-
Oklahoma City Thunder -
Graham Dudley
Welcome back to The Graham Jam newsletter! Thanks as always for starting your week with us.
It's been a rollercoaster past week in Oklahoma sports, and the Oklahoma City Thunder have been no exception. On Wednesday, the Thunder seemed poised to snap their losing streak after leading the lowly Houston Rockets through three quarters. But then famous rapper Drake showed up courtside — we're still not sure why, really — and OKC choked away its lead in the final minutes to fall again to Houston, 114-110.
It was Oklahoma City's final game against Houston this season, and brought their head-to-head record to 1-3 for the year. While disappointing at the time, if Oklahoma City ends up with a better draft pick than the Rockets, that loss will be looked back on fondly.
Not so much the next one. OKC had to travel the very next night to Memphis and take on a hot Grizzlies team, albeit one playing without its star Ja Morant. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander nursing a concussion from the night before, and Josh Giddey and out sick, Oklahoma City was severely undermanned for the contest.
But that doesn't make the result much less shocking: a 152-79 collapse, the largest margin of defeat in NBA history at 73 points.
This week we'll take a look at what national pundits have to say about the historic loss. And we'll play our weekly game of Tank Time, which hopefully will make us all feel a bit better.
Let's go!
Last week
Houston 102, Thunder 89 (11/29 AWAY)
Houston 114, Thunder 110 (12/1 HOME)
Memphis 152, Thunder 79 (12/2 AWAY)
Notable quotables: A historic loss
It's tough when your team makes headlines for all the wrong reasons. And despite the positives this team will have, Thursday's 73-point loss to Memphis will likely be what the national media and casual NBA fans remember most about this year's Thunder squad.
Let's look around at what NBA observers had to say before I give my two cents on the matter:
(The Thunder) now, in two years, have the biggest home loss in NBA history — they got beat by 57 on their home floor last year by the Indiana Pacers. And now they have the biggest road loss in NBA history, which was, of course, last night, 73. And, I don't know. You've got Josh Giddey to show for it, so I guess it's worth it. And maybe they'll get a high pick this year that could change their franchise or whatever. They did it last year, and they ended up with the sixth pick in the draft. And so, it's kind of like — what's the cost of doing business here? And I do think that if you don't end up with some kind of franchise-changing-caliber player, then you could really look back and say, 'My God, what are we doing here?'
— Chris Vernon, The Mismatch podcast, 12/3
Angola lost to The Dream Team by 5 less points than OKC did to Memphis tonight.
— Rob Perez on Twitter, 12/2
73 points?!?! That’s a fine
— Draymond Green on Twitter, 12/2
Congratulations to (the Thunder). If you're gonna do it, if you're gonna tank, if you're gonna go extremely bad, do it in historical fashion. So I applaud them for that.
— Mo Dakhil, The Athletic NBA Show, 12/3
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault should have called a timeout during that travesty and made his team run sprints. I'm serious. ... I'd have told Sam Presti — their GM, their president of basketball operations — I'd have told him to run right with them. He is the GM. He's more to blame for what's become of the Thunder than their current players.
— Stephen A. Smith, Stephen A's World, 12/3
As you can see, the national media (and Draymond) found both amusement and repulsion in OKC's Thursday effort. Of course, well-paid loudmouths like Stephen A. will have a field day with such a result, and he did. But the take that most intrigued me was that of Chris Vernon, a Memphis native and Grizzlies fan on the national NBA beat for The Ringer. As a Grizz fan, he will of course prefer his own team's method of roster construction — no tanking, no bottoming out, just grit-and-grind, borderline playoff basketball as far as the eye can see.
And that method has already earned them Morant, one of the league's most exciting young players, so the Grizzlies might yet be vindicated for that course.
Vernon is absolutely right when he says that Oklahoma City's tank job needs to pay big dividends to feel worthwhile in the end. NBA fans will be familiar with the situation in Philadelphia, where the 76ers were intentionally terrible for years. They got some superstar talent in the bargain, it's true, but also whiffed on some picks and have no championships to show for it. What's worse, one of those superstars (Ben Simmons) is currently begging for a ticket out of town.
In the end, though, it all comes down to luck. The Grizzlies got lucky in 2019 when the Draft Lottery went their way and got them the No. 2 overall pick, which turned into Morant. The Thunder got unlucky, many thought at the time, when they had to pick sixth this past summer and not in the top five — fortunately, Giddey's play so far has alleviated those concerns.
Presti has been up-front about this rebuild from the beginning. The Thunder will need luck, but are trying to get as many bites at the apple as possible. To his mind, hoping and waiting for the lottery to go your way is not a strategy. And even when it does — a la Memphis and New Orleans — does one player make all the difference?
Presti's tank is a career-defining decision, but it will take years to render a verdict on whether it was a good one. In the meantime, you'd hope the Thunder can avoid more historic losses like this.
Tank Time
Speaking of, it's Tank Time! Each week we'll be running a simulation on Tankathon.com to see where Oklahoma City might fall in the Draft Lottery next summer. And the Thunder have only helped their cause since last week with three more losses, including two to the Rockets, who now have an identical 6-16 record.
Here's what this week's simulation says:
1. Orlando (+1 from current record)
2. Oklahoma City (+1)
3. New Orleans (+2)
4. Detroit (-3)
5. Houston (-1)
Another great result! For the second week in a row, the Thunder have jumped up higher than what their current record would suggest to snag the second overall pick in the draft. It's the Pistons who really lose out in this scenario, as they have the league's worst record currently but would be saddled with only the fourth pick — a disappointing turn after they won the lottery last year.
It's just a simulation, but we're already starting to see that Oklahoma City could have a very good pick indeed come draft time next year.
That's it from me this week, folks. We'll end by looking ahead to the next week in Thunder basketball, when the team should have all its players back and can hopefully avoid more embarrassing records. Until next time, Thunder Up!
This week
12/6: Thunder @ Detroit, 6 p.m., Bally Sports Oklahoma
12/8: Thunder @ Toronto, 6:30 p.m., BSOK
12/10: Thunder vs. Lakers, 7 p.m., BSOK
12/12: Thunder vs. Mavericks, 6 p.m., BSOK