Thunder Targeting ELITE Athletic Forward in NBA Draft…

Thunder Targeting ELITE Athletic Forward in NBA Draft…

the Oklahoma City Thunder have a clear problem right now and they need to address it and it’s the matter of the fact that they don’t really have a backup big man for this team heading in the next season and there’s been a lot of speculation going around if they’re going to trade for a guy like Lori marinin or sign someone in free agency as they have been linked to Isaiah hartenstein for a long time now for this free agency class coming up and it’s kind of looking like in this latest mock draft that they won’t be drafting a big man but rather go after a forward that can eventually find his way into the starting five since it is looking likely that we will sign a big man in free agency what up it’s Bry and aens with another Thunder digest video for you guys today before we get all this done I want to take a moment and say if you guys find yourself coming back on a regular basis and enjoy the content on the channel go ahead hit the Subscribe button also if you guys are looking to connect with some some members of our community here and some of the other subscribers that we have here at Thunder digest we have a Discord channel in the link in our uh Channel Bio here so if you guys are interested in that go ahead click on that you know register uh whatever you got to do to join the Discord I’m not sure what the steps heart it’s been a while since I’ve done it also attach it in the comment section below but with that out of the way we can go and get in the video and talk about how hoopsy has us drafting someone that the Oklahoma City Thunder fan base is kind of familiar with already since his older brother jdub is on the team and we’re talking about Cody Williams as you can see here hoopsy hases taking him with the 12th overall pick so that would be a great addition in my eyes cuz I do think he is one of the you know I don’t want to say currently better players in the draft but I think he has the most potential out of anyone because of his athletic ability and what he can bring offensively and defensively you look at his wingspan his height his IQ his offensive PR uh prowess like it’s off the charts and they even mentioned that in his little uh mock draft for the reason why oakl City Thunder can take him and this is it right here the Oklahoma City Thunder have been linked to several centers heading into free agency including Isaiah hartstein as previous ly reported by hoopsy the prevailing belief around the league is that Oklahoma City would prefer short-term deals for any potential Target and free agency as for the draft Cody Williams the brother of thunderstar Jaylen Williams is expected to land higher than his projection by most NBA Executives and Scouts some NBA Talent evaluators believe Williams has arguably the highest floor of any players in this class and I can agree with that too I think realistically he’s a top eight pick he falls 8 to S somewhere however however what I do see kind of happening is him dropping off a little bit because he is a project he is a guy where you’re not sure if it’s necessarily going to pan out because he’s an athletic freak that’s what he is he’s just an athletic freak that has so much potential right now that he can actually be an Allstar at the NBA level he truly can be it’s just a matter of fact is can he actually develop it that’s what everyone is worried about and that’s where I can kind of see him falling to 12 and us actually taking him or even doing a pick swap with one of the teams and try to you know trade 12 and n and we could go get him for sure and the in the lottery that’s one of the situations I kind of see unfolding and he is a great player he is I mean when you look at the stats here going to go and bring him up right here these were his stats from his from his freshman year keep in mind all right 12 points a game three rebounds you know 1.6 assists not really great 55% shooting from the field 6790 lbs this is in his freshman year when he’s also competing with d Silva on the court he was in a tough Pack 12 Conference this year as some of the teams in that conference outperform you know expectations that they were kind of given they also made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament made it to the finals of the Pack 12 Championship so as you can see there he has experienced playing in these tough games and he had a decent freshman year so there is a ton of room for improvement him already coming in there as a starter and averaging 12 points a game on 55% shooting from the floor that shows a lot of potential in my eyes because he never really had the time to get adjusted to the college level of play it’s different from high school ball we all know the NBA is also different from college ball so the fact that he was able to adjust that quickly his snap of the fingers there it kind of shows that he can immediately after a season or two be ready and be an All-Star caliber player just like his brother Jaylen Williams jayb but you also got to look at what all does he really bring to the table here what what does he bring as I’m going to go ready and bring up here’s are his strengths and weaknesses here’s the strengths that hoopy P him for his little scouting report if you want you can go to hoopy look up a mock draft and they all have their scouting reports under each draft pick there but offensive and defensive versatility paired with athleticism capable ball handler with ability to uh penetrate defenses potential as a shot Creator and facilitator even playing at point guard that stands out to me he can play the point at times Strong attacking ability at the rim with good floater and finishing skills capable to Defender who can guard positions one through three immediately uh excellent understanding of rotations and fighting through screens length and size allow for disruptive defensive play particular particularly in disrupting passing Lanes clean and crisp shooting mechanics potential become a reliable three-point shooter moves feet well defensively and shows recovery ability so as you can see there majority of what they’re talking about with Cody Williams is just a ton of athleticism features like a ton of things that you have to be athletic to do recovery ball handling uh being able to adjust uh Fast Pace stuff like that is just pure athleticism and he also and for his strength showed some basketball uh skills sorry it gets tough to talk sometimes I’m sure you guys get that but he also shows some basketball skill traits in there as well with his floater game and how he can be a reliable um catch and shoot three-point shooter at the NBA level however there are some weaknesses that we do have to look at you’re just going to be honest there are weaknesses you have to look at in here they are limited three points attempts in college so U making shooting percentages less reliable so as you can see there yeah he’s not taking as many threes so the shooting numbers can be a little you know you not telling the whole story with him needs to bolster strength to thrive defensively and finish through contact as we saw he is 67 190 lbs so he definitely needs to put on a little bit more weight maybe 15 20 more pounds uh offensive game primarily revolves around paint penetration and mid-range jumpers lacking variet the same as his brother but as we saw jdub started to develop a jumper a little bit as well last season from behind the arc uh tends to be predictable offensively and doesn’t draw fouls or attack the paint aggressively uncertainty about offensive drive and ability to be a consistent shot Creator developing hinges on uh demonstrative demonstrating growth and self-creation and adding weight to his frame so as you can see there there are some things that are very you know kind of stand out where like oh I don’t know if we should take them doesn’t really you know like the three-point shot isn’t as reliable as we think cuz he wasn’t taking as many shots at the college level you we you see the same thing with job that was the same thing being talked about with him all right it’s the same situation that we see going on and I think Cody Williams has more potential than his brother job JB’s already an All-Star level player in the league and he’s about to be going into his third season here I think Cody Williams has that type of potential as well maybe even a little bit higher of a floor or a ceiling I mean like it’s just one of those things where I’m kind of kind of like I think we need to take him at 12 especially if we are insistent on signing a big man VR backup or even come into a starting role for next season in free agency if that’s really the route we’re going then we don’t need to draft another big in this year’s uh first round we don’t because we can go get a guy like hartenstein for let’s say know 20 million to 25 million a year you still have 8 million left to use in cap space to go sign another big if you really want Extra Protection there in case one of them go down with injuries whether that be hartenstein or Chad that way you have a little bit more protection such as going for a guy like Andre Drummond who’s really not going to be asking for much this free agency it just gives you protection there and Cody Williams he is a guy where eventually one of our guys in our starting five is going to have to leave whether that’s Dort whether that’s giddy whether that is dove as well we’re going to need someone that will come in and replace them when they eventually leave because just realistically we won’t have the c space to keep them all and some players might get frustrated and we might not be able to offer them enough that they think they’re willing to take the one that comes to mind is Josh G as he’s kind of looking like this odd man out and I hate to say it too because he’s one of my favorite players on this team he has a ton of upside potential in the league it’s just one of those things where he might be left out and Cody Williams can come in and take his spot in the starting five after next season I think it just makes a lot of sense to take him there especially if Hoops hype says that you know a lot of NBA executives are speculating we’re going to go out and sign Isaiah hartstein because we have more to offer him than New York does it just makes sense to take him then it does and it can be reliable Off the Bench as well and those weaknesses that they were talking about where oh he doesn’t really draw fouls he doesn’t really you know hasn’t really developed a true three-point shot we have guys that will teach him that in our Thunder organization that’s what we did really well at last season spot up catch and shooting at the three-point uh line we were the best three-point shooting team in the league last regular season and also you saw a bunch of our guys get to the line very easily Shay he’s very deceptive with his body he gets the line easily even dub was doing that every now and then he did a lot better in those regards as well so Cody Williams can definitely Excel and develop those skills that are kind of his weaknesses right now and turn them into strengths after his first season of The League but I’m interesting what you guys think if you guys think Cody Williams should be the guy that we draft or are we just hyping him up a little bit too much because of who his brother is let me know down in the comment section below and like I mentioned before if you guys want to meet new members of our community here some more subscribers here go ahead join the Discord Channel I’ll also be on there talking with you guys and getting video ideas and I’ll see you guys in the next video

In the latest mock draft by HoopsHype, they have OKC taking a forward rather than a big man. They have the Thunder taking Cody Williams at 12th overall, and then sign gin a big man in free agency. Bryson Akins talks about how this scenario might be the best situation for the Thunder.

Thunder Digest covers the latest reports, news and rumors regarding the Oklahoma City Thunder. If you want to stay updated with every trade, move and tidbit on players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort, Josh Giddey, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, Mark Daigneault and Sam Presti.