Michael Wilbon makes BOLD OKC statement 👀 They are growing into a MONSTER! 😤 | First Take

Michael Wilbon makes BOLD OKC statement 👀 They are growing into a MONSTER! 😤 | First Take

Hey, hey. Good morning. Welcome to First Take. Thank you for being with us. We decided Stephen A could have a day off to travel. I mean, the man has been all over the place, but not for you. Brian Winhorse here with us. Great to have you. Of course, the one and only. I think you’re the only person he’d be good with sitting in his chair and call it an upgrade. Honestly, of all the last night and said, “I’m going to trash you for not being here.” Just Stephen A’s my little brother. Big brothers have the right to beat up on you when you’re That is fair. That is accurate. That is fair, isn’t it? But you got J Will. You can beat up on J Will. No, I don’t want to beat up little brother. I’m little brother in this big. I don’t want to beat up. I want to beat up on Stephen A. Fair enough. All right, guys. Let’s have some fun. So, the Thunder struck last night. OKC and five has punched their ticket to the NBA Finals. The Thunder crew to a 12494 win Wednesday night to close out the Timberwolves in game five of the Western Conference Finals. They become the second youngest team to advance to the finals, trailing only the Portland Trailblazers in the 70s. The Thunder are 80 and 18 overall this season, becoming the fourth team in NBA history to reach 80 wins prior to the NBA Finals, joining the 2016 Warriors and the 96 and 97 Bulls. This postseason, the Thunder have recorded an NBA record, four 30-point wins in a single season and are the third team with multiple 30point series clinching wins in a postseason in NBA history. Michael Wilbound, what statement did OKC send to the NBA? They’re growing into a monster right before our eyes. And you see this with championship teams. Yes, they have to finish. They have to finish this off. They can’t slip up. They need to be healthy through this final series against whomever they’re playing. But they’re they’re a monster and they’re realizing it. And Jay Will will will can attest to this more than you and I, Cam, Molly, having played at this level. What happens when a team understands and knows it’s better not just than the opponent, but essentially everybody? Well, it’s scary for the rest of the league because more importantly, roles are defined and and we talked about this too, too, Mike. It’s everybody knows like the last challenge you had with OKC when they were at this type of fame and success who was the lead dog right and not that any of them would say that overtly but their actions spoke about it different ways if it’s KD and how at times on the court he was the leader but also was there any passive aggressiveness with the way Russell played overtly I’m him James Harden was a special talent but it was a lot of my turn your turn my turn your turn and they were super talented talented this team there feels like there is everybody knows it’s SGA and SGA knows that he can’t do it without JDub without Cadet but it’s all together it feels like complimentarywise this is the most complimentary team they’ve had in a long time where all the pieces fit so for me I think we’re talking about something diagnostic here in the making I think it’s okay and safe to use that word because I think internally that’s their expectation of what they’re trying to Three, Wendy. Yeah. So, I was around here in Oklahoma City, what was it, 13 years ago when they last time they made the finals and there was the same feeling about that team as there is about this team. My god, their runway is is endless and they’re going to be there over and over. And then Durant got hurt on his foot and Westbrook hurt his knee and Harden had a contractual issue when they traded him and they learned some here. And so what you have here is a blend. You have a blend of a very young team that doesn’t have scar tissue. A lot of times you see teams get into situations where they’ve had problems in the past and there’s a mental hurdle to overcome. This team hasn’t, you know, they they got upset in the playoffs last year, but it didn’t leave a mark. Um, and so this is a team that’s playing with uh a joy and an unburdeness that, you know, you don’t normally see in contenders masked with an organization that is extremely mature because the folks in the organization are the same people who were here 13 years ago. It’s very rare that you see an organization, especially one that bottoms out, that stays stable. And that has been the case here. Even Mark Dagenol, their coach, he was the G-League coach here for five years before he became the head coach five years ago. He’s got a decade with this organization. He was and the G-League team’s across the street here. It’s not like it’s in South Dakota. Okay. So, this what you have is this sort of pairing of organizational understanding and youthful exuberance. And it’s rare. And I don’t know if it’ll be fleeting because you’ve been around enough to know that nothing everything in the NBA is fragile. But it is a special moment. And you know, in this game last night, they brought the Timberwolves to their knees in this first half. I swear if the Timberwolves could have waved a white flag offensively and just played defense, I think they might have done it because they were in hell. They couldn’t move. And it was extraordinarily impressive. Um, that was the the what was emanating from being with the Wolves in their locker room last night. They were impressed with the team that beat them. I’ve seen this a few times in my career and it doesn’t guarantee anything in the next round, but there was a unique feeling for for this because you never see they were all enjoying this moment. Their families were all enjoying this moment. They’ve never done this before and yet they operate in a world where they don’t feel a lot of pressure. It’s just not something you normally see in the NBA. 13 years ago as well, which I was around for. The difference between this team and that team to me is that there was never a harmony about that group like there is about this one. To me, as as I recall it, they were brilliant people individually and yes, they could harmonize for a while on the court. And I know one contract dispute can change all that. To your point, these things can change very very quickly, but the harmony with which with these guys are playing and interacting and look at one another, this feels different to to me than the previous OKC edition. I I do want to say one thing though because the question is what statement did the Thunder send to the NBA? And I also think it’s a reflection of how these playoffs have been played that defense and physicality matter now. I mean, they’ve always mattered, but in this level of physicality we had in the playoffs, I don’t know, Mike, if I’ve seen a team in a long time, I can’t recall, you would be a better historian of the game than I would on teams that have so many interchangeable parts that are allowed to apply so much defensive pressure this way. I mean, we you and I were talking about Lou Dort picking up Anthony Edwards, a full 84, turning him. That’s something you see in college. That’s not what you see in NBA. Like you don’t you’re not used to seeing a guy being turned three times or a screen being set in the back court to get you open and then Hartinstein sprinting back switch like switch ability the way they play on the perimeter. I’ve never seen a team built this way that has all the pieces. I was just wondering when is the last time we saw a defense that’s great. Okay, so the the bad boy Pistons and the rules were a lot different. They could literally beat you up, but they were great no matter how you want to play it. And the Bulls were great defensively no matter how you want to play it. I mean, you had Jordan, Robin, Pipperin, Harper. You have four great defenders on the floor at the same time, but but but these guys, they seem to be the equal. Golden State never had I know they had Draymond and they had Guadala who were great defenders and Clay’s a really good defender, but not this kind of suffocating defense. When is the last time were the Spurs this good when you when you came in the league? Were the Spurs this good defensively with Duncan and Gobbly? No. I mean, is their system offensively? I mean, they think that they were good defensively, not like this. They didn’t turn a team over. I mean, they’re some of the metrics are historic defensively for this team. But you know what happens? You what leagues do? They change the rules. Leagues don’t like defense. Leagues like scoring. Now, you right now, you’ve got both. You’re able to have both. But if defense starts to take over, if people start to draft and trade and acquire talent and do that based on defense and what they what do you do in every league? You follow the leader. Yeah. If people are too successful at imitating OKC and what they’re doing, rules will change. That’s what they do. Leagues want offense. Television networks, but then we can playing too many threes and there’s no defense. So, it’s like we can’t have it both ways. Well, there there’s something that has happened that has sort of fallen into place for them. Over the last two years, the league has decided there wasn’t enough defense. And so, they have basically let their referees allow more physical play. That happened at a time when the Thunder had a bunch of players who wanted to play more physically. If this team was assembled seven years ago or five years ago, I’m not sure that they can play this same way and they would have found a different way to play where they still would have been elite. But the way they can play physically, this is what Chris Finch, who’s been around basketball for decades, was saying. He goes, “I’ve never seen a team play this physical. They can’t believe what they get away with off the ball. There there is straight up hand fighting going on off the ball in every possession. And the referees are okay with it because the league is okay with it. So you have a change in the way the league wants to officiate the game and the fact that we’re moving away from topheavy teams. The league is moving towards teams that can succeed with depth. It wasn’t like Sam Prey thought that up four years ago. It was something that naturally happened with the changing of the CBA. And so now what you really need in the NBA is depth. And look what happened. This is a team that’s being built with depth because they had to go down to nothing to a 20- win team. So some of this is greatness. Some of this is an organization coming together and some of this is a confluence of events that is smiling on them and they’re taking advantage of it. We’ll get into that a little bit later and how that’s going to affect things this summer because it could be a wild free agency. As for the Timberwolves, gentlemen, obviously sent packing. So, despite their win in game three, this was not a close series as the Thunder’s average margin of victory was 18.25 points per win. That’s largely due to the Thunder’s outstanding defense. They locked up the Timberwolves, including Anthony Edwards. Here’s Ann after getting blown out by OKC. It’s exciting. Um, I don’t know. I don’t know why people would think it would hurt. I mean, it’s exciting for me. I’m 23. I get to do it a whole bunch of times. I’m hurt more so for myself, for Mike. I came up short for Mike. Um, like I said, we tried last year. We couldn’t get it. We tried again this year. Um, we’re going to try again next year. But hurting is a terrible word to use. I’m I’m good. Yeah. Can you imagine Kobe Bryant? No. You know exactly what MJ. That’s why we have to unpack this cuz first we had the struggled comments the other day. We didn’t struggle. And now you got blown out the building, sent home in five. And the word you’re using is I’m excited. Self-defense. Maybe he’s trying to project, you know, I’m I’m undaunted. I’m not bothered. And it it it doesn’t come off well, but I I’m not big on holding people’s feet to the firefight. That’s part in part is his personality. If we thought that that was going to get in the way of him going out and killing himself this summer to get better, then I’d have a problem with it. It’s It’s awkward, Molly. Yeah. But you think it’s his personality, meaning like he doesn’t get rattled. No, he doesn’t. No, he wants to project that he doesn’t get rattled. He was rattled. They rattled him. OKC’s OKC’s defense rattled him. They They threw him off. Does he want to project that he’s giving in that he’s caving into that? No. And said, “Therefore, you get what you get.” Go ahead, Brian. Ryan, do you like uh or dislike those comments? Okay, so first off, I was there for the entire press conference. That’s that’s one thing. And and and I’m not saying that it’s out of context. Well, he said what he said. Okay. I want to say that an Ed Edwards is still absolutely still maturing. The way he presents himself and the way he plays on the court, he’s still learning and getting better. He would admit that. Um, I know that he can come off in a certain way. There’s a lot more depth to Aunt Edwards than he kind of sometimes projects. Okay? And look, this is about a basketball game. I don’t want to get too deep. I understand we’re on a television program. You have to understand about a he lost his mother and his grandmother to the two core people in his life to cancer less than 18 months apart from each other. And he got through as a teenager. And he got through it with good cheer, basketball, and video games. Okay. There. And if you were at that whole press conference and you watched Ant’s eyes, watch Mike Connley talk with pain and you saw those eyes, you would understand he was not being flippant. But I understand that presentation and that clip doesn’t look great. And and and Michael, you’re right. Kobe would have a would feel a certain way. But when Kobe was 23, he wasn’t really in this situation. It was a totally different thing. Aunt has a lot of depth to him. There’s a lot to his game. There’s a lot that he’s still learning and admitting he’s learning. I do think he’s got a pure heart and he also said in this that he’s going to work extremely hard this summer that he’s going to, you know, try to learn from this and and take something away and he’s going to set a new standard for himself, which we’ll see. But his game is is somebody who works hard. You can see the work in his game. He doesn’t just get by on natural talent. There’s a lot of work that he’s put in. He he made himself into a great three-point shooter, for example. So, I will defend him a little bit away from this clip, but I understand that if you just looked at that, it would look a certain way. No, I appreciate the context because I think it’s it’s imperative to the conversation. I I I dislike the comments. Um, but I understand what both Mike and Brian are speaking about. I I I think it’s bigger, though. I I think this is a defining moment for him. Um, you know, I I’ve spent a lot of time with a lot of scouts, a lot of GMs, a lot of presidents of teams, a lot of head coaches of NBA teams and college teams, and I’ve heard a lot of coaches talk about young people that have experienced the types of losses that Anthony Edwards has with his mom and with his grandma in a short period of time. It gives you perspective on when you lose games and the and the world is like the world is burning down. You’re like, actually, it’s not. It’s not. Now, it’s easy to settle into that frame of mind and not be something that consistently you do for the rest of your life. But there are certain people are able to kick that into the next gear and compartmentalize that. But they have to learn that through experience. And I think this was one of those experiential moments when watching Mike Connley go through the pain and the struggle. I think Ant’s always been aware of what comes along with that pain, but he saw it within a teammate and somebody that he admires. And it it’s interesting that moment of clarity I think is something that and Michael, you and I talked about this, not just working hard, but I think working smarter is something we’re going to see Anthony Edwards do a lot this summer. And I think if his basketball IQ increases combined with the work ethic he already has, I think we get a chance to see the best iteration of him next year. His vet, think about these two vets that these two dual sides had. One vet was CP3, working smarter for SGAA, right? And working hard smarter too, right? Scheming everything. I’m not saying this next person is not smarter or or working harder, but that’s for SGA in his match racing process. Three years removed from where Anthony Edwards is right now and have Patrick Beverly, gritty, in your face, work hard, grind it out scheming wise, too. But like that level of basketball IQ will continue to progress for him now since he’s had that moment. I think it’s a moment of clarity for him. So there’s got to be some organizational help. Yes. And and willingness to accept it. Yes. And you it’s interesting you I mean you point out Chris Paul and and Devin Booker benefited from Chris. Wimi benefited and may still yet benefit even more. And so the the vet the veteran presence uh Jay will is hugely important this summer. We see people still go to folks like Akeem Elijah Juan to work on things over the summer and then you need the organizational help as well. I I just I hope that Ant has the appetite for that. It seems like and you know him pretty well that it seems he has. Yeah. video about Ann Edwards said to me that the Thunder have his number and he’s now got to figure out how to deal with that. Uh it might be something that they have to address with their roster because the Thunder were able to double and even sometimes triple team him and not super worry about it. There were moments where they got burned, but he’s he now has to recognize and I think he does. Again, I know that he comes off flippant, but I I think Ant’s a pretty smart guy, and I think Anne understands now that he is going to have to worry about how to deal with this Thunder team going forward. And the way the Thunder guarded him is now the blueprint of how team teams are going to guard him going forward. So, you know, I’ve seen great players do this. I mean, like this happened with Dame Lillard. One of the reasons why he became logo Lillard was because he realized the way to get his shot off at a guy of his size was he had to back up. And so Ant is gonna realize he’s gonna have to make adjustments to his game and they’re gonna have to realize they have to make maybe adjustments to this roster. So, uh, look, I am absolutely a big believer in Ant Edwards future. This series did not change that. He underwhelmed in this series. You would like to seen him and the Wolves put up a better fight. No doubt about it. But my opinion on Ant doesn’t change at all based on this series or based on the comments that he made even after the last couple games. You guys do me a favor and I know sometimes this is a debate show and we don’t really get into the granular details of basketball, but just for one second indulge me because if you keep putting up those highlights in a sidebyside box, we’re going to see something that I think it talks about the next iteration of Ant. In every play that you’re going to see, it’s him at the top of the key, him trying to dance off the dribble, him trying to take long threes. His game needs to go to the Kobe Bryant stage, the Michael Jordan stage. If Anthony Edwards learns how to play with his back to the basket, post play, the game will be over for the rest of the league. Love it. Because you can see the double team coming off the left shoulder. If you’re on the right side, you can see it coming off the right shoulder. You can hit pinpoint passes for threes. It actually sets up your teammates a ton better. And by the way, it increases your probability of getting to the free throw line. And guess what? Did we call them that? And guess what, Brian? You rest on offense. You don’t exert that much energy on offense, dancing with the ball, trying to get to your spots, trying to bulldo three people. The the the the foul has been cemented by Kobe, by Michael, by D. Wade, people have done it before. If Ant adds that to his offensive repertoire, it’s going to be game over for the league. Guess who agrees with you? Who? Guess who agrees with you? Michael Jordan. because this is exactly what he told Aunt when they spent time together. I mean, Will Bond is a personal friend of Jordans. He I’m not going to tell you, but Aunt said that’s what Jordan told him when they spent some time together recently. Well, this, you know, Michael and Kobe would wonder out loud sometimes in watching the game just in the last, you know, particularly 8 to 10 years, Jay and Brian, about where that post play has gone because it allows you to have all kinds of options and particularly in surveying a defense, as you mentioned, over your shoulder, what you can do. And when you’re the when you’re a passer, a willing one, and can become a better one, all those things come into play. But that’s where I mean organizational help, too. like personnel-wise for him. Yes. Yes. He He’s going to need all that support.

On First Take, Michael Wilbon, Jay Williams and Brian Windhorst discuss what statement the Oklahoma City Thunder send to the NBA after reaching the NBA Finals for the 1st time since 2012.

0:00 OKC punches their ticket to the NBA Finals
1:30 What statement did the Thunder send to the NBA?
3:50 OKC is playing with a joy! – Brian Windhorst
5:50 There’s a harmony to this group of OKC players – Wilbon
10:00 Reacting to Anthony Edwards’ comments following the Timberwolves’ WCF loss
17:30 What does the blowout loss say about Anthony Edwards?
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