Josh Giddey is on a roll in case you haven’t noticed. Even though I’ve pushed the Thunder down to around sixth or seventh on my blog per current local sports relevancy…I have been keeping track of Giddey, Aaron Wiggins, Tre Mann, and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl…plus of course Poku.
They’re getting better is what’s happening. Game by game you can start to see the possibilites for this team after this summer’s NBA draft when the Thunder should be able to make a run for a Paulo Banchero caliber of player.
Giddey and Wiggins in particular fascinate me as far as what the Thunder could do with their rebuild this summer.
I hate the tanking…I’ve made that clear. But the Thunder need to at this point finish with a top three lottery pick this summer and see if with all those assets in their assets trove they can turn it into a difference maker like Banchero.
From the beginning of this season I made the comparison that I thought the Thunder are a year behind the Memphis Grizzlies as far as rebuilds go. If this Thunder team were allowed to be coached straight up by a legit NBA head coach in my mind they could be a 34-36 win type of team right now.
If you look at the NBA standings today the Thunder are 13-24 holding onto the 14th slot in the West while the streaking Memphis Grizziles stand alone as the solid No. 4 seed. Hate to say I called it, but I called it.
The West really isn’t all that good beyond Golden State and Phoenix. Age and Russell Westbrook have decimated LeBron this season…so in reality looking ahead to next season with Chris Paul another year older…the Thunder should be a young team with some exciting possibilities if they decide to end the tank and possibly at some point put some money towards hiring a head coach with a track record of some sort beyond running a developmental team.
I hate to be snarky in this regard…but every head coach in the Big 12 has a more impressive resume than what Coach D has done to date. Turn him loose and let’s see if he can coach to win at some point. Maybe that’s what you do next season…we’ll see.
At some point …. Presti is going to have to turn these guys loose and add some rim protection and muscle to the interior. But other than that if you closely follow the NBA…you can start to see the possibilites. in Oklahoma City or Las Vegas.
I have a confession to make…right now I might actually pay for a ticket to see the Thunder play beyond just wanting to see Tyler Herro and Ja Morant vs the Thunder. The reason being…Josh Giddey.
His overall game is becoming something to marvel at from the view he’s only nineteen year of age and in essence became the youngset player in NBA history to record a triple double and then almost did it again on Wednesday night at Minnesota when he had a 14 point, 15 rebound, 6 assist night.
So…at the risk of Hinkie-Presti benching all the starters tonight in search of loss No. 25—I’m going to give the Thunder a serious look tonight as they host the Timberwolves who are currently the 10th seed in the West.
This is one of those games for Hinkie-Presti where he has to decide on exactly how to turn this potential exciting game for his fanbase into a loss instead of a feel good win.
And of course…Anthony Edwards for the Timberwolves was one of the top two rookies in the NBA last season. So—this is a game I’m going to watch with a sense of anticipation.