I think the letdown of game 7 in the finals is a big reason why as well that people feel this way

Absolutely no offense meant to the Pacers, but we expected last year’s Finals to be a steamrolling of a vastly inferior team. Instead we got a tight game 7 series with the underdog missing its best player.

Yes, the Thunder won as everyone expected, but they also played below virtually everyone’s expectations.

If the Thunder, say, win the championship again but still just kind of squeak by teams no where near their level, could we still call them an all-time great team? I don’t think so. We just don’t give much credit to all-time regular season greats. Greatness is earned in the playoffs and this Thunder team in the playoffs so far is a very good team but not one of the greats.

Yeah that’s similar to the 2015 Warriors too. They beat LeBron but he was missing two stars and they struggled. KD and Russ were hurt and missed the playoffs too.

They’re pretty much just a defensive version of that team without the 73 games. They do have the opportunity to win the championship again which will probably put them in that conversation I guess

Most people considered the Celtics to be their main competition that year and they also fell apart well before the finals, it was without a doubt an easy road and they still almost lost

This is kind of it. They need a rival, preferably out East. Even Denver with Jokic could be that if they make that team super competitive again.

Also minus them having to beat LeBron

Yeah, the pacers also had a team full of playoff risers.

They completely dominated the bucks and Cavs.

And beat the knicks pretty handily

They were fantastic but the Thunder also went to 7 with the Nuggets, who had already been taken to 7 by the Clips in the first round and were somewhat injured. As much as the Thunder were still the favorite in every series, I don’t think it’s unreasonable that people look at a championship run that involved getting taken to a Game 7 twice (including in the Finals) and feel like it’s not necessarily dominant 

Oh, absolutely. But we’re talking about feels and vibes. The Thunder don’t feel like an all-time juggernaut yet because they weren’t even the most memorable part of their own championship run. Those playoffs were the Halliburton show.

Ya I know playoffs and regular season are different animals but the Thunder went 29-1 against eastern teams last year in the regular season. Don’t think it was far fetched to say the pacers just hit their stride at the right time

As a somewhat casual fan(now, I used to pay a lot more attention) I think it’s the fact that his midrange isn’t appreciated because people are afraid to guard him. If you’re within 3 feet of him when he takes a shot he’s flailing like he got hit by a car and the refs give it to him every time. Now I’m not saying he’s the only one because he’s clearly not and he’s definitely talented but that makes it unwatchable. Or the fact that the thunder play like the bad boy pistons and just punch kick and trip people without getting called on it. Personally if it was allowed for teams to play defense like that it would be fine but they’re seemingly the only ones. Like I said though I’m a casual so maybe I just don’t know. I watched a lot from 80s to 2000s but now it’s awful

In the second apron era I think this is what the best teams will be built like

Superteams automatically come with horrible depth now 

I always think Alex Caruso and Hartenstein are two of their most impactful players, they’re far too good for most 2nd units. 

A lot of the talk around them maintaining the dynasty is what happens when they have to pay their big 3, but it’s really about having unbelievable success with role players (drafted and traded) 

Yup exactly. Instead of a top down approach to dominating (MJ + Pippen + Rodman, Kobe + Shaq, Big 3 Boston or Miami) they have a middle out approach where they just don’t have anybody that is a net negative in the rotation and everyone is good to great. Obviously that is capped with an all time player in the making in SGA but because his style is “boring” to some, off putting to others (foul baiting, even if overblown) this team just doesn’t fit the mold of really any dynasties we’ve ever had. Long story short, we haven’t seen this before and aren’t used to it so we reject what we’re seeing with our eyes.

It’s like the Dirk title team.

Describing chet and jalen williams as “bench” players is wild, but it is reflective of the difficulty the general public has with recognizing winning skillsets as opposed to impressive individual counting stats. Basically every team chet has been on has been elite on both sides of the ball without chet putting up all that impressive of individual stats (depending on what youre looking at, but scoring in particular), but team level metrics suggest he makes his teammates better at an elite level that drives winning at the highest level. Theres more to winning basketball than averaging 20 ppg, but youre probably not gonna find many people that say chet is one of the best 15 to 20 players in the nba today when he doesn’t average 20 ppg

The Thunder are like the final evolutionary form of the 01 Sixers. An incredible defense with an amazing lead offensive scoring guard. J Dub is obviously a much better offensive player than any of Iverson’s teammates but he isn’t some all time number 2 for a title threat.

It’s basically the same roster construction principle as the 2001 76ers or 2007 Cavs but on super steroids

After Shai it’s a very deep roster of B and B+ players and I don’t use that grade as a slight. Their organization has done a great job of identifying what they can get away with in regards to referees. They’ve got a stiflingly aggressive defense that constantly teeters on the knifes edge of a whistle without going over.

They really don’t offer anything new for the viewers th, soat they might think that they are so dominant compared to the Warriors and Bulls. If Shai is not hitting his shots, his gravity lessen and affect the others.

KD Warriors were pretty mucha perfect balance of Dominant offense and dominant defense.

That is because they do. And they use them to great effect.

Chett will pick a few up DPOYs by default when Stiltz doent qualify on the 65 game minimum rule.

Just because Wembys candle is brighter currently… doesn’t diminish Chetts flame.

That says more about the bball hof than anything

If this the beginning of the Thunder dynasty and they win 3+ rings, we might look at JDub and Chet the same way we see Scottie and Horace Grant

Lol OP made that parenthetical very explicit to really hammer home the hating because i dont think it’s possible for “2k generated” to be said in a complimentary way. “2k generated” is implicitly always derogatory so there’s no reason to reiterate it again.

“nooooooooooo he’s cool! the aura!!”

Houston lost to the hospital Warriors. Buddy Hield legacy game.

Jdub and Chet weren’t exactly healthy last post season either tbf

This. People who don’t watch nba regularly were surprised by the pacers. They had a great second half. Its like this year. I won’t be totally shocked by Charlotte if they win their first round.

I don’t think people really consider that celtics team an all time team. they were a super team but not all time.

Warriors benefitted heavily from injuries in all of their runs as well 

How dod people forget how Warriors won so many of their championships.

In 2015, Lebron’s 2nd and 3rd options were out.

In 2017, they fucking used a thug to injure one of their opponents star players in the playoffs.

In 2018, Chris Paul went down and the Rockets without him took the Warriors to 7 with questionable game changing foul calls.

It’s fucking insane that the Warriors are viewed as some ethical winning compared to OKC.

God that was the worst part of the Achilles tear in the moment

Not just that it’s a horrible thing to happen to a player, not just in the playoffs, not just in the fucking FINALS, but Hali had come out of the gates absolutely tearing it up. I think he had 3 3s in the first 5 minutes before he went down, iirc

This same conversation happened a couple years ago with the Celtics who were posting an all time great net rating for the season and waltzed their way to a chip. Now no one is thinking about them that way lol. If the Jays make it back there and win one or two more then there will be some kind of conversation when it’s all said and done but until then ya it’s all just vibes.

The Spurs kinda embraced the boring identity plus Pop and DRob’s military ties and business-like approach fit well with San Antonio being a military city. OKC kinds feels like trying hard too much to appear nonchalant and cool but combine that with SGA’s apparent whistle and Dort’s WWE play, it rubbed people the wrong way as arrogant and smug.

As opposed to every other championship run which had zero luck? This is just ignoring every run in the history of the game can be attributed to another team or player injury if you try hard enough.

You only get to play the team that’s in front of you.

If you watched this Thunder become the 2nd youngest champs ever and your thoughts weren’t “Damn we gotta deal with these guys for a long while,” you’re lying to yourself

You could say the same about those Celtics. They had the easiest post-season you could imagine that year.

2022 is a pretty regular finals run in my eyes. Like very regular, not sure why you see it as dominant

It was statistically an easier run in terms of opponents faced (as were the 23 nuggets and 24 celtics, was just a parity era). And they went to 6 twice.

If your bar for dominant is just never go to 7.. fine i guess?? But going to 6 in multiple series is just pretty usual. Do you consider a lot of runs to be dominant? I don’t even think the 2020 lakers run was dominant and they went to 6 just once

Tho tbf you’re a warriors fan and im not so i think some disagreement is expected.

Here’s what I mean

Giannis/Bucks: 4 straight playoff appearances, won title the following year.

Jokic/Nuggets: 4 straight playoff appearances, won title in 5th year

Shai/Thunder: 1 playoff appearance, won the title the next year.

Of course announcers had to reintroduce them. National audiences aren’t watching regular season thunder games. we get acclimated to them seeing them in the playoffs over the years. We do the Charles Barkley “oh man, these young guys are coming!” The Thunder basically skipped that. They won a single playoff series, lose to the Mavs in the 2nd around, then the next year they won the title. We didn’t even get to see them vanquish the team that beat them and won the WCF the year before (not their fault). It never felt like a team that took lumps together and surmounted a peak so much as it felt like a moment assets and financial management did, especially with the timely additions of Caruso and Hartenstein. Every great team, the Bulls, Warriors, Shaq/Kobe Lakers, we saw them lose in the playoffs at least a few times and then exorcise demons or make the leap. In a narrative sense, the Thunder kinda cheated us. Not their problem or their fans’s problem. Just explaining why it doesn’t hit the way those other teams did.

And people were rightfully skeptical of the Warriors after that 2015 title. 

But also the 2015 Cavs were much better than last year’s Pacers.

This entire thread is basically verbatim what people were saying about us before that cup semi game, so I’m not sure the Spurs really changed much.

People are just shitting on you guys. It doesn’t help that reddit almost always tends towards the negative side of things. Shai is an unstoppable scoring force and all people can say is he has no aura and grifts fouls. They don’t talk about his tough shot making insane mobility. This sub is shameless