OKC Thunder Offseason Improvement Series: Terrance Ferguson
By Dean Turner
In the offseason improvement series, we’ll take a look at each player on the OKC Thunder roster and determine what they need to improve on. Newly acquired rookie Terrance Ferguson is up.
Terrance Ferguson is officially the newest member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder selected Ferguson with the 21st overall pick in Thursday night’s NBA Draft. Ferguson is spewing with upside but as is the case with every other rookie he has a ton of things he can improve on. Here are a few:
Strength and Size
Quite simply, Ferguson needs to begin getting stronger and adding weight immediately. Right now, Ferguson is listed at 6’7” 190 pounds. While this may not have been a problem for him before, it will begin to be a problem for him right away in the NBA as the level of physicality is much greater than Ferguson has seen in the past.
Ferguson had better start pumping iron if he wants to begin contributing as quickly as possible.
Ball Handling and Playmaking
The Oklahoma City Thunder likely took Ferguson knowing that he’d (a) be a bit of a project and (b) end up being a 3-and-D type player. That said, Ferguson still needs to have some ball handling and playmaking capabilities.
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While in Australia and in high school, Ferguson did not show much ability to handle the ball or make plays. For this reason, it would behoove him to begin working on improving this area of his game.
In addition to his lack of playmaking, Ferguson also rarely showed his unbelievable athleticism in half court sets. This may be due to his relatively weak ball handling ability, which is why it’s imperative he improve upon that going into his rookie season.
Conclusion
Overall, Terrance Ferguson was a nice pick for the Thunder at 21. He has tremendous upside and it looks as though if he works on his game he could become a solid two-way force in the NBA.