Current Jazz vs 2022-23 OKC team roster comparison

[HermanG]

There is no case to be made that we are in the exact same position or that we are going to end up where they are, but I wanted to highlight some similarities about roster structure of the 2022-23 OKC team in comparison to ours.

Rookies (Chet included but highlighted in red, since he didnt play a single game that year)

2022-23 OKC Player	Draft position	2024-25 Jazz player	Draft position
Chet Holmgren	2	Cody Williams	10
Ousmane Dieng	11	Isiah Collier	29
Jalen Williams	12	Kyle Filipowski	32
Jaylin Williams	34

2nd year guys

2022-23 OKC Player*	Draft position	2024-25 Jazz player	Draft position
Josh Giddey	6	Taylor Hendricks	9
Tre Mann	18	Keyonte George	16
Jeremiah Robinson-Ear	32	Brice Sensabaugh	28
Aaron Wiggins	55

*OKC also added Lindy Waters III, Olivier Sarr and Jared Butler to their roster as "G League scrubs"

3rd year guys on regular contracts were Isiaiah Joe and Aleksej Pokusevski for the Thunder and Kessler and Juzang for the current Jazz team.

Notable vets (entering 4th year or beyond). Excluded Saric, Muscala and Bazley as they didnt play much that year, and likewise Eubanks, Svi and Mills for Jazz, albeit we dont know how much they may play.

2022-23 OKC Player*	Age / Experience	2024-25 Jazz player	Age / Experience
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	24 / 4 years	Lauri Markkanen	27 / 7 years
Luguenz Dort	23 / 3 years	Collin Sexton	25 / 6 years
Kenrich Williams	28 / 4 years	John Collins	27 / 7 years
		Jordan Clarkson	32 / 10 years

So take what you will about those, but there are similarities between us and the OKC team of 2022-23. Few notes:

• A lot of similarities in terms of how many drafted prospects each team had in their playing roster from the two drafts leading to those years. Both had 2 late lottery picks and 1 pick in the 15-19 range, but obviously the major difference is Giddey. However since Giddey has been traded for a veteran in Caruso, we actually can quantify his value to OKC (and its not the full upside of a 6th pick).
• That OKC team finished with 40-42 record, but the West wasnt as tough then as it is now. However 2022-23 was SGA's breakout year and he finished 5th in MVP vote and 2nd in MIP behind Lauri averaging 31.4 PPG on 51/35/90 shooting.
• If we manage to tank and get a top 5 pick, the comparison engine is gonna look similar next year as well... as Chet's rookie year was in fact 2023-24 and thus we may roll into 2025-26 with a similar lineup (in terms of experience and draft positions) than OKC did into 2023-24 (where they finished 57-25).

 

[idiot]

Though it may not matter much by the time they are "vets," one structural difference is that OKC's key "vets" were drafted 11, undrafted, undrafted, while the Jazz's were obtained at 7, 8, 19, 46.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

There is no case to be made that we are in the exact same position or that we are going to end up where they are, but I wanted to highlight some similarities about roster structure of the 2022-23 OKC team in comparison to ours.

Rookies (Chet included but highlighted in red, since he didnt play a single game that year)

2022-23 OKC Player	Draft position	2024-25 Jazz player	Draft position
Chet Holmgren	2	Cody Williams	10
Ousmane Dieng	11	Isiah Collier	29
Jalen Williams	12	Kyle Filipowski	32
Jaylin Williams	34

2nd year guys

2022-23 OKC Player*	Draft position	2024-25 Jazz player	Draft position
Josh Giddey	6	Taylor Hendricks	9
Tre Mann	18	Keyonte George	16
Jeremiah Robinson-Ear	32	Brice Sensabaugh	28
Aaron Wiggins	55

*OKC also added Lindy Waters III, Olivier Sarr and Jared Butler to their roster as "G League scrubs"

3rd year guys on regular contracts were Isiaiah Joe and Aleksej Pokusevski for the Thunder and Kessler and Juzang for the current Jazz team.

Notable vets (entering 4th year or beyond). Excluded Saric, Muscala and Bazley as they didnt play much that year, and likewise Eubanks, Svi and Mills for Jazz, albeit we dont know how much they may play.

2022-23 OKC Player*	Age / Experience	2024-25 Jazz player	Age / Experience
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	24 / 4 years	Lauri Markkanen	27 / 7 years
Luguenz Dort	23 / 3 years	Collin Sexton	25 / 6 years
Kenrich Williams	28 / 4 years	John Collins	27 / 7 years
		Jordan Clarkson	32 / 10 years

So take what you will about those, but there are similarities between us and the OKC team of 2022-23. Few notes:

• A lot of similarities in terms of how many drafted prospects each team had in their playing roster from the two drafts leading to those years. Both had 2 late lottery picks and 1 pick in the 15-19 range, but obviously the major difference is Giddey. However since Giddey has been traded for a veteran in Caruso, we actually can quantify his value to OKC (and its not the full upside of a 6th pick).
• That OKC team finished with 24-58 record, but the West wasnt as tough then as it is now. However 2022-23 was SGA's breakout year and he finished 5th in MVP vote and 2nd in MIP behind Lauri averaging 31.4 PPG on 51/35/90 shooting.
• If we manage to tank and get a top 5 pick, the comparison engine is gonna look similar next year as well... as Chet's rookie year was in fact 2023-24 and thus we may roll into 2025-26 with a similar lineup (in terms of experience and draft positions) than OKC did into 2023-24 (where they finished 42-40).

Uhh the 2022-2023 Thunder had a 40-42 record.... Maybe I'm reading what you wrote wrong tho...

 

[HermanG]

Uhh the 2022-2023 Thunder had a 40-42 record.... Maybe I'm reading what you wrote wrong tho...

Yeah that is my bad. I messed up the years when I was looking at their records from 2021-2024. Roster is from correct year though.

They came into that year from 24-58 in the previous one, finished 40-42 and then went 57-25.

 

[KqWIN]

I don't mind looking at OKC, but there are many teams who opted for a youth movement and those comparisons are just as valid. Obviously, what makes OKC who they are is their key prospects. Shai is a top 5 player. Jalen and Chet are certain to be all stars in the future. Those home runs are what make them who they are rather than the amount of rookies/experiences/age. I suppose a Jalen Williams can pop out of anywhere, because he did, but I don't find our roster composition to be similar because we don't have the two elite prospects like OKC did.

 

[HermanG]

I don't mind looking at OKC, but there are many teams who opted for a youth movement and those comparisons are just as valid. Obviously, what makes OKC who they are is their key prospects. Shai is a top 5 player. Jalen and Chet are certain to be all stars in the future. Those home runs are what make them who they are rather than the amount of rookies/experiences/age. I suppose a Jalen Williams can pop out of anywhere, because he did, but I don't find our roster composition to be similar because we don't have the two elite prospects like OKC did.

How many of those other youth movement teams had an all-star caliber vet? SGA is better than Lauri, but 2022-23 was the season where SGA actually leveled up. Even if Lauri cannot get to any higher levels he is still the second best player between the two teams, and better than any OKC player had been before that season.

 

[Coach Ellis]

Having Lauri is solid. It’s a decent start to building a playoff team down the road, but the Jazz have to hit on a couple of their draft picks AND convert future assets into at least 1 other star player to get there. If any (or hopefully all 3) of Keyonte, Taylor or Cody end up leveling up. . . the Jazz will be a solid team.

 

[FrenchJazzFa]

Interesting comparison. Tanking hard this year may help us a lot to go the OKC way.

 

[Coach Ellis]

Interesting comparison. Tanking hard this year may help us a lot to go the OKC way.

If the Jazz can get a guy comparable to Chet, then I think they’ll be on solid ground moving forward - regardless of what they decide to do with Lauri next year.