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It might be a long summer for Chet Holmgren.
With the Oklahoma City Thunder petering out in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals (WCF) on Saturday night, a lot of the Thunder's shortcomings are being placed at the feet of the All-NBA big man, whose performance was nowhere near up to snuff as a championship piece. Holmgren took just two shots and scored only four points in 33 minutes in the do-or-die loss to the San Antonio Spurs. This, on top of Holmgren not playing like the same defensive menace he's shown he can be. All told, it's probably unfair to call Holmgren a superstar, but his play throughout the entire WCF still wasn't nearly good enough.
That's why there is reasonable trade speculation about Holmgren leaving Oklahoma City, especially in a trade for a player like Giannis Antetokounmpo. That conversation probably isn't ending any time soon, either.
Holmgren's teammate, two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is aware of this discussion concerning his teammate. In his end-of-season review press conference on Sunday, Gilgeous-Alexander wasn't having any of it. He stumped for his big man, acknowledging that sometimes guys aren't going to play to their standards because that's just what happens in basketball at this level. Shoot, in any sport:
Here's what Gilgeous-Alexander said in Holmgren's defense in full:
Gilgeous-Alexander isn't wrong. If anything, his opinion is the logical one. High-level athletes are allowed to have a bad playoff series without it being a referendum on their entire careers. Better NBA players than Holmgren, who is still only 24, have played worse in higher-leverage situations over the years. You know what happened to many of them? They brushed off their struggles, came back, and simply played better.
I don't know if that is precisely what will happen with Holmgren. In fact, I think the Thunder should, at least, seriously consider trading Holgrem for Antetokounmpo (for a reasonable price) if they get a shot to do so. But, as Gilgeous-Alexander said, the version of Holmgren we saw in the WCF was probably the worst version of himself, not the definitive version.
We would all do well to remember that before writing him off.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander strongly pushed back against Chet Holmgren hate
Continue reading...
With the Oklahoma City Thunder petering out in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals (WCF) on Saturday night, a lot of the Thunder's shortcomings are being placed at the feet of the All-NBA big man, whose performance was nowhere near up to snuff as a championship piece. Holmgren took just two shots and scored only four points in 33 minutes in the do-or-die loss to the San Antonio Spurs. This, on top of Holmgren not playing like the same defensive menace he's shown he can be. All told, it's probably unfair to call Holmgren a superstar, but his play throughout the entire WCF still wasn't nearly good enough.
That's why there is reasonable trade speculation about Holmgren leaving Oklahoma City, especially in a trade for a player like Giannis Antetokounmpo. That conversation probably isn't ending any time soon, either.
Holmgren's teammate, two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is aware of this discussion concerning his teammate. In his end-of-season review press conference on Sunday, Gilgeous-Alexander wasn't having any of it. He stumped for his big man, acknowledging that sometimes guys aren't going to play to their standards because that's just what happens in basketball at this level. Shoot, in any sport:
Here's what Gilgeous-Alexander said in Holmgren's defense in full:
Gilgeous-Alexander isn't wrong. If anything, his opinion is the logical one. High-level athletes are allowed to have a bad playoff series without it being a referendum on their entire careers. Better NBA players than Holmgren, who is still only 24, have played worse in higher-leverage situations over the years. You know what happened to many of them? They brushed off their struggles, came back, and simply played better.
I don't know if that is precisely what will happen with Holmgren. In fact, I think the Thunder should, at least, seriously consider trading Holgrem for Antetokounmpo (for a reasonable price) if they get a shot to do so. But, as Gilgeous-Alexander said, the version of Holmgren we saw in the WCF was probably the worst version of himself, not the definitive version.
We would all do well to remember that before writing him off.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander strongly pushed back against Chet Holmgren hate
Continue reading...
