Should the Oklahoma City Thunder still be the favorites to win the NBA championship next season?
What is good YouTube? Quinn Wade coming to y’all with another basketball analysis video live on YouTube of course on analysisplayground.com on there and we’re going to talk about the Oklahoma City Thunder. We have seen a lot of teams load up and go in totally different directions. We have seen the older teams go in a different direction, but OKC this summer, they chose to keep the team together. They paid players that they should pay. They said, “We’ll worry about the rest later. We like our roster. We like how they played.” They had some trouble. They went seven games with the with the Pacers. They went seven games with the Denver Nuggets. As we know, it wasn’t an easy trip. They dominated the regular season um last year and they did do it the year before when they was the number one team in the Western Conference. So, this team has had a lot of success together even with injuries. They have been able to figure out how to win basketball games. They played like seasoned veterans sometimes and they should like they’ve been around the corner. They they went through the struggle. They got to the top of the mountain and now they want to see who’s the challenger that can take it away from them. Now, the Eastern Conference got beat up a little bit, but even the East made some moves to be formidable. Plus, they got the entire season in a trade deadline and buyouts to be able to improve their rosters, too, to their liking and give themselves a good chance to possibly be champions, just like the Pacers did. Um, but the the Thunder did the simple things that let’s just keep the morality good. Let’s keep the coaching staff together. And let’s just say nobody showed that they can beat us even in the seven game series. So we just will help ourselves out by keeping everything healthy and keeping everything steady and in the right direction. So it is good to see them not try to change up too much, not try to become something different, not try to become something new, but they are going to have a lot of challenges because people know what they are. people know what they’re going to be. People are going to be watching and trying to find a way to take them down and match up well against them to be able to do it. We seen them have some trouble last year and that’s why they didn’t get to the conference finals. They made the changes getting Caruso and obviously Hardenstein and those guys and they ended up paying off and working showing that they didn’t really need too much to get over that hump and finally get a championship. I’m happy for Sam Prey. I’m happy for Klay Bennett. I’m happy for that city and that state for going through the ups and downs of having Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, then finally getting a team that they can get back behind and not get their heart broken again. And I don’t think it was intentional in the first place. Things just don’t work out the way that they should or they work out the way that people individually wants it to be. And this team has sacrificed so much even money. They they sacrifice roles. They sacrifice numbers. And that’s what you have to do, even if it’s financial gain, to be able to have a team that’s actually good enough to win it all. And the Thunder have been able to do that. And a lot of their guys are only getting better. They should be healthier going into the season, just like a lot of other teams. But we see the Western Conference, man, is going to be brutal. I’m looking at some of these teams and they’re still getting more talent and they still improving. teams are are getting deeper like the Nuggets, like the Clippers, and even the Lakers are starting to put some things together. And the Warriors, they haven’t even started yet, and they still looking at it like we can possibly get one, two, three guys, and we might be in that mix because we have Jimmy Butler, Draymond, and obviously Stephen Curry. And it’s it’s it’s is it’s crazy how much talent is in the NBA right now and how hard it is to even get a roster spot and even keeping it cuz I’m looking at all these people that just got signed to a deal and they already getting waved. They already getting turned down. I’m looking at some people that was happy to get back into the league and this off season they automatically had a roster spot then they went non-g guaranteed and say you know what we want to go in a different direction because we see somebody else that we like or somebody else that we want even if they’re younger even if they’re a prospect or even if it’s just to get under the apron or the second apron or even just a salary cap so they don’t owe any money extra and it’s just because it’s just so many contracts and so many deals that’s available right now that they can give for their own flex flexibility for the franchise and for the organization that a lot of these guys play for. And that’s why a lot of people like what Shay and Cadet and Jaylen Williams that we got to get all the money we can get. We might leave a little bit on the side. We might not try to be too greedy, but this is our our first big check. This is our first big lifechanging money that we put in so many years of work in to be able to get to this point to do it. Of course, we still want to win. Of course, we love playing in Oklahoma City. Of course, we love playing with this roster and this franchise, but we still have to make sure, you know, it’s a business at the end of the day, too, because if you had the chance, you would do the same thing and most of the organization do. And we have seen that very clearly this entire off season so far. But one thing I will say, I’m proud of Shay. Um, he’s the greatest Oklahoma City Thunder player ever. In my book, he can get 30. He can dominate a game. He’s a good defender. He can take over games. He can be clutch in some instances. And he showed you that he was the best regular season player besides Joic. And he was able to get a championship just like Jokic was able to do. The difference is the guy only 66. And he’s a bucket and he’s a tough guy. He’s a competitor and I love the way he talks about his teammates. I love the way he embraces his teammates. I love the culture that they’re building. I love the understanding that they’re building and I love the fact that they really do love each other personwise. Not just because I gotta play with you or because I’m in the NBA. They genuinely look like they like each other. They like playing with each other and they want to continue to figure out how they can stay with each other to win as much as they can while doing it in Oklahoma City. And you just don’t see that that much on rosters, especially older rosters and especially on younger rosters because most of them are trying to get paid. Most of them are trying to be the guy. Most of them want the attention. They want the fame that comes with being a great basketball player. And you just don’t see that a lot on Oklahoma City, even with Jaylen Williams, even with Czech pitch, even with Shay Gilas, who possibly could be in conversation for the best player in the league like he has been for the last two seasons. So, it is going to be interesting and intriguing to see what happens this season with the Thunder because a lot of people have been conversating so much about other teams. They kind of forgot the Thunder just went through the West and just won the title. I don’t even hear too many people talking about the Thunder right now at all. They they’re so excited for so many other teams and so excited for so many other teams for them to watch that they forgot that this is the defending champions. Nobody has repeated since the Golden State Warriors and they was young and they took pay cuts. Steph took a pay cut because of his ankles. Draymond was never really a superstar in a sense, but he was great at his role. and Clay, you know, he took less money time to time to keep that team together so they can get a be able to get a KD and for them to be able to win again with Wiggins. And that this team has the ability to be that type of team where we’re under 30 and even if we get in our 30s, we still should be good enough with our big three to be able to win a championship even later uh in different iterations of this team. That big three should still be enough to win. Like these guys are just so young that they have at least 10 plus years to play together and if they can stay in shape and they can stay pushing themselves and they can stay hungry, they probably could stay together and possibly win multiple. That’s the goal right now. How they feel, we just have to see if it plays out that way. And and if it goes that way and that’s going to be fun to continue to keep a watch on is how long can this big three stay together? Like they doing commercials together. um they’re winning championships together. They did blow that NBA Cup, which they do have a chance to win next season. And we’ll see if they’re able to do that this time around and then still try to become champions. But they’re young and they still have been accountable. They still have been responsible. You can communicate with each other with nobody getting offended. It’s just so fun and so unique seeing a team like this currently constructed in a modern NBA be so down to earth and humble with each other and loving the grind and loving getting better and growing with each other as much as they do. And it’s not a gimmick. It’s not a trend. This is what they’ve been and they just continue to add guys that have that same type of character and same type of personality and it just all meshes real well together. But I do look at it like I done seen a lot of teams get better this off season and get themselves in a legitimate conversation to be on the level of Oklahoma City. And even their rival, the Denver Nuggets, they got deeper and they got better. So, they’re going to be back and they’re going to be pushing the Thunder to be better. And if they don’t, then they won’t be champions no more. But I just wanted to know at the end of the day, like how do y’all feel about the Oklahoma City Thunder? Do you think that they should be repeating? Do you think it’s going to be too tough? Do you think they It all depends on injuries and if they can stay healthy, then no team is better. It’s always going to be fun looking at teams like this that have so much upside and so much potential and they’re so very dependent on each other and that’s a good thing because that helps you bring out the best in each other. And all I can say is I I can’t wait to watch and can’t wait to see what they do this season and to see if they can be back champions for the second time in a row, which is really tough and really frustrating sometimes and difficult to do. But Shay thinks he’s this team is good enough and he should and they should and they are very very determined to prove that it wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t because Tyrese got injured. We was the best team in the league and we was able to end that season with a championship to prove that. And now we’re not afraid to show it and prove it again. And let’s get at it. Let’s do it. Let’s have some fun. Let let’s let’s take this challenge and see if we can come out as champions again out of the Western Conference and prove that we’re the best team in the league. And that’s what their goal is. That’s what they’re set out to do. And we’re going to see if they’re able to do it and accomplish it. But if they won the championship, I’m gonna be honest with y’all. I wouldn’t be surprised. They are just that good defensively. They’re just that good as hard as they can play. They will leave it all out on the table if they have to just to be champions again. You just don’t see that enough with the entire roster. You might see one or two, three guys do it, but it’s hard to see an entire team do it. And I like what they was doing in summer league. their summer league team was competing, playing hard, getting skills, getting out in transition, and just playing similar to the way that the regular team does. And it just shows you that it’s just getting passed down and getting instilled into everybody that’s going to be a part of this organization, including the players. And that’s a good way to show how to teach and good way to get the best out of the guys because you do have to play on both ends of the court. You should want to. And for you to be able to find more guys that can do that and give you more depth and give you more youth and give you more athleticism, it just going to make them even tougher to beat down the road and it just gives them really no excuses why they can’t get it done again besides if they don’t have their personnel out there and available for them to do so. Other than that, I’m gone. Comment, like, subscribe, share, hit the notification bell for more analysis. And if you’re new to the channel, I do conversation videos just like this in various NBA and beyond top do breakdowns where real footage of legends, current legends, rookies, and also future stars. Also do my drafts and draft coverage. So you love that type of content, this is the channel for you because I got over 3,000 plus videos already on my channel that you can watch right now for free. And on top of that, I upload every single day that I’m living, I’m breathing, and I’m functioning properly. 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