Revelation of the season in the West last season, can the Thunder transform the test and do even better? On paper, the Oklahoma City franchise has all the assets to hold this rank. After finishing the 2021/22 financial year with 24 wins, Mark Daigneault’s group made a significant jump in the hierarchy last season (40v-42d), and can therefore claim to enter the Top 8 from now on.
In any case, that’s what Sam Presti, GM and architect of OKC’s reconstruction after the Westbrook-Harden-Durant era, is hoping for. During his resumption press conference, the leader invited his fans to board the train to witness the continued progress of this team which is distinguished by its many young people with high potential.
SGA’s tanned summer
“We will be a better team at the end of the season. Between the automatisms, the time spent together and the shared experience, I think we will be a better team, I am even convinced of it, he said. “What I tell our fans is enjoy the journey. We have a great group of guys who give it their all. They work very hard. They really want to do well for the city, for the team and for themselves. »
At the head of the arsenal, we will find Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who confirmed all the good that could be thought of him by taking the Canadian selection on his shoulders to take it to the podium of the World Cup.
How to come back even stronger at the start of the school year? Sam Presti is convinced of this.
“One of the things we believe in is diversity of experience, playing with different players. You need to have experience playing with different people in different environments,” added Sam Presti about the rewarding adventure experienced by SGA at the end of the summer, confirming in passing that his work rate during the off-season had been “intense”.
Chet Holmgren under surveillance
Alongside Josh Giddey, Luguentz Dort, Aleksej Pokusevski, Ousmane Dieng and others, we will now find Chet Holmgren, second choice in the 2022 Draft and ready to make his big debut in the NBA after having spent a blank season following a foot injury . If we do not yet know what his impact will be for his rookie season, particularly with regard to his adaptation on a physical level, Sam Presti does not want to give him any limits for the moment.
“I think you shouldn’t predetermine anything. We have to see how he reacts, and then we can play from there. He has achieved all the goals so far. But we will have to be very attentive and we will have to improvise a little on this point,” he continued.
While waiting for the start of “training camp” on October 2, all the ingredients are in any case available for the Thunder to attack the season with enthusiasm and continue their progress.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 68 | 35.5 | 51.0 | 34.5 | 90.5 | 0.9 | 4.0 | 4.8 | 5.5 | 2.8 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 2.8 | 31.4 |
| Josh Giddey | 76 | 31.1 | 48.2 | 32.5 | 73.1 | 1.9 | 5.9 | 7.9 | 6.2 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 16.6 |
| Jalen Williams | 75 | 30.3 | 52.1 | 35.6 | 81.2 | 1.1 | 3.4 | 4.5 | 3.3 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 14.1 |
| Luguentz Dort | 74 | 30.7 | 38.8 | 33.0 | 77.2 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 4.6 | 2.1 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 3.3 | 13.7 |
| Isaiah Joe | 73 | 19.1 | 44.1 | 40.9 | 82.0 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 9.5 |
| Aleksej Pokusevski | 34 | 20.6 | 43.4 | 36.5 | 62.9 | 1.3 | 3.4 | 4.7 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 8.1 |
| Kenrich Williams | 53 | 22.8 | 51.7 | 37.3 | 43.6 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 4.9 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 8.0 |
| Tre Mann | 67 | 17.7 | 39.3 | 31.5 | 76.4 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 7.7 |
| Dario Saric | 20 | 13.7 | 51.5 | 39.1 | 84.4 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 7.4 |
| Aaron Wiggins | 70 | 18.5 | 51.2 | 39.3 | 83.1 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 6.8 |
| Jeremiah Robinson earl | 43 | 18.9 | 44.4 | 33.3 | 83.3 | 1.7 | 2.5 | 4.2 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 6.8 |
| Jared Butler | 6 | 12.8 | 46.9 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 6.2 |
| Mike Muscala | 43 | 14.5 | 43.8 | 39.4 | 79.5 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 6.2 |
| Jaylin Williams | 49 | 18.7 | 43.6 | 40.7 | 70.4 | 0.9 | 4.0 | 4.9 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 5.9 |
| Darius Bazley | 36 | 15.4 | 44.9 | 40.0 | 55.4 | 0.8 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 5.4 |
| Lindy Waters III | 41 | 12.9 | 39.3 | 35.8 | 80.0 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 5.2 |
| Ousmane Dieng | 39 | 14.6 | 42.0 | 26.5 | 65.2 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 4.9 |
| Eugene Omoruyi | 23 | 11.8 | 46.8 | 25.8 | 60.7 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 4.9 |
| Olivier Sarr | 9 | 12.6 | 50.0 | 12.5 | 71.4 | 1.3 | 2.1 | 3.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
