Thunder draft Oklahoma native Terrance Ferguson
By Tony Heim
The OKC Thunder selected 19-year old Terrance Ferguson with the 21st pick in the NBA Draft.
Holy moly rolly polly. After going through the first 20 picks with the realization that Frank Jackson would be a member of the Thunder, Sam Presti through us for a curveball. With OG Anunoby, Semi Ojeleye and other perimeter players on the board, Oklahoma City selected the Oklahoma native Terrance Ferguson.
The 19-year old was a McDonalds All-American and a consensus top 20 recruit coming out of high school. Ferguson is an unknown for many basketball fans, however, because he skipped playing a year at Arizona to play professionally in Australia.
Ferguson did not have a huge impact in his lone season with the Adelaide 36ers, but as the season went on he grew more comfortable playing against better talent. The shooting guard ultimately averaged 4.6 points, 1.2 rebounds and .6 assists in 15 minutes of play. His feel for the game is above-average for a young player and it only got better the more he played overseas.
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The Tulsa native isn’t going to come in and immediately start, but he could easily progress into starter in a couple of years. Ferguson is an elite athlete and has a high basketball IQ; it’s his raw skills that need to be developed.
Picking Ferguson could mean trouble for Victor Oladipo if he doesn’t take a big leap this year. With Alex Abrines and Ferguson the Thunder have two young, cheap and talented guards waiting to steal Oladipo’s minutes. But if Oklahoma City’s resident starting shooting guard makes a jump as we expect, than the Thunder keep Oladipo and play a more athletic lineup around Russell Westbrook.
For now there’s no point of speculating any further. We all should just be happy that Sam Presti took a wing with the potential to turn into a starter. You can’t be upset with a selection like that with the 21st pick.