Thunderous Intentions
Fansided

Domantas Sabonis season in review – Rookie makes his mark

By Bo Cardona

Mar 9, 2017; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Domantas Sabonis (3) dunks the ball against San Antonio Spurs center Dewayne Dedmon (3) during the second quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 9, 2017; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Domantas Sabonis (3) dunks the ball against San Antonio Spurs center Dewayne Dedmon (3) during the second quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 5
Next
Domantas Sabonis
Mar 16, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Domantas Sabonis (3) reacts during their game against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre. The Thunder beat the Raptors 123-102. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /

What his stat-line may have lacked his highlights defineitely made up for. Between some absolute posterizatiions to some beautiful sniping streaks, Sabonis looked like a veteran in the post when needed, and even had some superb blocks.

5. Patience is a virtue. 

For many big men entering the league, there is usually an issue with their patience in the post. In OKC’s first game against the defending champions, Sabonis showed why this does not apply to him. With the ability to keep his pivot foot in place, and not put up a shot the first chance he has, Domantas has the potential to be a very dominant post player.

4. The whole package.

This game in particular showed off the rookie’s entire offensive game, which has the potential to develop and become very lethal. In his first play, he uses a great post move against a solidified defender in Deandre Jordan. Then, he offers a beautifully placed full court pass which Joffrey Lauvergne is fouled on. Last but not least, he hits two 3-pointers. Though he only scored ten points, the all around game he showcased against the clippers was superb.

3. Where’s the ball?

https://twitter.com/okcthunder/status/851980204637650944

Sabonis has been killing people with the fake pass all year.  This was a great example of this asset. With a pump fake, he draws in Ricky Rubio, then throws in the smooth fake to Norris Cole to throw him off balance. This leaves the seven-footer with the wide open jumper. A very savvy play from the NBA freshman.

2. He’s heating up:

In his NBA debut in Boston Sabonis had his best game. He dropped 20 points (17 in the first half) and was 8 of 1 from the field.  He showed a beautiful stroke from the arc as well, going 4 of 6 from deep including back-to-back triples. This would have been an impressive game for any NBA player, let alone a rookie. If he played like this every night this season, he could have potentially been in the running for “rookie of the year”.

1. Nice poster big fella’

I mean, what is there to say? It is one thing to dunk on someone, but this is just monstrous. What’s even scarier about this play is that Sabonis isn’t athletic or big, but this was an instance where the youngster demonstrated size doesn’t always matter. Dewayne Dedmon is definitely going to think twice about going up on Domantas again. (Not to mention he got away with a foul, which makes it even worse.)

Home/Thunder News