OKC Thunder week 11 power rankings reflect on historic Giddey

The New Year has arrived and many teams are hoping 2022 will result in the exit of this nasty pandemic and bring about a gush of continual positives. The OKC Thunder also begin a New Year with resolutions in place.

That’s true in our day-to-day lives and it’s also true for our favorite sports teams. Virtually everyone of the 30 clubs have been bitten by omicron. The resulting effect has meant watching games some nights not knowing several of their players.

OKC Thunder slips in week 11 power rankings as omicron hits the squad

As the the OKC Thunder turn a page to enter 2022 the team will continue to develop their youthful talent and at some point presumably Sam Presti will trade away part of the depth so the team can stay closer to the basement than the play-in.

Alternatively (and I wouldn’t hold your breathe) the VP could elect to take a shot at the play-in risk missing out on what is anticipated to be another rich class (particularly at the very top) in order to get Josh Giddy and the Thunder rookies some playoff experience.

As for the power rankings it was an up and down week for the Thunder as omicron finally caught up to them and they produced a single win in four tries (Knicks).

With that, let’s take a gander at where the national writers ranked the OKC Thunder in week 11 of action.

OKC Thunder power ranking – NBA.com:

John Schuhmann has paid close attention to the OKC Thunder all season and frequently offers kudos to the club for their competitiveness. He’s also tracked the defensive effort of the club and this week notes how they’ve climbed from 20th to 11th in just a few weeks (of course the unspoken note here is losing by 73 points set them back dramatically).

The individual accolades this week not surprisingly go to Josh Giddey for the historic triple-double. That part of his excerpt is below however the complete OKC comments and his entire week 11 article  can be viewed here.

As for placement Schuhmann drops the Thunder one spot from 25th to 26th.

"That his teammates shot just 41% on Sunday makes it more amazing that Josh Giddey had 14 assists as he became the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double. The absence of both Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Health and Safety) and Lu Dort (knee soreness) allowed Giddey to handle the ball all night, but it’s interesting that Gilgeous-Alexander has seen a much bigger jump in usage rate when Giddey has been off the floor (33.7 vs. 23.7% in their minutes together) than Giddey has seen when SGA has been off the floor (21.6% vs. 21.2%). The rookie has shot a solid 9-for-25 on pull-up 3s, but obviously doesn’t call his own number as much as the 23-year-old vet."

ESPN Poll:

Like their counterparts the ESPN panel notes Giddey’s special performance and offers up some additional stats that make his benchmark that much sweeter.

The ranking remains status quo (27th) in week 11 and the full article can be viewed by clicking this link.

"Rookie Josh Giddey returned from health and safety protocols with a historic performance, becoming the youngest NBA player (19 years, 84 days) to record a triple-double by putting up 17 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists in Sunday’s loss to the Mavericks. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Giddey tied an NBA record for most assists by a teenager, matching LeBron James and Zach LaVine. Giddey, the No. 6 overall draft pick, has dished out double-digit assists in four of his past six games. — MacMahon"

CBS Sports:

As per usual the CBS Sports rankings are based on the weekly performances but also are based on a different schedule. While his peers based their seedings on the games played between December 28th and January 2nd Colin Ward-Henninger based his rankings on games played between December 23rd and 29th.

That dropped the OKC Thunder from his previous high of 22nd three spots to 25th. To view Ward-Henninger’s full week 11 power rankings click here.

"OKC went 1-3 this week, beating the Pelicans while losing to the Kings and twice more to the Suns. Reigning Western Conference Player of the Week Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31 points per game this week before sitting out Wednesday’s game against the Suns. Aaron Wiggins averaged 16.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 30 minutes per game."

SportsNet:

To close 2021 Steven Loung of Sportsnet offered his typical five tier seeding of the clubs with a few shifts in this version.

The OKC Thunder landed in his fourth tier again which houses the majority of the clubs either hit hard by COVID, struggling to get above .500 or doing more than tanking. In all 12 teams are in this group and it’s noteworthy it includes the Lakers, Clippers, Mavericks and Celtics too. Few analysts in preseason would’ve grouped OKC with that quartet so kudos for that distinction alone.

The CBS writer doesn’t speak to each team, typically picking one or two to comment on weekly and the OKC Thunder, or rather, Josh Giddey got his extra attention this week as per the excerpt below.

1. Streaking in the East
2. Part-time Kyrie set to make his debut
3. Raptors resurgence
4. Positives among negative
5.  Things get ugly in Houston

Perhaps even more surprising is the rightful placement of the Hawks and Blazers in tier five.

To view Loung’s full week 11 power ranking here.

"With that said, most recently, there are some bright spots to be said for each of them such as … and the stellar rookie season from Oklahoma City Thunder guard Josh Giddey who became the youngest player to record a triple-double ever (19 years, 84 days) with his 17-point, 13-rebound, 14-assist gem on Sunday."

In conclusion the OKC Thunder dropped overall in week 11 but stay a click above the five to eight teams the experts deem below them. Specifically, OKC ranks as high 25th and as low as 27th.