{"id":107301,"date":"2024-11-16T13:07:19","date_gmt":"2024-11-16T18:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=107301"},"modified":"2024-11-16T13:07:19","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T18:07:19","slug":"thunder-sign-branden-carlson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/16\/thunder-sign-branden-carlson\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunder Sign Shot-Blocking Leader To Shore Up Center Position"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Oklahoma City Thunder weren\u2019t all that big to begin with, but they\u2019ve been forced to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/14\/why-thunder-small-ball-works\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">play small because of injuries<\/a> sustained by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/holmgch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chet Holmgren<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/harteis01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the Thunder waived rookie wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leonsma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Malevy Leons<\/a> in a move that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/16\/thunder-waive-little-used-player-opening-up-spot-for-center\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">looked like a precursor<\/a> to another transaction. They\u2019re 11-2, sitting atop the Western Conference standings for the second straight season. Nonetheless, they needed to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/11\/thunder-navigate-chet-holmgrens-injury-new-starting-lineup-kenrich-williams\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">shore up their center depth<\/a>. Not only were Holmgren and Hartenstein out with injuries but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willija07.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylin Williams<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n<h2>Thunder Sign Shot-Blocking Leader Branden Carlson To Shore Up Center Position<\/h2>\n<p>Those suspicions were confirmed on Saturday, as the Thunder have signed undrafted free agent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/carlsbr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Branden Carlson<\/a> to a one-year deal, according to HoopsHype insider Michael Scotto.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed to a one-year, standard NBA deal with Branden Carlson, Ross Aroyo and Mark Bartelstein of <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PrioritySports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@PrioritySports<\/a> told <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hoopshype?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@hoopshype<\/a>. OKC needs frontcourt depth. Carlson, a 7-foot center, is the all-time shot blocking leader for the University of Utah. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Go3kxa53GA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/Go3kxa53GA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeAScotto\/status\/1857805276595818786?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Carlson, the University of Utah\u2019s all-time shot-blocking leader, measured in at 7-foot-0 and 206 pounds at multiple pre-draft events. Thus, he joined Holmgren and Hartenstein as the only 7-footers on the roster. Interestingly, he\u2019s also the lightest among the trio, but is generally in the same mold.<\/p>\n<h3>What He Brings To The Table<\/h3>\n<p>Carlson played for the Utes for five seasons, averaging 12.9 points per game on 35.4 percent shooting from three. He saved his best for last, averaging career-highs of 17.0 points on 37.9 percent shooting from three in 2023-24. However, he also made a consistent impact as a rim-protector, averaging at least 1.4 blocks per every season.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s more than a stretch-five though. His ability to shoot from beyond the arc is what made him an especially intriguing NBA prospect, but he\u2019s also a capable post scorer due to his patience, footwork, and touch. If his number is called by Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, his ability to score in the halfcourt could help him see the court consistently.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/aPG9GC_tq0U?si=m2nMx1oxB-oVPVIZ<\/p>\n<p>That being said, playing great defense is what many rookies see as the best way to earn playing time. For Carlson, it should be no different. In fact, the timing and tenacity that led to him blocking 241 shots in college \u2014as a surprisingly agile rim-protector no less \u2014is the biggest difference between him and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/diengou01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ousmane Dieng<\/a>, whose minutes have gone up since Holmgren\u2019s hip injury.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t necessarily a knock on Dieng. Despite being 6-foot-10, he\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2022\/06\/06\/ousmane-dieng-2022-nba-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">more of a perimeter player<\/a> than a big man. Nonetheless, with Dieng\u2019s three-point not falling consistently, he\u2019s in bigger danger of losing his playing time Carlson than anyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Oklahoma City Thunder weren\u2019t all that big to begin with, but they\u2019ve been forced to play small because of injuries sustained by Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein. On Friday, the Thunder waived rookie wing Malevy Leons in a move that looked like a precursor to another transaction. They\u2019re 11-2, sitting atop the Western Conference [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":107310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1608,62,556,3],"tags":[49825,4292,993,98,297,4614],"class_list":["post-107301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thunder","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","category-news","tag-branden-carlson","tag-chet-holmgren","tag-isaiah-hartenstein","tag-nba-draft","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-ousmane-dieng"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}