Aleksej Pokusevski

[bondom34]

Yes 0-2 but FREE THROWS HAPPENED.

[EvanZ]

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[God Squad]

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That first ball save is pretty impressive. I doubt he meant for it to be an "ally" but looked impressive regardless.

[nolang1]

12 points (4-14, 1-7 from three), 19 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 4 blocks today. When this guy learns to shoot (and if the Thunder could do it for Dort, I don't see why they can't for him) it's over lol.

[SNPA]

Unique player. Can really be something with that skill set and size.

[ThunderBolt]

12 points (4-14, 1-7 from three), 19 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 4 blocks today. When this guy learns to shoot (and if the Thunder could do it for Dort, I don't see why they can't for him) it's over lol.

His shot is pretty flat but i don't think it looks as hopeless as a player like Hamidou Diallo. Time will tell.

[Brofessor24]

12 points (4-14, 1-7 from three), 19 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 4 blocks today. When this guy learns to shoot (and if the Thunder could do it for Dort, I don't see why they can't for him) it's over lol.

His shot is pretty flat but i don't think it looks as hopeless as a player like Hamidou Diallo. Time will tell.

Bad example.

Diallo is having a solid season so far.

Alexsej is looking very rough so far.

[ThunderBolt]

12 points (4-14, 1-7 from three), 19 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 4 blocks today. When this guy learns to shoot (and if the Thunder could do it for Dort, I don't see why they can't for him) it's over lol.

His shot is pretty flat but i don't think it looks as hopeless as a player like Hamidou Diallo. Time will tell.

Bad example.

Diallo is having a solid season so far.

Alexsej is looking very rough so far.

I’m speaking purely of shooting technique. Diallo scores by attacking the basket. His jumper is not good and weird looking, which was my point. It’s unlikely Diallo becomes skilled shooter. I don’t think Poku’s form looks near a bad. Diallo releases his shot on the way down. So it was an appropriate example.

[HouseOfLight]

12 points (4-14, 1-7 from three), 19 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 4 blocks today. When this guy learns to shoot (and if the Thunder could do it for Dort, I don't see why they can't for him) it's over lol.

the coaching staff that taught Dort to shoot aren’t even employed by the Thunder anymore lmao. The thunder didn’t teach Dort anything. What’re you talking about?

[HouseOfLight]

Still say that Pokusevsky & Patrick ‘THE PAW’ Williams have the highest long term upsides of the ‘20 draft. The two best combinations of size/natural wing skillsets from that entire draft class. I also think Vassell could be the third best player from the draft; we’re going to look back in a decade at this draft & wonder why DV didn’t go top 5. Haliburton too, obviously people are already wondering that

[nolang1]

He was the best player on the floor today in OKC's win over Memphis. 23, 10, and 4 with 5 threes. 4-4 at the free throw line, which brings him up to 8-8 in 3 games since returning from the G league; if he'd gotten to the line earlier in the season I think it would've been instructive in showing people that it was more likely he was in a slump + taking a high volume of threes rather than the worst shooter of all time.

[EvanZ]

IT"S ON MFERS

[retrobro90]

He was the best player on the floor today in OKC's win over Memphis. 23, 10, and 4 with 5 threes. 4-4 at the free throw line, which brings him up to 8-8 in 3 games since returning from the G league; if he'd gotten to the line earlier in the season I think it would've been instructive in showing people that it was more likely he was in a slump + taking a high volume of threes rather than the worst shooter of all time.

Poku was really great today but SGA was better imo. I feel pretty similar about Poku today as I did earlier this week but I've been on the more optimistic side with him. The shots falling really felt like the difference today but he's been consistently showing how good he can be as a ball handler/distributor. He had some really nice drive and kicks in the 3rd quarter. At least one led to a hockey assist from Kenrich to Muscala. Love that his PnR chemistry w Moses has transferred over from the Gubble as well.

[treefi]

wow looks like he might end up being a top 5 player from the 2020 draft class.

[SNPA]

wow looks like he might end up being a top 5 player from the 2020 draft class.

Yes. He slipped to far. GM’s scared of risk but that film he had...just to natural a talent to not see it.

[Mirotic12]

Yes. He slipped to far. GM’s scared of risk but that film he had...just to natural a talent to not see it.

A lot of it is the absurd level of lack of knowledge about the different levels of international basketball. There was endless talk in the USA before Giannis was drafted about how the Greek 2nd division was equal to 8th grade junior high in the USA. Then a few months later, Giannis has around the same stats in the NBA, that he had in Greek 2nd division.

Did these "experts" learn their lesson? Nope. All the same ridiculous nonsense was said about Poku before he was drafted. Even the so-called top media sites and quotes from "NBA executives and personnel" would always say things like, (paraphrasing) "no one knows anything about his actual level of talent or skills, because he is playing against such an extremely low level of basketball competition, that is far, far lower then college basketball".

I'm sorry, but this kind of thing is gross incompetence. It should make any big sports media claiming it to be 100% irrelevant, and anyone connected in talent evaluation in an NBA team should be fired immediately, if they believe such ridiculousness.

It's just like I tried to explain before the draft. Of course Greek 2nd division is below the level of the first league in Greece, and of course it's way below the level of something like the EuroLeague , which is the best level of club basketball in Europe.

But with that being said, it's a complete straight up clown show, the way the NBA and US sports media talks about what is a men's professional league in Europe, and in a county in Europe that takes basketball seriously. To say it is way lower than college basketball in the USA is just flat out wrong.

There are plenty of guys that were good NCAA DI college players that have been cut for poor play from the level of Greece 2nd division. Many in fact. Yet the clown show opinions are across the board that it's so much worse than college basketball.

Some years ago G-League all star teams used to go tour in Europe during the summers. Did they play EuroLeague teams? No. Did they play first division teams? No. They used to play teams from second European divisions. And the G-League all star teams also lost plenty of those games. Most of them actually.

As for the NCAA DI teams........they often have tours of Europe. In Greece, mid major DI teams would often play against not first division teams, not even 2nd division teams, but against third division teams - against the Greek 3rd division. And guess what? Those DI teams lost plenty of games to Greek 3rd division teams.

If the claims would be that because Poku was just playing in under-18 national team tournaments, high school age club tournaments like EuroLeague under-18, or Greek second division, and because of that, there was really no way to say he was ready to play at his current level, then that's accurate and true.

Fact is, he's not ready to play even now, on anything other than G-League or a NBA team that has zero chance to make the playoffs and is looking for better draft positioning. And that's what he is on. He wasn't going to play at all on Olympiacos' main team this year. Because he's not ready to play on any EuroLeague team that wants to make the EuroLeague playoffs, where only 8 teams even make it. Olympiacos' three power forwards, Georgios Printezis, Sasha Vezenkov and Livio Jean-Charles are all just flat out better players right now.

All of that is true. I have said it over and over. But where the ridiculous disconnect comes in, is with this concept that he was playing in some kind of recreational league, or in junior varsity, or something along those lines with the Olympiacos B team. In that Greek 2 league there are professional European men's basketball players.

Plenty of them have played in EuroLeague, in secondary European leagues, in major European first divisions....Plenty of them are older players that are better than lots of guys in Greece 1 level, but they get paid more money in the second division, where teams are trying to gain league promotions. There are also guys that are just young, but are talented, and will eventually play in high level European leagues. They are just starting their careers, but could easily play in NCAA DI. I mean seriously, guys go from Greece's 4th or 5th division straight to the NCAA DI all the time. Guys that could not get any playing time at Greek 2nd division level.

Then there is the whole "he looks way shorter than 7 feet" thing......that also came up a lot in these forums. I'm not blaming anyone here, or calling anyone here out for that. Just pointing out why that comes up. Because of the ridiculous claims in US sports media and from NBA personell about the level of Greece 2. They tlak like it's worse than high school basketball in USA, so a lot of people really don't believe those players are as big as they are. The average height in the NBA is 6-6. Guess what the average height in Greece 2 is? 6-6.

Some people were convinced Poku couldn't be over 6-9, because they didn't understand the other teams had 6-5 point guards, 6-10 to 7 feet centers, etc. He must have been playing against high schoolers.......and people get those ideas from what the NBA and US sports media puts out.

Poku is clearly a project and has years of work to do on developing his body physically. But the whole narrative and viewpoint on someone at the "extremely low level of European competition" as the Greek 2, is absurd level foolishness and incompetence. That league is full of grown men that would be good NCAA DI players. The best 2-3 teams in any given year from Greece 2 could beat even good G-League teams.

This is a major part of the problem. But just watch.....first, Giannis has nearly as good numbers in the NBA as a rookie, as he did in Greece 2, and second Poku has better numbers in G-League than he did in Greece 2. Yet, the same thing will happen. Not one bit of change to how they perceive this "extremely low basketball level" will occur. Hell, the way the US sports media and NBA scouts seem to view it, the Greece first division, or even EuroLeague is worse than NCAA level. We heard lots of that crazy talk before Doncic was drafted.

It doesn't seem like any of this is ever going to change, as long as most NBA management does not have anyone that is not grossly incompetent, when it comes to anything about basketball outside of the USA.

So what that all means is, even though as you said, the talent and skills of Poku should have been very obvious to anyone, most NBA teams just reasoned that he was an 18 year old 7 footer that was playing against an 8th or 9th grade level of basketball equivalence in the USA. And they just automatically ignored it. The really ridiculous thing though is, if you look at US media reports and US scouting reports, many of them would take note of, and consider his play at the European under-18 championship........

Like , OK.......but even the best team at the European Under-18 Championship is probably going to lose by 20 points to any good team in the Greek 2nd division. The level of the lack of understanding of how any basketball in Europe works is just pathetic. It's absolutely pathetic for people that are getting paid huge salaries by NBA teams.

[EvanZ]

Poku has jumped in efficiency since the break.

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[eminence]

Still a very interesting prospect with a ton of skill, still unsure if it translates. Inching up into mid lotto on a re-ranking type thing for me.

Not 7'2.

[EvanZ]

I still think people don't realize how special Poku is going to be when he's fully formed.

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[bondom34]

Changed the game for a few minutes and missed a highlight but:

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No idea what he ends up as but man I'm interested.

Edit: Just made another 3 and is 6/8.