OKC Thunder player grades: Chet Holmgren impresses in 98-77 Summer League win over Jazz
The Oklahoma City Thunder dominated their first 2022 Summer League game against the Utah Jazz with a 21-point, 98-77 blowout win.
But the biggest story of the night was easily No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren dominating his first game wearing a Thunder jersey. Other players who also played extremely well include Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams.
Although the caveat of this being a summer league game is true, Holmgren dominating the way he did is more than enough reason to excite the fans.
Overall, this game could not have gone any better for the Thunder as Holmgren showed the type of player he could be against NBA competition instead of just pseudo-NBA competition.
Let’s hand out grades for this impressive win and impressive individual performances.
Chet Holmgren: A+
As mentioned earlier, this game couldn’t have gone any better for Holmgren.
Holmgren finished with 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting that included going 4-of-6 shooting from outside. Not only was the 23 points on nine shots is impressive in itself, the way he did it should cause fans to salivate at the thought of his offensive bad. Holmgren was able to score in a variety of ways that include soaring dunks, off the dribble threes and Dirk fadeaways. Holmgren also added seven rebounds and four assists.
On the defensive side, Holmgren was as great as advertised. Holmgren blocked a summer-league-record six shots and said after the game he’s going to break the record again.
Overall, this was the perfect Holmgren game that should amplify the fan’s excitement for him tenfold.
Josh Giddey: A+
In his first game since late February, Josh Giddey looked like a player that’s won four Western Conference Rookie of the Month awards playing against summer league competition.
Giddey, who’s coming off a sore hip that costed him the final two months of last season, finished with 14 points and 11 assists. Giddey’s elite playmaking skills were complimented with his new teammates as he had players who could finish off his great passes.
Holmgren stole the spotlight from Giddey — and deservingly so — but don’t let his teammate’s game distract from the fact that Giddey looked fantastic and will probably not play a ton more summer league games because he’s just simply too good.
Jalen Williams: A
Jalen Williams finished the game with 17 points on an efficient 8-of-11 shooting. Williams was able to score inside efficiently as both an off-ball cutter and on his drives to the basket.
Outside of Holmgren, Williams was the other rookie who had the best night.
Aleksej Pokusevski: C
In his summer league debut, Aleksej Pokusevski looked about the same as he previously did. His game featured some flashy plays that were surrounded by a lot of questionable and straight up bad plays.
Pokusevski finished with 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting along with four rebounds, three steals and two assists.
This is a big summer league for Pokusevski as this is a major season for him. If Pokusevski does not show signs of consistent improvement, then it’s hard to see him be on the team in the long term.
Ousmane Dieng: C-
Ousmane Dieng showed off why he’s a likely long-term project as he finished with just 10 points on a poor 4-of-15 shooting that included going 1-of-9 from three.
The misses were discouraging as Dieng struggled to finish in the paint despite a size advantage and when he tried to score off of the dribble from the perimeter, it resulted in misses.
The bright side is that Dieng doesn’t seem demoralized from his misses and stayed aggressive. Dieng needs to continue to keep that mindset even if the results aren’t there early on.
