Devin Vassell on the Oklahoma City Thunder: “I think they’re super physical, they get away with a lot we try to use that against them too. We’re trying to be ultra physical”
“They get away with it, we get away with it, they can’t call everything.”
That’s the end of the quote since no one will actually watch this video and the OP left it out.
Hopefully this comment is higher up. Less of a dig and more just understanding that they’re trying their hardest to win, just like the Spurs.
Why does it feel like they do call everything against the wolves?
And the Wolves, unless you’re talking to a San Antonio fan who thinks Naz is a dirty player
Yup. I feel he was very careful not to end up on the tabloids. I guess he will still be misquoted
OKC fans are still misquoting Wemby five months later. So for sure.
Also this is bulletin board material in the Thunder locker room for sure. Cant blame them for that.
The whole ethical thing? Can’t tell me he didn’t know what he was doing when he said that, even if he “meant it” in a different way
He is obviously implying that the Thunder do it at a level to where San Antonio is forced to match them though, not that it is normal and fine.
No he’s saying they have no experience this deep in the playoffs and they’re learning a ton about what it takes to be a champion, from the champs themselves.
Is it just me or is Devin more handsome tonight? 🥴
Edit: Plz stop upvoting and commenting cause I can’t help but rewatch this glorious clip whenever I get a notification 💀
Shoot your shot homie
Homie I’ll let him shoot his, every time!
No jimmy either
He put his hair down here, so he looking sexy with the more relaxed vibe. Like when you see your man or woman with her hair wet and down for the first time and you be thirsting mentally.
Edit: just to add, hair down, good angular face with some mustache more often than not does wonders
You’re right… Pineapple hair never really did it for me TBH
he has that androgynous quality and I for one am crushing
It was that NBC model ass photoshoot graphic. Gave him +100 aura.
Not just you
It’s not just you
Spurs high key got some of the league’s hottest guys rn
Hmm now that mention it, yeah they got the looks too. My boy Dylan Harper could be modeling if he wasnt good at basketball.
gorg
Oh he’s so incredibly sexy to me and I am a lesbian
Was it the smile that got ya?
It’s… everything… even the rebounding
Loose dreads, mustache, big nose, cutie smile. He looks a bit like Gullit.
You’re not the only one. I’ve been saying that Vassell is one of the hottest guys in the league for a while now.
Ok Chuck
Reading this is extra funny as someone that lives in SA.
The amount of ladies here who thirst SO HARD for Castle, Harper, Bryant, and even Wemby is insane lol
Oh, that’s expected, they’re pretty boys. Wemby in particular, based on conventional standards.
I guess I’ve a competence kink and Devin’s lowkey the most consistent and reliable Spur out there, so even though physical attractiveness ranks quite low in my book I can appreciate him that way because of how he’s performed so far - the halo effect and all that.
And his hair, of course 🥴
Well OKC they’ve left you no choice, time to get mega physical.
They’re gonna bring out the billy clubs and tasers.
SGA will actually fall into the basement now. Breakaway floors the next big thing in the nba.
PHYSICAL ULTRA INSTINCT
Then we’re gonna go dynamax physical
Don’t temp them. Dort hasn’t dived at any knees yet
Lowkey I hate this style of ball getting more and more solidified in the league.
Seems like in the East it’s not seen as much (outside of the Pistons).
Some games it looks like the team that is allowed to be more physical wins. Game 2 OKC got away with a lot of bs holding and shit. Game 4 I thought SAS got away with a lot, but still got to shoot their FTs as well.
To me it feels like when they let the game be physical they do it in the wrong way… like anytime someone shoots the slightest contact is a free through. Rip throughs and flailing and pretending like you are shooting is called a foul. But then off the ball they let people mug each other, and while someone is dribbling out near half court they can get mauled. Like we want physical but I’m not sure this is what we are talking about
Refs do not want to make multiple calls. So if you are playing clean defense, you’re going to get called for 1 or 2 times you reach. However if you are hacking non stop, refs will have more of a generous whistle.
In reality, if they just call it the first 2 or 3 times the teams will adjust.
Agreed think they should allow physical on ball but off ball is where it’s too much
I would argue the East is typically more physical..
The Knicks are incredibly physical actually.
I’ve got no issue with OKC being physical. That’s NBA playoffs…as long as the Spurs are allowed to do it too and they stop flopping. If Wemby gets held, Shai gets held. That’s fair.
And quite frankly, just about every other guard deals with physical play even in the regular season. Look at Booker or Curry every game. There is no reason Shai shouldn’t also experience it. If he’s the MVP, he should be able to deal with it.
Spot on, as long as both teams are playing the same rules I say fare game
I don’t like it either and tbh I’m ready for Lu Dort to be gone. I’m tired of watching his football style defense and I know fans of other teams are as well. Castle is now doing it to SGA and it just sucks. Being bigger and stronger shouldn’t mean you get a free pass to man handle people
I honestly disagree pretty categorically.
I think people believe there is a perfect version of ball that can happen consistently in the league that just doesn’t happen at scale. A version that’s physical but not too physical. And that has insane shot and playmaking but not so much that the defense can’t do anything which takes drama out of the game.
What we typically see are 3 varieties of game occur.
There are offensive explosions that typically aren’t super interesting because the defense is futile and that lowers the intensity of the moments cause everything goes in. And those end like 129 to 115.
There’s blowouts because a team is outmatched, or blowouts because a team is cold from the floor. Which obviously never get super interesting in the first place.
And then there are high intensity physical games where the score can vary wildly but its dramatic the whole way through because everyone is amped up, there’s a ton of hustle plays, there’s a ton of demonstrations of max effort, etc. These games don’t always illustrate the top skill but they are the most interesting individual games because of the competitiveness and drama.
I think the nba sometimes gets a weird rap from purists or people that misunderstand what makes sports compelling vs. What the “best” version of something is.
You NEED the physical, hustle, etc. For the game to have feeling. Otherwise it gets sterile and uninteresting.
That’s basically the whole reason the playoffs are always better than the regular season cause every game matters, and everyone is playing hard as hell, and the physicality just helps increase that.
Game 1 refs were trying to be fair for both team, but holy hell game 2 to 4 are just blatant refs choosing who will win. we will probably have a decently reffed game in game 7.
game 2 to 4 are just blatant refs choosing who will win.
Absolutely hilarious to me that you believe this to be true and yet seemingly still watch.
Why are you wasting your time watching something you think is being actively rigged?
Did you literally not watch the clip in this post?
Spurs guards are bigger and stronger if they allow them to match physicality this happens
And they should keep pushing the refs by doing the exact same thing again
It’s wild how skinny Vassell looks on the court vs how he looks in this interview.
I almost didn’t recognize him!
Looks like a buff pirate
It’s kind of insane what you can get away with against the player bringing the ball up these days.
You can’t be near anyone shooting or else it’s a foul, but you can absolutely mug them when they are bringing the ball up.
Jaden McDaniels basically beat up Fox and Castle last series as well.
OKC invented this so not feeling sorry about it.
The hand checking they allow is nuts. 90s basketball is back!
idk watching some games from back then, there was alot less handchecking than that.
Invented it? Lol what a joke NBA discourse is lol.
Very rarely would teams pick the other teams’ guards up this high up on the floor consistently and wear them down this much.
As far as I remember at least, it’s a fairly new thing
Brother this has existed since the creation of basketball. Every great defensive team in history has done this. This is the exact opposite of new
%90 of defending took place within the three point line like a generation and a half ago.
Definitely not “every great defensive team in history has done this”.
A full court press has existed since the beginning of basketball. It may be new to you, but that doesn’t mean history just ceases to exist because you’re ignorant of it
Are you intentionally ignoring nuance?
Yes, full court existed. But very few professional teams actually used it as the main defensive scheme, that’s a very recent thing. It was used more to chase a game.
But whatever, sure yeah super
Never seen Jordan and Scottie before?
Part of the reason they were so dominant is they were dobermans on D and would occasionally decide to full or half court press and just take the ball from anyone they pleased
First time I really remember it happening was the Wolves 2 years ago when they’d pick up full court from tip off against Murray.
Nah you’re tripping. It’s a strategy that gets brought up situational to speed up the game, or wear down a player.
Situational, yes, not for a whole game as the main strategy
Nah not invented it, been watching this happen a bunch to Steph and others for awhile.
The Thunder just perfected it and took it to another level.
Good mindset.All things (refs included) being equal, OKC is a great, but not invincible, team
It’s crazy how a ft discrepancy when (to their credit) Spurs are the more physical team is what makes people feel the game is called fairly. I wish it made sense.
You’d get it if you were not a fan of OKC bro
Vassell lookin like Future from 8 Mile lol. Dudes been solid for us.
He also has his hair down here and I don’t think I ever seen that before. He got nephews thirsting in here
Vassell and Hali were my two guys in the 2020 draft if they get to the finals in back to back years I’ll be so happy
https://youtu.be/pwQkXcWKH_c?si=_KMdjiZwSWfjzZ4O
Fight Fire with fire. I wish ppl in this sub understood that instead of trying to go the cancel culture, gofundme, can I speak to your manager route 🤣
Even just watching the highlights, just about every play had a foul not called. The NBA is not basketball.
This sucks man when does it end. There’s a difference between intense basketball and physical basketball. If it’s just a war of attrition where each team is just seeing what they can/can’t get away with what are we even doing?
Bitch ass okc
Bro wtf is this account?