THUNDER SQUAD SHOW: BIG MOVE Coming? + What OKC Thunder Player Takes The BIGGEST Step Forward?

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1:03Our best lineup is here. It loads. Valetue 9.25, wall supplies last. Selection varies by location. You're watching the Oklahoma City Thunder Squad Show. I'm Tyler Jones. And coming up on today's program, do the Thunder have one more big move in store before the season begins? We'll examine that. I'm Roland Styles. Let's talk about Mark and his greatest strengths for the Thunder as their coach. I'm Jay Lamb. Let's talk about Scotty Brooks. I'm Derek Parker. And we're going to talk about who's going to take the biggest jump. This is Lockdown's Thunder Squad Show. The choice of week show with Thunder Talk Get Real. No filters, no flop. Just raw takes, sharp opinions, and straight up passion for the game. The way only Lockdown Hot buzz network knows how. Let's drop some dimes in Squatta. The Thunder Squad Show starts now. I have your others here at the Oklahoma City Thunder Squad Show, Tyler Jones, alongside Ryland Styles, Derek Parker,

2:04Jeremy Lam here with you on this Tuesday afternoon. Appreciate you all stepping by. We are officially six weeks away from the start of the NBA season. And the Thunder had a very eventful offseason, but could they potentially do more before the season begins? Is there another big move coming? And if not now, what is the next move that Oklahoma City will make? Ryland, I think the next thing on the horizon for Oklahoma City, I don't know what the timeline is, but I would have to think that the case in Wallace Extension is next in the cards for Oklahoma City. What's there you think? Is that or do you think something else is coming? Yeah, I mean, the extension would have to be done before the season begins. And then if they didn't get one done, they'd of course move beyond to the next summer, where there are a billion restrictive free agencies. So I think that whenever you look at the case in Wallace Extension, the odds are up in the air. If it'll happen now or if it'll happen next summer, they just sign till they do an exhibit 10 contract. And I think that they'll continue filling out

3:06their training camp roster. You can carry 21 players at this point of the season and kind of needing all the training camp bodies that you can get and you want to maximize that 21 player spot, because you have five preseason games, two back-to-back sets, the grueling training camp period. So I don't think anything big will happen. I'm not sure that they'll even get to a case in Extension this summer. I think that they will most likely at this point, since it's been so long we've been waiting on it, most likely move that into next summer. But they could always get it done any time, where they between now and the start of the season. So I think that the most kind of pressing thing will be filling out that training camp roster. You'll get the full roster the day of media day. And that'll be kind of the kickoff of the season. Yes, it certainly will. And so Derek, what's there you? I know that there's been some crazy talk out there like, oh, they tried to jet home ground or stuff like that. And that's totally not happening. We mentioned the case in Extension.

4:06Is there anything else that comes to mind that you think that Oklahoma City is looking at or what they could potentially do here? Well, I think we've really snubbed Kristoff Tilly and including him as the big move of the day at least. So, no, I agree with Rylin in the sense that I think the case in Wallace Extension is probably front of mind from an organizational perspective right now of, hey, we've already acquired the talent. We have went out and drafted the talent and we have developed the talent into an all defense guy, into a guy who has at least raised his offensive ceiling in terms of three point shooting. And there is some on-ball stuff still kind of floating out there. So, I think it's less about going out and finding something else, something external than it is, just kind of shoring up what you have internally. So, in my mind, it is case in Wallace. Now, that's not to say that the Thunder as an organization aren't gonna keep the rise open. They have traditionally always done that. I think given how well they've drafted and given how well they've developed internally, it's kind of gone under the radar that the Thunder are not afraid to make big moves

5:06to upgrade the roster if they think it's gonna help them win a championship. I just think in this era of Thunder basketball, the thing that's gonna best help them when a championship is probably internal. It's probably shoring up, AJ Mitchell long-term. It's probably shoring up, case in Wallace long-term. But as always, the Thunder are gonna keep things flexible and they're gonna evaluate what they need to do to remain at the top of the league, which I think they are. Jeremy, you've talked a lot about over the last couple months that this team is lacking wings, that they could use some wing depth. We know they have a $17 million trade exemption to their disposal. They have an open roster spot. Do you think that is something that Sam is looking at and a move that could potentially be on the horizon for Oklahoma City is to add some wing depth there sooner than later? I mean, I think it's on his mind, but knowing Sam, he's big on development. Like Derek said, I think they're definitely looking at

6:07who they can develop, who's gonna develop the fastest. What can they get from their draft picks? Obviously, case in Wallace is probably the forefront of what they're thinking about during whether it's next summer or before the season, but I think they're just looking at development. They've always been, I remember when I was there, it was just always, you gotta work every day. That's the only way you're gonna get better. So I think that's their main focus. They like what they have. They got their corner pieces. They're big time players and then they also have something that can contribute off the bench. And like I said, develop obviously you look at the new draft picks and you wanna just see them get better. So knowing Sam, I think that would be his focus right now rather than yeah, trying to go make a huge move and get somebody you think can make the team better.

7:10I think they like their team where it's at as long as they just continue to develop and work on their game that we find. Right, let's talk about that trade exemption for a moment. With Oklahoma City, having that to their disposal is that's something like an emergency level of sorts. If an injury happens, there's something that they could potentially go to. Do you think it's going to be used at all even? Yeah, most trade exceptions do come and go without being used and without being used fully. It is a resource though and it's a resource that I think that you wanna keep as long as possible. You wanna keep it through the trade deadline and see if anything pops up, whether you have a hole on your roster that you need to fill, injuries that you need to overcome or just a great opportunity and an unexpected player being made available and that being a resource to bring them in. The thing with Oklahoma City is they're gonna have to be very patient. The big move, a big move, and simply a roster move, even just to sign a 15th player on this roster.

8:12It is not gonna be something that you can afford to rush in to and do quickly and do splashily because you know that the commitment to them is tenfold because you're gonna have to pay them the set salary. You only have about $6 million to work with before hitting the second apron and even avoiding the second apron and paying them about $6 million. You stuff to almost leap up into your luxury tax spending because you're gonna get taxed so heavily on that contract, even without being in the second apron. So you can't just kind of sign someone and move on about your day. This whole summer has been about cost saving moves. They saved $240 million in luxury tax and they wanna keep it around that line. So I would imagine that this season will play out similarly to how they handled their roster in 2425 where they'll break training camp and one of these E-10s, I don't think it'll be a telly but one of these E-10s like Tilly will make the team out of training camp but they'll make it on a non-guaranteed contract and then they'll be waved and they'll bring in another former E-10 guy, Julie Guy and then they'll be waved and then you look up

9:14and you have to trade deadline and then you see what the trade line presents and then you see if it'll take an O-way is ready to have his contract converted and then you make your final roster decision sometime in February. So I think that we're still quite a ways away from having the final resolution of this roster but I think that they will sign one of their training camp guys out of camp to fill that 15th spot. So Derek with the trade exemption and as Ryland mentioned, not necessarily a rush to use that, they have it to their disposal. What I find fascinating too to think about this is how quickly these things can change. You go back to Jared McCain for example and he was nowhere on the radar, right? And then they get calls from the Sixers and all of a sudden one conversation turns into Jared McCain like well, the trade market or the trade market might not have somebody that pops right now that's not to say that that couldn't potentially

10:15change down the road and maybe even closer to the deadline. Yeah, I mean the MBA as a whole is just such a transformational and metamorphic league in the sense that players are traded all the time. I think situations change all the time. There's teams that come in to the 2026, 2027 season and they're gonna think they're contenders or they're gonna think they're not contenders and that's gonna flip on its head and there's gonna be teams that are buyers. There's gonna be teams that we don't think right now are sellers and they're gonna end up selling pieces and I think that's where the thunder come in and they have premiere flexibility in the sense that they are one of the best teams in the league. They do still have draft assets that they can trade. They're gonna have cost control contracts that they can trade and they put themselves in a position that even if things aren't the number one outcome early, even if they're not the number one team in the league in the first couple months of the season, they're not gonna be in that desperate tier either to where they're gonna be having a fire sale or they're gonna be desperately needing to go grab some piece. So again, I think internal is probably the biggest focus

11:18for them right now is just retaining the talent that they have. They actually have this trio of stars short up right now for the long haul. I think they need to continue adding to that with guys that they already have on the roster, but that's not to say that they aren't gonna be able to go out and make trades and capitalize on other teams' opportunities because they put themselves in position to do that for the last several years. They certainly have and we mentioned Otega Owe and his circumstance, two-way guy for now, but the opportunity through training camp the start of the season to become that 15th roster guy, Jeremy, you've seen how hard these guys compete in training camp and G League and all this. If you're somebody like Otega Owe or even the other guys here, these getting back into gym and getting training camp and all this start, this is a huge opportunity for him to really make a statement and kind of earn his way on this team here. Yeah, he has opportunity.

12:19We talked about how physical he is and they losing dirt. I think he has a chance to bring something to the team that they don't have right now. What, they got casing who's physical, but I think he just adds a different physicality, he's athletic. So, I mean, he has to come into training camp and tip top shape. Is that his only way? I feel like that he'll be able to make that 15 man roster. And, you know, obviously he's behind the eight ball a little bit and have to really raise some eyebrows, but I think he can do it and it starts with training camp. He has to look at every opportunity, even if he goes to the G League, he has to know they're watching. He has to know that everything means something because that's how the organization is. So, I think he has a chance. I wish him the best, but he got to come and tip top shape

13:20in order to give himself that chance. Rowan, if this is what they decide to roll with, assuming, you know, that what they have in place is what they're gonna go forward with when the season starts. How would you compare it to the last few years of what Oklahoma City has looked like going into the year? Is this should confidence be high compared to these these last few years? How would you say it stacks up? Yeah, your confidence should be really high for this team come playoff time. If they're healthy, they still have the most talented and deepest playoff rotation in the NBA. Now, in the regular season, they're replacing some guys who are proven regular season, floor razors, proven guys who can help you get through 82 games and win at a high level with unknowns, so which they might, these guys might be good that they have, they might not be as good as like Isaiah Joe was. Isaiah Joe was phenomenal at helping this team get through October to April. He was not phenomenal in the postseason, the same thing with Wiggins. And then with Lew last year,

14:20Lew wasn't good from start to finish offensively, but he was really good defensively and you missed that. So I think that whenever you look at OKC, the only thing that you can be even skeptical about is maybe they win a few less games in the regular season because of those losses, but come playoff time, they're a better team than they were a year ago. And a year ago, they took this versus seven games and they still have that core nucleus that won a championship. So they're going to be in a great position in the expectation level. The excitement level should both be to hold OKC to a standard of winning a championship. Yeah, and then, you know, kind of taking that a step further, Derek, if you were to point to one thing that is maybe even holding this team back of sorts, a weakness. We mentioned the lack of wing depth. Is there is that it or is there something else that you point to that say that you think Derek could be addressed as the season goes along? Yeah, I don't know if there's anything specifically. I guess if there was it, it would just point to kind of the overall question marks

15:21hanging over this team because I think just given the fact that you lose a starter and then you lose some rotational pieces, there's just a lot of different question marks that need to be answered. And that's not to say that they don't have a ton of talent that can continue to infuse this team. And I said it a couple of weeks ago, I think there's a chance that this team can be even better than they were. But again, that comes with question marks. Where is that three point shooting? That's probably the biggest singular aspect that they need to answer. Where is all of the three point shooting going to come from? Lou Dort was one of the best three point shooters in the history of this franchise. Isaiah Joe, through the regular season was the same. Aaron Wiggins was right there as well. So they're going to have to make that up. Now again, they have the weapons to do that. You get Jared McCain, you get AJ Mitchell, Kason Wallace, really proved that he can do that in the postseason. But those things aren't a given. And I think the biggest question marks overall is just kind of what we're looking at right now. Mordekont here on the Oklahoma City Thunder Squad show. What player will take the biggest jump for Oklahoma City in this upcoming season?

16:21We'll discuss that. Also, Mark Dagnall, what is his greatest superpower? What is the biggest strength that he add to the so-called home of the city Thunder team? We'll dissect it as well as we continue here on the Thunder Squad show. There is so much NFL on ESPN right now. Monday night football, plus pregame and postgame. NFL live, NFL prime time, everything you need to stay on top of every game every week. Unbelievable. And now NFL network is on the ESPN app. More football, more coverage, more ways to watch. Football's on. All season long on ESPN and streaming on the ESPN app. Support for today's episode comes from indeed sponsored jobs. When workplace chaos hits and you need the right hire, indeed sponsored jobs helps connect employers with candidates who match specific needs, like skill, certifications, and locations.

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18:23on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply need to hire this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. Welcome back to the Oklahoma City Thunder Squad Show. In a moment, we'll discuss who will take the biggest jump for Oklahoma City in the 2026 through 27 campaign. But first, get your daily Oklahoma City Thunder fixed completely at free by joining the Everdayer Club today. Start your seven day free trial right now and get closer to your team without the interruptions. Click the link in the show notes or go to lock on thunder.supercast.com to claim your free trial. So let's continue here on the Thunder Squad Show. Who takes the biggest jump for the Oklahoma City Thunder next year? Derek, we'll start with you. There's a number of guys you could point to. But if you only had to choose one, who would it be? Why? Really tough question because I think there's a number of guys that are primed to get a lot better

19:25just at basketball in general, whether it's stepping up and just being able to produce more or simply getting better at sub skills or defense as a whole or offense as a whole or whatever. The guy I just keep coming back to in this regard, though, is AJ Mitchell. I have been pretty complimentary of him all summer long. I'm a summer too late because Ryle and got there last year. But AJ Mitchell, he's a star man. He's a star in plain sight at this point. I think last year, he really emerged as a player that became a little bit more of a household name for the Thunder. I think league wide. A lot of people started to take notice of, hey, this guy aside from Shay, Jada, and Shit, is becoming the guy after the star trio. Next season, I expect that to be even more of a thing. I just think the way that he handles the ball, he can get downhill, he can pressure the rim at the drop of a pin, he can pass, he can shoot. His defense is a lot scrappier than anticipated. He can just do everything. And I think as he continues to be good at everything, the Thunder are going to give him even more responsibility. I think when you look at some of the production left

20:28by the guys that are leaving, I think he can fill some of that. I think also, whenever Shay's out of the game, or even in the game sometimes as we saw last season, they're going to look to give AJ Mitchell the ball. They're going to look to have Shay off the ball a little bit more. That doesn't mean he's not going to be an MVP level guy. But it does mean that AJ Mitchell could get a few more opportunities. So I think Kase and Wallace is right there. I think there's a few others, Jared McCain, that you could plug in right here. But for me, I just can't quit AJ Mitchell in this conversation. Jeremy, how about you? Derek says AJ Mitchell, do you agree? Is it AJ or is it somebody else? It could be AJ. I'm going to go with J. Dove. I think coming off, his year, he's real amped up to get back to who he was. Last year, he saw a little flashes. But he wasn't quite able to put a full season together. And obviously, the summer before, he had surgery. And he couldn't really work out that summer.

21:30Then last year, as we saw, he kept trying to come back, but couldn't quite find his rhythm. So you can really see how important he is to the team last year. It felt like they was going to win regardless. But you see, he sees the team knows that they need him. And I think he's going to be featured even more. I think he's going to take a step up and just really come back into who he is. And again, after that down year, I think the summer is extremely important. He knows that. And I think it'll have a chip on his shoulder. But next year. All right. So we got two different names so far. We got J-Dub and we got J-Mitchell. Ryland, do you want to take one of those two? Or is there somebody else we've looked at? I do think that AJ Mitchell is a good chap because of the fact that people did claim on to him

22:32during the playoff run. And then of course, he got her. And if he can stay healthy for a full season for the first time in his career, that will put his numbers in such a way that the leap is noticeable. The leap is something that we look back on and easily point to him as the most improved. Whereas with J-Dub, he's all in be a player and all star and all defensive player. If he's healthy and he returns to form, it won't necessarily be a massive step forward. So I think in this between AJ, you could even put Jared McCain in there in Cason Wallace as well. I'm just not a big believer in Cason Wallace taking this on ball leap to the point that I think that his biggest jump forward would have to be from him becoming a deadly three point shooter. And with the Thunder's success, relax there are from beyond the arc. I will side with AJ Mitchell instead of Cason. And I think that AJ Mitchell will play a bigger role than Jared McCain. So AJ Mitchell, I think, will take the biggest step forward, especially when it comes to the production, when it comes to the stats. D'Art, let me take this a step further. So a lot of leverage in Mitchell here

23:34and what he did last season. Is there anybody on this roster that can have the jump that AJ Mitchell had last year? I know we've got some guys on this roster we've talked about with Oklahoma City that have been banged up and haven't played a full season. But that jump that we saw from AJ, if you're one to year two, is there anybody that can have that incremental of a jump in your eyes, not named AJ Mitchell, similar to what he did last year? It's really tough because a lot of the players that could be doing that in theory, we haven't seen, right? It's Nikola Topic, it's Thomas Sorber. I don't know that they're going to be capable of really making the jump that AJ Mitchell did because they haven't really had the starting place that AJ Mitchell did, right? Like he came in and he was an immediate contributor. We knew pretty early on in AJ Mitchell's career that like he was going to be a consistent basketball player that was going to be able to crack the rotation. And that was partly because of training camp and guys on the team saying, hey, this dude can play,

24:36there's a lot more question marks surrounding the Thomas Sorber of it all and the Nikola Topic. And then you also have to throw in now a dimara who we haven't even seen at the NBA level, Bennett Sturts who we haven't even seen at the NBA level. So I guess I would say that we can probably count out that leap, maybe the year one to year two leap for those guys. But that's not to say that we can't see any of those guys step in and do what AJ Mitchell did in year one because I think guys like Thomas Sorber if healthy, a dimara, Bennett Sturts obviously is going to have a really big role for this team. So I think those guys are going to be able to step in and impact the game, but it is tough to predict a leap because again, there's so many question marks surrounding these guys is Nikola Topic going to be an NBA player. We just haven't necessarily seen it at a high level yet. Same for Thomas Sorber. So just a few too many question marks right now, but some of these guys are going to impact the game. There's no doubt about it. So of the unproven guys of the Sorbers, Topic's, the rookies

25:39like Sturts, and more and others, Jeremy, who catches your eye? Who is somebody that maybe even they're not going to be the best of that young group? But who is somebody that you're intrigued with that you think could be an impact player this upcoming year? I think it would be tough, but I'm going to go with Topic. I like how he's not afraid of the moment. He hasn't played a lot, but when he gets in there, you see the pass and ability. You see he's not afraid to take shots. And if he get an opportunity, I think he definitely could make a huge jump. And obviously him being healthy would be obviously great help. But I think he has a chance because of his mindset because of his skill set. He'll be able to carve out something that they I feel don't have much of. And that's playmaking. You can always use playmakers.

26:40And again, the way he put the passes that he makes, he sees people open before they see themselves. And that's not easy to do. So I think he could make a huge jump. And I'm rooting for him. I think it'll be a great story. And somebody like that, everybody wants to root for him. Ryleann, we're going to talk about Mark in our next segment. But along these same lines, let's have you be the coaching staff for a moment. If the coaching staff could hand pick one of these players to take a big jump, who do you think they would like to see that be if they could pick just one? I think that from the Thunderstam point, it would depend on the tie breaker between Derek and I. If Thomas Sober is more switchable and is, as I thought it because I think that he can be and be more virtual defensively, then it would be Thomas Sober taking just it wouldn't be a jump necessarily because he hasn't played yet. But just a guy who steps into a bigger role than we're

27:41anticipating just because you need some guys who can defend bigger bodies. Now, if Derek is right on that and he is more primarily a five, then I guess that you could just simply say but it starts because but it starts would be a guy that fixes an obvious flaw. If he's right in the NBA, if he's good in the NBA, that means he's knocking down threes. And this team does not have many guys that you trust to knock down three. So if Bennett starts can come in and fill the Isaiah Joe role, we saw how valuable that was in the regular season. If you can fill it in the regular season and if he can do better than Isaiah Joe did in the playoffs and actually knock him down in those big moments, then it would really kind of complete this team. Yeah, I think you're right about that. There's one guy we haven't talked about. And that's Chad Homgren, Derek. And we know that he was all NBA player last year and all star, all defensive team, all that. But the Thunder certainly need more from Chad Homgren that this version that they have for a guy that was the number

28:43three overall pick can't be a finished product. Yeah, I think that any sort of massive leap for Chad Homgren is probably out of the question at this point. I think that he's a stellar player. I'm on record saying that I think he has superstar potential. I think that he can get to really the upper echelon tier in the NBA. But I also want to be realistic with my expectations of Chad Homgren next season. I think consistency is the biggest thing. I think there are some micro skills that would probably be better for him to fix over the off season. We saw it in the post season. It's speeding up the jump shot. It's being a little more consistent around the rim. It's being able to get into steady offense more consistently. So yeah, I think Chad Homgren absolutely needs to take a step in the right direction. I think he needs to take a leap. Now is that leap going to be as dramatic as an AJ Mitchell or potentially the starting version of Case and Wallace? I don't think so. But even a little bit of improvement for Chad Homgren is massive for the Oklahoma City Thunder because there are contenders out there.

29:44Basically, all of the other contenders out there, except for the San Antonio Spurs. They're not really having their upper echelon guy still improving. Their cores are pretty locked up. Those guys are already either in their primes or nearing them. So any improvement for a guy like Chad Homgren who is Oklahoma City's second, arguably third best player, I think is a great thing. And I think it will happen, but it's just not going to be as dramatic as those other players. Yeah, I think you're right about that. On the same token, Jeremy, what I would say is that you can apply this with Chad and J.D. with the extensions and the money that they've been paid. It was too full. It was not just what you have done and what you did to bring a championship. But the long-term commitment that Oklahoma City made to those guys was also a message of we do expect more. We like what we've seen, but we think that there's we're investing in you because we believe that this is going to get better long-term, right?

30:46Yeah, they definitely, they got paid off for what they've done, but they don't expect them to stop there. Hard workers, they love the game of basketball. You can see, they take care of their body. You only expect them to get better. And I think Chad is more of the most important to take a leap just because you got to go against Biggs in the West. You got to go against obviously San Antonio. And if he's able to hold his own, become of, he was an all-star last year, but you don't know if he'll still be an all-star again. You want him to consistently play at that high level and become a Perennial All-Star. And if he does that, then I think that'd be great for the organization, but great for him. And I think that they could go a long way. More to come, here on the Oklahoma City Thunder Squad Show. We're about halfway home.

31:47Let's talk about Mark Dandall. What's his greatest superpower that he brings to this Oklahoma City Thunder team? We'll talk about the Thunderhead coach. And also in our final segment, Jeremy Lamb is going to tell us all about Scott Brooks. What was it like to play for Scotty and Oklahoma City? We'll get the inside scoop as we continue. Here on the Oklahoma City Thunder Squad Show. Every bold journey starts with a decision to go. And if you're ready, the defender is too. This is a vehicle built for more, whether you're heading off the grid or just getting out of town for the weekend. Defender is a true icon, reimagined for a new generation. Its rugged exterior is built from durable materials and tested in the toughest conditions. Inside, it's modern, functional, and refined, with smart storage and premium touches that keep you comfortable wherever the road leads. It's packed with tech like 3D surround cameras, clear sight ground and rear views, driver assist features, and an intuitive infotainment system. With three models, the Defender 90, 110, and 130,

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33:52The NFL gives you something new to watch every week, and now Fandall was giving fans something new to check every week, too. The rewards club has exclusive offers, surprises, so it's worth opening up the app to see what's waiting. And I had a nice weekend. I will admit on a Semina felt parlays, and you can be like me and have the same results next weekend as well. Make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandall. Visit Fandall.com to get started. Halfway home here on the Oklahoma City Thunder Squad. Showtile of Jones, Jeremy Lam, Ryland Styles, Derek Parker, back here with you now. Let's talk about Mark Dagnall, the Oklahoma City Thunder head coach. She's already established himself as one of the best coaches in the NBA. And what makes him so good? Why is he such a great fit for this Oklahoma City Thunder squad? Ryland, let's start with you. What are the strengths that catch your eye when it comes to Mark Dagnall?

34:53Well, I think it's something that Jeremy's touched on before of just his ability to kind of bring these guys together and allow them to see the bigger picture of, you know, Jeremy's talked about how it's hard to resist the temptation of whenever you play these regular season games that are on national TV that are in its premier opponents that aren't premier matchups. And you know how good you are. And you've won 60 games the last couple of years. How can you rededicate yourself to that game that night and Mark does a good job of that instilling that zero and zero, one of 82 mentality in them all the way back whenever they were a 21 team and keeping that foundation through now. It allows you to have peace of mind that this team will take the regular season seriously. And this era of NBA basketball that's something that you cannot take for granted and then I think that beyond that you just has such a strong relationship with all these guys that it allows him to mix and match. We always talk about how can her Williams or insert player here might might play 30 minutes a night and then they might play 10 minutes and they might play no minutes and they have that trust in him that whatever it is.

36:00It's the best decision for the team and that eventually things will swing back in their direction and they'll get their chance again and that's a hard line to walk especially with these players who might be entering contract years and in the past have had contract years of they want to play and everyone in the NBA is a huge competitor who wants to be out there and who sees themselves as one of the best players in the world rightfully so. And his ability to manage those personalities manage the desire to be on the court with some tough conversations of okay tonight you're not going to play but keep everyone rooting for each other keep everybody engaged within the team is so good and then the biggest superpower I think that he has and even transcends those other two is his willingness to explore his willingness to try and try new lineups and try new schemes because we see so often these coaches get stuck in their ways of these are the eight guys I trust in their own. The only guys I'm going to play with Mark you'll see him try small ball you'll see him try super sized lineups you'll see him try everything in between you'll see him try every player top to bottom to see who can give them something and even and understand that even if it's it's a lineup that you're not even sure if it's going to work and I even sure if it's going to be something you ever go back to but you want to get it on film and you want to see how it reacts and stress test them as he says that is invaluable whenever it gets to the playoff time and look at the thunders.

37:23You know recent playoff runs how many guys have had to step up right I mean if you if you bring in Isaiah heart andstein you know that year after after jay will did not play well against Dallas and round two and you just say okay it's chat and and I heart as my front court and I don't care about anything else then you never get J will in the second round against Denver which helped you win a championship and most coaches I think would have just gone down with okay we have chat and I heart let's just see if they can handle Yoke for seven games but his willingness to try J well as one willingness to try Karuso and all these guys on Koleo Kutch and Mix and match help them win that series and thus help them win a championship so his willingness to not be stubborn as a huge strength of his because you look around the NBA at some of the guys that we call the best coaches in the league and they have a lot of stubborn tendencies. They do and one thing that stands out to me Jeremy is that you look at some of these teams around the league over the last several years and a lot of ego a lot of store power where they tend to kind of take over for the coach and do what they want to do and the coach doesn't have control the team that's not the case here in Oklahoma City yes you have stars but you have guys that are willing to check in their egos and listen to what Mark has to say.

38:40And honestly we're talking about a lot in you know his superpowers his strengths one of them is just how much that he has attention to these guys that they'll they'll listen to what he has to say. Yes it's not one thing that's hard for coach to do is still let you know that he trusts you even though he can't play everybody you know it obviously it's 15 guys you know your rotation but you know what I'm saying. I'm not saying that's a good thing to do is to feel that you know that's hard to do and then obviously the high character guys make it easier for him and you know Sam always brings in high character guys you know obviously they're talented but I think he looks at character first and for Mark to just keep everybody engaged. Let everybody know that I trust you look you know keep working I can't play you because I've been on teams where it's like man you don't trust me like stop saying that but the way he's able to just instill that in everybody like I said keep everybody involved.

39:58You know I think that's one of his biggest superpowers obviously him just being able to relate to the players is another big one because you know you can't relate to everybody all the time and for him to put even put his ego aside and you know relate to these guys listen to him I think that's huge as well. Derek from an X's an O standpoint what stands out to you about what Mark does compared to other coaches. I think it's his flexibility and obviously Mark Degnell is probably more than any other coach in the league willing to go deep into his rotation right like we'll see on a nightly basis he'll go 11 deep 12 deep and that doesn't necessarily stop in the post season it might be shortened a little bit there are still times that he's reaching deep into the roster in the post season and it's not just his willingness to do that it's that coupled with the fact that he's he usually makes the right decision as well it's not just playing guys just for the sake of playing them it's reaching deep into that rotation it's reaching to the 11th spot the 12 spot spots that other teams aren't and getting value out of it like and going and getting J well and developing him into a three point shooter and a guy that could come out and defend Nikola Yokich in short since it's reaching in there and he's going to do it with Bennett starts this season.

41:19And Bennett starts is going to explode in one of these fourth quarters and that's going to land on Mark Degnell and the lever that he pulled so it's not just his willingness to be adaptable and flexible but also to in the moment in like the highest pressure situations actually make the right decision to which I feel like can be glossed over because there's a lot of NBA coaches out there who try a similar thing and they just don't make the right decision and it's a really hard thing to do it's hard to in the moment in crunch time go with the right guy. And make the right play and do that constantly and I think Mark Degnell does a really great job of that through the entire 82 game regular season and into the postseason as well. There have been four head coaches in the history of the Oklahoma City Thunder we're going to talk about one of them in our next segment Scott Brooks but you look at Mark Ryleann and by far I think he is the best coach this team has had compared to Scotty or Billy Dott of enter PJ Carlisimbo who was head coach for a hot spot. I think that's a good coach for a hot minute there. When it comes to how things are running now with Mark compared to some of these previous coaches what are the things that you like that you've seen Ryleann from Mark compared to what we saw in previous eras in OKC.

42:37I mean this this is something that I think is true of Mark against any coach not just the thunder ones but it's the fact that how sure of himself that he is now confident in his own skin that he is he's not trying to be someone else that that he's not whenever it comes to his personality and also whenever it comes to his decision making like I think that you've seen coaches in the past both with OKC and just around the league. They kind of just go into a season or a playoff series or a moment and say well this is the way the leagues always done it so I'm just going to do it this way and that's not Mark if he believes in something he's going to do it even at the highest stakes and I think back to his first playoff run with this team and Timmy man asked them at practice about how Pat Riley had that quote you know about play trust seven and why Mark goes so far away from that and Mark made a joke about well Pat Riley did it that way and I'm doing it this way perhaps I have a lot to learn. But he made that joke and still you've seen him the last three post seasons play more than eight guys and to Derek's point in the playoffs.

43:38Well play time or 11 guys maybe it's not the it's not the 12 and 13 guys you play in the regular season but he plays 10 to 11 which is still an abnormal amount but he truly believes in that benefit he truly believes in his system and in the benefit of of the optionality that this team has and he maximizes it and I think that if you would have handed this roster, roster to almost any other coach. They would still be as deep as they are right now. They'd still be as talented as they are right now. Jay would have still been capable of stepping up against Yokech. Jay would have still been capable of flipping a series. Jared McCain would have still been capable of being a guy who got in in February and then won you two games in the playoffs and then won you a game in the Western-Carns finals and started. These all things still would have been able to happen, but how many coaches will let them happen? I think only Mark lets them happen. I think that only Mark would trust himself, trust his belief and kind of trust his philosophy at the grandest stage the way that he did. So I think that that is important and that is a skill set that he has that separates himself from not just the previous Thunder

44:39coaches, but from other coaches in the NBA's history. Jeremy, one thing that catches my eye about the way Mark does things is that you look at basketball at all three levels, high school, college, pro. One of the biggest problems that teams face is guys that don't know their roles. And we've seen at all three levels, teams not do what they're capable of, go as far as they can because they never gotten rhythm and never had those roles clearly established and defined. That's not the case in Oklahoma City. You look at the way this team is structured and the way that Mark coaches up these guys, Jeremy, they know exactly their assignment and what is expected out of them, what they need to do for this team performing a high-level. Yeah, he definitely does that great because it's a lot of players that come into league and try to be what they was sometimes.

45:41You can come into the league and be a 25, 20 point score, but if you plan beside, Shay, that's not what they need. When somebody like Kason Wallace, we saw how when he had a little more opportunity, he could do a little more. He knows he probably could do more, but for Mark Dagnar to really show him and communicate to him, this is your role, this was best for the team. And not just Kason Wallace, he goes down the line, but it's the communication piece because when a player knows what they need to do, if they don't wanna do it, then you see, it's time for you to go. But they all adapt and again, it goes back to their great character guys. They could have, Shay could have the biggest ego in the world, but he doesn't. And so, and Mark too, he don't have to listen to his players

46:41and all that. He can look at his resume and just do what he wants, but he still trusts everybody. He still put everybody in position to play well. So, having people know their role is the biggest, biggest part of it, because you can have superstars. You can have great players on the team. And for some reason, you look and it's like, hmm, I wonder why, you know, that didn't work out. So, it's all about knowing your roles and you know, they do a great job of that. Derek, one last point real quick on this, I would say as well when Kason Mark, problems do not get ignored. If there is an issue, if there's something that somebody needs to work through, that gets addressed, that they put in the work to define those areas of improvement, not let those things get unseen and unhandled of sorts. Yeah, I think that's part of the biggest superpower that we've kind of talked about in this segment in that, you know, he's a player's coach. He will have conversations and he'll address everything with every player.

47:42I think the guys respect him a lot, which is like most of the battle. I feel like for NBA head coaches, he's not inflexible in anything on court off the court. So, yeah, totally agree. I think he does a great job in that respect. Final segment ahead here in the Oklahoma City Thunder Squad Show. Let's dive in to Scott Brooks, former Thunder head coach who Jeremy played for in OKC. What was it like playing for Scotty and the relationship Jeremy had? We'll talk about that as we roll along here. Final segment next. Every bold journey starts with a decision to go. And if you're ready, the defender is too. This is a vehicle built for more, whether you're heading off the grid or just getting out of town for the weekend. Defender is a true icon, reimagined for a new generation. Its rugged exterior is built from durable materials and tested in the toughest conditions. Inside, it's modern, functional and refined with smart storage and premium touches that keep you comfortable wherever the road leads. It's packed with tech like 3D surround cameras,

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49:48Jeremy Lam, Derek Parker, right when Styles Tyler Jones back here with you now. Scott Brooks, former Oklahoma City Thunder head coach, took the Thunder to their first ever NBA Finals. I would say that Scotty is still well liked and respected. Yes, he didn't win a title, but was the guy that was leading the charge when the Thunder first made their presence known to the rest of the NBA. And ultimately they moved on from him, brought in Billy Donovan there for the last couple years of Russ and KD there in Oklahoma City. Jeremy, you played for Scotty. Let's go back to the very beginning. What was your first interaction with Scott Brooks like? Oh, well, first I'll say I sat on a bench for Scotty Brooks. I didn't necessarily play. But nah, he always kept me on my toes. He used to look down the bench to see if I was locked in,

50:49to see if I was sometimes I knew I wasn't going to play. So I would have my shoes untied. And if he saw that, he would immediately tell me going again, and I'm like, oh, and I'm trying to tie my shoes. And he's like, stay there. But he knew how to just keep me engaged. He would try to, he would make sure that I knew how much time was on the clock, how many files we had or they had. Just to try to keep me engaged, because obviously, I was a rookie. It was extremely tough to get on the court. And at times, I felt like it was no way that I was going to be able to play. And he just always kept me engaged. And I remember when we went to Atlanta, obviously I'm from Atlanta, and he told me he was going to give me five minutes. And I'm like, he was like, well, maybe three minutes. I'm like, I'll take anything, Coach. And you know, back home, he made sure to try to give me,

51:53I think, gave me like four minutes, and I hit a shot. And it was just a great moment, but I've always appreciated him for doing that for me, because you got your family there. It was like my first year, and I just felt good to be able to go in and make a contribution and then get out of the game, because if I had to play it longer, I probably would have got exposed. That's a good story. You've played for a lot of coaches in the NBA. Like what are the differences and similarities of how any coach, like Scott would handle practices during the season versus other coaches handling practices, during the season, like would you see a guy that kind of let you guys have some time off to recover? Did he want you guys to practice in pretty tough and getting ready for games? What was his practice system like? Always early, you know, in the year, you're going to practice hard. But, you know, we had KD and Russ and Serge,

52:55like winning games, you know, they was playing big minutes. So, he was, we would have a solid practice, but, you know, obviously the younger guys would do more, but it was like short and sweet. We wouldn't be out there for hours and hours, you know, he kept it to where you get work in, you understand what team we're playing, you know, look at the sky report, stuff like that. Ain't we keeping it short? I remember the one practice. I walked out the locker room and I saw him on the treadmill. So, I'm like, I ain't never seen you run. Like, how long have you been on the treadmill? And he said, like 10 minutes and I was like, yeah, I don't believe you. And then practice started. And he was like, Jeremy, get on the line,

53:56run 10 sprints since you think, I couldn't be on the treadmill for 10 minutes. I'm sitting there like, I coach like chill. He was like, no, I'm serious, get on the line. And I had to run. I'm like, I'm never talking about him again on the treadmill. And like, it was just funny because, you know, we had practice, but I had to run first. So, then after I'm all tired, I didn't realize like what he was doing in the moment. I just felt, you know, like he was picking on me or whatever, but it just made me better because it let me see like, again, he's still wanting me engaged. Even though, you know, he made his little jokes and made me do stuff, I was a rookie. And I ain't, I didn't really realize at the time that he was trying to make me better. And him just telling me like, you're not good enough right now. I didn't realize that. I'm thinking what, like, I'm nice, but I wasn't.

54:57You know, I couldn't, I couldn't do nothing for that team at the moment. So, just him giving me those little talks, pushing me. It made me a lot better. Jayland, we just talked about Mark Dagnott's super power. What do you think Scott Brooks was? If you could nail down like one or two things, you think he was maybe a lead at relative to the rest of the coaches in the league? I think, honestly, I think it was him actually sticking to his ways actually because they had, I mean, it was Eagles and a lot going on, but he still made sure, you know, that nobody was just gonna run over him. He was like, you know, this is what we're doing in practice. This is what, this is how we started the game. We switching every picking role, like, whatever it was, and you know, you would have Perk, once I, I remember Perk told him, once I'm,

55:59he was saying, coach was saying something, and Perk shot out big Perk, but Perk told him, Perk told him, shut up before he kissed him in the mouth, right? And everybody was like, what, he was like, yeah, what's up? What's up, coach? And like, obviously he was trying to like, bully him a little bit, but, you know, Scott, he was just like, man, you ain't doing that. Okay, how big you is? And it was just funny to see like, people try to pick on him, people try to, you know, say little stuff, but he was like, this my team, you know, and basically, he just put in place, how to win, and what the team needed. So sticking to his ways, not backing down from superstars or whatever it may be, because he was young, you know, he first, first time really going through it and for him to really just hold his own and keep that team together as best he could, that was huge.

57:03We're live here in the Oklahoma City of Thunder Squad Show, Jeremy Lammer, my own style is Derek Parker, Tyler Jones, back here with you. Appreciate y'all joining us. Jeremy, one of the big narratives of that time period was how much ISOBall, the Scott Brooks teams were running and that being a detriment of sorts from your vantage point being there in practice was that, was that driven by Scott or was that kind of pushed by other players as much of that ISOBall we saw. I mean, I think, and that regard, he couldn't do, he couldn't do much about that in practice, you know, we moving the ball and setting screens and rolling, but, you know, you get in the game and you got elite, you know, one on one players, it wasn't much he could do at the time. He still emphasized, you know, get the team involved,

58:06you know, playing as a team, but at times, you know, people like Russ, he would come out and have 14 in the first four minutes. So you wanted to keep going. Katie obviously could kill anybody whenever he wanted. So you had to set it up and it was a different game back then, you know, he's running more host ups and stuff like that. But yeah, we at times, you turn into a one on one team, but now we, you know, we tried to emphasize playing team ball, we'll be playing pickup. I remember Katie, he had like all the points and put their team in that game. And, you know, he came out and was like, run the plays, like get, you know, get some ball movement. Because he knew you can't just go in the game and just score all the points. You're gonna need your teammates.

59:07You're gonna need, you know, it's gonna make it easier on yourself. So for him, that was a tough position for him, but he made it work in when KD or Russ would get going. It's like, all right, come on now, search. Sometimes he'll shoot to many may range. We like bro, go block some shots, go dunk the ball like. So we had all type of little stuff that we was dealing with. And me, I was just rookie. I was sitting there just court side watching the games excited. But I didn't know the NBA game at that time. So I didn't realize how much he actually had to deal with. And it realized like he couldn't just throw me in. So after I kind of got seasoned and I seen him later after going through the league

1:00:07a little bit, I realized what he had to go through. And, you know, I basically thanked him for pushing me to the limit. Cause a lot of times, you know, I'm sitting there like, why is you like mad at me? But he was just, he was pushing me because he felt that I could be great. I could be better. And, you know, obviously now looking back on it was a huge, huge, huge, huge thing for me. It was just, it was great for my career. It was great for just where I wanted my career to go where I wanted my game to go. So he did a great job doing that. Jerry, what was this temperament like? Ozila intense coach, was he a more calm coach with you guys behind the scenes? He was, he was chill. At times, you know, he felt maybe he got to get on somebody. But he was, yeah, he was chill. Sometimes you didn't know what he was thinking.

1:01:08Sometimes you knew exactly what he was thinking. It's not, again, it's not easy to stay calm in every situation. You know, you, I mean, I might come in and have a turnover or bounce it off my leg. It's like, you get upset what you're doing. But for the most part, yeah, he was, you know, he was, he was a good coach. He, he wouldn't try to embarrass us. So, you know, I've had coaches that is like, I don't care how many people watching. Well, I'm gonna, you know, cut you out. And he, he wasn't like that. He, obviously he had, you know, all-star players and stuff. But, yeah, as far as practice and trying to get his message across in the game or in practice, he always tried to treat everybody with respect, you know, except for a couple of times. He tried to keep, you know, keep, keep the respect there. And I think everybody respected him for that.

1:02:09Is there any one moment, Jeremy, that you had with Scott, that you feel like helped you and maybe some of the more impactful seasons of your career, even if it wasn't with him. Is there any one thing that stands out of like, man, Scott Brooks helped, like, I thought about that years later. Yeah, the first time I asked him, I asked him, I was like, coach, like, why, what do I need to do to get some minutes? And he just told me like, you're not that good yet. And in the moment, you know, I'm like, but again, it let me see that I had to work. Like people are on this level and then, when you have the chance to go in the game and make a play or hit knock down some shots and you don't get it done, you start to realize he's just trying to help. So yeah, from when he had it, when he made me run sprints

1:03:13and when he told me I wasn't good enough, I looked back at those moments, maybe not the sprints because he could have held off on those. But when he told me I wasn't good enough, it just lit that fire in me. And again, I thanked him for that later. And then I said, I'm talking to me no more. Now I'm joking. But yeah, it was, you know, it was all love after that. Thanks for tuning in. The Lockdown Thunder Squad Show, make sure to subscribe and follow the Lockdown Thunder podcast so you get all the latest episodes. If you've never missed episode, the EverDare Club is built for you. Get the Lockdown Thunder podcast at free plus members only discord access and more. Head over to lockdownthunder.supercast.com to join the club for those young video. We send you the first ever 24-7 National NBA YouTube channel and audio, make sure to make your second listen NBA game that on Lockdown NBA. Before we go, real quick, Brian, what's coming up next couple days? Yeah, we have Justin Martinez on. He has a great tidbit about Chad Homes, Offseason, plus we go through what the most underrated parts

1:04:13of this Thunder team is. We have our win total draft with Brandon and then the crane will help us rank the contenders on Friday. So full week ahead here on Lockdown Thunder. Great stuff ahead and great stuff as always, guys. That does it for the Thunder Squad Show here on this Tuesday. Thanks for joining us. We'll be back to do it all again next week. Four Ritalin Styles, Jeremy Lamb, Derek Parkrop, Tyler Jones, think so long. Thanks for joining us. Three o'clock, kids are home. Your to-do list isn't done. New Kraft Mac and Cheese Power Mac was made for days like this. Kraft Mac and Cheese Power Mac packs the same irresistible creamy, cheesy flavor you love, now with 17 grams of protein and six grams of fiber. Fuels you up, keeps you going, because your day doesn't stop. Kraft Mac and Cheese Power Mac, find it at your favorite retailer. The best thing ever keeps getting better.

1:05:13Thank you for making Lockdown your first listen every day. For your second listen, find the Lockdown NBA podcast where there's no offseason. West Matt and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors, and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Lockdown NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.