Can a young team win an NBA championship?

Can a young team win an NBA championship?

The Oklahoma City Thunder currently have the second best record in the NBA and the second best point differential in the NBA but are they too young to win an NBA championship despite their regular season dominance Betty markets considered the Thunder less likely to win than the Celtics Nuggets Clippers

Bucks Suns Timberwolf 76ers and even the New York Knicks this is probably because they haven’t made the playoffs since 2020 and their starters have less playoff experience combined than Jason Tatum racked up in his rookie season and yet at the same time 85% of teams with OKC’s point differential have reached

The Conference Finals so is all that youth and inexperience really insurmountable before we answer that let’s understand just how good OKC’s been they’ve gone 25 and N in the last 2 months or so defe beating the Nuggets twice in Denver the Timberwolves twice the Clippers in a blowout and the

Celtics in their December meeting against Minnesota Rudy goar had a hard time chasing Chad hren out on the perimeter for instance on this play chat just initiates the pick and roll Rudy naturally sags under the screen that opens the shot but it’s actually a given go and another dunk so the Wolves went

To a Zone in the second half to keep Rudy closer to the basket but the whole problem is that Chad’s a 40% three-point shooter right now so on backtack possessions the Thunder just went to a little flare screen gobear wants to stay home and that stretches The Zone too

Thin in a recent video for the NBA we talked about how OKC uses flare screens in transition to help spring Shay gilas Alexander in isolation and here it is against the Timberwolves Twin Towers where where chat’s threat to drive scrambles up the defense for a second opening Jaylen Williams who’s shooting

45% from three and this is a really well- coached team Josh Kidd is a weak shooter so defenses will leave him to help on Shay but then he just cuts into the space himself and this works with Chad too he has a ton of room to attack

His man here Mike Connelly realizes that and slides down to help so again giddy just back Cuts him and that’s an easy pass and score the next time they met in January the Wolves put goar on giddy so he could roam off him and clog the paint and this

Downgraded OKC’s shot quality because goar could at least help on penetrators around the hoop and sometimes take away giddy’s cuts on plays like this or he could bother his shot on some of those attempts around the basket this is the theory of how teams might might defend SGA and the thunder

In the postseason shrinking the floor like we’ve seen in Prior playoff matchups and daring giddy to shoot a bunch of low percentage threes but then the Thunder can swap in another 40% three-point shooter like Isaiah Joe and suddenly an opposing Center has nowhere to hide against five Shooters and you

Can see aita zubot struggling to stay with a guard deep into this possession a minute later zubac is trying to avoid coming out onto hren so Paul George takes him instead but blows a tire and then chat can attack and make plays himself so there are Playmakers

Everywhere on this trip they bring zoo into pick and roll chat’s gravity freaks out both Defenders and now it’s jdub’s turn for some no look dime dropping Williams is a great second star because he can initiate the offense in the half court he can also push the pace when

Needed in transition and create that way that’s ridiculous and so on one hand he’s sort of an alternate point guard when needed but he can also just create his own offense and make difficult shots himself against the Knicks he completely took over the game in the fourth quarter

With his shot making and he actually leads the thunder in fourth quarter scoring ranking 12th in the NBA in points per fourth on a scorching 68% % true shooting and because he’s such a good outside shooter he can play off the ball and finish what other players

Started or he can just use his length and slippery penetration to attack the rim himself he’s versatile on the other end too because he can guard someone like Anthony Edwards in isolation that was called a foul but it’s an incredible block for my money and he can also guard

A bigger body like Carl Anthony towns jamming up this Hawk cut then recovering back inside and helping on the rle man and this possession basically goes nowhere because of that physicality and activity even though he’s 22 he reads the game like a veteran spotting this lob and getting up to steal it and

Because he’s so long you’ll see vertical plays like this switching off towns onto goar and defending the lob like a big man regardless of age these are championship level defensive plays Michael jording this block from behind before snapping off a perfect outlet to a streaking Joe and OKC forces more

Turnovers than any other team in the league so part of their success is turning defense into offense after a stop the Thunder have the third most efficient offense in the NBA after a stop so the outcome is a league leading 20 points per game off turnovers and

They play small all around hren but they make up for it with their agility and a ton of speed and that speed means they can get out in transition and punish slower teams like this they also make up for that size with length so SGA and Jaylen Williams can disrupt passing

Lanes and they even have an elite rim protector in homr waiting at the basket and then Chad himself is fast enough to outrun other big men down the floor in transition home is only a 21-year-old rookie but he already looks like a big time player and he plays with an

Awareness and command that is often reserved for older stars look at his patience here on this play staying down against kawii Leonard only to recover and block zubot and on other plays you’ll see sage like awareness switching onto goar in the post and then spotting the breakdown early to slam on the

Brakes and then incredible verticality to stop and the rim and if that’s not enough he hustles to the corner but stays down on the closeout and that is veteran likee discipline so can Talent Poise and good coaching overcome all this youth last year nuggets were one of the youngest

Title winners of the three-point ERA with an average age of 27 A2 on February 1st of the season when the Warriors broke through in 2015 they were just under 27 with three starters under 25 the Thunder average age is just over 24 with a whopping six rotation players under the age of

25 they’d likely pass the 77 Trailblazers as the youngest NBA champ in league history back when future MVP Bill Walton led a team with five rotation guys who were also under 25 heck only one other team in the three-point era has even made the finals with an average age around 25 and that

Was way back in 1981 when the 40 and 42 Rockets defeated the 40 and 42 Kansas City Kings before losing to the Celtics in the NBA Finals it’s actually really rare for any young team to be this good in the regular season the 2022 Memphis Grizzlies were an under 25 Squad that

Outscored opponents by at least five points per game and the other team to do that this century was the 2011 Thunder and that OKC team is probably the closest comparison to this one they had a big three that was even younger with their four top players aged 22 or below

And they made it all the way to the Conference Finals in a way this is actually good news for the Thunder because it means that so few young teams have ever been in this position meaning even though it’s rarely happened the odds of it happening when you’re this

Good might not be super low OKC is currently top five in offense and defense and they have the best point differential in the league against top 10 teams so they certainly have the footprint of a championship level Squad and look I’m not saying their inexperience and youth doesn’t hurt them

We have no idea if defenses will chip away at Shay’s Effectiveness and what kind of playoff moves Mark dagel has in his bag but if a really young team is going to break convention and make the finals or even win at all this group of versatile stars that plays well beyond

Their Years is as good of a candidate as any you can check out that Shay video on the NBA YouTube channel or the NBA app otherwise you can support this channel directly at patreon.com thinking bask we have a stats leaderboard that updates regularly throughout the season for

Teams and players along with the Discord community and more let me know down below if you think we’ll ever see a super young title team break through again otherwise thanks as always for watching and I hope you are having a great day

Are the Oklahoma City too young to win an NBA title? Do they need more experience? This detailed film breakdown and scouting report explores OKC’s dominant regular season, their offensive versatility, coaching and more in comparison with other good young teams in NBA history and the youngest NBA title contenders of the 3–point era.

**All ages in the video are weighted by minutes played, based on player ages on February 1st of a given year.

Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/12kpkAvUj6LGxzViDIH0qH
Support at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Basketball-Ben-Taylor/dp/1532968175
Website: https://www.thinkingbasketball.net
Twitter: @elgee35

Find additional Thinking Basketball content on the NBA App, the More Thinking Basketball channel and the Thinking Basketball podcast.

Stats courtesy:
http://www.pbpstats.com @bballport
https://www.basketball-reference.com
https://stats.nba.com
—–
Footage in this video is owned by the NBA and its partners. It is intended for critique and education.

Music by csus (instrumental)

#ThinkingBasketball