Oklahoma City Thunder
The 2022-23 Oklahoma City Thunder can be defined by being one of the Young Surprise Teams that was promised and making the West play-in despite not having the No. 2 pick in the draft.
What did we learn?
SGA is even better than we thought.
Not only is he so good that you can’t tank with him out there — something that we have shouted from the mountaintops for years — but he blossomed into a bonafide All-Star and one of the best players in the game.
SGA scored the 4th-most points in the entire league, averaging 31.4 a night, and was a no-doubt first-team All-NBA selection. He led this young Thunder team (the second-youngest team in NBA history) with a calm and poised demeanor, yet a relentless attack. SGA drove to the basket all night long and lived at the free throw line, shooting 90.5 percent on 10.9 attempts per game.
Taking the baton from Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams was an electric rookie with fabulous hair. J-Dub is bigger than you think thanks to his 7-foot-2 wingspan. He made a late push for Rookie of the Year and finished second.
Giddey continued what he started last season as a rook, scoring more (16.6 points) with higher usage while still getting his rebounds and assists (8 and 6 a night) with some huge games thrown in. Triple-doubles are very much in Giddey’s bag, notching four this season to go along with 28 double-doubles.
Giddey’s 3-point shot improved considerably but his percentage was wildly inconsistent on a month-to-month basis:
October: 30.8
November: 23.8
December: 43.2
January: 32.6
February: 22.2
March: 38.2
Need more of December and March, for sure.
January was actually the best month of the season for the Thunder, ripping off a stretch of winning 8 out of 11 games. With the No. 3 offense and a top-10 defense in January, the only team in the NBA to have a better net rating than OKC in the first month of 2023 was the Denver Nuggets.
The Thunder’s defense was sneaky good, active and fast. Top 10 in steals. Lu Dort did Lu Dort things. Dorture Chamber defense and moonball 3s.
Most of all, the Thunder played as a team, a well-connected unit that could rip off a run at any time. And they never gave up on games, they made you beat them until the final buzzer.
They beat the Pelicans in the first play-in but fell short against the T-Wolves. This season was still a wild success and quite a surprise. OKC won 16.5 more games than their preseason Vegas win total, cementing them as a no-doubt Young Surprise Team.
They did this all without a big man and they have one waiting in the wings in Chet to go along with that treasure chest of draft picks that’s still loaded and ready to be unleashed.
The foundation is set:
SGA, Giddey, J-Dub, Chet
And don’t forget about Poku.
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Additional Notes
The other Jaylin Williams was pretty good for a rookie, too. (But this here blog will never advocate that it’s a good idea to have two guys with the same name on the same team.) The Arkansas Jaylin Williams quietly started 36 games for the Thunder.
Tre Mann played less this season but still had some big scoring games, including 25 early in the season against the Clippers and a 24-12-12 triple-double on the last day of the season.
Big shout out to Isaiah Joe, a Philly castaway who showed up to OKC and lit it up from 3, 40.9 percent on 5.4 attempts per game. And they picked him up off waivers! Sam Presti is a wizard.
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
The threat of the tank is once again quite severe, but this could be a redux of last season. Over 23.5 wins.
Thunder 2022-23 record: (40-42)
Yes indeed! The Thunder soared over, achieving win No. 24 on Jan. 27!
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What’s Next?
The No. 12 pick in the draft. The Thunder already have so many young guys, perhaps it’s time to cash in some chips? Fun fact: No. 12 is where Jalen Williams was selected last year, where Steven Adams was selected 10 years ago, and where Nick Collison was drafted 20 years ago.
More shooting would be great to optimize driving lanes for SGA.
Free agent signings have not exactly been common for OKC, but the Thunder could have up to $30 million in cap space.
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