The Thunder schedule has been very, very easy 18 games into the defense of their ‘first’ NBA title…that much is certain. Of OKC’s 17 wins… only four have come against teams with at least a .500 record. Those four being Houston without Fred VVL, the Lakers without Lebron, the Warriors, and the Atlanta Hawks.
Every other Thunder win has come against a cupcake. And despite this I would say the Thunder have in reality shown they are clearly the prohibitive favorite to repeat…even without JDub.
And the reason of course is Superman. This young man has shown eighteen games into this season he is completly focused on a repeat and another mano y mano battle with Nikola Jokic for the regular season MVP.
No JDub whatsoever and it has mattered nil. The only thing to date it has proven is how good Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins, and Ajay Mitchell can become if needed.
When you consider the Denver Nuggets have now lost Aaron Gordon for at a minimum 4-6 weeks with another hamstring injury, and Houston has that point guard issue… if anything during JDub’s absence I would say their chances in the West are even stronger than when this season started with JDub sitting.
Add to that…this vastly improved chemistry between Chet and Isaiah Hartenstein has blossomed when they’re on the court together in the Thunder’s big lineup.
Even without JDub…the Thunder can still run Dort, Wallace, Caruso, and Wiggins out there to defend the other team’s best offensive guard or forward. And one could add Kenrich Williams to that list as well when he returns from his injury.
And by April one could even possibly add the rookies Brook Barnhizer and Chris Youngblood to that list. And it seems clear to me while Ajay Mitchell isn’t what I would call an elite defender, he could very much evolve into an elite guard on the offensive end of the court.
And when you consider the condition of the Eastern Conference with a Detroit team which to date has still never won a playoff series in the Cade Cunningham Era…MJ would say if Superman stays healthy this might not even be all that interesting once we get to mid-April.
The one good thing for Denver is that they don’t have to play OKC until early February. The bad news is they just lost to the pathetic Sancramento Kings to fall to 12-4…and in reality the Nuggets without a fully healthy Aaron Gordon aren’t going to beat the Thunder in a six or seven game series.
I have no idea when JDub actually makes his return, but I don’t even think it matters right now. It would matter if Shai went down, but otherwise… Shai is Superman, and that’s all that matters in November.
The Thunder are massively deep with wing players who can defend, and in all candor that might in itself along with Chet and Isaiah be enough for a repeat.
The rest of the league isn’t the Thunder biggest threat to a repeat…only an injury to Shai or team complacency can bring these guys down.
Love, mercy, and peace.
Have a great Thanksgiving week.
MJ