It seems as if Shannon Sharpe doesn’t have too much confidence in this year’s Oklahoma City Thunder team; despite them finishing as the number one seed in the Western Conference. Shannon Sharpe recently defended his hot take that the Lakers would’ve loved to face this OKC team. Along with Gilbert Arenas, Sharpe breaks down as to why Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Co. are not that big of a threat to others.
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Shannon Sharpe recently gave his two cents on this Oklahoma City Thunder squad on the latest episode of Nightcap. The former NFL legend claimed why the Los Angeles Lakers squad would’ve preferred them as their round-one opponents as opposed to the Denver Nuggets instead. Defending his stance on the take, Sharpe said
“Guys, sometimes when a guy has an opinion, it’s just not a hot-take, that’s just my opinion. I don’t think anybody was like, ‘Oooooh, please let us avoid the Thunder,’ like they did the Warriors…Or when LeBron was in the East. Nobody was trying to see LeBron(As a first-round matchup).”
Sharpe explained his opinion by stating that this Oklahoma City Thunder squad was by far, the weakest number one seed in the playoffs, solely based on their inexperience in the postseason.
“I’m looking at your team. Yeah, your team won 57 games, you’re the number one seed, but you’re young, you’re not battle-tested. So, teams that are battle-tested are looking at y’all like, ‘Okay, we want y’all.’ The Lakers would’ve given anything to play OKC in the first round.”
Co-host Gilbert Arenas did not hesitate in agreeing with Shannon Sharpe’s take on the Lakers’ eagerness to face the Thunder. In fact, he took it a step further and compared this OKC squad to the 2011 Chicago Bulls team. The 2011-12 Bull squad finished the season as the number-one seed in the East as they had the year prior to that as well. Arenas pointed out how that team, despite finishing as the number one squad in the East, was knocked out of the first round. Something the Thunder may be on the verge of as well.
Arenas made a valid point of how Derrick Rose was their sole option on offense and the rest of the team barely averages 15 points per game. As for this Thunder squad, the team is heavily reliant on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the team’s offense. However, they do have other players who contribute to the team’s scoring on a nightly basis. So, as confident as Shannon Sharpe was, this Thunder squad may have a chance to catch a lot of teams off guard.
Can Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder rewrite history?
There have been a few teams in recent NBA history, who, despite finishing as the first seed in their respective conferences, did not get the same amount of respect from their opponents from around the league.
One of the most recent squads that underwent this treatment was the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks squad. The Hawks finished as the number-one seed in the East back then after finishing the season with a 60-22 overall record.
The team played phenomenally throughout the season and most of the postseason as well. However, in the end, it was the playoff experience that came out on top as the team got swept by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals.
So, the Thunder may be able to move past the first round but there isn’t much hype behind this young inexperienced squad. But only time will tell as to what this young OKC team is able to do in a play setting they’ve never been in before; the NBA playoffs.
