A warm “Howdy, partner” to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, who joins me this week to talk about the Thunder’s rebuild – where it started, how it’s going and why it’s so far ahead of schedule. Plus, we dig into MacMahon’s recent story revisiting the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Paul George trade and examine SGA’s MVP chances.

Episode highlights:
2:50 How Tim viewed this Thunder rebuild, and how it’s compared to his expectations.
15:50: How Josh Giddey fits now and how that might change in the long term.
26:00: MacMahon on his story revisiting the trade that sent Paul George to the Clippers for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
32:00: Why Chet Holmgren was just what OKC needed… and some trivia about his season that you might not know.
36:30: SGA for MVP? Where he stands now and what he might need to set himself up for a win in the future.

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane
Social media: Bobby Howard
Director of Content: Mike Sherman

Is there a real MVP push in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s immediate future? How much will Gordon Hayward play? And how much do those minutes eat into Josh Giddey’s? Brandon Sowle joins me on this week’s episode to break down all the Thunder’s post-All-Star storylines.

Episode highlights:
3:14: Our takeaways from the Thunder at the All-Star break. What’s surprised us most about where OKC is through 54 games.
9:00:The Thunder in awards races. What are Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP chances? Is Jalen Williams a Most Improved Player candidate? Has the Rookie of the Year ship sailed for Chet Holmgren? Is Mark Daigneault the Coach of the Year favorite?
22:15: The Josh Giddey of it all. How much is the defensive strategy on Giddey gumming up the Thunder’s offense? What do the numbers say? How much does Gordon Hayward address the problem?
33:45: Should Gordon Hayward start?
44:45: Where does the Thunder finish in the Western Conference standings?

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane
Social media: Bobby Howard
Director of Content: Mike Sherman

With the NBA trade deadline looming, Jon Hamm joins me to talk about the state of the Thunder, the pecking order of the team’s playoff rotation and what kinds of pieces OKC might need to add if it’s looking to deal.

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

It’s only January and the online discussion of the NBA Rookie of the Year race already is exhausting. To cut through all the side-choosing, Matthew Tynan — who’s covered the Spurs and the NBA at SB Nation, Bleacher Report and The Athletic and now writes about San Antonio at matthewtynan.substack.com — joins me to talk rationally about Chet Holmgren, Victor Wembanyama and whether playing on a good team matters more than putting up big numbers.

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane
Social media team: Michael Martin, Bobby Martin
Director of Content: Mike Sherman

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This week, Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis will retire Chet Holmgren’s high school jersey, and it got me thinking about what it must have been like to see Chet play in those formative days. There’s a story there, and in Minnesota nobody tells a story like Chip Scoggins. The award-winning columnist from the Minneapolis Star Tribune joins me to talk about the days when people told him he had to go see the skinny kind from Minneahaha — and what he saw when he did.

Show highlights
(02:39) Scoggins remembers the first time he saw Holmgren and thinking "What in the world? I had never seen anything like this."
(9:21) Scoggins noticed Holmgren's toughness from the start. "You're not going to bully him."
(10:55) Holmgren's high school days were "a traveling circus."
(20:30) Comparisons with Kevin Durant when it comes to their frame and skill.

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane
Director of Content: Mike Sherman

Guest information
Chip Scoggins on Twitter: https://twitter.com/chipscoggins
Minneapolis Star-Tribune: https://www.startribune.com/chip-scoggins/6370598/

Related stories
Chet Holmgren’s dunk sends the stat geeks down a rabbit hole:
https://selloutcrowd.com/okc-thunder/2023/12/29/chet-holmgrens-dunk-sends-the-stat-geeks-down-a-rabbit-hole/
How the Thunder’s Chet Holmgren is adjusting to physical play and thriving at center:
https://selloutcrowd.com/the-latest/2023/11/24/how-the-thunders-chet-holmgren-is-adjusting-to-physical-play-and-thriving-at-center/

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The trade conversation is getting louder among Thunder fans, but improvement doesn’t always require personnel changes. This week, Sellout Crowd colleague Jon Hamm joins me to talk about how OKC can get better with just the players it has.

Producer: Michael Martin
Creative Director: Michael Lane

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Brandon Sowle returns to the podcast to join me for a chat about the Thunder’s recent run of signature wins, the moments in calendar year 2023 that set up the current OKC resurgence and what might lie ahead in 2024. Trades, big and small? A playoff series win? A longer run? We’re considering it all.

Producer: Michael Martin
Creative Director: Michael Lane

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Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times joins me to talk about the ways the Thunder and Clippers are connected, most closely by the future draft picks L.A. owes OKC. And we discuss rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: What Andrew saw when he covered the young SGA – and how the Clippers struggled to deal him to the Thunder, even as the key cog in a superstar deal.

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane

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