The Athletic predicts the OKC Thunder’s 2022-23 record
In the Oklahoma City Thunder edition of The Athletic’s John Hollinger 2022-23 seasonal preview, he has them finishing with one of the worst records in the league.
The former VP of Basketball Ops for the Memphis Grizzlies predicts the Thunder will finish with a 20-62 record and 15th place in the Western Conference.
Hollinger cites a lack of real talent on the team as he only labels Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Josh Giddey and Lu Dort as the only young prospects worthwhile on the team.
“After going 22-50 and 24-58 the past two seasons — overachieving their Pythagorean projections even to hit those win totals — Oklahoma City’s 2022-23 campaign doesn’t look like it will go much better.”
In his analysis, Hollinger is heavily critical of the Thunder’s draft history post-2012, citing that the team hasn’t had nearly enough hits despite picking relatively low in drafts up until recently.
Hollinger is not a fan of the Thunder’s old draft philosophy of taking young players possessing raw talent with high tools that still need a ton of polishing on their basketball skills.
With that said, Hollinger did say he was a huge fan of the non-playing role hires of shooting coach Chip Engelland and front office member Vince Rozman, citing that both could help improve the team with their skillsets.
While it looks like the Thunder will likely endure another losing season, the hope at the end of the tunnel includes the team being able to draft one of Victor Wembanyama or Scoot Henderson in next year’s draft class.
If that is to materialize, the losing seasons for the Thunder might mercifully come to an end after three seasons of win totals being in the 20s.
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2023 NBA mock draft: Who ESPN has the OKC Thunder selecting
