Nekias Duncan and Steve Jones Jr. discuss the expectations for Oklahoma City entering this season – coming off the Thunder’s first NBA title that featured a near-historic performance on the defensive end. Check out the full conversation on “The Dunker Spot and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
Let’s kick things off with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Steve.
Last season, 68 and 14 seemed pretty good.
Third in offense, first in defense, first in that rating.
They weren’t just the best defense in the league.
They were flirting with historically great.
And that largely held true during the postseason as well.
And so for me, what is this going to look like after a championship?
Jason Wallace and Lou Dordd and Alex Caruso and Chet Hongren on the back end and Isaiah Harenstein with his scheme versatility and Shay being very good, and Jaylen Williams putting together an all defense caliber season.
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Like they just have so many guys to throw at people and I am just excited to watch that team play defense.
What excites you the most about the Thunderhead again?
I mean, there’s a lot.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are the best team in basketball, and they’re the best team in basketball until proven otherwise.
And so for me, when it comes to this season, it’s seeing what is the next evolution for them.
You see Shay Gildrich Alexander saying, I didn’t really come to only get one.
And that’s the mindset coming off a championship season from the Thunder.
And this is a group that’s grown together.
We’ve seen them evolve every single year.
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So what is the next step?
Shay Gilder Alexander has grown every single year that he’s been in the league.
How does he get even better?
What’s that look like for OKC?
Jalen Williams, what’s his next step?
What happens when he becomes someone that you have to put 2 on the ball against different areas of the floor?
Where is his growth point?
What happens when Chet Holmden takes another leap?
Like these are the things that are in my head, right?
They’re already very good.
There’s still room for them to be better.
On the flip side, they have everyone looking at them trying to figure out how do we stop this?
How do we put a stop to this?
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How do we get them back in the box?
How do we chase them down?
And that’s going to be the fascinating part of this season for me.
Who cracks it?
That’s going to be the fun of the season for me.
Is seeing what OKC tries to do going forward, and how the league tries to correct what they’ve done.