As the expectations for this young Oklahoma City team arises, so does the hype in order to live up to them. In just two glimpses of their 2023-24 rendition in a preseason win over the San Antonio Spurs and a narrow loss against the Detroit Pistons, they are gaining national respect already.
“The West is loaded, and this team is one of the best in the West,” Pistons head coach Monty WilliamstoldJoe Mussatto of The Oklahoman following Oklahoma City’s 128-125 loss on Thursday night against Detroit.
“I think there are four potential All-Stars in that [Thunder] lineup down the road, and maybe [Chet] Holmgren’s a potential MVP candidate,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on a live segment on ESPN.
I have [OKC] fourth in the West right now,” The Ringer’s Bill Simmons said on his podcast released Wednesday. While the Thunder can’t control the national narrative and what is being said about them, they can control how they react and respond to the pressure. And, while the praise is great, they’ll continue to have their ups and downs just as they did last season as a 40-42 eighth seed in the West.
Just like last year, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault will derive many beneficial teachings for his players night in and night out, win or loss.
“I think a lot of it comes down to [us having] young players but they grow from experience,” Daigneault said Thursday during postgame availability. “We don’t leave a lesson on the table when it comes to things we can learn from wins, losses, ups and downs, and that accelerates your growth curve. “I give the players a lot of credit because they’ve been able to sift through the emotion of the games and of the season, figure out ways to improve. And as a result, we’ve improved quickly.”
Daigneault has proved himself to be a methodically driven coach with a knack for experimenting and discovering advantageous personnel groupings with the players this team contains. As his pool of talent grew significantly this offseason, he’ll have many instances to tweak and test intriguing lineups, taking each game as a lesson and growing off of that.
