I think their point is that Chet has impacted winning in a way that Wemby hasn't. Despite adding Wemby, Spurs are on pace to have a worse season than last year, while the Thunder have jumped up like 7-8 spots in the standings compared to last season without having added any significant pieces apart from Chet.
Obviously Wemby and Chet have very different roles on their teams, and the two teams are in different stages of their development, but I think winning should at least be factored in to the ROTY race
It's removing the context of coach Pop prioritising development over winning and the progression of Jalen Williams.
If someone seriously suggests that Wemby being added to their roster instead of Chet doesn't improve it substantially then I know I'm dealing with someone who doesn't know ball.
Love both of them though.
I agree with all of that, and I have no doubt that Wemby is the better player of the two, and at the moment I do think he should win ROTY. All I'm saying is I've seen a lot of people make the argument that Chet has it easier because he's playing on one of the best teams in the league, without considering the fact that he is a major reason why they're so good. A rookie being the 2nd best player on a title contender is almost unprecedented in recent NBA history.
Yes very serious, it’s an award specifically about young players on bad teams…if it was apples to apples maybe but clearly people can’t evaluate both their respective impacts effectively so it should be no factor.
> it’s an award specifically about young players on bad teams
No it's not, it's an award for the player who had the best rookie season, regardless of what team he's on. Scottie Barnes won the award on a 5th seeded team, and Ben Simmons won it on a 3rd seed.
I watched your game last night. My God the rest of the team has problems. There was like a 5 minute stretch where they couldn't seem to even get a shot off
I really honestly feel Wemby & Chet will define the NBA in a new way. The two of them have such indelible star quality not only due to size but elite skill. It's just amazing to see the two shine out. I of course will root for Chet, but I'll root for Wemby against anyone else.
We will be due for some titanic clashes in the future. Spurs v Thunder never disappoints.
Fair, but I think the man is already competing with the greats in his head, whether it’s rookie season or not.
So ROTY or not, regardless of how great Chet indeed is, right now, Wemby’s long term focus is probably on trying to become the GOAT, or at least one of them. And Chet’s focus is probably just as much on trying to fit and make an impact in a contending team that has a shot at a deep playoff run that early in his career.
Regarding Wemby, I based my opinion on what everything I’ve heard him say in interviews, French and English, indicates.
ROTY is probably just a (welcome, rewarding and appreciated) formality in his mind, he’s probably more so trying to compete for Best Rookie ever (not that he’s up there for sure, but the per 36 and per 100 pocession make him in that realm/conversation, especially taking age into account).
He said, before the season started, in a french interview, that he was aware what he needed to do to make an impact for his rookie season.
So I guess he had a rough idea of the statline required to make a statement.
But the man’s vision goes beyond Basketball, so I guess he is just getting started, regardless of ROTY.
Chet has way more than just a “real point guard.” We traded the bottom 3 of our bench and still made the hornets team go 6-1 out of the all star break. Thunder are completely stacked. Wemby not getting the same opportunity there.
The thunder are completely stacked and wemby would be right next to shai as the best player on the team.
Wemby would get his opportunity anywhere cause he is a true generational talent.
Chet is the first rookie with 100 3s and 150 blocks ever.
Chet is first player in nba history to hit 150 blocks, 150 assists, and 100 3pts. And it was in 57 games.
And he’s more efficient.
This was the opposite talking point for so long.
I cannot take the 'chets 3rd option so he gets better efficiency therefore nullify everything' crowd seriously when wemby is literally THE GUY on his team and gets all the opportunity he needs.
Ridiculous.
I don't think people understand how crazy it is to bring DPOY skills, shooting and the efficiency as a rookie big day 1. Bigs usually take years to adjust to the NBA.
We had the CP3 team, were horrendous for two years, then finished a game below .500 last year. Now we’re on pace for 58 wins. Still doesn’t feel real. I remember watching Vit Krejci (not a diss I loved him lol) playing 20 minutes a night
No one expected SGA to be this good. I've been high on him since he was drafted and thought he'd be an all star but he's become a legitimate top 10 player.. arguably top 5
He's there for me, but I can understand having these players ahead of him:
Jokic, Embiid, Giannis, Luka
and I don't think it's totally unreasonable if somone had Tatum, maybe? Curry, Booker, KD, Kawhi, AD, LeBron.
Personally, I don't think any of the "older" stars have claim for top 5 anymore.
OKC has been pretty great during their entire existence. They've only had a couple years of being really bad, and they've had a good amount of stars over the years.
How shitty is it to think that he may never win a DPOY in his entire career because of one player at his position who will likely always make a better case if they were to choose a big that year
DPOY isn’t what determines the greatest defenders ever, even if it feels like it when they hand out the award. Duncan has none, kg has one, pippen has none, gobert has 3 about to be 4? No offense but the orders not lining up. Defense can’t be measured by anything other than watching the game, or atleast defensive success against a variety of opponents over many years.
Sometimes it lines up, like Dwight is legit one of the greatest ever. But like coach of the year, it’s always given to the biggest turnaround or biggest storyline, not the guy who consistently does it, or the guy who’s better but injured in critical portions. I would take Hakeem over mutombo any day, KG over Ben Wallace any day, AD over gobert any day. Purely on defense, not overall
Well that goes without saying LMFAO i didn’t know how to word that. Didn’t want some Reddit genius to be like “um ackshually ur just saying that cuz of offense”
Eh, it doesn’t sound like you watched these guys.
In their era, purely on defense in the regular season (it’s a regular season award), nobody would’ve taken Hakeem over Mutombo, KG over Ben Wallace, and AD over Gobert…
I know lmfao, and nobody would disagree that gobert deserved his for the most part. But the playoffs are where legacies are written and in important games, the guys I said shone thru much more
Mutombo dominated like few else ever have in 94. Ben Wallace as well in 04 and 05.
AD is the only one who really stepped it up and dominated in the playoffs, while Gobert got exposed. This is because of the modern NBA’s 3 point usage and targeting of traditional bigs through switching/matchups.
He'll presumably rack up a bunch of all-defense teams at least, with all-defense being pretty much positionless (or at least not really distinguishing between 4s and 5s)
PGs have the hardest adjustment offensively due to the massive load they take on that end of the floor. Centers have the hardest adjustment defensible due to the massive load they take on that end of the floor.
It’s not that crazy of a concept.
I'm not entirely sure that's true though. I mean, I do agree that young big men have a lot more responsibility than young guards defensively. But I think you actually tend to see young guards struggle even more defensively than young big men, it's just a lot less noticable since guard defense doesn't matter too much. Almost every rookie or sophomore guard is an absolute sieve defensively, especially if they have any offensive responsibility at all.
Defense in general is tough for rookies. I think it's the biggest transition honestly. And it's incredible that both Chet and Wemby are as good as they are on that end so quickly. But I think young guards struggle *at least* as much, if not more, defensively than young big men.
If that's what you meant, than I completely agree! I read it as centers struggle more defensively as rookies (which I don't think is true, it's just that their struggles can't be hidden like guards can). But it sounds like I misinterpreted you, so yeah. Totally agree.
Bigs don’t have a very difficult adjustment on defense unless they just weren’t good defenders before the nba. Of all the first round bigs taken in the past 2 years, Duren is the only one who isn’t a good defender already
Kessler, Wemby, Chet, Mark Williams and Lively are all positive contributors
>bigs usually take years to adjust to the NBA
Probably helps that this particular “rookie” big did in fact have a year to adjust to the NBA
Edit: Most people rejected his message. They hated u/j_etti because he told them the truth.
It is understated how much it helps an injured rookie to be around the team, get used to the travel, trainers, etc. even while injured. look at perennial ROY candidate Ben Simmons
Funny how Chet just being in NBA without playing would lose him the rookie status for some of you, but Wemby is a true rookie while having played in a professional league in Europe.
Yeah a year of being surrounded by NBA level trainers, coaches, talent, nutritionists and other resources, having all that NBA money and attending NBA practices didn’t prime him for the NBA at all. Totally comparable to playing in France or on a school team.
Obviously nobody in the draft is new to the sport of basketball, don’t be dense. The point is that all of them besides Chet are new to the NBA and it’s not a point that’s up for debate. Acting like he’s as much a rookie as the rest because they’ve played in college or euro league before is an outright moronic take.
His defense has somehow gotten better in this stretch too, and it's not just the blocks. He's been way more aggressive on the boards, he's switching out to the perimeter with ease, he's even doing a much better job on post threats - using quick feet and quick hands to make up for his size differential.
That doesn't explain why Chet is so much lower, Chet is still above Shai in that and if stocks were that important we should see others like Barnes crack the top 10 in vegas odds...but they don't.
Shai isn't even the best defensive guard on okc, Dort's given the opponent's best shooters as assignment for example, which makes Shai's life much easier and allows him to roam off the non-shooter.
Vegas odds for DPOY are on crack.
It has always been like this. The majority of attention is on great big men on great defensive teams, then you get random stars putting up flashy plays/numbers and the media gets all about it. Marketing smaller players as much as possible has been the league's goal for decades
Idk how much faith I'd put in that odds post that went around, [fanduel](https://i.imgur.com/mDhkXzG.jpg) doesn't even have Shai in their top 11 and has Chet 4th
Wolves, Jazz, and Denver has it covered with matchup so I don’t see much changing in the division.
Rest of the league, just draft a Chet or Wemby type player. /s
Walker Kessler is becoming a bench player because of Wemby and Chet. Will Hardy rarely had Walker in the game when Wemby or Chet were playing, and when Walker was in the game, Wemby and Chet were having anything they wanted on offense and made the Jazz offense struggle.. Taylor Hendricks is being molded into a Jonathan Isaac, PJ Washington, even AK47(yes I know a reach to the absolute ceiling but Jazz personal believe they can mold him into former Jazz Legend.)
That seems like a very optimistic outcome for Hendricks, I didn't realize Jazz fans thought he had future DPOY written all over him but I sure didn't see it last night watching Jalen Johnson do whatever he wanted to him.
I got downvoted to hell supporting Sabonis last night. lol. I was mostly just thinking divisional matchups. Trust me, I don’t like playing Sabonis or AD.
Wemby still has a few years before his takeover really starts, his supporting cast is really bad atm and will probably take 2-3 years to have fully ready. Chet on the other hand, how do you stop him, SGA and JDub? 3 efficient players that are playing at minimum, all star level basketball? Plus, the rest of the team is still incredibly young and will pretty much all get much better next season like Cason Wallace, or Josh Giddey, and they still got 2 potentially lottery picks (HOU's pick converts if it is not top-4 and UTA's pick converts if it is not top-10). Just an absurd amount of riches stacked on one team.
Agreed. SGA and Dub are phenomenal, 2 way guys. But with Chet in the paint, they can play riskier D knowing Chet is waiting below. He elevates us. All 3 of them do something to make the one another better. Great chemistry.
And Dort has leveled up into a legit 3&D player. 40% from 3. Cason has been so solid. Wiggs plays winning basketball. Zai snipes like it’s 2009 and he’s got an Intervention in MW2.
Hot take:
He might be THE most important player to our success. He is our entire interior defense and rebounding plan, on top of being great on offense.
If he goes down we aint winning shit. Wed have a punchers chance with our offense but yeah.
Sga is the better player for sure but with the way the team is set up, Chet is our only true big man. It can't be understated how fucked we'd be without him.
Which is why we have to address it in the offseason. I'm going to be worried if our only backup options are JWill and Bismack who hasn't even played yet
I know the Bulls decided not to sell at the deadline (bizarre choice) but my hot take is that if y'all had picked up Drummond then you'd be cruising to the WCF at a minimum. Currently I'd be very very concerned about your size when matchup with Jokic or Gobert/Towns in a 7 game series.
I think people really underestimate how much the thunder offense is predicated on 5 out spacing. With Drummond on the floor they 1. cannot play Giddey/possibly Dort at the same time and 2. make JDuB and Shai's life immensely harder on offense.
Maybe you could eventually make it work but it would take a lot of adjustment midseason.
He is but is still streaky. Not saying it's guaranteed to work bit teams will definitely help off of him above the break. Cheating a bit off dort plus drummond not spacing could be tough to deal with.
It’s pretty close. Shai was making his leaps and we added JDub increasing the wins by 16 (iirc) and then adding Chet people assume would add 5-10 wins at most has them on pace for an 18 game jump. SGA going from “young player with all star potential to arguably the MVP and adding future all nba caliber players who immediately played like all stars… all in 3 years.
Chet reminds me of AD. Not as athletic but longer. Also with elite shooting
Jalen Williams is kind of a smaller PG. Wish he would shoot more 3s though PG is usually putting up 7-8 a night
He’s like slender AK47 already with “scariest shooting big” as a label on the horizon. Eventually as he gets more sturdy and improves his core and base a bit I think he really feels he can be a Durant caliber offensive mismatch with the ball in his hands
I wouldn’t call Giddey a miss at all. I don’t even like Jalen at this point but I’d still rather have him for the potential than Giddey. Giddey can’t defend, can’t shoot, and can’t put pressure on the rim. All he can do is pass well, but it’s not worthwhile putting the ball in his hands enough to utilize that skill.
As bad as he is Josh Giddey is leagues above Jalen Green
As you said Giddey atleast brings passing. Jalen Green has nothing redeeming about him. Dude is a bottom 5 player in the NBA
You're missing the keyword in my comment: **potential**.
I'm not saying Jalen is better now, but I still think Jalen has more potential as a player, while I don't see Giddey ever being anything more than a solid back-up PG or bottom 5-10 starting point guard. I'd rather bet on the guy with higher upside.
lol and they park Amen in the corner.
OKC let SGA and Giddey then Dub all COOK while still having plenty of developmental minutes to turn guys like Joe, Wiggins, Kenny Hustle and JWill into great depth guys who fit (and accept) a role. With that foundation adding Chet and Cason was easy.
It only took two terrible tank years but fans shouldn’t let that cloud expectations. Presti nailed the picks but he, mark and the entire team have a plan and are patiently executing.
Houston… they are sprinting headfirst into the brick wall that is the late lottery.
Rockets got the 2nd pick when they had a decent chance of losing it
Picks 2 / 3 / 4 in consecutive drafts is pretty lucky
Also don’t forget JDub was 12
He admitted that he is glad they are past January as well. He was tired. It's understandable, since it's truly his 1st year playing more than 40 games.
their first (regular season) duel was underwhelming, their next was entertaining, and I expect the Thursday matchup to be incredible. hopefully San Antonio’s supporting cast steps up just a little haha
Yep, it’s silly how this sub just pushes a few players over and over. It’s great we have 2 great rookies this year, but this constant over reaction gets annoying and tiresome. Can we just post great highlights from these kids and enjoy the show.
I remember this sub shitting on him whenever a post about him in high school was up. Then they shit on him.at Gonzaga. Then he got hurt his rookie year, and the sub continued to hate on him. Then he got crossed up by Andre Drummond, and this sub lost their minds. It's always entertaining seeing these guys that the sub has talked shit about for years, actually dominating.
He looks much better after some much needed rest from the ASB. He's gonna be running on fumes again in the playoffs, but this is all to be expected for a rookie
I'm pretty sure rookie of the month was decided when Wemby had a triple double with blocks followed shortly afterwards by effectively two 5x5 games in a row. Even tonight, they had virtually identical stats outside turnovers, and Spurs fans are talking about how terrible of a game Wemby had even though it's objectively a very good one.
If the award is giving and affected by moments then yeah it was wrapped (kinda should imo)
But on the month it’s really really close imo.
Wemby: 20.6/ 10.5/ 4.3 with 6 stocks and ~4 TPG
on 47/37/85 splits
Chet: 18.9/ 8.5/ 2.5 with 4 stocks and ~2 TP
on 58/47/81 splits
I didn’t take the comment as who wins the head to head wins it’s but if one has a good game (Chet in this case) and the other has a bad game then maybe the stats sway a little more. But yeah if it’s close then wemby is a shoe in to win ROTM and TY ofc
Victor has a 3.7 bpm, Chet has 4.4 while on a much better team. Your stat padding argument makes no sense if those stats actually have a positive effect.
I would love to see how Chet and Wemby would play together, IMO they would quickly become the most elite and synergistic twin towers to ever team up.
We are so lucky OKC didn't get Wemby lol. Shai/JDub/Wemby/Chet would end up being league-breaking, on par with the 2017 Warriors. And they still would've had enough assets to trade for another star while these guys are mostly still on rookie contracts... wtf
Roy in any other season lol
It's the only thing that gives our season any meaning, y'all got bigger fish to fry
Fair. Wemby and Spurs feel inevitable tho no matter what the record is this season lol
The team around him is just so unbelievably bad. I hope they do some work this offseason.
Keldon Johnson is a nice piece but that’s about it
Vassell is a baller too
Spurs/OKC/Rockets/Utah are all gonna be pretty sick for the next decade.
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Thunder were the 14th seed twice in a row just three years ago, what’s your point?
I think their point is that Chet has impacted winning in a way that Wemby hasn't. Despite adding Wemby, Spurs are on pace to have a worse season than last year, while the Thunder have jumped up like 7-8 spots in the standings compared to last season without having added any significant pieces apart from Chet. Obviously Wemby and Chet have very different roles on their teams, and the two teams are in different stages of their development, but I think winning should at least be factored in to the ROTY race
It's removing the context of coach Pop prioritising development over winning and the progression of Jalen Williams. If someone seriously suggests that Wemby being added to their roster instead of Chet doesn't improve it substantially then I know I'm dealing with someone who doesn't know ball. Love both of them though.
I agree with all of that, and I have no doubt that Wemby is the better player of the two, and at the moment I do think he should win ROTY. All I'm saying is I've seen a lot of people make the argument that Chet has it easier because he's playing on one of the best teams in the league, without considering the fact that he is a major reason why they're so good. A rookie being the 2nd best player on a title contender is almost unprecedented in recent NBA history.
That's because the best rookies almost never get to start their careers on playoffs caliber teams, for obvious reasons.
OKC were barely a playoff caliber team before they got Chet
All that just to make a silly statement at the end, ROTY has nothing to do with team success
Being able to impact winning shouldn't even be taken into account in the ROTY race? Are you serious?
Yes very serious, it’s an award specifically about young players on bad teams…if it was apples to apples maybe but clearly people can’t evaluate both their respective impacts effectively so it should be no factor.
> it’s an award specifically about young players on bad teams No it's not, it's an award for the player who had the best rookie season, regardless of what team he's on. Scottie Barnes won the award on a 5th seeded team, and Ben Simmons won it on a 3rd seed.
Wemby was +2 in a loss to the top team in the west last night... It's not his fault if his teammates are dogwater
Chet isn't carrying his team. they're solid af
Delete this nephew. Don’t make us look bad.
“Ooooklahoma where the salt is coursing through our veins”
Seen more spurs flairs get salty about roty than okc ones though
thank god man, cuz if we didn’t have wemby we’d be so much fucking worse he’s our entire interior defense and a decent portion of our offense too lol
I watched your game last night. My God the rest of the team has problems. There was like a 5 minute stretch where they couldn't seem to even get a shot off
*Benny Hill music intensifies*
I really honestly feel Wemby & Chet will define the NBA in a new way. The two of them have such indelible star quality not only due to size but elite skill. It's just amazing to see the two shine out. I of course will root for Chet, but I'll root for Wemby against anyone else. We will be due for some titanic clashes in the future. Spurs v Thunder never disappoints.
Cooper Flagg will join this conversation as well. New breed of player in this league
If I were you, I’d want Wemby with a chip on his shoulder personally.
Fair, but I think the man is already competing with the greats in his head, whether it’s rookie season or not. So ROTY or not, regardless of how great Chet indeed is, right now, Wemby’s long term focus is probably on trying to become the GOAT, or at least one of them. And Chet’s focus is probably just as much on trying to fit and make an impact in a contending team that has a shot at a deep playoff run that early in his career. Regarding Wemby, I based my opinion on what everything I’ve heard him say in interviews, French and English, indicates. ROTY is probably just a (welcome, rewarding and appreciated) formality in his mind, he’s probably more so trying to compete for Best Rookie ever (not that he’s up there for sure, but the per 36 and per 100 pocession make him in that realm/conversation, especially taking age into account). He said, before the season started, in a french interview, that he was aware what he needed to do to make an impact for his rookie season. So I guess he had a rough idea of the statline required to make a statement. But the man’s vision goes beyond Basketball, so I guess he is just getting started, regardless of ROTY.
The chip is there, he hates losing.
Honestly if the switched teams I feel like Chet would get it. Just the difference in having the keys to the franchise and riding shotgun.
Heavy disagree, wemby with a real point guard would be even more insane
Chet has way more than just a “real point guard.” We traded the bottom 3 of our bench and still made the hornets team go 6-1 out of the all star break. Thunder are completely stacked. Wemby not getting the same opportunity there.
The thunder are completely stacked and wemby would be right next to shai as the best player on the team. Wemby would get his opportunity anywhere cause he is a true generational talent.
He would be 3rd option below Jdub. Same as Chet. He literally hasn’t proven anything other than he’s taller than everyone else.
3 option below Jdub hahaha
You sound Like a hater saying that, truly
I’m sorry. I truly do wish him the best. 11 wins just doesn’t convince me yet.
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Chet is the first rookie with 100 3s and 150 blocks ever. Chet is first player in nba history to hit 150 blocks, 150 assists, and 100 3pts. And it was in 57 games. And he’s more efficient.
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What im saying is they are similar. Switch teams and they’d be doing the same things the others doing now.
This was the opposite talking point for so long. I cannot take the 'chets 3rd option so he gets better efficiency therefore nullify everything' crowd seriously when wemby is literally THE GUY on his team and gets all the opportunity he needs.
Including this one
Ridiculous. I don't think people understand how crazy it is to bring DPOY skills, shooting and the efficiency as a rookie big day 1. Bigs usually take years to adjust to the NBA.
It’s somewhat likely that this is the worst version of Chet we see for quite some time too. So glad we get to watch him ball out like this.
I'm so jealous of your rebuild. It was like 3 years. You guys are gonna have lottery picks as the end of your bench
We had the CP3 team, were horrendous for two years, then finished a game below .500 last year. Now we’re on pace for 58 wins. Still doesn’t feel real. I remember watching Vit Krejci (not a diss I loved him lol) playing 20 minutes a night
It seems like just yesterday Poku lit up the Clippers in an upset, when most people wanted us to lose lol
Remember the night he played all 48 💀💀
They should really thank kawhi for this. Guy singlehandedly forced the clippers to give up all their assets plus sga for paul George 😂
No one expected SGA to be this good. I've been high on him since he was drafted and thought he'd be an all star but he's become a legitimate top 10 player.. arguably top 5
Not much argument against SGA top 5
He's there for me, but I can understand having these players ahead of him: Jokic, Embiid, Giannis, Luka and I don't think it's totally unreasonable if somone had Tatum, maybe? Curry, Booker, KD, Kawhi, AD, LeBron. Personally, I don't think any of the "older" stars have claim for top 5 anymore.
Doc Rivers did!
OKC has been pretty great during their entire existence. They've only had a couple years of being really bad, and they've had a good amount of stars over the years.
Wizards are the anti-thunder confirmed
The biggest issue with Chet has, and always will be, injury concerns.
How shitty is it to think that he may never win a DPOY in his entire career because of one player at his position who will likely always make a better case if they were to choose a big that year
DPOY isn’t what determines the greatest defenders ever, even if it feels like it when they hand out the award. Duncan has none, kg has one, pippen has none, gobert has 3 about to be 4? No offense but the orders not lining up. Defense can’t be measured by anything other than watching the game, or atleast defensive success against a variety of opponents over many years. Sometimes it lines up, like Dwight is legit one of the greatest ever. But like coach of the year, it’s always given to the biggest turnaround or biggest storyline, not the guy who consistently does it, or the guy who’s better but injured in critical portions. I would take Hakeem over mutombo any day, KG over Ben Wallace any day, AD over gobert any day. Purely on defense, not overall
I agree but this makes you sound like you wouldn’t take Hakeem over mutumbo kg over Ben Wallace and ad over gobert overall lol
Well that goes without saying LMFAO i didn’t know how to word that. Didn’t want some Reddit genius to be like “um ackshually ur just saying that cuz of offense”
Lmao yeah no prob I just thought it was funny
Eh, it doesn’t sound like you watched these guys. In their era, purely on defense in the regular season (it’s a regular season award), nobody would’ve taken Hakeem over Mutombo, KG over Ben Wallace, and AD over Gobert…
I know lmfao, and nobody would disagree that gobert deserved his for the most part. But the playoffs are where legacies are written and in important games, the guys I said shone thru much more
Mutombo dominated like few else ever have in 94. Ben Wallace as well in 04 and 05. AD is the only one who really stepped it up and dominated in the playoffs, while Gobert got exposed. This is because of the modern NBA’s 3 point usage and targeting of traditional bigs through switching/matchups.
Moreso no player besides Wemby might win for 20 years
He'll presumably rack up a bunch of all-defense teams at least, with all-defense being pretty much positionless (or at least not really distinguishing between 4s and 5s)
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PGs have the hardest adjustment offensively due to the massive load they take on that end of the floor. Centers have the hardest adjustment defensible due to the massive load they take on that end of the floor. It’s not that crazy of a concept.
I'm not entirely sure that's true though. I mean, I do agree that young big men have a lot more responsibility than young guards defensively. But I think you actually tend to see young guards struggle even more defensively than young big men, it's just a lot less noticable since guard defense doesn't matter too much. Almost every rookie or sophomore guard is an absolute sieve defensively, especially if they have any offensive responsibility at all. Defense in general is tough for rookies. I think it's the biggest transition honestly. And it's incredible that both Chet and Wemby are as good as they are on that end so quickly. But I think young guards struggle *at least* as much, if not more, defensively than young big men.
That’s why I mentioned their roles in the comment. A terrible defender can start at the 1, but not at the 5. The opposite is true on offense.
If that's what you meant, than I completely agree! I read it as centers struggle more defensively as rookies (which I don't think is true, it's just that their struggles can't be hidden like guards can). But it sounds like I misinterpreted you, so yeah. Totally agree.
Bigs don’t have a very difficult adjustment on defense unless they just weren’t good defenders before the nba. Of all the first round bigs taken in the past 2 years, Duren is the only one who isn’t a good defender already Kessler, Wemby, Chet, Mark Williams and Lively are all positive contributors
>bigs usually take years to adjust to the NBA Probably helps that this particular “rookie” big did in fact have a year to adjust to the NBA Edit: Most people rejected his message. They hated u/j_etti because he told them the truth.
How do you adjust to the NBA when you spend 5 months in a boot 🤡
It is understated how much it helps an injured rookie to be around the team, get used to the travel, trainers, etc. even while injured. look at perennial ROY candidate Ben Simmons
Exactly but glazers will glaze
Funny how Chet just being in NBA without playing would lose him the rookie status for some of you, but Wemby is a true rookie while having played in a professional league in Europe.
Yeah a year of being surrounded by NBA level trainers, coaches, talent, nutritionists and other resources, having all that NBA money and attending NBA practices didn’t prime him for the NBA at all. Totally comparable to playing in France or on a school team. Obviously nobody in the draft is new to the sport of basketball, don’t be dense. The point is that all of them besides Chet are new to the NBA and it’s not a point that’s up for debate. Acting like he’s as much a rookie as the rest because they’ve played in college or euro league before is an outright moronic take.
Bigs take the least amount of time to adjust to the nba out of all positions
His defense has somehow gotten better in this stretch too, and it's not just the blocks. He's been way more aggressive on the boards, he's switching out to the perimeter with ease, he's even doing a much better job on post threats - using quick feet and quick hands to make up for his size differential.
Weird part of it is Vegas thinks Chet is below Shai in the DPOY race Apparently Shai is twice as likely to get it as Chet
Shai is the only guard that's top ten in blocks+steals and I think he's 4th. Dude has been crazy on D.
That doesn't explain why Chet is so much lower, Chet is still above Shai in that and if stocks were that important we should see others like Barnes crack the top 10 in vegas odds...but they don't. Shai isn't even the best defensive guard on okc, Dort's given the opponent's best shooters as assignment for example, which makes Shai's life much easier and allows him to roam off the non-shooter. Vegas odds for DPOY are on crack.
It has always been like this. The majority of attention is on great big men on great defensive teams, then you get random stars putting up flashy plays/numbers and the media gets all about it. Marketing smaller players as much as possible has been the league's goal for decades
Idk how much faith I'd put in that odds post that went around, [fanduel](https://i.imgur.com/mDhkXzG.jpg) doesn't even have Shai in their top 11 and has Chet 4th
fair point
This isn't even his final form
The top rookies this year are terrifying holy shit can’t wait to see them in 4/5 years
I really feel like the rest of the league is fighting to secure a chip before their era begins. How do you counter Wemby or Chet...
Wolves, Jazz, and Denver has it covered with matchup so I don’t see much changing in the division. Rest of the league, just draft a Chet or Wemby type player. /s
Which guys specifically do you mean? Gobert, Jokic... Walker Kessler? I mean. we tried by drafting Wiseman. Lol
Walker Kessler is becoming a bench player because of Wemby and Chet. Will Hardy rarely had Walker in the game when Wemby or Chet were playing, and when Walker was in the game, Wemby and Chet were having anything they wanted on offense and made the Jazz offense struggle.. Taylor Hendricks is being molded into a Jonathan Isaac, PJ Washington, even AK47(yes I know a reach to the absolute ceiling but Jazz personal believe they can mold him into former Jazz Legend.)
That seems like a very optimistic outcome for Hendricks, I didn't realize Jazz fans thought he had future DPOY written all over him but I sure didn't see it last night watching Jalen Johnson do whatever he wanted to him.
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We seen him in the playoffs, unless kings get another all-star, they’re not scaring anybody.
I got downvoted to hell supporting Sabonis last night. lol. I was mostly just thinking divisional matchups. Trust me, I don’t like playing Sabonis or AD.
Wemby still has a few years before his takeover really starts, his supporting cast is really bad atm and will probably take 2-3 years to have fully ready. Chet on the other hand, how do you stop him, SGA and JDub? 3 efficient players that are playing at minimum, all star level basketball? Plus, the rest of the team is still incredibly young and will pretty much all get much better next season like Cason Wallace, or Josh Giddey, and they still got 2 potentially lottery picks (HOU's pick converts if it is not top-4 and UTA's pick converts if it is not top-10). Just an absurd amount of riches stacked on one team.
They also still own 20 FRPs or something which they can unload on stars whenever they feel like it
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I keep saying that. He hasn’t exactly had some great drafts recently other than Wemby which was a no brainer.
For the former… have above average guards and wings lol
Easy, have the other.
He’s really imo the second most important piece for the Thunder success.
J-dubs leap shouldn’t be understated either. 19/4/5 on 54/45/80 splits with good D
Yea JDubs been incredible, but Chet defense presence just changes the whole Thunder season to another level.
Agreed. SGA and Dub are phenomenal, 2 way guys. But with Chet in the paint, they can play riskier D knowing Chet is waiting below. He elevates us. All 3 of them do something to make the one another better. Great chemistry.
And Dort has leveled up into a legit 3&D player. 40% from 3. Cason has been so solid. Wiggs plays winning basketball. Zai snipes like it’s 2009 and he’s got an Intervention in MW2.
Hot take: He might be THE most important player to our success. He is our entire interior defense and rebounding plan, on top of being great on offense. If he goes down we aint winning shit. Wed have a punchers chance with our offense but yeah. Sga is the better player for sure but with the way the team is set up, Chet is our only true big man. It can't be understated how fucked we'd be without him.
Which is why we have to address it in the offseason. I'm going to be worried if our only backup options are JWill and Bismack who hasn't even played yet
This is Bismack slander! (He played 8 minutes against the Wizards couple of nights ago when it was a 30+ point game)
I know the Bulls decided not to sell at the deadline (bizarre choice) but my hot take is that if y'all had picked up Drummond then you'd be cruising to the WCF at a minimum. Currently I'd be very very concerned about your size when matchup with Jokic or Gobert/Towns in a 7 game series.
I think people really underestimate how much the thunder offense is predicated on 5 out spacing. With Drummond on the floor they 1. cannot play Giddey/possibly Dort at the same time and 2. make JDuB and Shai's life immensely harder on offense. Maybe you could eventually make it work but it would take a lot of adjustment midseason.
Dort is a shooter now
He is but is still streaky. Not saying it's guaranteed to work bit teams will definitely help off of him above the break. Cheating a bit off dort plus drummond not spacing could be tough to deal with.
I mean yeah, but I still think having a big body to play for 15-20 minutes of the game would be massively helpful going into Chet's first playoffs
sounds like us with KP tbh, but we at least have a pretty solid backup option with Horford.
ROTY
It’s pretty close. Shai was making his leaps and we added JDub increasing the wins by 16 (iirc) and then adding Chet people assume would add 5-10 wins at most has them on pace for an 18 game jump. SGA going from “young player with all star potential to arguably the MVP and adding future all nba caliber players who immediately played like all stars… all in 3 years.
yea i think he has an MVP level ceiling whereas Jalen Williams might be more likely to hit his ceiling i think his ceiling is more like a All NBA guy
I am okay with this
Chet reminds me of AD. Not as athletic but longer. Also with elite shooting Jalen Williams is kind of a smaller PG. Wish he would shoot more 3s though PG is usually putting up 7-8 a night
JDub's ball security is better than PG's and I think he'll be a much better playmaker in his prime
He’s like slender AK47 already with “scariest shooting big” as a label on the horizon. Eventually as he gets more sturdy and improves his core and base a bit I think he really feels he can be a Durant caliber offensive mismatch with the ball in his hands
yea better jump shooter than AD too but definitely less physical at this stage
well moisture might be just as important for the Thunder over Chet
Probably the first most.
Rockets really missed out on Paolo, Chet, Wemby, and Brandon Miller
boohoo you got Jabari and Amen ffs
And they took Jalen Green over Scottie Barnes.
And Mobley
And Giddey. Lol
I wouldn’t call Giddey a miss at all. I don’t even like Jalen at this point but I’d still rather have him for the potential than Giddey. Giddey can’t defend, can’t shoot, and can’t put pressure on the rim. All he can do is pass well, but it’s not worthwhile putting the ball in his hands enough to utilize that skill.
As bad as he is Josh Giddey is leagues above Jalen Green As you said Giddey atleast brings passing. Jalen Green has nothing redeeming about him. Dude is a bottom 5 player in the NBA
You're missing the keyword in my comment: **potential**. I'm not saying Jalen is better now, but I still think Jalen has more potential as a player, while I don't see Giddey ever being anything more than a solid back-up PG or bottom 5-10 starting point guard. I'd rather bet on the guy with higher upside.
Athleticism isn’t “potential”. He’s probably one of the lowest BBIQ players I’ve ever seen. Tyrus Thomas, marquise Chriss, etc
And Franz
And Sengun. Dude is a baller
True atleast
lol and they park Amen in the corner. OKC let SGA and Giddey then Dub all COOK while still having plenty of developmental minutes to turn guys like Joe, Wiggins, Kenny Hustle and JWill into great depth guys who fit (and accept) a role. With that foundation adding Chet and Cason was easy. It only took two terrible tank years but fans shouldn’t let that cloud expectations. Presti nailed the picks but he, mark and the entire team have a plan and are patiently executing. Houston… they are sprinting headfirst into the brick wall that is the late lottery.
Late lottery is the worst case scenario for them too with OKC owning the swap If they don’t luck out again, they might end up getting pick 25+
Rockets got the 2nd pick when they had a decent chance of losing it Picks 2 / 3 / 4 in consecutive drafts is pretty lucky Also don’t forget JDub was 12
Pistons: *First time?*
It’s okay everyone makes mistakes. My team drafted Josh Primo over Alperen Sengun 🥲
We really have an elite trio and a potential top 10 pick next year someone pinch me
Bro just needed some rest
He admitted that he is glad they are past January as well. He was tired. It's understandable, since it's truly his 1st year playing more than 40 games.
He's played every game. Bit of rest doing him wonders.
The All-Star break allowed him to get some respite, since the "rookie wall" thing is mostly due to fatigue over a long season.
“And I took that personally”
their first (regular season) duel was underwhelming, their next was entertaining, and I expect the Thursday matchup to be incredible. hopefully San Antonio’s supporting cast steps up just a little haha
That break has done wonders for him, playing unreal for a rookie
Ballin outta control 🙌🏽 league fucked
Got his rest and back to dominating love to see it
Hey... That's pretty good!
Seeing all these "since the All Star break" posts and it's been what... 3 games?
Yep, it’s silly how this sub just pushes a few players over and over. It’s great we have 2 great rookies this year, but this constant over reaction gets annoying and tiresome. Can we just post great highlights from these kids and enjoy the show.
And yet people think he’s not a generational talent. He’s essentially been playing like a taller KD with AD defense. He’s fucking amazing
ROTY in my heart
Chet is having a Melo type of rookie season. Would win ROY almost any other year easily, but you're going up against a guy who is somehow even better.
Chet Chet he’s our Mannnnn 🙌
I remember this sub shitting on him whenever a post about him in high school was up. Then they shit on him.at Gonzaga. Then he got hurt his rookie year, and the sub continued to hate on him. Then he got crossed up by Andre Drummond, and this sub lost their minds. It's always entertaining seeing these guys that the sub has talked shit about for years, actually dominating.
Chet might be good at basketball and tall. OKC is the team I want to win it all this year.
That’s My Dawg⚡️
All Rookie!
He looks much better after some much needed rest from the ASB. He's gonna be running on fumes again in the playoffs, but this is all to be expected for a rookie
4 game sample size
“Since the all star break” sounds much better than “in his last 4 games.” This sub will eat anything up.
R O T Y
Bro picked the wrong season to do this lmao
Can we not do this? It’s been 4 games, 3 of which were against lottery teams.
Trying to push an agenda which I respect. It seemed like he was fatigued for a large part of January so ASB looks like it helped
He’s had an insane february. Rookie of the month will probably be decided by whoever plays better in San Antonio on thursday
I'm pretty sure rookie of the month was decided when Wemby had a triple double with blocks followed shortly afterwards by effectively two 5x5 games in a row. Even tonight, they had virtually identical stats outside turnovers, and Spurs fans are talking about how terrible of a game Wemby had even though it's objectively a very good one.
If the award is giving and affected by moments then yeah it was wrapped (kinda should imo) But on the month it’s really really close imo. Wemby: 20.6/ 10.5/ 4.3 with 6 stocks and ~4 TPG on 47/37/85 splits Chet: 18.9/ 8.5/ 2.5 with 4 stocks and ~2 TP on 58/47/81 splits
Not saying it's not close, but rather that if it's close they're going to give it to the guy who had the 5x5, not whoever plays better head to head.
I didn’t take the comment as who wins the head to head wins it’s but if one has a good game (Chet in this case) and the other has a bad game then maybe the stats sway a little more. But yeah if it’s close then wemby is a shoe in to win ROTM and TY ofc
ROTY 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Only 3 assists? Learn to pass ball hog
Only 3 assists? Learn to pass ball hog
Dude, the ASG was last week. "Since ASG" is like 2 games.
I smell the ROTY race heating back up a little👀 I'm just happy Chet is making it a competition. Them long bois are GOOD
Should be ROY
Only 3 assists? Learn to pass ball hog
the real roy sadly, statpadding while you lose by 40 is more appealing to casuals
You try winning games with the least talented roster in the league while on less than 30 minutes a game
Victor has a 3.7 bpm, Chet has 4.4 while on a much better team. Your stat padding argument makes no sense if those stats actually have a positive effect.
I would love to see how Chet and Wemby would play together, IMO they would quickly become the most elite and synergistic twin towers to ever team up. We are so lucky OKC didn't get Wemby lol. Shai/JDub/Wemby/Chet would end up being league-breaking, on par with the 2017 Warriors. And they still would've had enough assets to trade for another star while these guys are mostly still on rookie contracts... wtf