The Thunder found a HIDDEM GEM...

The Thunder's secret weapon has finally arrived as Usman Jang has been bawling out. However, there's some news today that came out that could show Jalen Williams, J-Will could be coming back to fill in for the Oklahoma City Thunder in this center position as we've been lacking that kind of in these first three games. We're undefeated. But you can tell we're lacking some rebounding. We're lacking some size without J. Will or Isaiah Hartenstein. Usman Jang's been playing well. Hasn't been getting a ton of minutes. However, when he has been playing, he's been very impactful. He's been looking really solid, comfortable. You know, he's playing off the dribble, on the dribble, off ball, on ball. Defensively, he's looking very good inside, down low in the paint. So we could be seeing Usman Jang get some more minutes. But with J. Will potentially being back now. We could see Usman Jang lose those minutes again, or potentially both of them play together in those minutes. It'd be interesting to see what happens, what the Oklahoma City Thunder do here. But we're going to break that down here on Thunder Digest. What I personally think is going to happen, along with an article I saw kind of highlighting Usman Jang, how he's been playing, along with quotes from head coach Mark Dagnall. But before we get into all that, though, I want to take a quick moment to recognize that the NBA season is here. And if you guys don't want to miss a single minute of the news regarding the Oklahoma City Thunder, you're trying to find someone that can give you those updates, all these news segments. Go ahead, hit that subscribe button, hit that bell notification. We got you covered here at Thunder Digest with that out of the way. We'll go ahead and get into the video at hand, talking about Usman Jang, how he's been playing, J-Will being back now, and is Usman Jang going to lose these minutes now with J-Will back, or are they going to play together and he's going to take someone else's minutes? We're going to be talking about that. First, J-Will is back, it's looking like. Today, I forgot to grab a screenshot from it, but... The Oklahoma City Thunder sent down Dylan Jones to the Oklahoma City Blue of the G League. So that creates a roster spot for someone that was injured. And that person I've been thinking about is J Will as he didn't have surgery. He just kind of had, you know, I think a strain or sprain going on or something in his hammy. He just was, he's a little banged up, wasn't doing too well. All right, that's what was going on. So it's looking like. That space has opened up for J-Will to come back. That's what it's kind of speculating and going around in the community at the moment. And if that's the case, that's going to help us out a ton with our rebounding and size problem. As now we can always have kind of a center out there on the court at all times instead of having to go small ball. Winchette needs to come off since our Hartenstein's injured right now. J. Will can go in there and man the paint a little bit, shoot the three balls, set some nice screens, as he's a big body at 6'10", 250 pounds, I believe. He's a big body. He can play very well for us in that center position. It's nice to have him back. But now this raises the question, is Usman Jain going to lose these minutes? How is J. Will going to find himself back in the rotation? Is he going to have to earn it? What's going to go on? I feel like J-Will's already established himself enough as a player, enough as a key member of the bench unit where he doesn't have to earn these minutes back. I feel like we're going to see him at a decreased minute load in the game against the Spurs, like maybe 10 minutes a game. 10, 12 minutes potentially, but we're still going to see him no matter what I feel like. I feel like no matter what, we're going to see J. Will out on the court. That's the thing. We're going to see him out there. It just comes down to, is he going to take Usman Jang's minute? Is he going to take A.J. Mitchell's minutes? What's going to happen? Who's going to be out of the rotation, all right? Whose minutes are getting diluted over to J. Will? I think it's going to be A.J. Mitchell. I think A.J. Mitchell is going to see a decrease in minutes. He's been playing well, don't get me wrong. But I have been more impressed with Usman Jang to start the season. I truly have. I think Usman Jang will keep his minutes. AJ Mitchell's go over to J Will. Boom, we've got that figured out. Now, however, speaking on Usman Jang, it seems as though he's finally arrived and considered himself, you know, and everyone's considering him a key player of this Thunder for years to come, as he's just been very impressive to start his third year campaign. All right. A guy who hasn't really gotten a lot of time in the league. Finally stepping up, he looks comfortable out there, he's making the right passes, the right plays, defensively he's looking very solid, perimeter it does have a little bit of questions still, but interior wise, he's doing very well down there, and it's starting to be recognized by everyone else as well, as here's an article that we're going to kind of read through talking about it. As the 2024-2025 season kicked off, the Thunder were touted as the strong contenders in the West. Unfortunately, they were set by a series of injury woes during the preseason, losing key players like Isaiah Hartenstein, Jalen Williams, and Kendrick Williams to long-term absences. In the wake of this adversity, Jang has found himself thrust into a significant role, stepping up as a primary backup center despite being a natural forward at 6'9". While the stats may not leap off the page, the progress he has made is unmistakable. The 21-year-old is playing with newfound confidence, embracing a more aggressive and calculated style of play. Like I mentioned, he's playing with confidence. He's being aggressive. All right. He's not playing relaxed, you know, kind of taking a backseat role. He's trying to get his own. All right. He's playing with confidence. He knows what he's doing. He looks like he's not lost anymore when he's out on the court. That's the thing. He just no longer looks lost. Now going into more of the article here. Next piece that we have, Thunderhead coach Mark Dagnall praised Yang's evolution ahead of Sunday's match against the Hawks, noting his consistent improvement. And this was, you know, talking about just two games where he really didn't get a lot of time, but he's been looking nice. I'm not surprised by his progress. He's just steadily improved. Every player's path is unique. Coming in as the youngest in his draft class, he had much ground to cover, particularly physically. It has taken him a bit longer, but we are now seeing the results of that hard work. Dagnall stated. He's ticking all the boxes now. So it looks as though Dagnall is very impressed with Jang, where we could see increased minutes from him, not just during the regular season, but come playoff time, we could see him getting some more time, getting some minutes, being a key part of the squad. Now the last piece of the article right here, Dagnall underscored that Jang's contributions extend beyond mere statistics, highlighting the challenges he faces playing out of position. He's making reliable contributions. He's playing the five. Although I've reiterated, he's primarily a perimeter player. He ran the point in Australia, so this is a new experience for him. Nonetheless, he's standing firm and battling against bigger opponents, added Dagnall. Jang's ability to effectively engage defensively and orchestrate plays on offense may not capture headlines, but it's these silent contributions that are propelling the Thunder toward victory. As he continues to develop, his role will be crucial in their quest. For success this season. And it just goes to show. Alright. His kind of impact. Goes beyond the statistics. Alright. Yes. He's not putting up a ton of points per game. He's not putting up a ton of assists. He's getting rebounds. Alright. I think he's averaging a block a game right now. To start the season. So the statistics aren't really there. I think he's averaging like three points. Alright. Three or two points. Statistics aren't showing that he's having a huge impact. But when you watch the game. And just see him out there. He looks like a completely different player than he did years before, than we've seen before, all right? It's looking like he's playing in the NBA like he does in the G League, physical, aggressive, and confident, because in the G League, he knew he was one of the best players there, all right? He was a G League Finals MVP. He knew he was really good. That's the thing. And finally, he's taken that mentality to the NBA level, which is helping him out a ton. He's finally confident. He's driving in in the lanes. He's playing off ball well, on ball well, offensively, defensively. Like I mentioned, the perimeter defense could improve a little bit, but he's so athletic that even if he gets blown by on the perimeter, he recovers well. He recovers very well because of how athletic he is. He's an athletic freak. He truly is. Interior-wise, he's going up strong. He's not getting out of the way anymore. He's boxing out, which is what is really impressing me, all right? Sure, you know, that's not a stat that you're going to see. But the fact he's boxing out, opening up lanes so other guys can come in and get rebounds for his squad, that is something that we need to see more of from everyone, all right? I want to see more of that from Chet. J-Will does that very nice, so I'm excited to have him back and see him do that. I just think we're going to have a nice little... Kind of bigger lineup out there now, especially if Jang keeps playing like this. That's the thing. Jang is finally confident, which makes us bigger, all right? Now we have Isaiah Hartenstein, J-Will, Chet, and then Jang, who can give us valuable minutes, all right? Chet and Hartenstein might be starters. Hartenstein might get like 26, 28 minutes a game. Then J-Will and Jang might get like 12 minutes a game, all right? It just goes to show that we are constantly going to have size on the court now, which we desperately needed last year. All right, that's what we desperately needed. With Jang improving like this and going at this rate. He could find himself on the Thunder for years to come. I don't want to say be a starter, but be a key member of the team coming off the bench, especially next season, all right, when he develops a little bit more. Because he's only 21. He's still young. He's one of the youngest guys on the squad. We have to keep that in mind. He's one of the youngest guys on the squad. So how he's been progressing now to start this season, it's very impressive. And I'm excited to see what he does, as it truly seems like we finally got our secret weapon up and running. That's all I got for this video. Let me know what you guys personally think about Jang so far to start the season. Have you been impressed with him? Have you been kind of like, meh, you know, this has to be expected from him. We've always kind of, you know, needed this from him. Just, you know, glad it finally happened. It just took too long. Or you're like, I'm not impressed. Let's trade him. Let me know what you guys personally think in the comment section below. I'll see you guys in the next video.