This will UNLOCK the Thunder…

This will UNLOCK the Thunder…

This one thing would make the Oklahoma City Thunder completely unstoppable going in to next season. I’m talking about Kase Wallace actually becoming the true six-man for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He started in the NBA Finals in game one. That was the only game he started in the NBA playoffs. He didn’t look completely bad at all, but you can tell the lineup was struggling a little bit with him in that starting role. He just might be better as a bench player being that sixth man coming off the bench for the Thunder with his defense and scoring capabilities, but there are uh steps that he has to take going into next season if he truly wants to help the Thunder win back-to back championships and unlock this team and into becoming the greatest team of all time in NBA history. Before we get into all this though, quick moment to recognize that around 74% of you guys are not yet subscribed to the channel, but yet you’re coming back on a regular basis. If you’re coming back on a regular basis, you enjoy the content we’re putting out here on the channel, or if you’re new and you like what we’re doing here, go ahead, hit that subscribe button. It’s the best way to support the channel. With that out of the way, let’s go ahead get into talking about it a little bit. Case Wallace, he is, I think, the X factor for the Thunder for years into the future. He is a player that isn’t going to cost you a max contract, but he can cost something similar to what we see with Alex Cruso’s deal right now, making close to $20 million a year. I see Quase Walls having that kind of potential in him. He he has the potential to make that kind of money. When you look at his defensive capabilities, he already received all defensive votes uh this past season as a you know, secondyear player and he was coming off the bench. He started in probably, I think, 10 games last year. So, you can see right there. Look, Case Wallace is legit. He can, you know, he can have be an alldefensive caliber player. Maybe not all NBA, but definitely all defensive caliber. You can pay someone like that $20 million if he’s also going to give you around 10 points a game as well. You see it with Lou Dort. You see it with Alex Cruso. There are so many players out there right now that make that kind of money at the, you know, kind of ceiling that uh Casem Wallace can have. So, I kind of see it with him as well. And I’m not the only one. Ivan White over at Sports Illustrated thinks so as well. Well, he wrote an article talking about it uh actually and that kind of inspired me to make this video here. Entering next season with the same young core, the Thunder are heavy favorites to become the first back-to-back champions in nearly a decade. Of course, other contending squads have gotten better and the Thunder have a clear target on their back. While there are plenty of players who can make their next step next season, Casey Wallace might be the Thunder’s most important. Jaylen Williams and Chad Homegrren have already reached star status and many of the Thunder’s other role players have shown their potential peaks. However, Wallace is still a bit of an unknown in that category. After the Thunder traded for him on draft night in 2023, Wallace has been a key part in the Thunder’s rotation, bringing elite perimeter defense, solid outside shooting, and incredible athleticism. And I agree with Ivan 100% every step of the way here when talking about Wallace right here. He has, you know, some good outside shooting. He struggled to start the year, uh, you know, start the season on the outside shooting, struggled in the playoffs a little bit as well, but once he figured it out, he was a great three-point shooter. Definitely a top five three-point shooter on the team. And you need a guy like that off the bench. He was also a top five defender on the team off the bench, maybe even top three when you look at what he does. And there’s a lot of things that go into how good of a player Case Wallace truly is. And when I talked about the defense, that’s the main thing. This right here is just a little montage of him blocking jump shots. Look at him right here guarding Jaylen Brown. Look at that. Staying in front of him. Goes straight up and blocks it. He doesn’t even try to poke it away. He just puts his st hand straight up. And you see it every time. See, he’s not trying to swat in the stands. He just rises up. He rises up and forces him to try to shoot it over them. And he realizes if he can do that, he can block the shot. As you can see on Luca Donage right there, he blocked it right back into him again. It’s every single thing. Look at that. Help defense in the corner as well. blocks Jonathan Kaminga. That That is what I think is the most underrated aspect of his defense is the fact that he can contest shots out on the perimeter. He can. His help defense, as you can see right there, is great. He jumps out, gets a hand on the shot right there. Truly is a next level kind of defender when it comes to these plays. Look at that help defense again all the way out there, blocks the shot. He truly is great when it comes to this aspect of his game, but there are areas he can improve. and Ivan White said so as well. Let’s go ahead check it out here. Considering the Thunder could uh blow out many teams again next season and have a deep roster, his minutes and role might not increase all that much, but Elite would still be clear along with his improved playmaking for himself and others. Wallace could soon show that he can truly carry the Thunder’s offense for stretches. Although he’s likely to be on the floor with one of Sheay Giljas Alexander or Jaylen Williams at all times, Wallace could still show his ability to put the ball on the floor and expand his scoring in a similar way to Aaron Wiggins breakout last season. In year three, Wallace might not hit Wiggins 15 points per game mark from a year ago, but hitting the double-digit threshold would still be huge. Add in that his two and a half assists were already fifth on the team. He could easily move into third on that list and even flirt with five assists tonight. And we can go ahead and take a look at his averages last season. He averaged 27.6 minutes a game. And on those minutes per game, he was putting up 84 points uh 8.4 points a game, 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists. He was also getting almost two steals a game and half a block a game. That kind of shows you what I was talking about with his defensive capability. That is the best aspect of his game, his defense. And I think that’s what played a part in the Thunder having an all-time great defense last year with Alex Gruso out for stretches with Isaiah Hartstein out for stretches with Chuck Hungren missing over half the season last year some of your best defenders out on the court being out. Case Wall stepped up and almost averaged two steals a game. That number is what almost got him an alldefensive team nod. That number alone is his steel numbers. If he can improve his blocks per game on these minutes, if he can get close to a block a game, he will be on an alldefensive team next year. You can mark my words on that. If he averages a block a game and, you know, the same amount of steals per game next season, he will be an alldefensive team member. And his shooting, his scoring ability was not bad either. 47% from the field, 35% from three, only 8.4 points a game. He really wasn’t taking a ton of shots, and that’s what not what he was asked to do. He wasn’t a scorer last year for Thunder. He was a defensive player. They need him to be a better three-point shooter though. They need him to shoot close to 40% if possible. He has potential to be a 5040 90 kind of guy on the limited amount of attempts he can have. He just has to hit more threes. I think that I think that’s the only complaint I have with him going into next season. Hit some more three-point shots. He’s 6’4, 21 years old. He shot 30 34% on corner threes and 42% all shots are three-pointers. If he’s going to take almost half his shots as threes, I want to see him knocking him down at a 40% clip, as close to that as possible. 35% is still, you know, passable, really, it should not be lower than 38%. Being honest about it, that’s how high of expectations and standards I have set in place for Case Walls next season. His three-point shot needs to improve. But the one part of his offensive game that was really fantastic last season and really ever since he came into the league was his finishing ability. As you can see in this little montage right here, his driving and slashing ability is amazing as he can get the ball high up and away from the defender. Look at him throw that one down right there. His athleticism allows him to jump up that high. This right here, the little floater right there. Notices Nerkage down low getting ready to block it. Floats it up high so he can’t get it. Same on Maxi Clever right there. He creates a separation and extend his arm out to where if he was going to try to block the shot, you’re going to end up fouling him. He’s either getting two points on the layup or he’s going to get fouled and get two points at the free throw line. As you can see on all these, you know, layups and slashing attempts right there. Every single time you can notice he’s putting the ball out far in front of him, forcing the defender to try to go across Kase Walls’s body to block the shot. Even Austin Reeds right there. Look at that little scoop layup. The scoop layup of his truly is amazing. It might be the best shot he has in his bag right now. And that’s not a bad thing for him as a guard. It’s just you don’t really want that being your backup point guard’s best shot. You want him to be able to knock down the three ball. If he can knock it down at a 38% clip and still finish at the rim like he was last season with those little scoop layups and creating the separation, creating that separation, getting to the free throw line as that’s what you’re able to do, having these little scoop layups right there, forcing the defender to go across your body to try to block the shot, which ultimately is going to cause them to foul you. He can average around 12 to 13 points a game next season off the bench. He can’t. Do I think that’s what’s going to happen? I want to see him in double digits. Yes, I think it’s going to be closer to 10 points a game as I don’t see his shot attempts going up as it’s the same exact team. However, with the percentage increase that I think he needs to have at 38% at the minimum as a three-point shooter, he can go up to 10 points a game getting that double digit mark. If you still have Aaron Wiggins scoring 15 points a game for you as well, along with Alex Cruso, if he can get close to 8 to 10, you’re going to be fine with your bench. You are no problems about it whatsoever. But Case Wallace, if he can become this kind of offensive player that Ivan White thinks so, that I think he that I think he can be as well, this will unlock the Thunder into being a back-to-back champion and potentially have the best record of all time in NBA history. I know the Warriors set that 73 and9 record. They could potentially tie it. The team didn’t get worse. They’re only getting better if players getting, you know, better of age like Cholrren, Jaylen Williams. Shay Gildas Alexander is just now entering his prime and he already won an MVP. You have Kase Wallace who can improve. Isaiah Hardstein’s entering his prime. Lou Dort’s entering his prime. Aaron Wiggins is in his prime. Yeah, Isaiah Joe, Jay Will, all these guys are only getting better. But Case Wallace, if he can take this step that a lot of us Thunder fans want him to take, including myself, Ivan White over at Sports Illustrated, want him to take and think he can take, this Thunder team can win 70 plus games and potentially set the record for most wins in a single season. That’s all I got for this video. Let me know what you guys personally think about Case Wallace and if he’s going to take this kind of offensive step that I think he’s going to take or if you think he’s going to stay where around where he’s at. Let me know in the comments section below. See you guys in next

The Thunder are already the favorites to go back-to-back next season, but they need one player to take the next step. Cason Wallace was a key part of the team last season, but offensively he must be better. Bryson Akins breaks down that if Cason Wallace takes the leap offensively, the Thunder may have the best team of all time next season.

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, Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, Mark Daigneault and Sam Presti.

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