Thunder big man Chet Holmgren continues to rehabilitate from two surgeries related to the Lisfranc right foot injury he suffered last year, writes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman.
As Mussatto notes, Oklahoma City has indicated Holmgren may play for the Thunder’s 2023 Summer League team, and anticipates he will be able to suit up in time for the 2023/24 season. Mussatto collected a variety of quotes from Holmgren’s Thunder colleagues about their teammate, who missed his entire rookie season after being drafted second overall.
“Chet is a great competitor,” rookie Jaylin Williams raved. “We played against each other in college and then we played against each other when we first got here, and we always talk about the college game, smack talking to each other.”
“Off the court, he’s a really good kid,” All-Star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Then on the court, competitor. The kid wants to be good. I think that’s the biggest thing. Like he wants to be really good and he wants to prove himself to the world. That fire in him is impressive. It’s impressive. I think because of that he’s going to be a heck of a basketball player.”
There’s more out of the Northwest Division:
- Following a very active 2022 offseason, Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune believes that the Timberwolves should operate more patiently this summer. Souhan notes that Minnesota has been plagued by wild swings from management in recent years and says the team needs to avoid repeating that behavior in the 2023 offseason.
- Nuggets head coach Michael Malone wants to make sure that Suns All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker has a harder time scoring, writes Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post. Booker poured in 47 points on 20-of-25 shooting from the floor in Phoenix’s 121-114 Game 3 victory over Denver. “He’s going to score,” Malone acknowledged. “The sheer volume of shots he’s going to take, he’s going to score… But we can’t allow him to go 80% from the field when he goes 20 of 25. Being into him, being more physical, more aggressive, showing him more of a crowd, hopefully that doesn’t allow him to start off with 18 points and shooting into a big basket the rest of the night.”
- After winning the first two games of their second round series vs. Phoenix at home, the Nuggets regressed to cough up a Game 3 loss on the road, writes Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports. “I think we were just a little bit slow,” All-NBA center Nikola Jokic said. “I don’t want to say, sleepy, but they were making the first move and we were reacting.”
Holmgren will outshine Wembanyama next season, and win ROY
Holmgren has the more complete skill set.
Only thing that can hold him back is VW gets drafted to a really bad team, and puts up big numbers.
OKC definitely has room for a skilled Big though.
Smart money would bet against either of them winning ROY
Eh Chet let OKC down by not suiting up for the postseason. They could have used his help and he just sat by idly. I dont have faith.
What help would he have offered? Dude hasn’t played all year and isn’t even 100% ready yet.
Well he should have been ready. It’s the playoffs.
One of the dumbest takes I’ve read on here in a long time.
Yeah well the truth isn’t always popular. Go ask Copernicus.
Yeah… make him go 33% when he goes 20 of 25!!
RE: Timberpuppies being patient = DUH !!
Rudy to the Nets …..
I really believe this works out for both teams. Claxton is a better mix with KAT. And Ben can find his gm with no distractions. Makes them both better imo.
I was not a fan of Holmgren and his weight. He does need girth to have an nba career imo. But the kid has mojo. He knows the gm and plays the big man gm. I do believe he wants to be good. That alone will take him a long way. Just get to 260 LBs.