What Are Reasonable Expectations for Chet Holmgren on Opening Night?

The eyes of the sports world will be on San Antonio, Texas, the 20th of Octrober when the Oklahoma City Thunder travel South to take on Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs. There are more storylines going into this game than any other individual game on OKC’s schedule this season. However, the biggest is how Chet Holmgren will look going up against a team he struggled with last season. 

There are many fans who won’t give Chet his flowers unless he goes out there and has a career night against San Antonio, but while that is possible, it’s extremely unlikely. Thunder fans need to balance high expectations with reasonable ones for Holmgren as the Thunder start their season. 

Here are a few reasonable things you should expect from Chet on opening night. First, more aggression. Part of the reason that he is receiving the amount of criticism and hate that he is is not due to the fact that his shot didn’t drop, but because, in a game where a second option was clearly needed due to injuries, Chet faded into the background, shooting only two times. Holmgren is not the kind of guy who needs to force his own shots up or try to create for himself when something isn’t there. However, he needs to be confident enough in his game that when the open shots come, he takes them and lives with the results. 

Second, Holmgren needs to be able to use his size to shoot over smaller players. If your expectations are that he can take Wembanyama in one-on-ones and score over the top of him, you might be wishing for something that can’t come true. However, Chet should be able to shoot over the top of the Spurs’ smaller guards and wings. If he can do that, he should look significantly better from an offensive perspective. 

Finally, Chet needs to ensure his defensive impact isn’t negated by the Spurs’ smaller players. Countless times throughout the Western Conference Finals, Chet got scored on at the rim because guys like Devin Vassell and Dylan Harper could move Holmgren off his spot and score easily. 

If your expectations coming into opening night are that Chet makes a significant on ball leap or simply makes easy work of the Spurs then your expectatiuons are too high. The Spurs will likely never be an easy matchip for Holmgren but if he improves in the three areas mentioned above Thunder fans can be very confident in the future for the young all-star.