The final roundtable segment predicts OKC Thunder stats, playoff teams and ponders where the big Sam Presti offseason move ranks.
The OKC Thunder officially tipped off their season in Utah with a loss and will host their 12th home opener tonight. The opponent is the Bradley Beal led Washington Wizards. Both teams are in search of their first wins of the 2019-20 season.
It will be formal debut of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala to the fanbase (albeit they did play in OKC in preseason games).
For the Thunder, they must take advantage of games against teams like the Wizards. These are essential matches to win. This is especially true since the opening quarter of OKC’s schedule is primarily against upper echelon talent.
What fans learned in the loss to Utah was perhaps pundits have been sleeping a little too hard on the Thunder. The Jazz is a team that is earmarked with the two LA clubs, Denver and Houston as potential top seeds. Yet, OKC was in that match in clutch time with less than a minute remaining on the clock.
Sure, the Jazz is integrating new players, however, the Thunder are integrating more and no longer have the services of two superstars. And, that is what this segment of the roundtable dives into.
The writing team evaluates the success of the Presti trade for Paul George and how it might affect his tenure in the organization.
Afterward, the team predicts where the OKC Thunder will rank in the key stat categories this season and finally offer up who’ll nab the 16 seeds in April for a shot at the Larry – O – B.
With that, let’s get to the Q and A….