Game Day: Thunder (28-30) @ Suns (32-28), Fri 2/24/23

[Shabazz]

Okogie may have priced himself off our team next year unless we want to use the TPMLE on him.

[TOO]

Okogie may have priced himself off our team next year unless we want to use the TPMLE on him.

Shhh..

[virtual9mm]

Really great job filling in for Bridges.

[ShelC]

Postgame Quotes and Videos

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[Mori Chu]

I was on DVR delay so I couldn't comment during the game. Stray thoughts ...

CAM PAYNE! Man is it good to see him back. Aside from the numbers themselves (14 points, three 3s) he just has a manic energy and F-you attitude, jumping and pumping his fists and waving his arms. It's a shot of adrenaline that we really need, especially off our bench. He's just great to have back on the active roster. Hope he is getting healthy to where he can stay active going into the playoffs.

Okogie is a genuine find. 15 points, 7 rebounds, and some nasty defense. You can just leave him out there and he is always a net positive. I notice all kinds of little things he does on defense where he'll sort of nudge his man to move him to a worse position, or he'll quickly get into a passing lane but very quickly get back to his spot, etc. I'm no defensive expert but if you just watch the guy on D he is like 5 moves ahead of everybody else out there. And I really like how he's been driving to the basket and leading fastbreaks and things like that. His 3-point shooting is a bit shaky, but I think I trust him taking a 3 more than I trust Torrey Craig, for what that's worth. He's definitely earned the fifth starting spot for us once KD gets back. He's been so good that I am starting to worry about being able to re-sign him. I feel like we have to throw the TPMLE or whatever it's called at him and basically give him as much as we can and hope no other team swoops in and offers him $12m/year or whatever amount. We gotta lock this guy down and keep him here. I keep saying this, but I honestly think Okogie shows that Mikal was ultimately replaceable; I miss Mikal dearly, but if Okogie can just slide into a starting role and give us 90% of the same numbers along with great defense, it shows that we were right to do what we did.

I was happy for Ish Wainwright. I am not really sure if he deserves a roster spot or not, but he's a genuinely good guy and seemed overwhelmed and moved by the team's decision to make him an offer. He played with a lot of heart and joy tonight. His shooting is still very hit and miss; sometimes he pulls up and it just clangs off the rim badly. It seems like he should confine himself to 100% corner 3s and never try to take them from the top of the key; that's where most of his worst misses seem to come. But I love his attitude and his hustle and his strength, and he's a serviceable end-of-the-bench 3-and-D guy. I think we may end up regretting not getting one more PG for the active roster, but making good on keeping guys like Ish is the sort of little move that high class NBA franchises do, that makes the players talk about the team treating them well.

Not too much to say about the other guys. I keep watching Terrence Ross; he seems like a really nice fit, love his smooth shooting stroke. I could see swapping Okogie for Ross with the starters in situations where we want max offensive firepower. Book is great and a steady presence; kind of a quiet game, but you know you have a superstar when "quiet" is 25/8/6. Ayton had a bit of a "meh" game, had a few plays where he should have gone up rather than passed it out, but whatever. CP3 had kind of a going-through-the-motions game, but he still contributed.

OKC is really good. I like Giddey a lot and was surprised to see him have such a bad game (3-14 shooting). Dort was also really quiet in this one. Instead it was these random guys I didn't know much about, like Isaiah Joe and various J*** Williamns. I also still don't know why the Clips gave up on Terrence Mann; he seems like a good rotation player. Oh well.

Yeah, we beat OKC without KD, but if you plug SGA onto this team they are very deep and young and hungry. And then they get Chet next year, AND a bunch more picks? Or can bundle those assets into a trade? They are going to be really good for most of the decade at this rate. Really promising team; one of the brightest futures in the whole league IMO.

[MightyMoog]

Are you confusing Terrance Mann and Tre Mann?

[Split T]

Clips did move Terrence Mann to the bench for Westbrook, but he’s still there. OKC has Tre Mann

[Split T]

Also, kinda surprisingly Ish is basically the same shooter on above the break 3s as corner 3s. He’s 21/59 from the corner and 21/62 above the break. 33% above the break is ok, but he does need to get that corner 3 up near 40% imo. That would push him near 37-38% from 3 which is what you want from a role player taking catch and shoot 3s.

[bajanguy008]

Yeah not getting done
Agree with the energy, I guess the guys are human as much as we want them be 100% professional. Much like the fans I think they are in a....
Can we just get to the KD games already ?!? type vibe

Either way we did enough to get the win and that's the important part for now.

[bajanguy008]

These rotations are proving to be super interesting

It's unanimous at this point that Okogie is clearly leading the race for 5th spot. It's so cool to see guys confidence grow and they start to figure out how they can be effective. Long may it continue

So to the others
Payne is back and his position is a lock
T-Ross seems to have locked down the Sniper spot off the bench

Backup C is neither here nor there for me

The interesting one is backup Forward because Josh has left Craig in the dust and right now even Ish was more solid than Torrey last night tbh
Then that leaves TJ still on ice which I find surprising


D.Lee still getting his burn but I still have my concerns there. Seems to be overthinking as he knows guys closing out hard to force him to dribble and he just isn't that comfortable imo. I think he's even deciding to dribble drive in instances where he could quick release on a catch n shoot

[Superbone]

The way Okogie has been playing, he has definitely unlocked the temple. Whatever that is.

[Mori Chu]

Are you confusing Terrance Mann and Tre Mann?

My bad, that makes sense. I guess when they play each other they can play some Mann to Mann defense.

[specialsauce]

Also, kinda surprisingly Ish is basically the same shooter on above the break 3s as corner 3s. He’s 21/59 from the corner and 21/62 above the break. 33% above the break is ok, but he does need to get that corner 3 up near 40% imo. That would push him near 37-38% from 3 which is what you want from a role player taking catch and shoot 3s.

Sucks equally from everywhere

[specialsauce]

These rotations are proving to be super interesting

It's unanimous at this point that Okogie is clearly leading the race for 5th spot. It's so cool to see guys confidence grow and they start to figure out how they can be effective. Long may it continue

So to the others
Payne is back and his position is a lock
T-Ross seems to have locked down the Sniper spot off the bench

Backup C is neither here nor there for me

The interesting one is backup Forward because Josh has left Craig in the dust and right now even Ish was more solid than Torrey last night tbh
Then that leaves TJ still on ice which I find surprising


D.Lee still getting his burn but I still have my concerns there. Seems to be overthinking as he knows guys closing out hard to force him to dribble and he just isn't that comfortable imo. I think he's even deciding to dribble drive in instances where he could quick release on a catch n shoot

Okogie is definitely proving to be a legit rotation piece

Lee sucks

[specialsauce]

Landale should be waived before tomorrow

[TOO]

Landale should be waived before tomorrow

I don't understand what he does, he blows bunnies like Ayton, he gets boxed out like Ayton, he bricks open 3s like Ayt... ohhh I get it now.

[TOO]

Are you confusing Terrance Mann and Tre Mann?

My bad, that makes sense. I guess when they play each other they can play some Mann to Mann defense.

There's a lot of man on man talk here.. next thing you know someone is gonna have a coming out party.

[Split T]

Jock can attack switches, that’s why he plays. If opponents switch we can throw it to him and he’s decent if they don’t send help. He doesn’t shoot like we’d hope though and I think he fouls way too much defensively.

[Superbone]

You guys need to pay better attention if you think Jock is worthless.

[SunsRIt]

You guys need to pay better attention if you think Jock is worthless.

You know Saucy has to have a whipping boy on every Suns team. Landale just happens to be the one on this team.