only thing I worry about a little bit is just sort of what we’ve seen in the past of his legs getting tired, the three sort of flattening out. But, overall, I’ve loved what I’ve seen from him against Charlotte. He was just like, I joked about it on Twitter. It looked like he downed to five hour energy before he went out there. He was just everywhere, but I I’ve loved his energy and I’ve loved the shots he’s getting to and it’s been really fun to see him sort of explore more of this this space with Dub Out. Yeah, he’s been he’s been awesome and the chemistry between him and I has really grown since the last season. And the reason why I’m with you like a nine on this confidence scale is because of the fact that he’s doing it without uh relying on the three-point shot as much. Like obviously it’s still a big part of his game and it’s still one of his unique tools as a sevenfooter who can go stretch the floor that way uh and shoot 39% from three on four attempts a night. However, he has a career-high in cuts per game uh this season. He’s getting to the basket more frequently on those cuts. He’s also in the mid-range way more and knocking down a career high in the mid-range on his way to 19 points, eight rebounds, one assist. I think that his partnership with SGA has only grown as well because now instead of just kind of lingering around that three-point line and being a pick and pop guy, he’s making himself available to Shay on these drives as a dump off option. And that’s something that he can do with Jaylen Williams as well once Jaylen Williams comes back. So, it’s not as though like they’re letting the entire offense flow through Chad in a way that they cannot do when JDub returns. He’s still playing this play finishing role for this team. He’s just doing it on different areas of the floor. He’s doing it by sealing off guards in the post and getting it done in the mid-range. is doing it by cutting to the rim, rolling to the rim, uh, and being a dump off option there. And then, of course, he’s able to knock down the three as well. And he’s also playing well off the catch this season. And you see that time and time again, people are trying to run him off that line from three and attacking him hard on closeouts. And he can take one dribble in, hit that mid-range jumper, he can get all the way to the basket in one dribble. Like, he’s just been on a different level offensively. Yes, he’s always been a guy who’s better with rest. as you mentioned, his shot does look like it has more arc this season than in years past, but you still have to monitor that moving forward of like what does it look like as we get deeper into this season. But because he’s not so reliant on like a boomer bust factor from three and he’s getting it done in multiple ways offensively now, even that concern is pushed down the the order for me a little bit for chat. So, I’m like all in on this on this chat progression on the offensive end. Yeah, I think you put it the best way possible of just like he just makes himself more available. He’s not just standing in the corner, which I don’t think he did a ton of, but he’s just more active. He’s cutting more, like you mentioned, most of his career. He’s getting to the line more. I think that’s been a really big thing for him. He looks more comfortable dribbling and handling the ball. The turnovers are still a little bit high for my taste, but I think that’s fine at this point in the season. It’ll hopefully iron itself out. But overall, I I love what I’ve seen from him finishing. You mentioned the iHeart pairing. That looks way way more comfortable from both guys, whoever’s handling the ball. And then the mid-range, I think, is the biggest thing right now of it’s not either three. It’s not either catch and shoot three or dunk. He he’s got some in between game to him now. And that makes him just a whole another dimension harder for these guys to guard. And then I really liked what you mentioned about him punishing sort of smaller guards and sealing guys off because that’s been a big thing because if other teams aren’t going to match them for size and going double big, he’s more than likely going to get a guard or a wing on him. So, he’s got to be able to capitalize on those matchups, shoot over guys, post them up, and do whatever. But overall, very confident about Chad. Yeah. And with Chad, I I just think that he’s been a great addition. And you mentioned that high turnovers. I agree. His his handle uh it’s not a concern, but his handle has to get a little bit crisper. It’s It’s made some steps in the right direction, but it can stand to get a little bit better. but also his playmaking opportunities can now open up for him as a guy who’s not the level of passer that Iheart is or even Jay Will is. But he is capable as a sevenfooter of when guys run him off the line to if he can start collapsing the defenses because of that mid-range shot and because of the rim, he can make that next read and get the ball to the next guy and have a wide open shot for this team. I want to see that continue to uh happen for this offense. But I do believe that Chad is where he needs to be offensively, especially once this team returns. And speaking of once this team returns to to health, and this is kind of why I’ve let the expectations build on this Thunder roster because we talked about how JDub coming back will not detract from Chad. I don’t believe that JDub coming back would detract from AJ Mitchell. In fact, AJ Mitchell gets better when JDub is on the floor. Michael, how are you going to rate this one? I’ll say I’ll I’ll go a bit lower. I’ll probably go to four. I think it detracts from some of the numbers just because like what I mentioned with chat of like those shots have to come from somewhere. But I think the efficiency will remain. Uh but I think that it’ll make it easier on him. But at the same time, I think AJ’s at his best with the ball. But I think those two will complement each other well. But I’m a little bit lower than I think you are of just like guaranteed it’ll make him better. I think overall in the large scale of things, it’ll be best for the team to have both those guys out there. And it’s good that AJ’s had these extra reps. But I think that AJ still at his best really really needs the ball in his hands. He can play off the ball. And uh I think Dub takes a little bit away from that, but I don’t want to sound too negative, but I’m a little bit less optimistic of him sort of maintaining form of the numbers we’ve seen. Yeah. And I think that this is more so better in the in the eye of the beholder. Like is it going to be better individually where right now he’s averaging 16.7 points per game with four rebounds and uh four assists per game and he’s a he’s been a great defensive playmaker as well in the passing lanes, but that doesn’t really matter for this conversation right now. I I think that he’ll get better from the sense of elevating the team’s offense as a guy who right now as a point of contingent with him playing with Sheay. Like Sheay is deferring at times of letting AJ be the guy who brings the ball up, who sets the table, who who finds Shay already in advantageous situations. And JDub has been used to playing that way off of Shay and now can play that way more consistently off of AJ. And so AJ can set the table for Jacob at times. Jub of course will still need the ball in his hands and still need to dominate the basketball. in a lot of those secondary units. But then that lets AJ shine with his catch and shoot threes, which they’re not hitting at the same clip presently that they did a year ago, that they did in summer league, that they did in his college career. But I think that that’s still a part of his game. I think that’s still going to be an asset for him. So like for me, when Jub comes back, he’ll still set the table for Jub at times like he does for Shay. He’ll get easy buckets, and I think that’ll rise his catch and shoot uh and three-point numbers overall. He’s right now from a 38% shooter last year to a 34% shooter from three this year. I think that that will start to climb once that that once that once that JDub returns and then if you play them all three together, you now go from a team who last year really labored at times in the half court offense to a half court offense that’s really really good. And I think that that the defensive uh prowess of JDub can let that happen to where if you can play Shay and let’s say Shay, Case, AJ, Jub, and Chat like that still be a very fun lineup to put out there. So, there’s just so many different ways that they can complement one another that I don’t think it’ll be a bad thing uh for this team or a bad thing for the impact that AJ has. Now, will it will it be a detriment to his point per game number? That I can see. And if we’re just talking about like his basketball reference page getting worse, uh you know, in the sense of like the counting stats, I would agree with you that I think that it would take a dip. If we’re talking about his efficiency and his impact on winning, I’m very confident. I’m not going to eight that that AJ gets this team better once JDub returns. Yeah, I think that you hit all the points on the head of just like it’s going to be good having him back. It’s going to be good with these two guys playing together. I’m more so thinking of like you mentioned those lineups where Shay will defer to AJ. I’m thinking more of the lineups where it’s the secondary units where it’s just sort of the the AJ runs the show minutes where it’s just him. And I wonder how that’s going to look with Dub of both those guys can play on or off the ball. I would personally prefer to see AJ set up the table more for a dub where he just only has to think about scoring, but I think it’s gonna be an interesting dynamic. And then yeah, I mean, holy cow, if you put all three of those guys together, what is that going to look like on the same at the same time? And then AJ, you know, as the shots go away a little bit uh because of Dub being back, it’s also going to be a lot easier on him because he just slides down the scouting report of guys you have to prepare for and defenders that you can sort of allocate to him. Like if it comes down to, you know, they play the Pelicans and, you know, JDub’s not going to be back obviously for this next game, but Herb Jones, who’s he guarding? He’s going to guard Dub. He’s not going to guard AJ. So, that’s going to open up things for him. And you sort of have like this this domino effect later on. But, um, you’re sort of swinging me a little bit more, but I I’d say that I’m still slightly on the lower side. Coming up, let’s talk about it. Is iHeart indispensable to this Thunder roster? Will the Thunder go win 70 plus games? And do the Thunder still just have one competitor in the NBA? But first, I want to tell you right now, my good friends over at FanDuel, go check out FanDuel today cuz FanDuel is incredible. The NBA is back. There’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel. It’s the official sports betting partner of the NBA. 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We’re back on the Lockdown Thunder podcast on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your teams every day here at Talk with Michael Martin at Let’s Talk on YouTube. Michael Michael on sports and social media. I’m Ren Styles. Let’s dive into this one. Isaiah Hartenstein is indispensable to this Thunder team. How confident are you in that statement? Uh, nine in the regular season, 10 in the playoffs. I I think that what he brings to this team in terms of physicality, in terms of playmaking, as a big, in terms of the the floater, in terms of screening, it it’s been pretty indispensable. Like we all remember, like obviously guys have gotten a lot better on this team since then, but just you you have these sort of nightmares remembering and deja vu of the the rebounding versus Dallas in that series. and Hart, he just sort of erases a lot of those issues. And he’s been awesome. He’s been super reliable. He had some injuries last year, but this year he’s been an iron man. He’s been one of the more I think he and Shay have been the only consistent starters who haven’t missed a game so far this season. So, I I’d say he’s incredibly indispensable just in terms of his culture fit, in terms of the passing, his basketball IQ, what he’s able to do on defense, and how he’s sort of able to to mix and match in whatever role and whatever lineup you need him in. I 100% agree with you that like he is at a I would just go ahead and give him an overall 10, but I agree. Like in the regular season, yeah, could you could you The word indispensable is obviously misleading. Like could you win a game without iHeart in the regular season? Sure. But it’s like just his being on this team, you cannot replicate. This team has a lot of redundancy on its roster. Like, okay, you miss Lord, well, now you have Ken Wallace. Okay, well, you miss uh Aaron Wiggins, well, someone else will step up and make shots from the bench. And like they have a lot of overlap in skill talent. They cannot recreate iheart’s physicality. They cannot recreate iheart’s presence around the rim on the glass and and also the dirty work that he does. Nobody has wipe away screening ability like iheart. Nobody can push a guy in a box out completely out of the lane and let someone else go clean up a rebound. Nobody can can handle a post up, stand them up in the paint and let chat thrive as a helpside shot blocker. Like nobody can do these things. And even the high post playmaking like yes Jwell is really good at it. He’s not iheart. And that’s still shine at Jwell, but it’s like iHeart is for a reason a top 50 player in this league. Like he’s okay. Yeah, sorry. Jay Well is not that at that level. So it’s like nobody can do that on this roster besides iheart. Those those things and because this team has such a luxury of talent and an overlap of talent and they have so many pieces who they can be next men up because all these guys fit the system so well. Like it makes iHeart with that indispensable label of yeah, nobody else can do that what iheart can do. And you you’re going to really appreciate uh the abilities that iHeart presents because all those abilities that we mentioned, it’s easy to overlook. It’s easy to gloss over whenever this team is winning by 20. But if you didn’t have them, you would then notice it in a big way. Yeah. I I like what you mentioned about Jay Will and him where it’s not the idea that like Hart is good that means Jay Will’s bad at it. It’s like no, Jay Will’s really good at some of those high elbow like passes and stuff. Hart is just better at it. and what we’ve seen from him. He’s he’s been awesome. I I asked Mark about this last week about how he’s gotten better because I think people still forget just because of how young this team is overall that Hart’s still only like 27. Like he’s still got a long way to go. And he really focused on his finishing at the rim, which I’ve uh watched a lot of tape on. You can definitely see it. The hook shot looks smoother. He looks more aggressive attacking the rim where, you know, before it’d be these DHOs and he’s kind of just lost on an island of like there’s no one for me to hand it off to. And now he’s just attacking the rim. So, he’s been awesome this season and um I think Thunder fans are in for a treat to watch him the rest of the way. Michael, this is the one that I’m hard and fast at a 10 on this meteor. So, I want to see if we agree because we often agree, but sometimes we disagree. OKC will not try to win 70 plus games. Unfortunately, we’re not going to disagree here. I’m at a 10 out of I’d put it higher than a 10 if I could. Uh, I think that, you know, they’re gonna, it’s all the cliches, it’s all the puns intended with this team of like they’re going to take it one day at a time. They’re going to stack days. They’re going to be zero and zero mindset. I don’t think they’re chasing it. I think that it’s just one of those things where if like if it comes, it comes. If they can win 70-ish games, but I think that they’re going to keep the big picture things in mind. I think that they know just looking at those Warriors teams and how much that took out of them and just overall what their bigger picture goals are because realistically Ryland if they wanted to they could have chased 70 wins last year at the end of the season but they rested all those guys towards the end against teams like the Pelicans and other teams. So this is not like new territory for them. So if they sort of come upon it where they just win enough games to get there then sure. But I don’t think they’re going to be like the Warriors back in the day where they’re playing their main guys 30 plus minutes against Memphis in the last game of the regular season to try to chase 73. Yeah, I’m glad that you referenced last year because the reason I’m so confident in this at a 10 out of 10 and I could not be swayed and if you would have disagreed would have had a huge uh bonus pod debate about this because we’re running late but it’s because of last year and actions speak louder than words. But whenever the actions reflect the words then it’s even stronger. It’s like you look at what they did last year. We asked them from the time that the All-Star break happened until the end of the season, are you look at Cleveland? Mark, Mark, have you seen the standings, Mark? Are you guys worried about being the number one seed, Mark? Like, have you seen what Cleveland’s doing, Mark? And he remained consistent the entire way of we’re not worried about the number one overall seed in the NBA. We’re worried about a team that gets fresh and a team that is healthy moving into the playoffs and as as solid as you can be in the postseason. And that was last year when that team had championship aspirations and didn’t for sure have the number one seed throughout the the home court advantage throughout the whole postseason. They still didn’t care. So much so that whenever after that All-Star break when they played the scrappy Portland Trailblazers who were making some noise at that time, they sat so many guys they got investigated by Adam Silver of how many guys that they sat because they just did not gear enough. Now they still won. And that’s why it’s phrased as though they will not try to win 70 plus games. If it happens, it happens. They didn’t I don’t think that they tried to win 68 games last year which put them in rarified air in itself. It’s just that it happened like they they you cannot say that they sold out to to win that Portland game. Obviously not. Jay had a triple double. It’s like you cannot say they sold out for that win. They just happen to get it because they’re the deepest most talented team in the league. It I think that this would be much of the same way. If they happen to win 70s something games, it would be because Jay Will and and these guys at the end of the season at the end of the bench like still keep winning you games. And that’s why they’re not going to win 70s something games because to win 70s something games, you have to make an actual effort to go do that. And it’s and it’s what the Warriors have always talked about whenever they did it of like, yeah, you know, you mentioned that last game of the season, probably could have stood to uh take some time off there. And and I think that, you know, it was the road tripping podcast that put it put it perfectly of like if this if this creeps into your mind as a goal, then once you accomplish it, you naturally have this side like, okay, we did it. We did it. Oh, wait. Now we got to actually go do the real thing. And I don’t think that the Thunder want that to be like a part of their identity. So it’s like they’re not going to try to do this. Now there it’s it’s crazy to think that they’re so good and so talented that it’s not out of the question that they win 70 games and win two more than last year even while resting guys. But it’s not I don’t think it’s going to be anything of note once we actually get further into this season. Yeah. Yeah, I mean to a man I would bet every dollar in my bank account, so like $10 that if you talked to the Warriors from that season and said if you could go back 73 and N or win the championship, everyone’s going to say the championship. So I think this team has their focus. They’re not really worried about it. And some of it just does come down to of like who are you playing playing late in the season? Like we all make the jokes about, you know, Mickey Mouse march. Uh but like if they’re playing some really bad teams who are tanking, who are trying to really manipulate their draft odds and then you have AJ playing a bunch of minutes because guys like Shay and Dub are sitting resting for the playoffs, then sure, they could accidentally sort of fall into it. I don’t want to say like it’s luck because it’s not because they they have to put themselves in a good position winning all these games. But I I think that they from the top to the bottom, the Thunder, especially coming from Sam all the way down, like they are big picture oriented, so they’re not worried about winning x amount of games this season. I think that they want to get the number one overall seed to get home court, but beyond that, I don’t think they’re chasing any type of history. Yeah. And that’s the thing, too, like we we brought this up on Friday because it was a big talking point um you know, about their hot start of like, well, what could they go chase something? You also need some of that luck in the sense of the schedule makers which is out of your control and it happens in August before we know anything about the NBA. The Thunder’s April stretch is the Lakers, the Jazz, the Lakers, the Clippers on a backtoback, the Nuggets and the Suns. It’s like well if we believe that the West is going to be as as finite as we do from from two to 10 like the Lakers Clippers and uh Lakers again and Nuggets, they’re going to be trying to win. The Suns are amazingly in the playoff conversation right now. we’ll see what happens at the last day of the year and then the Jazz will will certainly need to lose that game. Like assuredly we’ll need to lose that game. So it’s like you have one game, maybe two, where it’s like, okay, the team’s just going to give it to you. Other than that, you’d have to really put your guys out there and get wins over the rest of that that grouping and the Thunder just are not going to put themselves in that position. It’s just it’s just not worth it. It’s just not worth it. Like you look at what happened to that Warriors team. Yeah, 73 was awesome. Like you can’t take that away from that from that franchise, but was it worth it really? like, was it really worth it? No, of course it wasn’t. So, they’re not going to try to to get that number. Now, let’s end it with this. We’ve seen the NBA play out. The Thunder are 14 games into their season. You and I were in agreement before the year that they have one true competitor, and it’s the Denver Nuggets. Do you still believe that that on a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you after watching these first few games that the Thunder have one true competitor, and it’s the Denver Nuggets? Uh, I’d say it a nine and a half to a 10. I I mean what Denver is doing, Joic especially, he just looks like a man on a mission. He It reminds me of sort of when LeBron came back in 2018 where just like he had one team in mind that he was just focused on. But Joic has been unbelievable. We’re both big Cam Johnson guys. He hasn’t looked great so far, but I think we both think they’re he’s going to bounce back. Aaron Gordon’s looked really sharp. Um Christian Brown I’m still a big fan of. I think he’s going to be a good player in this league for a while. They finally have a backup center for him. We both like David Adelman as a coach. He’s done a really good job. So, there are other teams that could make the Thunder sweat a little bit, but I’d be s pretty surprised other than maybe Houston, which maybe we can talk about in a little bit if it’s not Denver as the team to beat, who the Thunder, you know, we’ve just talked about they’re going to have big picture. I don’t think they’re going to circle them on their calendar of like a team to focus like I think Denver might be doing for the Thunder, but I think that’s sort of a team that you should be keeping somewhat of a side eye on of like a measuring stick throughout the season of seeing how they go. Yeah, Denver’s looked awesome. And you mentioned it, our guy Cam Johnson has not played particularly well for them. However, we also did call it in the summer where we’re like, listen, the thing that’s going to happen here is it’s going to be a slower start because they don’t have that chemistry and Joic is a very much guy who you play next to that you need to build that chemistry up with to fully maximize who you are. And can they maximize that in an 82 game window? I still believe that they’re going to. Now, now they haven’t done it yet. And perhaps it’s just too much to overcome the years and years of chemistry with Michael Pter Jr. It’s it’s impossible to replicate in 82 games. I think that they’re going to figure this out pretty easily. Uh, and they’re going to be the biggest threat. And I agree with you at a 9.5 because I think that I can’t get to a 10 until the deadline’s over with of like the the Rockets. If they figure out the point guard situation, then the Rockets to me leap up into this tier with Denver because of what we see that they can do defensively and how unique they are with their front court. They are they are matchups make fights and and styles makes fights. whatever the saying is, Houston can put together that matchup against Oklahoma City that really makes them work for everything. And if you really take take a uh, you know, 5,000 ft view of this thing, who can make the Thunder work for what they need to accomplish? It’s Denver and it’s Houston’s defense and Houston just needs a table setter for them and a and a solid point guard for them because right now, I mean, you just you simply cannot play Reed Shepard against this Thunder team in a playoff setting. You just cannot do it. You can play him zero minutes against a Thunder in a playoff setting. And if they can somehow figure that out between now and the deadline and they get Dorian Smith back, my guy like I think that the Rockets could be something of a force. So I can’t lock it in at a 10 right now. I I’m going to bump it down to a 9.5 with you. But Michael, really tough week this week, huh? Pelicans, Kings, Jazz, Blazers. And by tough, I mean tough for us to watch. I don’t want to watch the Kings play basketball again. I don’t want to watch the the Pelicans with James Barago pacing the sidelines uh tonight. However, it’s our job. Someone’s got to do it. So, I guess we’ll be this the uh the hero. Some would call us heroes. You know, we’re just doing our chops. But, are you looking forward to anything this week? I mean, I want to watch Derek Queen play. That’s kind of independent of the Thunder. I want to see Jeremiah Fierce play. He’s been really interesting. But, um I I want to see this Portland matchup again if we finally get this Thunder team of like something to I don’t want something to play for sounds bad, but like they can get their lick back of the one team who has beaten them. And I’m interested to see how they respond because we all know the circumstances of like um third game in four nights or second night of a backto-back all those things that happen all those guys who missed the game where the Thunder just looked dog tired and they still blew a lead the Blazers and right in it at the end. I mean if Isaiah Joe’s shoe was half a size smaller he gets that three maybe they go to overtime. So I I think that’s the most interesting thing to me of just like how do they handle that? How do they approach a team like that as Portland comes in with some confidence after beating the Thunder? Yeah, you look at Portland like that they had been a very fun storyline, but now they’ve lost four their last five games including to the Dallas Mavericks, including a 20point loss to Houston. However, why I agree with you, this is the this is the game like if if you’re if you’re looking at this week and you’re saying, you know, the holidays are right around the corner. Got a lot of stuff to do in my personal life. I’m going to rely on lockdown Thunder to recap these games for me. I’m not going to be able to watch them. Try to watch Sunday because Portland is not on a backtoback. Neither is the Thunder. So, they both have that rest day after a Friday game. It’s going to be in the Paycom Center. It’s going to be a lot of fun to watch these two teams play. Uh, and of course, of all the options, they are the most competent team on the list of teams that the Thunder do play this season this week, I should say. Sorry. The record prediction, it’s got to be either 4-0 or 3 and one. So, which one is it, Michael? Yeah, it’s 4-0. I I don’t think that they’re losing another one to this team. Uh, and then the rest of the S schedule, like, we know how soft it I mean, the Kings are trying their darnest, but they don’t look very good. The Pelicans are the Pelicans or they’re just sort of just lost at sea. I don’t think that James Bargo, the new coach, is going to just reinvent this roster where suddenly, you know, you did the ad run earlier of 17 point favorite for the Thunder. I don’t think he’s going to swing their roster by 20 points here. So, I I I’m going to go 4-0. Now, Michael, let them know where all they can find you and what you’ve got cooking up. Yeah, let’s talk thunder on YouTube and on Tik Tok and Instagram. I just posted a video about AJ Mitchell being the next James Harden for the Thunder off the bench, which is doing really well. And then another video that I’m working on, which has sort of been a topic we’ve discussed here, is about Isaiah Hartinstein as a powerhouse playmaker, which will come out later this week that you can look forward to. Go check all of that out. You can subscribe to Lockdown Thunder anywhere you get your podcast from, including on YouTube. We have a 5day week show, plus our four live streams, me and Derek Parker, Monday and Thursday, 2:00 p.m. Central. myself and Jeremy Lamb on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:30 Central with Tyler Jones. Go check that out. Until tomorrow, be good and be good to one another.

Cason Wallace leads the NBA in steals and anchors the league’s most dominant defense. Is the Oklahoma City Thunder guard a lock for All-Defensive honors?

Rylan Styles and Michael Martin break down Wallace’s defensive impact using a confidence meter format, rating key statements about the Thunder’s championship trajectory. The discussion covers Chet Holmgren’s offensive evolution beyond three-point shooting, the LA Clippers’ collapse potentially handing OKC a top-5 draft pick in a loaded class, and Isaiah Hartenstein’s irreplaceable physicality. The hosts debate whether the Thunder will chase a 70-win season or prioritize playoff health, analyze Denver’s status as the only true Western Conference threat, and evaluate AJay Mitchell’s development alongside Jalen Williams. Key topics include vote-splitting among Thunder defenders, Holmgren’s improved mid-range game and cutting frequency, and Houston’s potential leap into contention with the right trade deadline move.

Discover why the Thunder’s defensive dominance and roster construction make them championship favorites, and which competitor poses the biggest threat to their title aspirations.

0:00 Intro
1:20 Fan reactions: Thunder’s win record vs Clippers collapse
3:54 Cason Wallace’s all-defensive team case
8:41 Clippers’ playoff chances and lottery implications
13:19 Chet Holmgren’s offensive evolution and sustainability
18:23 AJay Mitchell’s role with Jalen Williams returning
24:06 Isaiah Hartenstein’s indispensable value to Thunder
27:29 Thunder won’t chase 70-win season
33:43 Denver Nuggets remain Thunder’s only true competitor
38:18 Week ahead preview and predictions

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