Friday Bolts: Season Lookback

Expectations were low coming into the season, especially without no. 2 overall pick, Chet Holmgren, sidelined after a stellar summer league debut. But the Thunder blew past even the most optimistic projections, landing in the play-in tournament and finishing one win away from a playoff berth.

With such a surprising season, despite coming up short of the playoffs, optimism abounds in OKC.

One big narrative that took a hit this year was the Thunder being a "black eye" for tanking.

After the Thunder's exciting win over the New Orleans Pelicans, the reviews on the play-in tournament (and OKC's place in it) were stellar. Rohan Nadkarni (SI.com) said that the Thunder's showing was proof the play-in…