2020-21 Oklahoma City Thunder Preseason Game Thread | December 12 - December 18

bbms · Post #61 » by **bbms** » Sun Dec 13, 2020 4:34 pm

The certainly best takeaway of this game was Maledon and Poku going for it, and not shying away from competition and opportunity to show off.

TBH, I feel awkward. Of course is great Poku hitting 50% on 8 3pt attempts, but I think if he keeps shooting very well, it might mask some aspects of his game that really needs work. He is very skilled but his decision making looked questionable, imo. Defense is obviously not there.

He tries and does lots of things but shooting might be really his only NBA-level skill.

On the upside, Muscala, Horford, TJ Leaf! Nice to have a full big men rotation with range!

Post #62 » by **ThunderBolt** » Sun Dec 13, 2020 9:42 pm

Spoiler:

a-French-Fan wrote:
ThunderBolt wrote:
a-French-Fan wrote:Absolutely not surprised by Maledon even if I didn't expect 20 pts for his first game.
His game is clean, because each time he had a TO he was benched with Mitrovic (during this time Jaka Lakovic allowed K. Hayes as many TOs as possible). If you are surprised of his maturity, remind that he had a true role as a PG in Euroleague (not Eurocup), although he was benched each time he made a mistake.

I didn't expect him to be nervous like Hayes for his first preseason game because he is really a cold blood man. He doesn't often show his emotions, don't worry about this.
I was afraid that he wouldn't be enough agressive, because he is a smooth guy and unselfish. I was wrong. And if he keep agressive, he will get foul calls, and with his FT% he will have a lot of opportunities.

Of course like the coach said, it was only first game and he will have bad games, but I was not surprised this morning to see what he did this night.

How do you think he compares to Hayes?

I don't like to compare them. They won a U16 euro together, dominated Espoirs pro A championships and Hayes was the MVP,went to final for world u17 and then when they became professionnal they took two very different paths. Hayes played where he grew up, where his father played, in Cholet. But things went wrong and then went to Germany to play Eurocup where his coach let him do a lot of mistakes. So that made good stats and a lot of highlights.
Maledon had a very good first pro year unlike Hayes, with very good games in Eurocup. He was Mantas Kalnietis back up at 17. A true reference for Eurocup, and Lithuania's PG. Coach Mitrovic didn't let him do any mistake. Although all of this his first pro season was great and Vincent Collet called him with national team and was cut before 2019 WC. Then he was early injuried, and coach Mitrovic loved to keep him on the bench when he came back. Few last games before the first lockdown he got better, but too late he was already falling in mock drafts.
To sum up:
2017-2018: Hayes > Maledon. But Maledon was discovering a new environment at 16
2018-2019: Maledon>Hayes
2019-2020: Hayes seemed better than Maledon, but there is a huge gap between Eurocup and Euroleague, and Maledon' season was biased.

Your thoughts appear to be accurate and validated by Fran Fraschilla.

Read on Twitter

Mickey8 · Post #63 » by **Mickey8** » Sun Dec 13, 2020 10:49 pm

bbms wrote:The certainly best takeaway of this game was Maledon and Poku going for it, and not shying away from competition and opportunity to show off.

TBH, I feel awkward. Of course is great Poku hitting 50% on 8 3pt attempts, but I think if he keeps shooting very well, it might mask some aspects of his game that really needs work. He is very skilled but his decision making looked questionable, imo. Defense is obviously not there.

He tries and does lots of things but shooting might be really his only NBA-level skill.

On the upside, Muscala, Horford, TJ Leaf! Nice to have a full big men rotation with range!

He can drive with the basketball, he could easily take big guys off the dribble (like he did with that bank floater), he can pass the ball, but in order for those other attributes in his game to come to light and become part of his repertoire he needs to get much more physically stronger and comfortable on the floor, he's never been a sharp shooter, so he will need to do that in order to stick in the NBA.

bbms · Post #64 » by **bbms** » Mon Dec 14, 2020 11:38 am

One topic that looks like slipped away.

Isaiah Roby. What can we really expect from him for 2020/21?

Old Man Game · Post #65 » by **Old Man Game** » Mon Dec 14, 2020 11:45 am

bbms wrote:One topic that looks like slipped away.

Isaiah Roby. What can we really expect from him for 2020/21?

I don't know but he looked better than I was expecting. Had that multi position defender size and length thing. I can see why they acquired him.

Sent from my moto g power using RealGM mobile app

Post #66 » by **ThunderBolt** » Mon Dec 14, 2020 12:58 pm

I went back and watched his highlights. He wasn't as bad as I first though. The multiple turnovers to start the game kind of jaded my opinion.

getrichordie · Post #67 » by **getrichordie** » Mon Dec 14, 2020 3:33 pm

ThunderBolt wrote:I went back and watched his highlights. He wasn't as bad as I first though. The multiple turnovers to start the game kind of jaded my opinion.

I wrote about him in the article. Dude is more athletic and skilled than people think.

getrichordie · Post #68 » by **getrichordie** » Mon Dec 14, 2020 3:40 pm

The article I wrote has been published on The Playgrounder.

https://t.co/rjEfPydhmv?amp=1

mr570 · Post #69 » by **mr570** » Mon Dec 14, 2020 5:00 pm

bbms wrote:The certainly best takeaway of this game was Maledon and Poku going for it, and not shying away from competition and opportunity to show off.

TBH, I feel awkward. Of course is great Poku hitting 50% on 8 3pt attempts, but I think if he keeps shooting very well, it might mask some aspects of his game that really needs work. He is very skilled but his decision making looked questionable, imo. Defense is obviously not there.

He tries and does lots of things but shooting might be really his only NBA-level skill.

On the upside, Muscala, Horford, TJ Leaf! Nice to have a full big men rotation with range!

Andrew Schlecht mentioned it on the Down to Dunk pod today and I'm sure everyone had this same thought watching them play, but Poku really had no one to play off of. He made a few really good reads in the PnR but it's not so effective when everyone out there is so slight, and your one 7-footer is a beanpole himself. So I don't think the spot up three's were indicative of his entire skill set or masking anything. It's just a result of who he got to work with imo

bbms · Post #70 » by **bbms** » Mon Dec 14, 2020 5:57 pm

getrichordie wrote:The article I wrote has been published on The Playgrounder.

https://t.co/rjEfPydhmv?amp=1

Nice read.

I agree in general, but I believe Thunder starting 5 can be more competitive right away with SGA, Dort and Bazley coming as 1, 2 and 3. My take on George Hill is that he currently is a solid backup PG, and a very bad starting PG.

Thabo Sefolosha · Post #71 » by **Thabo Sefolosha** » Mon Dec 14, 2020 7:17 pm

full game if anyone missed it or needs to see a certain clip

Watch on YouTube

Post #72 » by **ThunderBolt** » Mon Dec 14, 2020 10:33 pm

Read on Twitter

Post #73 » by **ThunderBolt** » Thu Dec 17, 2020 12:40 am

Read on Twitter

Post #74 » by **Dadouv47** » Thu Dec 17, 2020 1:28 am

Dort & Bazley aren't superstars yet. We should be fine in the regular season...don't think why some think we may overperform

Post #75 » by **ThunderBolt** » Thu Dec 17, 2020 1:31 am

Dadouv47 wrote:Dort & Bazley aren't superstars yet. We should be fine in the regular season...don't think why some think we may overperform

Bazley looks good. I’m just not a Dort believer. And shai is the GOAT.

Post #76 » by **Dadouv47** » Thu Dec 17, 2020 1:37 am

ThunderBolt wrote:
Dadouv47 wrote:Dort & Bazley aren't superstars yet. We should be fine in the regular season...don't think why some think we may overperform

Bazley looks good. I’m just not a Dort believer. And shai is the GOAT.

I like both Bazley & Dort. Just don't think they are that good yet

But yeah Bazley playing relatively well so far.

JJ & Roby looks terrible

Post #77 » by **ThunderBolt** » Thu Dec 17, 2020 1:49 am

Why does diallo think he’s Kobe Bryant?

thedoppelganger · Post #78 » by **thedoppelganger** » Thu Dec 17, 2020 1:52 am

If Poku's going to give this kind of effort on defense he might not see much playing time after all, just getting blown by every time without any real resistance.

This game so far seems like it's more indicative of what the season will be like - starters stay fairly competitive, bench gets destroyed.

Post #79 » by **Dadouv47** » Thu Dec 17, 2020 2:10 am

That's ugly. And the worst part is having to watch Billy Donovan's face.

Al Horford rehab program has begun

Post #80 » by **retrobro90** » Thu Dec 17, 2020 2:20 am

Dadouv47 wrote:
ThunderBolt wrote:
Dadouv47 wrote:Dort & Bazley aren't superstars yet. We should be fine in the regular season...don't think why some think we may overperform

Bazley looks good. I’m just not a Dort believer. And shai is the GOAT.

I like both Bazley & Dort. Just don't think they are that good yet

But yeah Bazley playing relatively well so far.

JJ & Roby looks terrible

Yeah I just don't really see much in Roby. He's got forward size I suppose and can switch a little? But he's late to rotate on defense and is overall a bad team defender who prefers to be the 3rd man in the paint instead of closing out to Otto Porter in the corner. I don't think he's skilled enough on offense or athletic enough with his physical tools to make up for his bad feel.