Last minute Thunder news and rumors ahead of their NBA Season Opener vs Spurs

Tonight, the Thunder begin a new conquest after an off season of reflection, a year that you were so close to the promised land yet again, a team put back together with several new pieces, but yet again, facing off with a very familiar foe, the team that sent you home last year, the San Antonio Spurs on the other side of it. The narratives are countless. So not only one person could break this thing down. we needed both of us here Ryan Breeden and Gabriel Leversel breaking down the Thunder's season opener here tonight down at the Frost in San Antonio and what else is there to say other than Shea versus Wimby Thunder versus Spurs the two young powers of the league clashing yet again on the biggest stage to begin the new season and the NBA season it is starting off with an absolute banger of a matchup the Thunder they went out to the San Antonio Spurs last year and they get a chance to right their wrongs we have waited all offseason long for this chance opportunity to have a shot at this team at Wembanyama and we finally get this crack tonight we have been counting down till October 20th for months now at this point here on Thunder Digest and Ryan I can't wait for this live stream tonight with you and to watch the Thunder play some basketball and this is a new look team Gabriel the Thunder opening this up with several new players in the building several players that are out the door right I mean you had one of your starters from last year Lou Dort he hit the road to Atlanta to get underneath that second apron you send Isaiah Joe up north to Detroit Aaron Wiggins goes down to Atlanta with Lou Dort you bring in your rookie duo I put Thomas Sorber in there and with question marks behind him because I honestly am not sure if he plays basketball I mean do you do you know for sure if Thomas Sorber is a basketball player dude I don't know if thomas sorber knows for sure i'm as uncertain as anybody at this point when he does sort up it'll be a nice addition for this team no doubt about it but at this point he might as well be a myth you know the biggest what if in thunder history you know because this guy cannot get on that court so i hope he gets it out there at some point bro's an urban legend he's kind of like you know people will try to hunt sasquatch and you see them on like the History Channel and stuff you know what i mean yeah i'm trying to find Thomas Sorber in a uniform that's like yeah Challenge impossible. But Cason Wallace joining the starting five in place of Lou Dort. You've got J-Dub, who's fully healthy for the first time since before his wrist injury a year and a half ago, you know, at the end of the regular season. And there's a lot of expectations for this team. But at the same time, I mean, this is going to be an ultimate litmus test, Gabriel, because obviously the Thunder were right on pace to do the same thing they did two years ago and win another championship. 64-18 in the regular season. you had the best net rating plus minus in the entire NBA but then you ran into your kryptonite a team that beat you eight times last season and they'd send you home in game seven so there's no better way to check and see just where this team is right now to start this new campaign than just going right up against the team that you're gonna have the biggest trouble with in the postseason yet again most likely yeah this team's getting thrown into the fire out the gate playing the San Antonio Spurs because if you recall Ryan the Thunder were on fire to open up last year they started out 24 and one and that was with J-Dub missing the first 20 games of the year all NBA the year before he's out and that team was deep enough and talented enough to just start off on fire before the Spurs just started rolling them in December they beat them three times in a two week stretch uh and that was whenever you know the rivalry really started to spark up before even the playoffs happened and the Thunder they were able to beat down the rest of the league you know regular season playoff even they swept the Suns they swept the Lakers they looked phenomenal heading into that spurs series that we saw so like you said we are going to have to test ourselves against the only team that was able to test us last year it's a great way to see where we are right out the gate and we're going to see a new look san antonio team too and we'll get into that in one of our segments of this video but a new starting lineup for the spurs they're going to have some new additions into this team and they're obviously going to get all that much better as well because they're still a young team and so they're going to get better every single offseason and that's something that we're going to get to see from them throughout the course of this year and maybe a chip on their shoulders after they got humiliated on the biggest stage in the NBA finals but the the big news to start really kind of this next set of the video with is Chet Holmgren coming back to action after he missed all of preseason with a quad contusion he didn't play at all in any of the preseason games I thought that there was a good chance that he wasn't going to play at all in that game made a video on it literally two days ago here on the channel and Mark Daigneault was very cryptic about if Chet was going to play he's off the injury report and so he's going to get his first game action of this new cycle against the team that kind of gave him the biggest pr hit that i think we've seen from any nba player in the last handful of years yeah i haven't seen a guy who was literally selected to the all nba the very same season get disrespected as hard as chet did because i mean we talked about it the lakers series the suns series he looked great he was performing all nba level but when all eyes were on the spurs series most watched game one in the modern era game seven had the most views on social media with all those eyes on him i mean we can't sugarcoat it it was an underperformance of generational underperformance by chet holmgren brother with those four points in game seven yeah i mean it was daron williams in the 20 whatever 2014 playoffs when he shot like one of 16 from the field like it was like that you know what i mean like like james harden against the warriors in like games game five and game six of the 2016 conference finals like I mean it was that kind of a level stuff and he's been slandered constantly non-stop all offseason long does he care about it he's not going to let you know that he cares but this man I think he should care and I think he should take it personally and honestly the one thing I want the Thunder to do more often Gabriel is take stuff personally when a team comes in and kind of head taps you the way that San Antonio did right like the Thunder haven't been humbled that often here over the last two years. The only team that's been able to consistently give them resistance is the Spurs, and I think the Thunder should take it personally. I think Chet should take it personally. I mean, the splits right here in the 71 games Chet played against any other team not named San Antonio, and the 11 games that he played against the Spurs, it's baffling. It's shocking, right? I mean, seven points a game difference. I mean, 11% field goal percent difference, 13% three-point percent difference. Chet Holmgren is going to continue to be, as long as he's on this team your greatest x factor into beating the Spurs consistently because if he continues to no-show against San Antonio you are going to have a really hard time beating them going forward because of his unique skill set he's supposed to bring and obviously we saw Wimby go off in game one of that series in what ended up being kind of a pendulum swing game back in you know mid-May because if the Thunder win this game that you go up 1-0 in the series you end up going 3-1 in the series you know heading back to to game five and but wimby hits uh a fade shot from half court in overtime to tie the game and then the spurs end up winning an ot so we know what wimby's capable of against the thunder his numbers against okc like consistently aren't really that that great like you see that he's actually a little bit worse against the thunder than he is against other teams but wimby has had big moments against okc we are still waiting to see if Chet Holmgren can have his big moment against Wimby and San Antonio yeah 100% you you just put all the cards on the table exactly how it is we have to see Chet Holmgren not i mean he's not going to take Wemby out the game we can't be unrealistic with our expectations but he does have to slow him down he does have to use his unicorn of a frame that really only Wembanyama can match this is a guy who was you know three quarters of the votes for second place for DPOY went to Chet Holmgren if he's that type of a caliber defender he needs to be on Wembanyama man-to-man in these matchups and that wasn't the case in that game one that you showed where Wembanyama had 41 points and 24 rebounds in that game and you saw that Wembanyama only took two three-pointers the one was the biggest shot of the game but also him just being able to get to where he wants on court Chet has shown flashes that he can kind of push Wemby to uncomfortable spots two uncomfortable fadeaway jumpers and that's something that he's gonna have to get his confidence up to be able to bring to that team and bring to Wembanyama every single time they meet up because to me when I was watching Holmgren there was times he looked like a deer in headlights catching the ball on the perimeter when he was slipping and falling in the playoffs and you could just see that he was rattled by the Spurs if he is able to play at his just normal abilities and bring what he brings to the table the other 70 games a season I have no doubt that Chet Holmgren can be a positive attribute in a matchup against the Spurs yeah this dude he's got to do the three things that are on the screen right now right simple he has to be confident enough to shoot the ball he has to attack downhill and he has to contest like it's any other team he can't fade away and go guard the three-point line and let them run into the paint and leave it up to a heart. He can't do that. Chet is a rim protector, but in Game 7, he faded into the background and didn't even rotate over to help on any rim contests. He was afraid to shoot the ball. He passed up open threes in the entire second half. Anytime he tried to attack the basket, it's like he had jello legs, like he fell to the ground. He looked like it was his first time with human arms and legs. He can't do it. I mean, he is so valuable against every other team. Chet Holmgren is the X factor against San Antonio. And kind of onto the next point of this, when you just look at San Antonio straight up, they're going to give a different look than what they did last year when you saw them. Julian Champagnie was a consistent starter for them last year. He's not going to be in the starting lineup going into this season. Mitch Johnson announcing that they're going to go with their quadruple guard and Wimby lineup. They're going to have De'Aaron Fox, Dylan Johnson. They're going to go with Vassell and Castle all in the same lineup going right there next to Wimby. it's going to be a bit different yeah and this is going to be really interesting to watch the thunder guard because the thunder defensively they're a great switchability team five on five team but what the spurs are bringing in well they're basically swapping a shooter and Champagnie for another guy who can put pressure on the rim and a guard in Dylan Harper, a guy who was phenomenal last year gave fits to not only the thunder but also the knicks in the finals i would argue he was their second best player in those finals absolutely adding him into that lineup it's gonna force the thunder to be more disciplined on their closeouts because you have to worry about the drive from a guy like Harper and it's gonna make them have to switch be able to help on drives more it's just gonna make them have to be that much more attentive to their team five on five level defense which i mean if there's any team up to that task it is the thunder so that is the encouraging thing about this but you're going to get a real test on how developed this team's chemistry is with the changes made over the offseason with shipping their A1 point of attack defender Lou Dort out the door this offseason we're going to see Case Wallace step into that role tomorrow night we're going to get a good look at this team's uh defensive identity and how much of it's going to carry over this year 100 and the the biggest quote that i take away from the spurs week of practice leading up to this opener is Stephon Castle he was asked about the biggest challenge and the biggest like things that still kind of remain in their way and he said without like without a hesitation rebounding is going to be our biggest issue right now so the thunder having Isaiah Hartenstein the thunder having Chet Holmgren healthy the thunder having Adai Mara who's going to make his nba debut tomorrow who's he's not a great rebounding big he's a facilitating big that uses his size to find open outlets and you know he he's actually got a pretty decent post-game bag and he's got a little he showed like a little Dirk fadeaway um spit you know like did you see that clip of oh yeah in the preseason putting the leg up yes sir he's not the true guy that's like seven three put him down there by by the basket he's gonna get you 15 rebounds a game that's not really his strength but the thunder need to win the rebounding battle tomorrow especially if the Spurs are going to get a ton of minutes from their quadruple guard lineup now kind of going along that same vein of thoughts our last part of today's video how does Oklahoma City ultimately solve San Antonio putting this whole thing together the Thunder is a new team the Spurs as a new team what does Oklahoma City need to do in this game and obviously the captain of your attack is Shea Gildas Alexander and without a doubt what he does to other teams to give them fits is he gets to his spots without fail. People cannot stop him. He drives to the basket more than nearly anybody else in the league. He gets more points on drives per game than anybody else in the NBA does. He scores a ton of points in the paint and he facilitates to open guys who are able to knock down shots. In the series against San Antonio, Lou Dort was a massive liability. Could not knock down open looks. You didn't have J-Dub as an extra scorer and playmaker to be there to complement him right AJ Mitchell he was hurt in that series and even before he was hurt he kind of faded into the background of that series a little bit as an offensive player in the first two games before he ended up getting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a creator he is a lead creator he is a dominant creator in nearly every single way that you want to put it he's going to have to have ice in his veins but I have three keys to this game Gabriel you have three keys to this game i want to let you give your three keys to this matchup first and then i'll give mine right so i'm going to start off by saying what you're going off of with SGA is a great lead into this he has to win the battle of MVP candidates Shai has to be the best player on the floor tomorrow night if the thunder are going to win this game it's non-negotiable because even in the matchups that they were losing last year Shai still was out playing Wemby Yama in a couple of those cases so if they are going to take home this W they are going to make that statement it's going to come with Shai being the best player and what you said about driving it leads into that well he's going to get in the paint he's going to freeze Wemby Yama down there and limit his impact on other players on the help end and i think that him just being in attack mode is going to set the tone make him the best player on the floor tomorrow and that moves into number two when they do start to you know trap in on Shea whenever he touches the paint whenever they close in on him it's going to leave the role players open for these three-pointers and last time that we've matched up with the Spurs namely in the playoffs anybody not named Alex Russo or Keisean Wallace they could not buy a three-pointer right that cannot be the case if this team is going to stay competitive we need guys like Jared McCain who shot sub 30 percent in the series knocking them down we need other guys on the perimeter such as Case and Wallace right he needs to be uh an addition in a positive attribute a weapon from outside someone you can't leave open and can't sag off of and that just goes for all the role players you have to be a threat out there offensively and that's one of the reasons that Lou Door got shipped out the door right someone you can sag off of not worry about guarding and we can't have any liabilities on the offensive end and the third thing that i think is a big key for this game is we have to uh set the tone for this game we have to push our pace onto this matchup and that's going to be a fast-paced game where we're getting out and running turning our defense into offense and we have to score in transition guys like J-Dub and Case and Wallace being uh back and in the premier lineup for this game will be big for this especially getting the team out and running in the open court with the steals so i'm anticipating you know the Thunder taking advantage of a young guy like Dylan Harper stepping into the starting lineup a turnover prone guy like Stephon Castle and if they want to win a game like this they're gonna have to take advantage of that and stay out of the half court where Wemby Nyama's defense is literally generational maybe the best of all time they have to limit his impact in that half court defense Ryan yeah so my three keys pretty complimentary to yours it's things that I feel like you're gonna need to have the secondary ball handlers create in this game right the the Spurs did a good job of hounding Shea when he tried to bring the ball up the floor making his life a living hell in you know the half court offense game even just getting the ball in there right so you're gonna need to rely on guys like Kaseen AJ Mitchell when he's in the game Jared McCain guys that can relieve Shea J-Dub also being in there guys that can handle the basketball help keep Shea at a point where he's not completely exhausted by the third quarter right make it to where he doesn't have to work for literally every single scrap that he gets and then mentioning the rebounding battle in this game. The Thunder lost the rebounding battle in the series last year by nearly five rebounds a game. If rebounding is going to be a weakness for San Antonio and that's what they feel like is going to be their weakness at the start of the season, the Thunder need for their triple bigs that they have whenever they're on the floor together, whenever they're splitting minutes, whatever that combination may look like, the Thunder have to be physical. They have to get Wemby off of his spots, maybe have him second guessing if he wants to go down there and try to get physical. I know that people may say Isaiah Hartenstein played dirty in that playoff series. Isaiah Hartenstein did what he needed to do, right? He needed to go up against a unicorn of the sport and he had to try to find some way that he could to intimidate him, right? That's what you got to do in the game. It's a physical game. You got to try to impose your will. You need to do that again this game. You've got to be able to close out possessions and kind of going along with being physical with Wemby. In game one of that series, in that playoff series, obviously I showed you the stats of what Wemby did in game one we talked about it already 41 points i mean you look at where the dude was shooting the basketball from and it was just straight up like bunnies right he's getting the ball on an entry pass trying to get guarded by somebody who is a foot shorter than him and he's just getting easy two after easy two after easy two you have to force Wemby to get his first touch outside of the paint force him to get it as far into that perimeter as you can don't let him just feast on the interior defense because he's going to be a mismatch on anyone, even including Chad Holmgren. So those are my three keys to this game. With all that in mind, wrapping this video up, I kind of put this in as my pick. I want to get your thoughts on this. I like the Thunder to make a statement in this game in the sense that the Thunder depth I think is going to make a difference. Tobias Harris is not going to play for San Antonio. I think guys like Cason Wallace can show what they're worth, especially now getting that new contract yesterday. I think that guys like Jared McCain can show a full off season of work and become an even more reliable piece off the bench i like guys you know like that kind of with the depth to help you win some of those bench minutes and i like Jared McCain and Cason and Wallace to have pretty big days alongside the stars so that's kind of my thought on this i'm leaning with the Thunder obviously i'm a little bit biased but what i mean quickly kind of what are your thoughts i mean spoiler alert I will also be leaning towards the Thunder and I have two reasons that I would you know really go after for the Thunder being the better team here and the one is I think that they're going to learn from their mistake last year right you brought up the graphic on the screen of Wemby going for 41 and 24 and you just mentioned shooting straight bunnies well Isaiah Hartenstein only played 10 minutes in that game one and that's a big reason why he was Wemby was so effective in that game and I think Mark Daigneault they're going to learn from what happened last playoffs what worked what didn't and I think that that's going to play a big factor in this game you know being so closely tied to last year's playoffs in the end of the season and the other reason I would point to why I think the Thunder will win is that their team yeah they made changes over the offseason but it is still largely the same system the team the way they operate it is going to look the same you had a lot of plug and plug uh plug and chug changes whereas the Spurs putting Dylan Harper into that starting lineup they're like the way they play basketball is going to have to change into a more rim pressure based team a more you know drive and then kick team where that's what they were last year where you have shooters surrounding uh with Champagny, Vassell, Harrison Barnes was one of the shooters last year and now they're gonna have to be a team that's more you know dynamic creative with the basketball and in the half court I don't know if that's going to work as well I can see OKC limiting that and that's another reason why I'm leaning towards the Thunder tomorrow night to start off this season 1-0 baby so now for all the viewers out there that made it to the end of the video let us know what you think the biggest factors on this opener here tonight are going to be is Chet's redemption and potential play in this game going to be the biggest thing you're watching for is it going to be winning those bench minutes and having your depth prevail through? Is it going to be containing those Spurs guards and their athleticism that they have? Or is it something completely different from that? Is it one of our keys that we gave? Let us know down below in the comments what your thoughts are on this matchup and what you think is going to decide the opener. And as I've been doing on my videos, a comment of the day, kind of a comment spotlight here. I think this must have been a Spurs fan maybe in here chirping us. So I want to just put this in here as a little extra motivation, a little bit of a bulletin board material once the Spurs get Tobias Harris comfortable he thinks that the Spurs are going to be too much for the Thunder once they get to a certain point of the season I'm not so sure about that I think people are underestimating the Thunder yet again I think people are I think people kind of have like um Thunder fatigue a little bit you know what I mean the Thunder are good again well they can't be that good again like they what they've been they're gonna have to have a bit of a fall off the year the Spurs are gonna take them up we're gonna find out we're gonna find out just what this team is going to look like to start this season and honestly I would not want it to be against anybody else other than San Antonio I'm glad that this is the way the season is starting whatever way this game goes it's going to be a litmus test to show us what this team's going to have to get better at and what their strengths may be you know at the very start of this season so I'm excited for this we're going to have a live stream here later tonight so if you want to be in the loop for that go subscribe to the channel down below right now help us get to 11,000 subscribers we're at 10,400 just got a 10,450 actually as we're recording this video so go subscribe down below if you've been enjoying the content we're gonna have all sorts of game live streams reaction videos breakdowns analysis all the things you could possibly want as a Thunder fan right here on one channel so Gabriel I'll see you later and it's uh good I'm glad to have the season back I mean it's been a long off season a lot of big stuff has happened but nothing better than watching the Thunder play actual basketball yeah it's been a long long off season and there's no other team I'd rather see on opening night and we get to see them later tonight so I'm going to catch you in that live stream hopefully catch all you guys watching this there uh and man we have waited for this so let's enjoy it ladies and gentlemen join us for a few hours uh of a Thunder live stream so me Ryan we're all gonna be kicking it with the thunder community hope to see you guys in that chat and thanks for tuning in to today's video we'll see you guys tomorrow here or later tonight i'm saying tomorrow we'll see you guys later tonight thunder spurs here on thunder digest