Contenders Or Pretenders: OKC Thunder & Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Inexperience An Issue?

on today's show contenders or Pretenders of the Western Conference who was the bigger addition for the OKC Thunder Isaiah hartstein or Alex Caruso will this Thunder team be too inexperienced to make a true deep postseason run and have legitimate title chances it's all coming up on today's lock on NBA you are locked on NBA your daily NBA podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what's up and welcome to another edition of locked on NBA the biggest stories with the local experts I'm your host Jackson Gatlin also host of locked on Rockets right here on the locked on podcast Network your team every day now today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel look you've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel America's number one sports book but right now we have something a little bit different for you now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a 3-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with a YouTube TV Bas plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel anytime FanDuel is the spot you want to check it out you want to get it on the action too so not only can you capitalize on this NFL Sunday Ticket offer but you can also take a look at all the different odds available to you over at fanduel.com where we're talking about who the favorites are in the Western Conference who the real contenders are in the Western Conference this upcoming season you can take a look at the outright betting favorites to win the West this next season OKC at plus 300 the Mavericks at plus 480 to make it out of the West again right there with them the Denver Nuggets also at plus 480 and then the Minnesota Timberwolves at plus 500 to be your Western Conference Champion so for all those odds and so much more and to take advantage of this incredible offer head on over to fanduel.com lockon to download America's number one sports book joining us now is the host of locked on Thunder Ryland Styles you can track down wherever you listen to your podcast or on YouTube just search locked on Thunder here we as we are discussing contenders or Pretenders of the Western Conference and right there at the top of the West this past season the OKC Thunder as the number one seed so let's start right there Ryland why should the Thunder be considered legitimate contenders going into this next season after you know winning the Western conference at least record-wise this past campaign yeah I mean you look at last year's team and they were able to win 57 games in the regular season and this year they've improved on all of their deficiencies while maintaining a core that will care about the regular season which is not promised everywhere in the modern NBA like these are young guys who will play every single night who are still looking uh to use the regular season as a vessel to develop as a as a as a mechanic to get better for the postseason as you try to integrate Alex Caruso and Isaiah hartenstein and those two guys are a big reason why this team is a contender because last year they played the Mavericks in a six game series with a zero point differential and so when you have those bones and now you take out the illst fitting player in Josh Giddy and you add in Isaiah hartenstein who immediately cuts off your biggest weakness which is front front Court depth then this team has to be considered a contender I I I like it very strong points there getting to Isaiah hartenstein and and Alex Caruso in particular which of those two guys obviously it's expected you know hardenstein slots into the starting lineup all that but which of them is the bigger git for this team is it as simple as just it's going to be Isaiah hardstein or is there an argument that Alex Caruso is also a Monumental G for this Thunder team yeah I I think that you know nationally it seems like hartenstein for sure would be the obvious answer and would be in the starting lineup I'm not so sure that Mark would agree with that I'm not so sure we'll see the Thunder start Isaiah hartstein but I still would pick hartstein as the bigger ition with no slight to Alex Caruso because what Alex Caruso does is let you play the best version of yourself from a year ago like if you take out Josh Giddy and put in a 40% all defensive uh player 40% from three an all defensive player you get the ideal version of the Thunder the thing is though they they could have patchworked their way to what Caruso can bring you obviously not an all defensive guard outside of L dart's uh you know potential candidacy but you could have put Wiggins out there more you could have put Isaiah Joe out there more case Wallace out there more defensively you could have found ways to to mitigate that what you could not have patchworked was an ability to defend the rim was a backup center you only had Jay will who is 69 and a really Scrappy guy you can take charges and stuff but he cannot even compete with what hartenstein can do whereas if you wanted to recreate what kuso can do you could mix and match and turn the Rubik's Cube to to Patchwork together a roster that can do that so I think that of the two the fact that you cannot produce hartenstein hartenstein size you cannot produce his ability to playmake at that position and to screen set and roll to the rim and finish with the rim and protect the rim given all that I think that he has to be the biggest addition even if we see Caruso start over him now one thing uh that I think you can maybe point to as I don't want to say a weakness for this Thunder team because depends on how you want to Define weakness right this is an incredibly young team so both hartenstein and Caruso to add kind of more of that veteran element right they they've got you know a lot more collective experience than many of these other guys on the Thunder roster what would you say to those who are concerned with maybe the inexperienced factor of this Thunder team as they look to make a Deep Run in the postseason this next campaign yeah I think that it's important to get kuso who one has that familiarity with Mark dnal he was the coach of kuso in the g-league then went on to play with LeBron and win a championship and so he's gotten to play with extremely talented guys he's gotten to see what it takes to win a championship albe it in the bubble and you can take that and Implement those lessons and then hartenstein like he he maybe has not done it on the biggest scale but he has been involved and played with great players and played with a variety of coaches whereas a lot of these Thunder guys they've only been in this system they've only been with this coach they've only been with this organization so he's kind of seen the pictures everywhere else to where you can say what's worked for them what hasn't worked for them and give you input there and then the bottom line is inexperience will be a a question mark because what I think that the Thunder have is I think that the Thunder have a championship core like they have the Thunder have a championship roster right now the thing is Shay for sure is a 16 game player you saw CH you saw Jade at times struggle a little bit in the playoffs last year until those two guys prove that they're also 16 game players which could happen this year it could not happen till next year the year after but I think it eventually will happen when those two guys show that they're their those 16 game players then this team win a championship but until that point uh of course you're going to have to question uh that nature the organization is gambling on that happening I think it's a great bet I think that will happen but you just have to kind of sit back and wait and see how they adjust to their second go round in the postseason yeah if we could get some lines over at FanDuel about will Chad and Jay dub ultimately become true 16 game players you're you're SM you're taking the over on that smashing the over immediately because that feels like a really really strong bet at this point talking about inexperience as a potential weakness for this Thunder team despite the you know the massive the rousing success that they had last year what would you point to as maybe the a unique strength of this thunder squad one that maybe none of the other Western Conference contenders can claim to have yeah I think that one of their biggest strengths is their ability to match up with anybody and to have that matchup variance which is what uh homeg Gren and hartenstein now bring you that you didn't have a year ago if you want to try to go ultra big the Thunder now have two ways to try to beat you then versus just one last year they would try to just go small and ruin you off the floor that works against chunis it works against the Pelicans it doesn't work whenever you have Luca getting to navigate with bigs because Luca is just so amazing in the pick and roll and so he can force feed buckets to uh Lively and then also gafford's there as well so now being able to uh match that size with Minnesota match that size size with Denver match that size with Dallas plus still play small like they're still going to have those small ball stretches that can throw a wrench into things they can play in a variety of ways and I think that not having uh just one way to win is a massive deal especially whenever you're trying to just win series after Series so obviously Boston is the team to beat this upcoming season you know defending Champions all that but we're taking a look right now at the Western Conference the Mavs made it out of the West this past season so I'm going to have you power rank these four teams for me Ryland and this should be good here this should uh you know get the juices flowing with the fans if you can power rank the nuggets the Mavs the Wolves and the Thunder how would you go what order so I think it's going to be the Thunder Mavericks wolves and Nuggets oo I like that you want to back that up a little bit what's the reasoning behind that I just really believe in the Thunder's ability to uh play a a deep Squad that can help you Navigate 82 games then when you shrink the rotation if if everyone's betting on a leap from Chad and JB in their second postseason plus you have what Shay provided and again last year's Dallas series was a zero point differential in six games and then a foul late stopped it from going to game seven in the paycom Center where anything can happen in game seven so things would be talked about a little bit differently if little breaks go your way here and there and the Thunder have the Personnel to make those breaks go their way now so I think that they are just as the odds say in Vegas the number one team and then with Dallas I I just cannot bet against Luka donic I think that he's good enough to win you two games every every playoff series then you add in Kyrie you adding what Klay Thompson can bring you you add in what Lively can bring you and we've seen them do it so I think and I think that Jason kid's a really good playoff coach he might not be a good regular season coach and might not be able to navigate you know the the the October through April stretch but when postseason starts he really excellent and so I'll give Jason kid credit there the Timberwolves I think have a really good nucleus and roster I I wonder which way it goes though of the pressure of this being their last harah before the tax dollars get too much and they might have to split up this team that can either really Galvanize you or it can really split you apart and we'll see which way that ends up going and I just think that Denver's lost a little bit too much to still be in that uper restant obviously joic is the best player in the world that counts for something but I I just think that they've lost a bit too much for the depth of the West will the thunder be able to repeat as the number one team in the Western Conference will they be able to get their revenge on the Dallas Mavericks you're going to have us covered for all of that and so much more over at locked on Thunder Ryland thanks for stopping by locked on NBA with me thanks for having me [Music] oh