Post by Thunder Radio Network hosts Gideon Hamilton and Matt Ravis
Gideon Hamilton: The Oklahoma City Thunder head into the All-Star break riding high after an impressive two-game winning streak. While your team and your opponent’s health is always an unknown, let’s take a look at what we do know is ahead in the second half of the season.
SCHEDULE: The Thunder are in the bottom third of most difficult schedules, meaning by the numbers they have one of the easiest slates remaining. But they will be tested by two separate stretches that primarily consist of road games. Beginning in late February, Oklahoma City plays five of six games away from home, including difficult challenges against Houston, Phoenix and in Los Angeles against the Lakers. From late March into early April, the Thunder go to Milwaukee, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Indiana. At this point in the season, this stretch most likely will dictate playoff position.
MOTIVATION: The Thunder are known as a team that needs no push to play their hardest, so the fact that each match-up seemingly has so much at stake should have them playing at a top level. A handful of games separate the top record in the West to a spot having to be in the play-in tournament. Oklahoma City has tiebreak advantages over some of their foes, but can avoid those situations by claiming a top spot outright. It is hard to see the Thunder’s intensity and attention to detail dropping with every game having a potential impact on their playoff fate.
Matt Ravis: The manner in which the NBA season has unfolded for the Thunder has been surprising in all the right ways. They are poised to surpass their betting regular season win total in short order after the all-star break. Relative to expectations, the Thunder have had a great season so far.
Being the all-star break (which is the fake halfway point of the NBA season), it seems like a good time to try to grade out the team.
SGA – A+: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a legitimate MVP candidate and has an argument for a top five player in this league. He’s averaging 31 points, 6.5 assists, 5.5 rebounds, and a league-leading 2.2 steals — all on ridiculous shooting splits. No other grade could be given.
Jalen Williams – A: All of those on-ball reps have been paying off for J-Dub, who is one of the best 4th quarter scorers in this league. He thrives in the non-SGA minutes, which are key for this team. He’s asked to defend out of position, with sometimes uneven results, but does as good as can be expected. Dub is having a breakout year.
Chet Holmgren – A-: This would be an A+ if he had kept up his torridly efficient pace to start the season, but that was an unreasonable expectation. He’s legitimately impacting winning as a rookie who is the third option on a team. That can’t be undersold. If not for generational Wembanyama, the Rookie of the Year award would already be decided.
Josh Giddey – C-: The lone low mark you will see on this report card. And it’s not totally his fault — he would look better on a team where he could play more on-ball. But teams typically do not honor his shot, leading to many wide open three-pointers (which he doesn’t hit often enough) and, at times, a congested paint. Defensively, his effort has typically been there, but he’s not quick enough to stay in front of most guards. Bottom line: he’s not hitting enough shots from any level on the floor to make a big positive impact.
The bench – B+: The Thunder have a number of options off of the bench, and when they’re impacting scoring, the Thunder always have a great chance to win. Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins have shot the lights out, Cason Wallace has made a two-way impact as a rookie, and Kenrich Williams provides a big, physical body for those tough frontcourt matchups. Jaylin Williams needs to shoot better, and Ousmane Dieng is still learning how to impact the game, but all things considered: the bench has been incredibly solid.
Mark Daigneault – A: Maybe the best coach in the NBA that most NBA players wouldn’t recognize. Daigneault has done a great job deploying staggered lineups that have a good balance of spacing, scoring, and defense. More than anything though, he has this team playing with an identity. It’s also easy to forget that this team is among the youngest in the league, which is a testament to Daigneault’s coaching style — he demands a lot from his players, but he also instills in them the confidence they need to thrive.