What is Being UNDERRATED About OKC Thunder?

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1:03Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's Lockdown Thunder Podcast, the Thunder Make Assigning, which doesn't really impact the team, plus there is an underrated aspect about OKC. I think part of it is their experience. You are locked on thunder, your daily Oklahoma City Thunder podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Let's get it going on the Lockdown Thunder podcast on Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. I am your host, member and beat writer for Thunder on ssi.com. Relent styles follow me on Twitter, at Ryland underscore styles on today's show. We're joined by Justin Martinez, a beat writer, covered in the Thunder for the Oklahoma at just in the hoops on social media. Let's talk to Kawaii Trey to the rap. There's officially going through and what that means for OKC. Plus, the Thunder did sign a tally to a exhibition 10 deal.

2:06What does that mean for OKC? Not much. And we'll talk about the underrated player and aspect of this Thunder team as we start to preview the upcoming season. Because Jaymark our off season slowly, but surely coming to a close next week. We'll have some stuff, media day, the week after it'll be a lot faster than in a hurry. And then we'll be back in the full swing of things. How you doing with your last few days of vacation? I've been enjoying the vacation time, but also I'm ready to get into some hoops, man. I miss going out on the road. I miss going out to all the practices, the games and stuff. I'm ready to get back into it. I'm sure you probably feel the same way. So yeah, it's right around the corner at this point. So Jaymark, you were out in Summer League and you saw tally up close and personal. And the Thunder have signed tofear to the, I guess it'd be Christoph to an exhibit 10 contract. This is purely a training camp deal. Like that's what all these E 10 contracts are.

3:07It's a cure. It should secure as GD rights is an undrafted free agent to allow him to play with the blue. And you can carry 21 guys at this point to get you through that week long training camp. And then a pretty grueling preseason schedule. Now look, Mark's been very open about this since he's taken the job that, you know, the Thunder basically sign up for as many preseason games as possible this year. They're playing in what five with two back to backs. And so you're not going to want to push the regulars too much. And you're going to want to exhaust all of these E 10 contracts that you can. However, while it is just a training camp deal, I think that tally can be a launching off point of the E 10 clash this year. I think it'll be very interesting to see who the Thunder bring in. Because I'm envisioning a world in which that this season trends in the same way raster spot wise as that title team. That title team had an open raster spot at this juncture. And they fill that after training camp with, you know, the Leon, the Malphite, the Jones of the world, the Alex Reese's of the world, the Brennan Carlson's of the world. Until they eventually found its permanent home with a J Mitchell, I think that this is

4:11the way that things are trending right now. For one of these E 10 guys, we'll get the standard raster spot and a non guaranteed deal. And they'll be basically a placeholder until the Thunder figure out what to utilize that last raster spot on. But tally at a seven as a seven footer with a log jam position where you have I heart chat, J will sober, Mara. I don't know if he's going to be a strong candidate to the standard raster spot, but Jaymark, he certainly can help the blue as you saw it. Summarily. Yeah. I completely agree. For the path to build take obviously, OK, see is about $6.9 million underneath the second apron. So does that room to make a move, but a big splash at this point is just it's simply not going to happen. This is a team. Do you got to remember it's the signing that accounts towards that space they have under the second apron, but it also is going to increase their luxury tax bill. So any person that they do bring in, they have to also know it's not just that amount of money on paper that they're really paying. It's everything else is what made, you know, it's showing how much they really like the guy like Spencer Jones, for example, to take a chance on him with that qualifying.

5:13So I would expect it's going to be a similar sort of way of playing out that you describe where it's going to be someone on this E 10. It's going to be a two way guy getting promoted something like that. But yeah, Tilly, I think I at least shown some flashes in summer league play. He's a seven footer, but he's got a good amount of skill to him. He's actually pretty mobile. Is a good passing big man. Kind of a little Isaiah Hardens sign S also a German player as well. But yeah, I just I feel like he's going to be able to come in and beat in training camp. And then we'll see what what happens from there. But yeah, I think OK, so he's definitely going to keep its options open entering the season. And then the other bit of NBA news we got today was that Kauai Leonard and the trade to the Raptors officially official now that the call will go through today and they'll make the swap. And with the thunder kind of being adjacently in on the Kauai saga because of the trade with a she a and they're still able to draft pick this from the Clippers. I am curious how this is going to impact OKC because I think that it can have more than one impact.

6:14Sure, maybe you have the Raptors now as a title contender. I think that the thunder might face in the NBA finals. That might be a bit of a stretch for me to get there with the Raptors getting all the way to the finals. But the Clippers first and foremost like O the thunder a pick swap this year and that pick swap. It should be pretty good. I mean, this team ceiling, I think, is to land in the sweet spot of the new lottery odds and I have the most amount of balls possible to leap up to the number one pick and leap up into the top 10 and have that pick swapped with OKC. But on top of that, the Clippers, of course, with the Kauai punishment had to forfeit away five first round picks. They get three back in this trade here with Toronto and with one swap and two picks out right from Toronto. I'm curious what the path forward for LA is going to be because of how it impacts OKC, not in any sort of pick agreement because this, this team is just already set and it's not going to be any good. But moving forward, do the Clippers decide to take the more patient approach of taking on big, big contracts and a trade and there were a ward for taking on those big contracts

7:17is a draft pick from other teams and they do that a few times. That's how they use their salary kept spaces, how they kind of replenish the draft picks that they've lost and that's how they move forward building a young competitive team at some point or the Steve bomber, unable to resist temptation and unable to say, you know what, let's just not spend money and let's just kind of slow play this because he instead pushes chips forward into the reshift for agency market and give someone a massive deal in restricted for agency because of the fact that, you know, that's their only real path to securing young talent and that would be impactful though, KC, given like Case and Wallace, the young players in this team that will hit that RFA market. Yeah, it's going to be, it's obviously going to be an uphill thing for them with those picks is put some out of big disadvantage, but I think they will have to do those things he talked about. Like they're going to have to take on some bad contracts in order to get some draft capital because then in a day, they are a rebuilding team at this point. They're looking to get as many picks as many bites at the apples they can get with this

8:19new lottery system. So I think they're going to be doing that. They definitely will have to sort of kind of have the approach of like a small market team and free agency, which is a bit ironic because, you know, they were kind of using their big market, you know, I guess advantages with this whole situation, but they're going to have to be a team that is willing to overpay in order to bring guys in. They're not going to be able to just, you know, get guys to come in because most likely, you know, a lot of players just aren't really even going to want to sign to a team with this sort of future. So they're going to have to naturally overpay and I could see them doing that. Like Case and Wallace, for example, I don't know how much of a fit he would be just obviously with Kidney Wogler who they just drafted. Maybe they were ready to move on from Darius Carlyleau and feel like he's someone who really necessarily, you know, are like tied to right now, but they do have some guards already. But yeah, I definitely could see them pursuing some guys in restricted free agency. And they're going to have to take that gradual approach where they're collecting picks, where they're looking for these these hidden gems in the draft or whatever picks they do get overpaying a bit. That's kind of going to have to be the approach that they'll take these next few years.

9:21Do you see any sort of, if I told you Justin Martinez, I'm from the future and the Clippers had the best season that you could ever imagine for them. Everything went perfectly. The definition of everything going perfectly when it comes to winning basketball games, I think still puts them in that sweet spot of the lottery range where they have the three lottery balls and they have the perfect positioning for O.K.C. Are you lower where it's like, even if it goes perfectly, they're going to be in the danger zone. They're like Gation zone of losing a ping pong ball because they're so bad. Or do you have a disney opinion where you think, yeah, you know what, this team might be going to be a little bit frisky in the Western Conference or you kind of with me that, you know, this team is primed primed to give O.K.C. another great pick. Like I think best case scenario for them. And this is honestly for the team and also for the Clippers fans. Best case scenario is this is a fun team that is able to, you know, be competitive on most nights. I think they have the potential to do that where, you know, Brandon Ingram, Derrick Scarlin, like this can be a fun team. I think it can be.

10:22But in terms of wins, like just looking at the standings, obviously the West is stacked. And I just, I don't really see even like a ceiling where they're getting into the play internment, honestly, because looking at the teams that didn't make the cup for the play internment last season, Dallas, for example, I could see Leap Frogging them. You have a team like Utah, obviously, who we're both very high on. I would even be, you know, more, I wouldn't be surprised at all if a team like Memphis were in half a better season than them. They're obviously sort of restarting as well, but, you know, they've got a nice, tough gritty team. So I just don't see a situation where they're able to get into the play and I think they're kind of bound to, to give OK, see a good pick, which is just added insult to injury for Clippers fans, but unfortunately that's kind of just the way it looks like it will play out. It'll be fun to see how it all goes. Coming up, let's talk about who is the underrated player on the Soclomacy City Thunder team and what is an underrated aspect of this Thunder team coming up on today's lock down Thunder podcast.

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13:32We're back on the lock down, Thunderpodcast, on the lock down podcast network, your teams every day. Next time I propositioned you with coming up with the most underrated player on this Thunder team and the most underrated aspect of this Thunder team. The aspect could be a stat, a offensive system, a talent that they have, whatever you think is being undervalued right now from OKC. Let's start with the player. I'll give you the floor. Who do you think is the most underrated player in OKC? Well, if I can, I want to give to because my first one I feel like is a little too obvious. I'll give a real kind of more of a bigger pick here. One that I feel like just has to be mentioned is people are way too low on shed home grin entering the season. I know he's obviously not this underrated player in general, but I feel like obviously people are having the recency bias way that he ended last season against San Antonio. It wasn't great. He'll tell you that as well. I think you have to remember everything else that he did this season from making the All-MBA team, All-Star team, all defensive first team.

14:36He was the runner up for defense player of the year. Look really good. Those first two playoff series as well just did not play well against San Antonio, but this is a guy who had a good season is still young, is still getting better. Also, is someone from everyone that we've talked to is one of his biggest critics. He's someone who goes into the off season and holds himself accountable is willing to put in the work. Well, accounts he did that this summer actually talked to someone from the NBA recently about the players United Court that they have in Los Angeles. It's a court that's dedicated to NBA players. It's a 24-7 facility that they can use. The person I was talking to you said, Chad Hombren on top of actually being someone who provided feedback throughout last season of what they should include in this facility was the number one guy who was in that gym the most this off season out of every other player in the league who went to that court. He was one that was there the most from working out in the mornings to working out at night to doing those hoop runs that they also had. He lived in the gym. He helped design the gym this off season.

15:38He's someone who's putting in the work. I fully expect him to have a big season. I think people are sort of sleeping on him entering this year, which is crazy to say for an all NBA player. But I do want to throw in like another one. Someone is a little bit more under the right arm. I think Henry Williams is going to have a very important season where his number doesn't get called all the time. We know that. But I think it will get called a little bit more this time around because you need someone who can sort of fill out these gaps now with Lou Dort, Aaron Wiggins as they had Joe no longer in the mix. If you need someone who can size up defensively kind of Lou Dort S, you know, Ken Rich Williams is a 6-7 forward who's able to defend multiple positions. If you need a little bit more floor spacing, Ken Rich Williams is someone who shot 38% from deep and each of the last three seasons. If you just need somebody who you can count on to make the right play, Ken Rich Williams is going to do that. And if you just need a selfless basketball plays hard, I think he really is going to be an important piece towards the end of that bench for OK, see this year. So I like the route that you took and I'll take a similar route of the first one just being an answer that I think isn't the right pick in the sense of the true definition,

16:41but it's worth saying and that's Jay Dub being a bit undervalued right now of the there's pockets of people who say, well, what would he really have changed in that spur series? Everything. I would have been an amazing shot creator for this team that was desperate for any offensive generation against San Antonio and then defensively like people would just underrate how valuable that he is and part of that is due to playing on a team with so many elite defenders. It's hard to purse through just who and what and how it's happening, but a big portion of how they've had such defensive success is the versatility, the ball pressure, the passing lane disruption of Jay Dub to help this roster and that having that was a big loss for this team, even as they swept their way through the first two rounds and then of course, lost to San Antonio, we would have made a big difference. He would have made a big difference in dominating the Phoenix Suns even more. Hey, I go back this all the time. The Phoenix Suns offense was dreadful when Jay Dub was on the court because he was such a disruptor. He sparked such transition and yes, did the Thunder fail to score in transition a ton against San Antonio to the miss opportunities.

17:42Absolutely. They also miss Jay Dub, who's a huge transition driver for this team. So he's going to make worlds of difference and I think that the skittishness around, if he's going to be healthy, is going to be available. It's like, guys, we're kind of blowing out a proportion for the time being, the injured season last year. He hasn't had the chance to show if he's injury prone to or not. He's had one injury riddled season. Before that, let's see, his rookie year, he had an orbital infraction like his first game of Minnesota and other than that, it's been, oh, he's stuck on a camera operator, twisted his ankle, he's out for a couple games. There's been nothing of the sort of injury issues for him until last year where he came back from that risk surgery, which he played on a tournament as wrist in the post season run. Drop 40 points in the finals and was the key cog in winning the West finals and the NBA finals and getting into the championship. It's like, let's relax a little bit on him being injury prone and then realizing, oh, yeah, like this team that took this first is seven games and lost in their home court, but really lost by six points, two possessions on their home court in a game seven without two

18:43of their best players. They're adding an all NBA player. They're adding an all NBA player, all defensive player, all star in J. Dubb. So it's not the right answer, but it is worth noting just like chat. I think that it's a great anecdote that you had about Shat Homegren and my real answer will be J. Will. I think that J. Will is still a bit underrated. I think that even thunder fans have not caught up to the strides that he made defensively a year ago when it comes to ending defensive possessions, a career high, five defensive rebounds per game when it came to his ability to be a more vertical presence at the rim, not by any means a black party thrower, but someone who can and wall up and chest up at the rim and defend you that way without just relying on charges. He was very, very mobile thinks to the self credited, you know, reviving of his body, revolutionizing his body and getting slimmer defensively in the pick and roll, especially he made such great strides a year ago, defensively and then offensively. This is a team desperate for three point shooting and this is a team that will be defended largely the same because it's largely the same roster, just hopefully healthy this year

19:47knock on wood. But they're going to have open opportunities for J. Will from beyond the arc for a career 38% shooter from beyond the arc. A guy who's shot 40% and two of his four seasons. Let's just round up that 39.9 to 40, 40% and two of his four seasons and last year shot 38.3. Like they're going to need him to continue to splash in threes. I think that he'll do that. I think that he'll continue to make strides defensively and then if he at all polishes his rim finishing where he showed last year, late in the season, an ability to attack close outs and get to the rim, not so much convert at the rim as he tries these finesse layups. But if those start to go in for him, then he becomes a really dynamic player for this team. And a guy who went from a fun story, his rookie year, who obviously had to get thrown to the wolves at the turn of the new year, his rookie season and become the team's center, the starting center to the next year, clearly not being enough and being ready as a backup center for chat in that in that playoff run to now in year three, winning a championship for this team and being a focal point of it despite only playing in one series, like

20:49despite only playing in against Denver, what he did against Yokech won you a championship because you do not get by Yokech without J. Will and the ability to continue to change up the coverages on Yokech. And then last year, he was, it was not matchup dependent by any means of how much he could do for this team. And I think that this year he'll be even more so a staple of what they do regardless of who they're matching up against and regardless of the personnel on the other side of the court. So I do think it's J. Will my last little like cheeky one. Maybe you can throw a rookie out there too to continue us playing tennis here and matching each other of the rookies. I think that Thomas Sober is being undervalued. This is a guy who's extremely athletic. I think that he's more mobile than he's getting credit for in terms of being able to be positionally versatile defensively. And then offensively, it's going to be interesting. It's going to be different. But what did Sam Presley tell you just in the Martinez after they made these offseason moves? They're going to have to reinvent themselves a little bit. And now if you get a guy into this offense who is the best vertical spacer that this team has

21:49had from a athletic standpoint, rolling to the rim, who is a guy who can keep a guy attached to with a dunker spot or make you concede easy dunks. And this will be the first time that they've really had a post-up player. Like, yes, it's kind of scary in a way. I'm like, okay, yeah, he dominated in the in college offense as a post-up player. And that's not how the Thunder of the Realty played. They've got to reinvent themselves. What if he becomes a really good post-up score as a guy who can put his back to the basket, as a guy who can face up and as a guy who can pass out of that to help generate some even more good looks. So what Sober does this year? I think we'll be fascinating. I think that we could look back on this time of the year and say, wow, we under we undersold what time of Sober could do for this team. Yeah, I love all of those three picks. The Sober one, especially, you know, obviously there's going to be a natural competition there with Adai Mara, who I think also has the tools to be an impactful player. But, you know, Adai, you look at him and it immediately jumps out what his biggest strength is. He's a guy who's seven foot three elite positional size.

22:49But I think a lot of people forget that even though he's seven three and Thomas Sober, admittedly, I think is being sold short here at six nine. But they have the same wingspan as seven foot six. So like even though Thomas Sober might not at least on paper here have the most traditional size, seven six wingspan, he's also going to be able to protect the rim. On top of everything you mentioned as well, he has good floor vision. He's able to make the right passes. He does all of the rim running and floor spacing like you mentioned. You know, the thing for him is just as how does he look coming back off that injury? But I think he's going to be in a situation where they can ease him into it, see what he can do in a small sample size. And if he's able to capitalize on that, I definitely feel like he's someone who could be very impactful this season. So I'm glad you pointed him out. And I'll throw out another rookie here who's actually not even on a standard deal right now. I think Oteka Owe maybe not for this season is someone who's going to you're going to see immediate returns on. But I think there's a real path for him to actually stick in the NBA. It's sort of that tough physical gritty guard. I've said it a bunch and I'm not the only one who said it was sort of along the lines of like a

23:51ludor type of builds, you know, where he's someone who's going to have to work on that three-point shot. But if he can do that, I mean, he does all these other things that I think just result in winning basketball. And I think that could be something that could be valuable for OKC in the future. So that's another guy I've thrown for sure. That's a good pick because it does just hinge on three point shooting to me. The only part of his game I'm not sold on is the three, which is not a novel concept. No one sold on this three point shot. But if he can become even a league average three point shooter and even just hit the open ones that he's going to have in this in this system, he's I know without a shot of it out. He is a high level NBA defender. Now can I put him already in the elite category? Of course not yet. He hasn't played yet. But I know that a shot of it out is going to be a high level defender. I know he's going to be the most elite athlete on this team when it just comes to the athleticism of the game. And I know he's going to be an excellent, excellent transition offensive weapon for this team that that lives on stocks blocks, between blocks plus deals lives on them. And so I think that those areas alone will be beneficial.

24:56And it goes over the top of and pack full if he can shoot from three. And that's going to be a big question mark. Coming up, let's talk about the underrated aspects of this thunder team. But first one to you right now, big good friends over at square folks, support for the show, comes from square. The systems that power so many of the places we already know in love, whether you're running into a packed game, they spot a local restaurant or growing businesses, square gives sellers the tools to run their business without making more complicated things. Square brings payments inventory payroll invoice customer insights and more together in one connected system. So whether you're a one location business or growing into multiple locations, square gives you the tools to sell, manage and grow without needing an IT team to figure it all out. Go check it out today because they will take care of you. And I know that we all like to support local businesses, the local businesses powered by square just do it better. They can accept the card payments. They're just more in tune with what they're trying to do and they can incur them

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28:03NBA fan, but just the depth of this team. You look at losing LudoRat, you look at losing Aaron Wiggins as a Joe. Yes, those are all guys who are good NBA players. Lew was a full-time starter and even Wiggs and as a Joe were both impactful players off the bench. But I still think this is going to be an elite team come playoff time. Their playoff rotation is still going to be as good if not better in any in the NBA, any team in the NBA. I mean, they're going to have an elite starting lineup with an MVP player and other two all NBA caliber guys and J. W. and Chad Homegren. They're going to have the all defensive caliber guys with Chad obviously with Kason Wallace. You look at Alice Caruso coming off the bench. They're going to have elite guard play off the bench as well with AJ Mitchell or Kason Wallace. Whatever that is, Jared McCain in the mix. J. Will is going to be very impactful as well as you mentioned. This is a team that I think is going to have to go through some growing pains, figuring things out, figuring out new roles during the regular season. But anyone who's concerned about just how much they're going to be missing Lewdor, Aaron Wiggins as a Joe, I think that they're going to be just fine come playoff time

29:05with all the other options that they have. I think this is still going to be a very good playoff rotation for them. I'm with you. I think that the playoff depth is supreme in this league. Sure, could they take a step back and work the season depth absolutely. I could see that happening. And I think that part of that could just be simply so much on purpose of just trying to get these young players involved and seeing where that takes you. But that's a good pick. I'm going to go with an underrated aspect of this team being their experience level. I just consuming a lot of NBA content, Justin. You hear all these questions marks about the thunder and how they're going to respond what they're going to do and how they've traded away Lew and Wiggins and Joe. And can they still rena top the NBA? Can they win a championship? It's like this is a team that has already won a championship that has been battle tested, that has responded before and that will respond again. And that you know, you can say it's excuse or a crutch, but it is just a fact they were dramatically injured last year. Again, missing an all NBA player,

30:09all the offensive player, all star and J. Dubb and missing AJ Mitchell who had turned himself into a known commodity to the point that even national audience and and medium members were telling you, this is a Jalen Brenson Escalipe from from AJ Mitchell considering what what Jalen did in Dallas when Luca was hurt. Missing all of that and still coming up just short in a seven game series against San Antonio, who's their biggest competition level. To me, you don't have to crown the thunder. You don't have to say that they're going to win a championship or that they're going to beat San Antonio or anything of the sort. But if you're going to question Oklahoma City, you have to take inventory and at that point question everybody because we've never seen New York, we've never seen New York have to deal with the pressure of being reigning champions. It's a team that at the midway point of the season, we were all sitting here, twiddling our thumbs wondering, what's going on there? Does cat not like New York? Like, why are they not in the same page? Do they still have that same level of chemistry with this team? And they went into putting a championship and now it's just, it's all forgotten, but we've seen a decade now of sample size of teams not being able to repeat as champions. Why not question San Antonio, who we've never seen have to respond to any adversity?

31:14Does it get awkward with Fox and Harper? Does it get awkward with the fact that they crumbled latent games? Do they feel a pressure and the pressure become too much for them, trying to erase the latent game fiascoes that were in the NBA finals? Do they, are they able to be as uncommon as the thunder world? Which I think they will be frankly. I'm not saying that these questions have to be answered in a negative way. I'm just saying if you're going to bring them up for the thunder, you can bring them up for everybody. And it feels similarly to my chiefs. And for example, the chargers, right? It's like every off season, the chargers are going to go in the West and they're going to go win the Super Bowl and Justin Herbert's going to be an MVP. And then every year, we get around a football season and it's like, Oh, Justin Herbert's not going to be thought he was like, I'll use lots of the Cardinals. Uh-oh, the, you know, the chargers have failed. Josh Allen, same way. Every year we crown him better than the home, especially quarterback in the NFL. And then we started the excuse making once he doesn't fulfill those standards. But the second the chiefs take a, take a stumble. It's the biggest story in the world. There's a little bit of that with Oklahoma City where yes, they, they failed last year. They stumbled. They were injured

32:17whatever you want to say. But this year, if there's a team at the top of the heap, it's still Oklahoma City until proven otherwise. And again, it's not to say that St Antonio won't be able to handle the Fox Harper thing or won't be able to handle the inexperience or won't be able to handle bouncing back from a, from a devastating finals. Uh-oh. But on one hand, we can't keep saying that the Thunder were so uncommon with their ability to stay zero and zero and get the one C-3 straight times. And then expect the St Antonio team who is obviously eager to get back and prove that they're ready for the big stage. Can they stay focused on an 82 game season? You, you, you heard it from Wimby himself about, you know, losing in the playoffs, the biggest thing that sucks is that you got to wait a three hundred sixty five days to get back to the point that you want to be at to prove. Can you stay zero then on a February game? And those things will be the difference in who's the one seat, who's the two seed? Those things will be the difference potentially in who wins a series of having home quit advantage, being such a big deal at both places in St Antonio at that old barn and in the payacombs center. So I do think that people are undervaluing the experience of this

33:22Thunder team and what they've been through considering how strange that is because at first, they were overvaluing the inexperience of this Thunder team. They've never kind of fallen into a sweet spot yet of how they're talked about when it comes to that because we've seen teams before. How many times did Boston have to fail and fail until they won the Thunder one? They took a step back last year and now let's see what they can do this season that it's not unheard of and even even the premature dynasty talk. 100% true. There was premature dynasty talk for the Thunder, but there's also premature dynasty death. It's like Golden State. The, the, the, the, the, the vaunted Golden State team, which is the best dynasty of our lifetime in the NBA. They, one title, lost the title, then ripped off a couple titles like, you know, it is not something that they just ran off five straight championships. And so I think that it's all kind of be interesting to see as previous season rolls around how much that we swing back to taking into account what the Thunder have been through because you're right at the top of this with the players. People are undervaluing Chut Homegrown. They're undervaluing J Dub. It's like, guys, what are we talking about?

34:25Like, this is these are all NBA players. Yes, did they have a short coming in the West finals for either injuries or poor performance assuredly, but a lot of players have failed at a big stage and then got right back and, and, and kind of overcame it. And I think that okay, so you can do the same thing. And if, if you want to talk about concerns with this Thunder team, talk about something that's real. Their three point shooting is, is, is not going to be good enough, if they end up losing, it'll likely be due to the three point shooting that their lack of wing defenders is concerning. The fact that, you know, the only guys that you trust is scale up now and defend bigger bodies are J Dub and Coruso. That's concerning. But, whenever we talk about these mythical things, I'm like about Chet or J Dub or how can they, how can they kind of get out of their heads, the spurs. It's like, those things are a bit overblown, I think. I completely agree. And even like last season, I feel like their experience was was underrated too, where, you know, Mark was asked about that plenty of times, mostly through like, you know, sort of national media that they're not here every single day side. I'm not criticizing them for that. But they would ask, you know, just how is it that you guys are handling this pressure? And Mark would usually respond with like,

35:28you know, we've kind of been in this for a while now. They were a 61 team before they won a championship. You know, it's not like last season or that year before was their, their big year, where all of a sudden they go from a, you know, a lottery team to now here they are, contending like San Antonio did where it was a real drastic turnaround. They had already, you know, been in that mix. It already been one of those top tier teams. So this is a team that is known what it takes to win at a high level for multiple seasons at this point. You know, there's still a young team in a sense that got some young pieces. But you look at guys like like Shay's 28 now and has been an MVP multiple times and has been in the MVP conversation for even more years on top of that. You know, these are guys who are in their second contracts already with dub and shed home green like these, these are guys who have been around the block at this point. They know what it takes to win. And I think that is something that has been undervalued for sure is that level of experience that they have. Go check out Justin Martinez at Justin DeHoop's across social media, where you can find all of his writing for the Oklahoma. Of course, go check out the Oklahoma

36:28as well with Thunder coverage sooner coverage, pokes coverage, everything that you need. You can subscribe, lock down, thunder anywhere. You can get your podcasts from. Please like and subscribe and share the show until next time folks be good and be good to one another. Thank you for making locked on your first listen every day. For your second listen, find the locked on 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 locked on NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts, part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day.