๐ Published on: 2024-11-30 00:13:24
โฑ Duration: 00:13:00 (780 seconds)
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#NBA #OKCThunder #NBAhighlights #basketball
The OKC Thunder have been continuing their domination of the NBA. Despite being down a lot of players, despite playing small ball most of the time without a real center in their lineup, the Thunder have been able to defeat teams like the Golden State Warriors. Oklahoma City is still led by their superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and rising star Jalen Williams, while generational big man Chet Holmgren is out for a couple months. One offseason move that’s already seems to pay off for the Thunder has been the signing of 7 foot center Isaiah Hartenstein who has brought some added size and physicality to the Thunder roster. Hartenstein and Caruso have been OKCs priced offseason acquisitions and they are helping this Thunder core thrive.
The Thunder are currently leading the NBA in net rating and defensive rating. This puts them at par with the defending champion Boston Celtics, the emerging Cleveland Cavaliers, as well as Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets and Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors who seem to be contenders again. The NBA Cup is ongoing and the Thunder will be battling LeBron James and the Lakers. There is also the question if OKC can finally beat Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in a potential rematch on top of the Western Conference playoff bracket.
Sam Presti has built a sustainable Oklahoma City Thunder core with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, Ousmane Dieng, Jaylin Williams, Ajay Mitchell, and now have added Isaiah Hartenstain and Alex Caruso to the mix. Can the Thunder actually emerge as NBA championship contenders by the end of the season? Lets evaluate how Isaiah Hartenstein has allowed the Thunder to play bigger without Chet Holmgren.
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My content is inspired by creators like Mike Korzemba, Thinking Basketball, JxmyHighroller and Andy Hoops
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Written by Riro Balls
Edited by Vicky Pabz
๐ Channel: Riro Balls
๐ Channel Country: Philippines
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NBA,OKC Thunder,NBA highlights,basketball
๐ต๏ธโโ๏ธ Transcript:
prior to the 2024 off season the OKC Thunder’s biggest free agent signings were either Patrick Patterson nerland Noel or Mike muscala all of whom signed with the Thunder for a combined amount of just 24.4 million so before the season started when the Thunder landed free agent big man Isaiah hardenstein on a massive salary worth 29 million per year in average it was reasonable that there were going to be a ton of expectations for hardenstein to be a game changer for the Thunder and those expectations were even more magnified when Chad homr went down to injury just a couple weeks ago well hren has been playing really well before he got hurt the Thunder’s overall net rating was more than eight points better per 100 possessions with homr on the floor then with him on the bench which was the second highest net difference produced by any Thunder player before his injury but then with the Thunder’s tallest player and Main defensive anchor expected to be out for a couple more months the main concern here was how OKC was going to maintain their league leading defense and how they were going to hold their own under rebounding Department which wasn’t a strong point for them to begin with but since hardenstein has returned from his own injury over the three games he’s played so far the numbers correlate to how his arrival has helped the Thunder hold up in those areas looking at it during the first nine games of the season with jet hren healthy the Thunder held a 97.3 defensive rating which was clear-cut the best in the NBA within that span of time but during the 5 and a half games OKC played after Chet’s injury without them having a true big man on the floor their defensive rating dropped to just 13th best in the entire NBA however since the arrival of hardenstein their defensive rating has been up to number four within that span of time again inching closer to the top of the league the more drastic change though could be seen on the rebounding end before Chad hongren got hurt the Thunder had the third worst rebounding rate in the entire league then during the five and a half games they didn’t have a true big man it even dropped to the second worst in the entire NBA but then since Harden Stein’s arrival the Thunder improved to having the 18th best rebounding rate in the league over the span of the three games has played so far well obviously you can’t replace someone like Chad hren who at 7′ one just checks so many boxes for the Thunder as a floor spacing big as in Elite rim protector and as an emerging complimentary shot Creator off the bounds but so far hardenstein as the Thunder Soul big man on the floor has been making such a huge impact on OKC’s play on both ends despite him not being an outside shooting big and despite him not being as El leite of a shot blocker as hungr hardenstein put up three straight double double since he took the court this season and the Thunder snet rating shows a 14-point differential with hardenstein on the floor as opposed to when he is on the bench it’s based in a small sample size but that difference is actually the second largest produced by any Thunder player so far only behind that of Shay Gil’s Alexander so what’s good everyone it’s real balls here and in this video Let’s dive into how Isaiah Harden Stein’s versatile skill set is impacting OKC’s play as their soul big man and why I think he would still be able to thrive in double big lineups once Chad homegrand comes back so let’s get to it during the second round of the 20124 playoffs against Dallas a huge reason why the Thunder’s offensive rating dropped by more than six points per 100 possessions compared to their regular season output was that OKC didn’t have Elite screeners who could create separation for Shay or Jay dub when they would try to open up driving Lanes Dallas simply switched everything to keep the ball in front of them and as a result OKC’s offense stagnated now enter Isaiah hardenstein who with his 7 foot1 250lb frame is one of the best screeners in the entire league and hardenstein excellent technique and feel when setting those screens is already helping OKC maximize the elite offensive shot creation of SGA and the off the- bound scoring of Jay dub currently hardenstein is averaging six screen assists per game for OKC which is the second most in the NBA only behind danta sabonis and the 13.3 points per game that OKC scores out of those screens is also the third highest Mark in the league right now in this possession you can see Shay with a ball midcourt and right there hardenstein sets the ball screen which totally erases Keon Ellis from the picture this allows Shay to attack the much lower sabonis on the switch as Shay drives to the paint creating separation with a sudden stop as he hits the easy 16t jumper again here watch how hardenstein sets the ball screen for Shay and how his wide body just pins kaminga totally out of position with kaminga unable to recover Chase got a lot of room to get to his spot as he cooks Draymond Green with the mid-range pullup this time coming from the top of the key hardenstein runs a side dribble handoff with Shay watch how he screens and then flips the angle of that screen to totally pin Shay’s Defender now Shay catches the bonus on an island who just gives him so much room to launch the step back three-pointer well for sure instead of allowing Shay or Jay dub to get switched to slower Defenders opposing teams could try and ISM in those ball screens to force them to give up the ball but then the problem is that now frees up hardenstein on the lane and gives him a lot of space to score himself in this possession hardenstein sets the ball screen but then you can see Robert Williams icing Shay instead of playing on a drop this allows Shay to set up hardenstein on the roll hardenstein takes advantage of the smaller Delano Benton as he hits him with that slow step and soft touch around the basket again here hardenstein sets the high screen for Shay sabonis chooses to ice the play allowing hardenstein to slip right into the lane and as he receives the rack from Shay you can see how he makes the bonus pay for his decision by easily launching that floater against a smaller Defender from around 12 ft speaking of his mid-range floater that shot has been a certified go-to move for hardenstein so far in OKC he’s been shooting exactly 50% in those shots on six attempts per game and the good thing about this is that he’s not necessarily demanding the ball to get those shots off one of Harden Stein’s biggest Trends is his court mapping ability he’s constantly moving around to find Open Spaces on the floor to become an outlet for driving ball handlers and this is where most of his floaters come from right here OKC runs their usual scheme with Shay operating on one side of the floor with one teammate on the strong side corner and you can see hardenstein starting off by roaming around the weak side corner now as dor drives to the Baseline you can see hardenstein immediately running to the paint ready to receive the dump off out of the double team as he just gets so much space to launch his floater then here you can see hardenstein in the middle of the paint against the warrior Zone he clears sub Pace in the lane for Isaiah Joe’s drive but as Joe runs out his Pace hardenstein just lips right by psky here as he gets to his spot and drains another wide open floater within the span of the three games hardenstein has played so far OKC has averaged 56 points scored in the paint per game which is the sixth most in the NBA that is a meaningful increase from their 48.4 points scored in the paint average before hen Stein’s arrival but then Harden Stein’s excellent Court mapping is also displayed in his ability to play make and to find team made especially out of short roll situations the Thunder offense thrives with a lot of cutting and off ball movement and Harden Stein’s ability to quickly readed and react as a decision maker in this type of offense allows OKC to effectively use him as a connective passer right here hardenstein sets the ball screen for Jay dub and on the short roll with multiple bodies in the paint he’s quite unsure of making a pass at first so he takes one extra dribble to draw the defense which opens up the passing Lane for him to find Alex Caruso right under the basket then here off another ball screen for Shay hardenstein goes in a short roll the Aaron Fox bothers him from behind but hardenstein has already got the floor mapped out as he gets the ball out to Jay dub just in time as he cuts through the lane and finishes with the dunk well with His Brilliant playmaking ability in the future I expect OKC to use hardenstein more as a dribble handoff Hub in those types of off ball screen delay actions they used to run we’ve actually seen Mark digal utilize Jay will in this kind of roll last season as a decision maker out of delay actions which really utilized his size and passing ability and I think placing the ball in Harden Stein’s hands a little bit more at the top of the key should also allow OKC to still run an essentially five out scheme despite him not being a floor spacing Big Man by simply allowing hardenstein to make decisions out of the movements around him which is something he did a lot in New York although I really love that Okie is still able to maintain essentially five out spacing even with hardenstein on the floor by using him in some spread pick and roll actions where he would start possessions from the perimeter right here you see hardenstein setting the high screen and a shay attacks the paint you can see how well spread the floor is for the Thunder hardenstein is alone at the top of the key and he won’t shoot a three but as soon as the double comes up and Shay he runs through the lane and becomes an easy Outlet past Target as he drains another floater with Harden Stein’s intersection of size feel and touch you can just imagine him still thriving even as part of double big lineups with chet homr on the floor and while I don’t really see him spending a lot of of time starting at the five with Chad at the four lineups with both big man should still really be a net positive for the Thunder obviously with both Chad and hardenstein on the floor OKC can run a four out offense by putting hardenstein around the dunker Spot while Chad together with three other players are spacing the floor OKC can also probably run some five slot offense where Shay or Jay dub plays pick and roll with Chad on one side of the floor while hardenstein is stationed on the weak side where he can function as a cutter or as a connective passer out of secondary AC OKC could just really get creative in those minutes they run their double big lineups although the scary part is you can imagine that OKC didn’t pursue hardenstein mainly for his offensive value but rather for what he brings on the defensive end as one of the most versatile Defenders and one of the most hard-nosed rebounders in the entire league having him and chat together on the floor gives OKC two seven-footers who they could play interchangeably on defense as both are quick enough to play at the level of the screen and drop coverages both have enough Mobility to guard soft switches and both are also more than capable of acting as the last line of defense as a roaming shot blocker around the basket against OKC’s double big lineups say a ball handler somehow gets past hardenstein and Alex Caruso in drop coverage you still have Chad hongren to meet that player at The Rim or vice versa but then of course a huge reason that Thunder brought hardenstein in is to allow OKC to hold up defensively on those minutes when Chad hren is on the bench well Jay dub playing Center has been a cheat code and to an extent s has allowed OKC to play an even more aggressive brand of Defense but the Thunder still obviously needed added size against much bigger lineups and so far without chat hardenstein has provided that size and has made his presence felt by basically doing everything from switching to quicker ball handlers to disrupting the passing Lanes up to being that last line of defense at The Rim right now the Thunder are allowing opponents to score 9.9 points less per 100 possessions when hardenstein is on the floor which is the biggest difference produced by any Thunder player on the defensive end for the season right here you can see how well hardenstein defense in drop coverage he placed the space between the rle man and ball handler really well and a shade and sharp attacks him on the lane hardenstein just straight up swipes the ball out of his hands as OKC gets the defensive stop then in this possession as Shay loses the ball and as Golden State attacks in transition you can see hardenstein right at midcourt getting back on defense he’s right behind the three-point line but as he sees the ball about to go to Wiggins ahead of him he flips his hip and just hustles to get the chase down block What’s really been eye openening though for OKC is how hardenstein size has allowed them to close the gap on the rebounding end and this is despite the Thunder still ranking dead last in the NBA overall in terms of rebounding percentage after Chad homr got hurt OKC was outrebounded by a whopping 65 total rebounds during the five games OKC played Without A Center in the lineup but there’s been some progress over their past three games since hardenstein played well Portland edged OKC out by only three rebounds Golden State still outrebounded them by nine but then they outrebounded Sacramento by 13 those three teams aren’t necessarily the biggest teams in the NBA but without Harden Stein’s rebounding output the Thunder would have been outrebounded by 37 in those three games overall what we’re seeing here is basically Isaiah hardenstein just being both a defensive Flor racer and an offensive game changer for the Thunder the most important thing about his arrival though is that his impacting the game so much without forcing OKC to change the way they’re playing and without taking away the foundations that the team has built over the past four years on both ends of the floor but do you guys believe that Isaiah Harden Stein’s arrival would Propel OKC back to the NBA finals feel free to drop your thoughts in the comment section below and again if you’re new to the Channel please consider subscribing as well again this is real balls and I’ll see you on the next one peace
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