2022 NBA Draft grades: Oklahoma City Thunder select Chet Holmgren with No. 2 overall pick

With the No. 2 total decide within the 2022 NBA Draft on Thursday the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder chosen Chet Holmgren, a 7-foot stretch massive with guard expertise and doubtlessly game-changing defensive capacity. 

Considered one of school basketball’s most dominant two-way stars throughout his lone season at Gonzaga, Holmgren joins budding famous person Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and 2021 No. 6 total decide Josh Giddey because the core of a Thunder franchise that continues to be stocked with future draft capital simply ready to be cashed in.  

CBS Sports activities Gary Parrish provides the Thunder’s decide an A+.

The considerations about Holmgren’s slight body are official — however he is such a singular prospect with unimaginable potential that he is the precise decide right here. This 7-foot rim-protector who also can bounce it like a guard and reliably make 3-pointers. He has the best ceiling on this draft and, for that motive, ought to go no decrease than right here.   

Holmgren profiles as an elite rim protector and shot-changer within the paint; many truly good analysts speak about Holmgren’s instincts on the defensive finish as “off the charts.” Holmgren has been in comparison with Pau Gasol, and even Rudy Gobert with perimeter expertise, by Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. That is fairly excessive reward. 

Offensively, Holmgren’s capacity to stretch the ground as a shooter is an ideal complement for Gilgeous-Alexander, who is among the most aggressive drivers within the league and turns into virtually inconceivable to maintain out of the paint on a spaced flooring. 

In the meantime, Giddey, who is not an excellent shooter however is a particular passer, now has a 7-foot taking pictures goal for his sixth-sense reads and extra space to function as a playmaker. 

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Holmgren’s scouting report

There’s, in fact, some doubt as as to whether Holmgren will dwell as much as the hype. His slender body is the place many of the doubt begins and ends. Can he maintain as much as the bodily toll of the NBA? Everybody will cite the truth that scouts voiced comparable considerations about Kevin Durant when he was popping out of faculty, and certainly the NBA has turn out to be far more about ability than physicality. However that does not imply Holmgren’s profession will play out the identical manner.  For one, he isn’t practically as expert as Durant. Not even shut. No one is at that dimension. 

This is what CBS Sports activities senior author Matt Norlander needed to say about Holmgren, whom he finally initiatives as a good-but-not-great participant:

I believe it is greater than affordable to challenge at the least one of many massive three (Jabari Smith, Paolo Banchero and Holmgren) to not be a top-five participant on this class by the point we glance up in 2030 and take inventory of all that is occurred. Since Holmgren’s nonetheless dogged by questions on his body and shelf life as a sturdy presence, I will decide him to be the worst of the three. I do not query his work ethic or love for the sport in any respect. I am unable to wait to see him within the NBA, however I believe he winds up as , however a bit inconsistent, fashionable stretch-center.

As Norlander says, Holmgren’s flooring nonetheless seems to be fairly excessive. He will be participant. Seven-footers who can shoot and shield the rim are at all times going to be extremely useful. The query is whether or not Holmgren tops out as a useful rotation participant or a legit franchise cornerstone. OKC is betting on the latter.