Two weeks of exciting games are in the books with the OKC Thunder intent on growing as a team but keeping the ultimate goal of achieving top draft positioning. Last week the team played three games with two at the Paycom Center and one on the road.
While losing continues to be on the menu the Thunder were able to bank a victory by coming back from 26 points down to defeat the Lakers. The Golden State Warriors won both contests between the clubs.
More of the same for OKC Thunder in week 3 national power rankings
With those results in hand, the national pundits were sure to keep the OKC Thunder near the bottom of the ladder if not on the last rung.
Week three will offer up three more contests with two at Staples Center against the LA clubs before returning home to play the San Antonio Spurs.
As for the key stat categories, the Thunder finished week two with the 18th ranked pace (100.3). 29th offense (97.2), 28th defense (111.1), and a negative net differential of minus 13.9.
The common placement for the Thunder in week two is 28th though they hit a high of 27th and a low of 30th.
With that let’s take a gander at where the Thunder landed on the power ranking lists for week two.
NBA.com – John Schuhmann:
Beating the Lakers didn’t impress the NBA stats guru John Schuhmann who held the Thunder steady in 30th.
Schuhmann points to the positives of rookie Josh Giddey and extols on POKU in his Thunder except (a portion of which is below). To view his full week three power list click here.
"Maybe the Thunder aren’t the worst team ever. After holding a lead for only 10 seconds through their first three games, they led the Warriors for the first 35 minutes on Tuesday, and then came back from 26 points down to upset the Lakers a night later. Josh Giddey leads all rookies with 5.7 assists per game and his 10 against L.A. included three slick dimes (one, two, three) for layups early in the second quarter and another for a huge Derrick Favors bucket late in the fourth."
ESPN Poll:
Week two for the ESPN panel led to another 30th ranking for the Thunder. The excerpt from Tim MacMahon is below and the full week two ranking list can be viewed here.
"Rookie forward Josh Giddey, 19, has displayed the playmaking ability that prompted the Thunder to select him with the No. 6 overall pick. The 6-foot-8 Giddey leads all rookies with 5.7 assists per game. He had 10 assists in the Thunder’s comeback win over the Lakers. The only player younger to record double-figure dimes in a game, per ESPN Stats & Information research: a kid named LeBron James. — MacMahon"
Bleacher Report:
While the NBA and ESPN scribes weren’t impressed by the Thunder comeback victory versus the Lakers it did register with Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report.
Bailey raises the Thunder up one rung from 28th to 27th in week two.
Bailey’s full power rankings list can be viewed here.
"The Oklahoma City Thunder overcame a 26-point deficit against the LeBron James-less Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, showing the pluckiness of a team that could play spoiler on random nights.Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who’s averaging 23.4 points, will be a huge part of those nights, but rookie Josh Giddey is already making some noise, too. After going for 18 points and 10 assists against L.A., he’s up 10.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game on the season.Unexpected wins aside, it’s hard to imagine this roster anywhere but in a race to the bottom down the stretch run of this season."
CBS Sports:
CBS writer Colin Ward-Henniger placed the Thunder 28th in his initial rankings. For week two, CWG holds the OKC Thunder steady in 28th impressed by their one victory versus the Lakers. He also highlights the play of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey.
For his full week two rankings, click here.
"The Thunder only have one win, but boy was it a fun one. They erased a 26-point deficit and overcame a couple of late turnovers to hold off the stunned Lakers, who were without LeBron James. The 123-point offensive explosion was just what they needed, after failing to crack the century mark in three of their first four games. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been the only consistent source of offense, putting up 23.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game despite increased defensive attention, while rookie Josh Giddey looks good early with averages of 10.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.6 assists on 39 percent 3-point shooting."
Sports Illustrated:
Rohan Nadkarni of Sports Illustrated serves up his list citing the OKC Thunder in 30th and telling fans not to be fooled by the comeback versus the Lakers. His full list can be viewed here.
"Do not be fooled by Oklahoma City’s dramatic comeback win against a Lakers team missing LeBron James. The Thunder’s minus-14.5 point differential is by far the worst in the NBA."
Hoops Habit:
With Halloween coinciding with the week two power rankings Josh Cornelissen offers up an intriguing twist to his list citing what scares him the most about each team.
Not much of a shock that Cornelissen selects how tanking could impact Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and whether that has a long-term negative impact.
Cornelissen also notes the media tangent of saying perhaps this iteration of the Thunder could be the worst team ever and rightly points to how competitive OKC has been so far ruling out that logic. Another interesting side note is Cornelissen’s “scares me” takeaway for the Magic was passing on Josh Giddey to select Jalen Suggs – hmm.
With the win against the Lakers, he moves the Thunder up a rung to 28th. Part of his excerpt is below but you can view his entire week two list and the rest of the OKC excerpt here.
"Scares Me: That SGA is wasting his prime. After defending the Thunder, it is obvious that they will finish with a bottom-5 record, if not bottom-3. This team wants and needs to add more blue-chip talent, and the draft is the absolute best way for a small market team to do that. Yet they have a star player right now who is wasting years of his prime for a very bad team. Does that make him antsy in a few years? Does it make him antsy now? He signed a maximum rookie extension with no opt-outs this summer, so there are no warning signs, but it would still hang out at the back of my mind if I were a Thunder fan."
Overall this week the sites maintain the OKC Thunder in the bottom tier but only two of the three sites rank them last. That perhaps is a win for the team given the tanking mandate.