247Sports' Head Scout Praises how OKC Thunder Star Chet Holmgren has Handled Success

On a recent podcast episode, Adam Finkelstein of 247Sports talked about one of the traits that has helped Oklahoma City's Chet Holmgren succeed throughout his career.

May 18, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

On a recent episode of the Eye on College Basketball podcast, 247Sports Director of Scouting Adam Finkelstein talked about scouting major tournaments like Nike's EYBL Peach Jam.

Aside from obvious physical talent and skill on the basketball court, Finkelstein mentioned another aspect of the game that he looks for when he is scouting some of the top prospects in the country.

"To have all those professional expectations around you when you're a 17-year-old kid, and yet still. carry yourself with humility, that's like part of the secret sauce to the evaluating here," Finkelstein said. "Which of the highly talented kids are capable of handling the success and the notoriety and continuing to get better. Guys like Paolo Banchero and Chet Holmgren, they did that. They were celebrated at a young age and they took it all in stride and they kept getting better and better and better. The guys who didn't, we don't talk about them anymore because they haven't made it."

As Finkelstein mentioned, Holmgren has had high expectations for many years.

Coming out of high school, the Minnehaha Academy (MN) product was not only a 5-star prospect, but was ranked the No. 1 recruit in the entire 2021 class per 247Sports.

In college, Holmgren played for Gonzaga, a team who regularly won its conference and had national championship aspirations. Despite losing to Jaylin Williams and Arkansas in the Sweet 16, the team had plenty of expectations heading into the tournament and throughout the season.

After his one-year college career, Holmgren was the second overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, which comes with plenty of expectations itself. Even after suffering an injury and missing what would have been his first professional season, the former 5-star prospect had a great rookie year and helped lead Oklahoma City to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

At every level, Holmgren has been met with tall expectations. Yet, the standout center has handled success well and continued to improve his game.

This will be important heading into the 2024-25 season after the Thunder added Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso over the offseason, leading many to choose OKC as favorites in the West.

Now that the team has even greater expectations than it did at this time last season, there will be more pressue on Mark Daigneault and company to be successful. As Finkelstein said about Holmgren, however, success and the expectations that come along with it haven't phased the All-Rookie honoree.

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