Chet Holmgren was drafted with the second overall pick by the Oklahoma City Thunder. Holmgren, to his credit, tried as hard as he could during this first practice. He didnt wow teammates with any one thing but with how he did everything well. Holmgren continues hoisting jumpers while running, twisting, drifting and shifting. Stakes, raised. Who does a player remind you of? If you missed it, we began the scouting report series profiling Paolo Banchero. Obviously, I can't put myself in other people's shoes in every circumstance, but I can sympathize with everybody. I just have to figure out how to help make this team 5 points better and then keep building from there., Chet Holmgren Seeks a Silver Lining in a Lost Rookie Season, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/20/sports/basketball/chet-holmgren-oklahoma-city-thunder-nba.html, Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren has second-guessed the decisions that led to his season-ending foot injury. I can work with him. A versatile 7-footer who was a second-team Associated Press All-American in his only college season, Holmgren averaged 14.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per game and ranked fourth nationally with 3.7 blocks per game for the Zags. Its hardly the first time that Holmgren has faced an obstruction on his path. His generational defense, size, and mobility make him. Barton joins the Raptors after he was waived by the Wizards on Feb. 21. Not quite as skinny as Holmgren, but still bulked up when he got to the league, currently being listed at 253 pounds. Time and place aligned perfectly. Video appeared to show Holmgren was hurt on a play while defending LeBron James. Chet Holmgren is now shooting a higher three point percentage (45.6%) than Jabari Smith Jr. (40.4%) Sweat drips down Chet Holmgrens much-discussed frame, soaking his T-shirt for emphasis. 2 overall in the 2022 NBA draft out of Gonzaga, where he was a consensus All-American in his freshman season with the Bulldogs after averaging 14.1 points, 9.9 . He didn't appear to be discouraged, which was another plus, and Suggs says he detected a flicker of understanding in the way Chet watched the other players, like Jalen, and understood the talent differential. Chet Holmgren, the Oklahoma City Thunder's No. The success, in turn, morphed Holmgren from tall and awkward into the nations top recruit. Green later was waived by OKC and signed with the defending-champion Golden State Warriors in the offseason. For the four likeliest optionsHolmgren, Jabari Smith (Auburn), Paolo Banchero (Duke) or Jaden Ivey (Purdue)expected to be drafted first, no one disputes that the tallest and skinniest prospect also holds the most potential. Slim as a sliver, he has a wingspan of nearly 7-foot-5 but could play point. Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren was spotted at the team practice facility on Friday doing various on-court shooting drills with the training staff. Chet Holmgren, for the first time this season, participated in the end-of-practice shooting competition during an eventual day at Thunder ION. There is not, and maybe never has been, anything like Holmgren: a 3-point-shooting 7-footer who handles the ball like a point guard -- OK, let's say a 2-guard -- who could play on the wing on offense and lead the league in blocked shots for the foreseeable future. Instead, he would join a long list of young big men who missed time early in their careers with injury. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, will miss the entire 2022-23 season, the team announced Thursday. ", Told that Delaney was trying to make him quit that first day, Holmgren says, "He never told me that part of the plan, but if that's what he was trying to do, it was never going to work.". The 7-foot-1 Holmgren expressed no fear that the same fate could befall him. Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren, the No. "I've watched him dominate kids who are 2 years older and 50 pounds heavier. But it does make it easier to. At 7 feet, 195 lb, Holmgren's unique, lanky frame has some concerned that he'll get injured in the NBA. 2 UCLA by 20. 7-0. I mean, how could you even think about drafting someone who cant bench 185? "But you've got to listen.". The No. When he was invited to play in Jamal Crawfords CrawsOver Pro-Am, which also featured LeBron James and the 2022 No. Suggs had already developed his own philosophy, teaching a European style of positionlessor multiple positionbasketball and adding isolation moves popular in the 1980s to further diversify skill sets. Because at the end of the day, if I want to be as good as Im trying to be, those are the guys Im going to have to look eye to eye with on a nightly basis for the next 10 seasons. All Rights Reserved. 3 pick in 2014 and missed his first two seasons with foot issues. Dort is one of the leagues best defensive players when healthy. Still cognizant of how the air in the room changed the moment the 7-foot dad entered the gym, Suggs asked the kid one more question: "Do you want to be as good as these guys? SALT LAKE CITY Chet Holmgren shined in his summer league debut, scoring 13 of his 23 points in the first quarter to help the Oklahoma City Thunder build an early 20-point lead en route to a 98 . 30 overall, though he went to the Denver Nuggets. 1 pick, were never able to live up to the promise of their draft status. The Thunder acquired JaMychal Green and a 2027 protected first-round pick from the Nuggets for the rights to Watson and two future second-round picks. "Just wait," David Holmgren says. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, In Ukraine: Every Victory, Sports or Otherwise, Aids Us, The Classified Case of the Pro Wrestler Who Helped Beat the Nazis. Giannis Antetokounmpo was 196 pounds when he was drafted, and is now 242. They each played a year at Gonzaga before entering the NBA. ", Suggs enlisted a local trainer, Aaron Delaney, to work with Holmgren, and his first words to Delaney were, "I want you to work with an eighth-grader who's going to be the first pick in the NBA draft." When he jumped, force plates in the floor turned the feed into data points that measured his coordinated movementright shin to right knee to right hipand how one movement led/tied to the next. Why Im 7 feet tall and I have this coordination that people havent really seen before.. David Holmgren is sitting in his living room, surrounded by dark wood walls and ceilings, a grand piano on one side and a bookshelf filled with hardcovers on the facing wall. 1 recruit then the state of basketball is in trouble. He is as lean as his son, and just as tall, and looking at him it's easy to imagine Chet in roughly 35 years, including the ponytail. Holmgren stayed with it, never complaining, and Delaney thought, I like this kid. Chet Holmgren has faced eager challengers from the moment he was identified as one of the top players in his high school class way back during his sophomore year at Minneapolis' Minnehaha. However, his upcoming procedure would represent a benchmark in his rehab process and would likely allow him to increase his activity level. Nationality and race don't change the game. Inside an office on that day in Santa Barbara, The Unicorn leans back. Holmgrens early test results backed up his nickname. In Ukraine: Every Victory, Sports or Otherwise, Aids Us The Classified Case of the Pro Wrestler Who Helped Beat the Nazis Should Russian Athletes Be Allowed to Compete? Selected with the 25th overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft, Harrington played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets . 1 selection Greg Oden in 2007. But about a minute into the game, as Holmgren was defending James on a fast break, he planted his right foot awkwardly and came up limping. in frustration. July 12, 2021 5:51am . If Holmgren is skinny now, he was whatever is less-than-skinny then. The scene is revealing, on near and far horizons, in distinct and contrasting ways. Kevin Durant was the future, and Larry Suggs was a man who believed every player needed to be trained and coached like a point guard. 1 pick; foot injury) have gone on to All-Star careers. 5 selection in 2011 not being able to join the Toronto Raptors until a year later because of his contract status with his European team at the time. He was air-balling.". By Associated Press. He was guarding @KingJames one-on-one. Unicorn is an overused sports clich. From the top picks to some undrafted gems, several players made a solid first impression in their Summer League run. He didnt return to the game, which was eventually canceled because the court was too wet. 4 jersey retired the first such honor bestowed by the team in the Oklahoma City era and remains part of the teams front office. He is one of several key pieces for the Thunder, who are led by guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (24.5 ppg in 2021-22) and Josh Giddey (the No. At Gonzaga, Holmgrens presence alone opened space, as did his range (39% from deep, 61% overall). I dont think anybody could convince me of that. Holmgren is here, flesh and blood and bone and very little fat, and the teams at the top of the draft must deal with the reality of his existence, and what it all might mean. P3s studies show commonalities between elite players. At least thats the case with my uncle who was watching the Gonzaga vs. UCLA game with me two nights before Thanksgiving. The G League Ignite guard has been toward the top of several draft boards ahead of the 2023 Draft. Suggs studied the list of players who would graduate in Chet's year, and he couldn't see anyone he would project to be better. The women feel the rhythm! Will Holmgren seize on all that makes him unusual? A little low, he muses. Holmgren has been a household name in NBA circles since he was 16. Some, like Greg Oden, the 2007 No. This could all be hype. Elliott is looking for outliers, anything that makes a prospect special. Few evaluators study how those same springy players interact with the ground. . When those are the stakes, its easy to forget hes only 20. I see that as butchering the game of basketball.. Holmgren hears splash, splash, splash. What Holmgren cannot do is convince whichever team might draft him to follow the same strategy. He devotes his free time to video games. Scouts know how to identify young talent, because its obvious. Is Holmgren the latest iteration of Kevin Durant? Tall, yes, but not 6 feet tall. This isnt the path we would have chosen, Daigneault said, and its not the path he would have chosen, but hell benefit from the way this is stretching and straining him.. "He started doing things with the ball that guards do -- fluidly. If he quits on the workout, I won't work with him again.". "I hoop with everyone in the city," Chet says. "We were nine-deep in seven-seat cars, five people packed into hotel rooms, air mattresses on the floor. He had never been forced to slow down before. Elliott believes those fears stem from the unknown. Holmgren, who was selected second overall in this year's draft out. He couldnt do five push-ups without dropping his knees to the ground, couldnt bench-press his body weight and couldnt perform a single pull-up. Many mock drafts have Holmgren as the No. After sustaining a Lisfranc injury in his right foot during an offseason pro-am event and being ruled out for the 2022-23 season, the Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren seems to have . 1 picks. Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren (foot) to miss entire 2022-23 season | NBA.com The No. Fortunately for Holmgren, all the goals he set for himself before this season are still possible in the 2023-24 campaign. He moves on to ladder hops, then standing jumps, where he starts on a box, hops down and leaps atop a training table. Stay up to date with NBA player news, rumors, updates, analysis, social feeds, and more at FOX Sports. Holmgrens arrival in the N.B.A. Chet Holmgren didnt feel like hed arrived in the N.B.A. Possibilities that didn't exist seconds before suddenly became possible. I'm not saying he might not struggle at the beginning, but there's no way he's not going to succeed.". 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