How does Nikola Topic IMPROVE OKC Thunder? Grading the Thunder rookie class

How does Nikola Topic IMPROVE OKC Thunder? Grading the Thunder rookie class

On today’s Lockdown Thunder podcast, let’s grade the Thunder’s rookie class. What Nola Topic can bring to OKC and how the Thunder can improve in the arms race out west. You are Locked on Thunder, your daily Oklahoma City Thunder podcast, part of the Locked Onet. Your team every day. Let’s get it going on the Lockdown Thunder podcast on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your teams every day. I am your host, MU member, and beat writer for Thunder on SI. Ryland Styles. Follow me on Twitter at Ryland_Styles. Follow the show on Twitter at lol thunderpod. Email the show lunderpod.com. On today’s show, we’re diving into the Thunder rookie class. what this team looks like after the off seasonason’s almost complete for OKC and the Western Conference getting a lot better with Nick Crane at crane NBA Forbes Forbes.com on SI Uncontested Podcast. Nick Crane, how you doing today,
man? Uh, you know that Jimmy Butler meme from the bubble where he’s like leaning over the that’s what it felt like covering the Thunder. I mean, you you can you can relate completely because you you attended more of the road games than I did in the playoffs, but
yeah, every every road playoff game we were there. Uh
it was a what a quick turnaround from game seven to a parade two days later to the draft the very next day. Uh rookie intros, Sam’s, you know, end of season press conference. Like, holy cow, now summer league’s here. Like this is what happens when you’re a really good team is like there really is not an off season.
Yeah. It’s it’s truly year round. I mean the the the summer league will take us through the end of July. August will be very light. August will be very quiet on on the old western front and then it’s media day training camp season previews and then the regular season here again at the end of September starting with all of that. So it it’s going to be a lot of fun uh to kind of whiz through an off season. Uh, but also it has been a bit of a grind. But Nick Crane, we here talking Thunder basketball every single day. So it never stops. Anyway, whenever you look at this Thunder team, their off season feels pretty much complete. Barring the extensions for Chad and Jada, which is just a formality, like you know that they’re going to happen. But once those things uh hit pen to paper, it it’s kind of just over like they’re going to they’re going to have their roster in place at that point. And that’s really just a bookkeeping standpoint so we can really talk about the next year’s Thunder team in totality right now. And let’s start with their rookie class because the rookie class includes two rookies that they drafted this season with Thomas Sorber at number 15 and Brooks Barnheiser at number 44. But they also include Nicoolola Topic who is the 12th overall pick in the 24 draft and was viewed as a top five player in that draft. But injuries kind of pushed him down the board a little bit. The Thunder could afford to take him in, give him a red shirt season, especially because they had such a great rotation already that they didn’t need the roster spot truly. And so they used that roster spot on to develop him. And they also have experience with these red shirt seasons, most notably Chad Homegrren, who went through this during his true rookie season back in 2022, 2023. What is it about Nicole Topic that that you think made it so appealing for the Thunder to to select him at 12 and what do you think that he can provide to this current Thunder team? Let’s start with next season and then we’ll talk about the big picture stuff long term.
Yeah, I I think like it’s hard to talk just shortterm without thinking about the long term, but like if we lock in on the short term, he has enough upside in the short term. Maybe not like this upcoming season, but within two years, I think to be uh a very passable above average backup point guard in the NBA. Um I think obviously long term he’s got a much higher ceiling than that. There’s a reason that he was a top five player on on a lot of teams boards before his injury. um the way that he just catalyzes the offense and makes those around him better is is kind of his special trait. I think another thing that really stuck out when scouting him uh two drafts ago is the way that his offensive game will translate. A lot of times, uh, depending on the league a guy plays in or what college system, it’s hard to like see some of these things translate with him. What really jumped off the page was the pick and roll navigation, the pick and roll playmaking. Not to say he never had turnovers or bad plays, like he was a teenager playing overseas. Um, but just the way he processes the game, reads pick and roll scenarios offensively, the the level of of passing that he provides a team. Now, early on in his career under Mark Dnult, I don’t expect a ton of flash. Maybe in summer league, but like when when you step on the court for for one of the 82, um, you want to make sure your pass is crisp. You can throw some flare on there here and there, but but we know this team is more about um making the right play. Uh I just think that that year one, for example, and you may disagree here, we had we had some debate about this at the uh the trade deadline and the all-star break as we were uh stepping away for a little bit. Um I think he contributes and is in the rotation year one like this upcoming season. Like does that mean he plays every night? Maybe not. But I think he gives you enough, especially for a team that needs bench playmaking. Especially for a team that probably should load manage a little bit given all the games they just played. We see teams year after year make deep playoff runs. The next season’s injury riddled and guys retired. Like I think he will play a lot of minutes as a rookie. Yeah, I I I think that the Thunder’s kind of track record, which suggests that they’re going to go deep in their rotations, that they’re going to get creative in terms of lineups, that they’re going to find ways to get Topic on the floor. And it’s it’s a very interesting discussion for next year’s team, and then we can move on to kind of the big picture stuff with Topic. But for next season’s team, to get Topic on the floor, obviously, you got to get the minutes from somewhere. And it’s like AJ Mitchell whenever he was healthy, he was surprisingly playing from day one and continued to make an impact up until his injury on both sides of the floor was a truly awesome contributor for this team and a big reason why that for those 36 games they were so successful especially with their half court offense. Like AJ Mitchell made this surprise one year ago and he’s healthy now. So that’s another piece that you have to to maneuver. The way I think that Topic plays a lot his rookie season is the idea that you just played deep into June and that you’re going to have to get creative with again saving Alex Cruso from himself is his own words that he use at the finals of kind of taking the regular season and being overly cautious with it because Cruso only knows how to play one way and you don’t want to to play that way for 82 games. It’s just it’s just not smart whenever you’re in goal as a championship. And so they’re going to try to preserve him of course until the playoffs just like they did this season and you saw how impactful he was in the in these playoffs. And then from there like you know the the three games in four nights the backtoback stretches like there’s portions of this schedule especially coming out of the NBA cup where it’s going to get very very very condensed and in that time you’re going to need to spread the love around period because of what this roster will be dealing with. This is a very short offseason for us, even shorter for the the players of course. And so I think that when you look at it, that’s where he will play perhaps more than than what you would try to figure out because if you’re just trying to figure out their best rotation of they’ve got to win this game. It’s a it’s a game seven type of feel. I don’t know that would be included in that. My only thing would be how do you view his defense? How did you view his defense coming into the NBA and then now trying to factor in what it looks like especially Saturday in summer league, albeit a very different setting than the NBA, trying to factor in how his defense will look in year one because we know how much that Mark really prioritizes that. Do you think his defense can can be there to truly get him a rotational spot?
Yeah, that’s that’s the big question and that’s that’s why a lot of guys have earned minutes not just with Mark but in the NBA in general earlier in their career. as a prospect. Um, I didn’t love his defense. I don’t think he’s like a bad defender. Um, I think that when you have the size that he has, when you have the IQ that he has and the way he processes the game offensively, I wouldn’t say he’s as as good of a defensive processor, but when you understand the game at that high of a level and you’re in a system like the Thunder, like you probably will find some success. Um, but I think it’s important to remember he had ACL surgery about a year ago today. So, in summer league, just to to hamper expectations, he may come out a little funky like this is this is a a hard thing to overcome. We talk about like like the Mavericks, for example, with Kyrie Irving and like him coming off of his ACL next season and and I think we’re all under the impression like it’s going to take a little bit of time for even a player like him to get back in into full form. we’re talking about a what a 19year-old rookie that’s never played NBA basketball. So like
like hamper the expectations in that respect. He’ll have 16 months, you know, following his his surgery when the the start of the season comes around, but it’s a whole different game there, too. So, um especially defensively when you’re learning mentally to trust your knee again in game action. I think it could look weird early on. I don’t know if he’ll be a passable defender early on, but but I do buy the fact that he can play good enough defense that the offense will earn him minutes because he can be at least trusted defensively. Yeah. And I think that that’s a big deal that he is playing summer league, not because of, you know, we care about how he’s going to look. Like we’ll we’ll do a show after s Saturday’s game and talk about Topic obviously as the biggest story. However, it won’t really mean a ton except for the fact that he’ll play at I’d say at least three. He’s at least going to play in Salt Lake City. I imagine maybe he’ll play one in Vegas. Uh and it’s like that’s four games and then get a training camp and a preeason if all goes well to continue to to remove himself and get back into the rhythm of basketball and and of organized basketball at game speed. Uh cuz you just can’t really duplicate a game speed environment in practice no matter how hard that you try to. So, that’s one way that that it can be beneficial to him to no matter if he’s good or bad in the summer league, play in the summer league and also in the preseason. And I think that with the defensive stuff, you just got to me it’s just about how quickly he can get up to speed and being a competitive defender uh in the off ball setting and being able to utilize his ability to read the game in the passing lanes and try to get deflections and steals that way as a more offball player. Because the benefit of having a roster that’s chock full of elite defenders is that you should be able to get creative. You should be able to have four guys who are really high-end defenders around him to protect him if if that is a weak spot of his game, which I think that it is. Uh and so I think that the Thunder will be able to navigate that a bit more seamlessly because of how they’ve flushed out a roster uh from 1 through 17. and he’s he’s kind of that that guy that you look at that’s not a great defender, but you can probably get away with it if he provides what we think he can provide on the offensive end. So, we’ll talk about the big picture for Topic, what this can look like long term and the the kind of fit for him years down the line coming up, including let’s talk about Sorber and Barnheiser as well, plus the Western Conference continues to improve. But first, I want to say right now, my good friends over at Monarch Money, go check out Monarch Money today because Monarch Money is great. If you ever wish that your money uh felt easier to manage, well, Monarch Money makes that happen. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch can put you in the driver’s seat. It’s like your own personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is not just a budgeting app. It’s complete financial command center. That way, you can track all your accounts, your investments, and your spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you can start building out your longterm wealth. Make sure you check it out today because I love the fact that you’re not juggling multiple apps. It’s all on one app, making it so convenient for you to track that spending, track your investments, track your savings, and make sure that you’re in the spot you want to be in with your financial goals. You can set them in the app and make sure that you’re following along with that plan. So, take control of your finances with MonarchMoney. Use code lockdown NBA at monarchmay.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchy.com code lockdown NBA for half off of your first year. We’re back on the Lockdown Thunder podcast on the Lockdown Podcast Network your teams every day. Talk with Nick Crane Forbes.com uncontested podcast and Thunder NSI. Nick, when you look at this Thunder team long-term with Topic, it was very appealing, of course, to take him at 12 because he was that top five player in the class. Where did you have him in the draft class of 2024? And what do you think would be the best possible outcome if this center team hits again with how great they are developing players and they get close to a player’s top percentile? What does that look like for Topic just individually and in the context of this team?
Yeah, I mean, I was I was pretty high on Tobich. I I don’t think I had a top five grade on my particular personal board, but I do think there’s a caveat there that like the primary season leading up to the draft um obviously didn’t have the surgery until after he got drafted by the Thunder um by the time he did his uh combine uh in Europe um like the the rumbling started to come out that it it was an ACL that would need repair and that’s when he really started to slide. But even before that, like he dealt with the knee kind of off and on. Um, so it was kind of a hard eval where like you saw the flashes, but like when was he healthy, when was he not like when when were some of these things, you know, the the negatives because his knee was bothering him. Um, but I think nonetheless, longterm, the type of prospect that he is, um, I think ultimately what it’ll come down to, he’s he’s a natural point guard, right? He’s a
a game manager, a game controller. um is very good with the ball in his hands, elite passer, but a lot of times these these bigger um international guards have to find success off the ball kind of playing either a shooting guard or kind of a wing earlier in their career, especially on a team like the Thunder that that is its best when its superstars have the ball in their hands. And like you mentioned AJ Mitchell short-term to compete for minutes, but like Kase Wallace has starting caliber upside on this team and if Topic ever wants to be a starter, it’s it’s guys like that he’s got to compete with, not just the Shayes and the JDubs of the world. So, I think that the things that make him special will shine short and long term, but if he really wants to carve out a significant role on this team, kind of saw it with Josh Giddy, you you’ve got to find ways to be effective when the ball is not in your hands. And that’s going to be a a learning curve for him his entire life. He’s been like this, you know, budding superstar out of Serbia that that has the ball in his hands all the time. Won’t be the case in the NBA. that that’s what I’m most looking for kind of longer term, but ultimately like it goes without saying he he is a starting caliber NBA player whenever he comes into his own. There’s no question about that.
Yeah, I I think that on top of the the shot making from beyond the arc that that can help you be a better offball player and that Topic clearly needs to develop in. He’s got to find ways and this is hard for guys who have like always been on the ball like some guys are excellent and I think that Josh Giddy’s an example of this. He’s an excellent passer. Yes. And he is really good at helping uh create advantages for his teammates whenever he is dictating the offense on the ball. Whenever you put him off the ball and try to utilize that playmaking, he’s just not he’s just not as uh adventurous whenever he gets the ball fed to him on a swing, right? And so then he makes the easy read and he doesn’t create he doesn’t turn it over. He doesn’t do anything wrong or bad, but that huge portion of his game, that that big highlight of his game is reduced down to, okay, he can make the next play, the next pass, but it’s the simplest one on the floor, and it doesn’t really create you a ton of advantages. Can Topic grow into a player who even whenever he is just a connective passer? Can that connective passing still grant you uh an advantage with him throwing a skip pass across the court after the defense shades over to the other side of the floor and and really set you up for an open three still even though he did not initiate the actions. That’s something that I don’t know if he can grow into. Uh but hopefully he’d be able to do. I think that that’s almost as important as the three-point shooting uh for Nicole Topic. And then you you mentioned finding ways to uh do what Kase does. Like Kase started out as as a point guard and his background. Uh he was always though more comfortable playing the two than these two guys, Giddy and and Topic have been, but he started as a point guard and now you see him being able to float down to the dunker spot and find ways to score. You you’ve seen him cut behind the defense and find ways to score. And while Kase’s an uber athlete, a lot of his cuts, they are truly just floating. like they’re actually just him walking his way to open space and getting the feed and going up with a layup and like Topic can be at least that level of athletic cutting behind the defense which will obviously be on their heels trying to defend the likes of Sheay and JDub and then with JDub like we’ve seen him in the secondary unit with AJ Mitchell be comfortable having another guy bring the ball up and and and kind of staying in his role with what what he does with Shay where Shay brings the ball up most of the time and and he’s just kind of out there able to make a play off the ball. So, Topic can can add that to this team as well of being a guy cuz the Thunder’s offense looked a lot better whenever AJ Mitchell was just playing and that was kind of the big difference for OKC was him bringing the ball up and him letting JB almost get a full head of steam going to the Ramoff to catch uh which really helped out this Thunder team. Topic can provide that as well. The thing with Topic versus Mitchell, Mitchell’s defense. I mean, it’s it’s really tough to duplicate and it’s going to be I I think almost impossible for Topic to replicate Mitchell’s defense because Mitchell can already do it on the ball and off the ball uh so far. So like that’s where he’s going to play catch-up a little bit is on that defensive end. But if he does so much more, right, where he’s not playing catch-up is if you do want someone else bring the ball up for the secondary unit, Topic is much better than AJ Mitchell right now at that considering what he did as a prospect. So like that’s where he can gain the ground. So it’s going to be very fascinating to see how it all sorts out. But I think that Topic is worth the swing and is worth the possibility of development, especially in a season where maybe I’m wrong on this, but I do think that they’re going to have to manage their players a lot differently coming off of a run deep into June than they would otherwise for a team that really loves the regular season and loves going zero and zero. Cruz talked about saving himself. I think that this whole team needs to be saved from themselves cuz we’ve seen that like if you put them on the floor, they’re going to compete at 100 miles an hour and it’s just not very sustainable to do that for 82 games and then go on another deep run into June. That’s way too much basketball. We’ve seen it time and time again now in these quests to repeat.
Yep. And I think with with Topic, what’s most fascinating is the way he elevates a halfcourt offense. This Thunder team has no problem generating points in transition. And I I think their half court offense, if you looked at the numbers last year, wasn’t horrible. Um, but I think that’s where he really elevates the offense. Um, he he can run and gun, but whenever you’re in a set and you’ve got 17 seconds on the shot clock and you got to run some action, that’s where he shines. So, I’m looking forward to that.
And then we can talk about Thomas Schwarber, who I think, you know, honestly, I’m in love with Thomas. I think that he’s a perfect fit. Well,
you predicted it. Of course you do.
I did predict it. I think he’s I think he’s incredible. You might have to talk me down the ledge of how high I am on Sorber. Let’s talk Brooks as well. And the West continues to get better. Have the Thunder done enough by running it back. We’re back on the Lockdown Thunder podcast on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your teams every day. Nick Crane. By now the audience knows how I feel about Thomas Sorber. Give me your download on Sorber again. this time just do it all in one fell swoop. How you think he can helps this this year’s team and also how he progresses as a player in this system.
Yeah, I I’m not going to I’m going to give you a few maybe negatives
because you you asked me to talk you off the ledge a little bit. This is not this is not a this is not a reflection of my viewpoint on Sorber, who I think is a very very very good player and a great pick at 15. Um I I worry a little bit about the um athletic pop. Like he is a lob threat, no doubt. He’s got tremendously long arms, uh a long wingspan, a high standing reach, so he can catch lobs. That that’s certainly part of his game. Um but he doesn’t like pop off the ground like the the archetype of center that just jumps out the gym. you think like a Jackson Hayes or like a Jericho Sims, like he’s not that at all. Like when he’s catching and dunking, it’s like bro barely got over the rim sometimes. Um I think some of that too could be like growing into his body. Like let us not forget he’s a oneanddone college player. Um he is a bit undersized for a a center, but that doesn’t bother me at all given the the measurements. I think that that’s sometimes more important than the height itself. Um, the three-point shot, not great. Like, there’s a lot of guys that don’t shoot the ball well in college that you buy their their three-point shot. The mechanics of his jumper are not great. Obviously, being in Oklahoma City with Chip England is a massive plus, but but there’s also some signs. He’s he’s a throwback big with his back to the basket. He’s really really good. He’s got a few moves that are go-tos in his bag that are interesting. He also has a decent face up game in the mid-range. He he’ll catch in the the mid post and he’ll face up and he’ll give you a jab or two and either drive or actually rise up over you. That that’s an interesting wrinkle. Like the the Hartinstein uh patented little teardrop floater that everybody knows and loves. I think I don’t think Sorber is going to be that kind of player in the mid-range, but I do buy him facing up almost like a Shangon does and and just pulling up over you using his size and and scoring in the mid-range that way. And to be clear, I don’t think he’s going to be a huge scoreer in year one or two, but I said this uh after he was drafted. I think that in three to four years, he could give you Clint Capella type production. It’ll look different. He won’t do it the same way Clint Capella does, but I could very easily see him being a 14 and 12 guy here in a few years.
Yeah, I I love Thomas Sorreer. I think that’s something that stands out from from what you just gave us is just the idea of him being a post player and being a a guy who scores out of the post. the thunder to your point wi with Isaiah Hartenstein who who’s kind of what what Sorbus being talked about right now is kind of a heir to the throne of of Hartinstein as that contract grows and as he has an opportunity to go get another massive contract and perhaps that’s not like in the in the realm for the Thunder and then Sorber takes that spot with Hartinstein’s postcoring it is just that quick teardrop floater and Hartinstein either gets the ball and either has the shot or he doesn’t and he passes it off whereas with Sorber you know not that it completely slows the entire game down, but you know, you do need more time to get off a jab step and a rise up jump or a jab step and a and a spin move to the rim. Like you you do kind of change how the offense clicks around if you’re going to utilize him as a post player. And I think that one of the areas where he’s a he’s different than Hartstein is that his postcoring opens up his post playmaking uh because he has his back to the basket and you’ve got to gear up for like, hey, this guy’s really electrifying whenever he’s trying to score out of this position versus
Tell me tell me who on the Thunder roster last season in the front court could punish the defense putting a small defender on them.
Nobody.
Yeah, I mean neither one were too comfortable I mean in doing that and Sorber is. And so it’s not that it’s a bad thing, it’s just a different thing that you’re going to have to get used to with with how you run your offense of of if you can get him going early, especially that secondary unit. If you’re if you’re imagining a lineup where JB’s out there with Sorber and but like those are your two guys, right? And and you dump it into Sorber and he gets going for a couple turnaround jumpers and he gets going going to the rim. Then all of the sudden you dump it into to him and now you have Jdub cutting through the middle of the lane and he tosses it over to Jdub for a slam. Like th those are ways that they can play off of each other that like Hartinstein Hartinstein is just better at at playmaking in general right now, which is to be expected, but he’s also better at creating the advantages without even being a scoring threat. Like guys can be five steps off of him and he still is an electrifying passer. I think that some of Sorber’s playmaking is because of how good of a scorer that he is on top of being a really good playmaker. Uh, but I do think that he fits in with this team right away. I think he’s another guy that like can benefit from being a youngster on a team that that needs to manage the roster because you you do want to make sure that you’re saving Chad’s legs and you want to make sure that you’re saving Isaiah Hartenstein in those condensed stretches where him and Jill can handle the front court duties pretty well, especially for this style of play. especially at the time of where you’re going to be cautious of uh of managing guys and and managing the the roster. So, I do think that Sorber can be a great fit both now and in the future because you can just see the identity of the Thunder in him and ways that he bends that identity and bends it in a positive direction of like, yeah, they don’t have a guy who you automatically can throw on the block, punish a smaller guy for a team that gets a ton of switches throughout the NBA season throughout an NBA game. he can take advantage of those switches in a big way. They don’t have a guy who can give you a post touch that turns into points that he generates right this second because like a lot of Chad Homegrren’s uh points come off of either catch and shoot threes or or playing off the catch getting to the rim after you bite on a on a pump fake from three. It’s not necessarily starting in that post office and dropping off the mail the way that Thomas can. So, I think that Thomas is a really really really fun pick and will be really good. It’s a shame that we can’t see him in summer league because he’s still working his way back from a season ending foot injury, but we’ll see him soon enough. We just talked about how soon the training camp and everything will be here. But Nick, Brooks Barnheiser, two-way deal, second round pick. They love old Brookxie and OKC. Uh what was your feeling whenever they whenever they selected Brook Barnheiser and does he have a shot to be the next two-way to standard contract deal?
He’s got a shot. Um, he does all the things that that will captivate the fan base, like the energy plays, the diving on loose balls, the uh the tough-nose stuff that the average rookie doesn’t want to do, he will certainly do. Um, I think it’ll come down to like can he shoot truthfully and and like he has his go-to move is kind of a a funky kind of slasher driver turnaround pullup. I don’t think that’s going to work a whole lot in the NBA and he’s not going to have the ball in his hands like like making that action happen in the NBA. The G-League, sure. um as an offball player knocking down three. I think if he can be a 38% three-point shooter along with all the other things he does, he could definitely stick. Um he for what it’s worth, like he’s a guy that I knew existed at Northwestern just watching a few games here and there. uh he was not a guy I really had on my draft radar until a month or two ago and and there really started to be conversations not with Oklahoma City specifically but like a lot of a lot of people around the league started talking about Brooks and it it made me dive in and they ended up landing 58 on my board which like is obviously lower than what the Thunder drafted him but like all that to say I had a draftable grade on him. Like while I think a lot of uh Thunder fans out there may have said, “Who the hell is this?” whenever he got drafted, like he was a name that that teams were very much in on as an NBA level player. So, of course, he has a shot.
Yeah. I I think that w with him, the ability to slow play him and not feel the pressure to play him in the regular season for the Thunder and his willingness to embrace the blue. He talked about how Cam Woods did his his uh draft workout. He talked about how he’s excited to be in the G- League and like with that organization and and the benefit to the blue is that they’re they’re are a organization that’s running exactly like the Thunder. They play the exact same style on both ends and they can really allow you to get the most out of that developmental time. Obviously, it’s not a onetoone to the NBA just by nature of like how the rosters are constructed because they, you know, it’s just like summer league in a way where you want to prioritize around the G- League of getting, you know, the most valuable positions like it’s guards and wings and you want to try to develop them. So, you’re playing a lot of small ball which isn’t necessarily a duplicate to the NBA. But that’s really the only big hiccup from the NBA to G-League is that the lack of true bigs in the G-League because they just aren’t valued a ton in the NBA. Uh, but besides that, like the G-League is a is a really good weapon for Brook Barnheiser to to produce. I think that the three-point shooting though is the biggest factor. He gets a lot of his damage done in the mid-range right now as a score, which is good for him individually. Not so great for the Thunder like, you know, future uh in terms of what they’re going to be asking him to do. So, can he develop into a really good three-point shooter or at least a serviceable three-point shooter that can at least draw out the defense to allow him to have these cuts that that can get him to the rim uh and get him going there to finish off plays? That’s going to be the biggest thing because the defense, it’s already there. The defense is really, really special. And I think that his his motor special, I think that his passing as a as a connective passer is high level. Is is he a great guy to create you advantages on the ball? To me, I wouldn’t call that special, but I would say his ability to keep to keep the offense in rhythm is a high-end trait that he possesses. So, these are all ways that the Thunder can get better with their rookie class. They’re also going to just keep developing. So, Nick, when you look around the NBA and you see that the Nuggets are loading up and the and the Rockets are making moves every two seconds, how how do you still view the pecking order in the West? And do you think that the Thunder still without making a ton of true, you know, name moves that they can still improve next season at that same rate as Denver and Houston who are swapping out roster pieces?
Yeah. Wait, so I I still think Oklahoma City’s first in the pecking order. Um, did Denver and Houston get better than Oklahoma City did this off seasonason so far? If you don’t consider development, of course. Um, I think there’s also some value to continuity like like there’s many teams like the Nuggets, like the Celtics that didn’t get it done, you know, their first their first crack at it, but two or three years later did because of the continuity. I think that’s an advantage for the Thunder. Um, but let us not forget Ryland, and nothing carries over year to year. Like last year no longer matters. It’s a zero mentality as Mark has driven in and even our brains. Uh, the Thunder had 16 more wins than either of those teams last year. Um, so even if the Rockets and the Nuggets and others got better, if all things are equal, the Thunder is still a much better team statistically. Uh, so that that’s that’s my high level take on it that do I think that they still have what it takes to win a title? Absolutely. Um, did the Rockets and Nuggets get better? Also, yes. Um, just because the Nuggets took the Thunder seven and got better does not mean they’ll beat the Thunder next time around. I would argue the Thunder were deer in the headlights for a couple of those games last season and will be much better equipped this time around. So, my money would still be on Thunder title next year for either of those two teams, but uh will the will the road be tougher? Certainly.
Yeah. And I think that that’s the big thing of like throughout this week, we’ve talked about how these guys can get better. On our very last show, we went into depth about how individually every player on the team can improve their game, but the the one thing that’s been missing from these conversations, and I think is a great point, is that had the Thunder lost the finals, I know that’s not a reality that you want to live in, but had they not won the championship this year, you would have been talking about them gaining necessary experience and having to take their lumps and having to have the battle scars to then go get better, cuz that’s what we thought was going to going to halt them this season. Like that’s what we thought was like can they really be the anomaly and like do this this fast and they did it. But you mentioned those few games where they did look kind of shell shocked. They did look like the moment was pretty big for them and that the the comfort and the ease of of playing in these massive games will of course get easier now that you’re champions, now that you have that stamp of approval almost. uh and you and you’ve simply just played in more playoff games like this core has now gone through a a two round series where you swept the first round and went to six with Dallas that could have gone seven and then now they went through a whole playoff run where they played in every single round, won a title and then two of them went to seven and gained valuable experience in on that front as well to where the the progression can also come with just knowing what to expect in playoff basketball, knowing what the adjustments can be and being on the on the various sides of a series. You had to play catch-up in two of them. You strangled hold you you you put a strangle hold on Memphis and and Minnesota and the other two. Uh so I do think that the Thunder are in a position where uh they have learned a lot of what it takes. They they’ve been overmatching to me to to Memphis. They’ve played with the lead in a series and really put their foot down against Minnesota and not let them creep back into the series. And then they’ve played from behind the eightball with Denver and Indiana and still got the win in all those scenarios. that’s going to be really good for them and really good for their development down the line. So, barring health and everything for every team. I think if if everything else is equal come April, the Thunder are the clear-cut favorites still in the Western Conference. These other teams though still got better uh and will be very very competitive. I I think that the thing that all three of those teams should be hoping for is that they land the one seed and the other two land the two and three seed. None none of this like, oh, they had a bad regular season, now they’re a four or five. like you want the standings to shake out where these three teams are the top three teams and whoever has number one does not have to face the other two and they only only have to face one of them in the West Finals I I think is the big deal. You don’t want to see a scenario where the Thunder have the one seed and then Denver slips down to the five and it’s four five uh Denver and whoever and Houston’s the two and now you got to go through both of them. You want to kind of only go through one of them. No matter who you are, OKC or Denver or Houston, they all individually want to go through just one of the other other side.
Totally agree. Home court was huge for the Thunder. They were
Yeah. basically impossible to beat unless you have some magic tricks up your sleeve with buzzer beers.
Yeah. I mean, magic tricks and and honestly, let’s just be frank, give it away. Like, unless they just gave it to you or you or you pulled something out in the end or a combination of the two, um you were not able to beat them. uh they only lost twice and it was due to some headscratching moves from the Thunder perspective and some excellent plays from the other teams Denver and Indiana’s perspective uh to get a win late. So they’ve been they’ve been tough to beat at home nearly impossible. Uh and so I think that that helps them as well. the the idea that they’re so deep that they can do both. Like they’re fortunate enough to where when we’re talking about managing their roster and massaging the minutes of this team during condensed stretches this of this season. For most teams, that’s kind of a death sentence for that individual game. Like, hey, all our guys are out. We’re going to probably lose this one no matter who you’re playing. For the Thunder, you still can put out there a really good lineup, especially in the regular season, uh, to go get you wins. So, the win total I think I think you’d have to bet against 68 wins, but the win total will not shift as much in the sense of uh letting the one seed slip in the Western Conference to me, but I think that it is a clear-cut top three in the West. And then you put Luca and LeBron in there as a team that you know the stylistically that’s what it’s going to depend on. I think that individual of matchup you feel great about. If I just told you, you know, you’ve got Denver on the field or OKC in the field or Houston in the field, um, you would feel really good about those two, about those three teams heading into the playoffs without even knowing what the bracket looks like. For the Lakers, for the Timberwolves now, without Nick Alexander Walker, you’d have to know who are they playing and kind of what’s their path to see how you felt about them. And that’s what the separating factor to me, but I would still throw in the Lakers because again, you get the right breaks. Yeah. with Luca and LeBron and if Aton has his motor fixed all of a sudden, you can feel pretty good. But Nick Crane, thank you for joining us. Let them know what’s going on in in the world of Crane.
Crane NBA on Twitter. Um everything is there and uh summer league will be a heck of a lot of fun. I will not be in Las Vegas this year, but um we’ll be watching plenty remotely and we’ll put my thoughts out on the internet.
And if you are going to watch summer league, make sure you watch the Los Angeles Lakers. Do you want to know why, Nick?
Building block bays.
Building block bays is back, baby. Listen, the Lakers need some front court help. Let Darius Basley in there. Top 10 in blocks in in the CBA this season. He’s prime for a comeback. He’s playing with the Lakers in summer league. I cannot wait. Uh it almost made me jump on a bird and go to Vegas right now, but I cannot wait to watch Darius Basley. and we get a we get an extra preview of Basisley because the the Lakers just like the Thunder playing an additional summer league with the old California Classic. So that’ll be a lot of fun as well. Until next time, be good and be good to one

Thunder’s Rookie Revolution: Can Topic, Swarber Lead OKC to New Heights?

Oklahoma City Thunder’s latest draft picks take center stage as Rylan Stiles and Nick Crain dissect the potential of Nikola Topic, Thomas Swarber, and Brooks Barnheiser. The duo analyzes Topic’s playmaking prowess and Swarber’s post-up game, exploring how these rookies might reshape the Thunder’s rotation. With insights from Forbes.com contributor Crane, the conversation shifts to OKC’s standing in the competitive Western Conference landscape.

Will the Thunder’s championship experience propel them to the top seed? Tune in for expert analysis on how Oklahoma City plans to balance veteran leadership with rookie development in their quest for NBA dominance.

0:00 Intro: Grading Thunder’s rookie class
5:06 Nikola Topic’s potential impact on Thunder
10:15 Topic’s defensive development and fit
15:16 Long-term outlook for Topic in OKC
20:34 Analyzing Thomas Swarber’s game and fit
25:06 Brooks Barnheiser and two-way contract potential
29:25 Thunder’s rookie class improving the team
33:11 Thunder’s title chances amid Western Conference changes
37:55 Outro: Summer League and Darius Bazley

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