Chet Holmgren: 'It's On Us to Prove Them Wrong'
Oklahoma City's youthful team is on a quest to prove people wrong.
Oklahoma City has been an elite regular season team, and it almost happened out of thin air. A jump from the play-in tournament to No. 1 seed contention is almost unheard of, but the leap this team has made is undeniable.
Every metric will tell you this Thunder team is a contender for the Larry O’Brien trophy. It’s hard to predict with only regular season data and metrics to go off of, though. There’s no telling what changes this group will see in the playoffs and which players rise to the occasion. The lights get bright and the stakes increase, which tends to make or break teams. Despite the Thunder’s favorable metrics, it can be hard for some to believe that Oklahoma City is really a championship contender.
For the players, though, the NBA Finals is always a silent goal. Nobody is going to predict a championship in August, especially if you’re one of the youngest teams in the NBA, but it’s what every team is working for. Oklahoma City is no exception. The team hopes its first real taste of postseason basketball will be special.
Chet Holmgren joined Shams Charania to discuss championship expectations and where the Thunder’s locker room is at right now.
"I feel like there's never been a team that has had success who's never had a narrative around them,” Holmgren said about Oklahoma City’s youth narrative. “I guess that's the narrative that we picked up. It's on us to prove them wrong."
Oklahoma City has an MVP candidate, a Rookie of the Year candidate, and a rising second-option star. The roster around the big three is more than capable too. The Thunder are the second best 3-point shooting team in the NBA and force a ton of turnovers on the defensive end.
Despite all of the youth on the roster, Oklahoma City’s group just clicks. The Thunder have all the pieces to make a deep run, but youthfulness is frowned upon in the postseason. Like Holmgren said, the mindset is now about proving people wrong.
“If you don’t come into training camp on day one with the mindset of doing everything toward winning a championship, you don’t end up in the Thunder organization,” Holmgren said. “Credit to the front office for putting the right guys in this locker room and in the building with us.”
Of course, nothing will come easy for this Thunder team. Winning an NBA championship is one of the hardest tasks in professional sports, and the Thunder knows that more than anyone. Throughout 15 years of the franchise’s existence, Oklahoma City has fielded some of the best teams.
Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden made it to the NBA Finals but couldn’t finish the job. Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony had terrific regular seasons but couldn’t put it together in the playoffs. It takes a special group and an otherworldly run to win a championship.
“That doesn’t change the fact of how hard it is and at the end of the day only one team can win, so we’re going to take all the steps to put us in the position to have the best chance at doing that,” Holmgren said. “But we also understand that that’s not going to be easy and nobody is just going to let us win it.”
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