OKC Thunder In the news: Huestis seeks NBA spot, Schroder the x-factor

OKC Thunder in the news for May 29 features former player Josh Huestis journey, Dennis Schroder the x-factor and draft prospect Talen Horton-Tucker.

Josh Huestis seeks to find his place in NBA:

After spending three years with the OKC Thunder rarely getting to spend time with the varsity team Josh Huestis fourth year option was not picked up.

Huestis ended up playing for the San Antonio Spurs affiliate the Austin Spurs.  Although he began the season starting with the varsity team a broken foot resulted in the forward once more being dealt a bad hand.

Once again he landed back with the G-League however his results paled in comparison to his best season of 2016-17 with the OKC Blue at that time. In that season Huestis demonstrated growth in his shooting efficiency when he shot 38.5 percent from deep.

That efficiency dipped once again this season (31.4 percent) which may be due to the injury and return or perhaps as Huestis himself cites the improving talent in the G-League. As per dyapkowitz  of Ridiculous Upside:

"The competition is high level, it’s elite. There’s a lot of amazing players, there’s a lot of talented guys in the league,” Huestis said. “I feel like it just gets better and better every year. It’s tough, you’ve got to stay working, stay on top of your game because there’s a lot of really talented guys.”It was a rough start to this season for Huestis…..He played in 28 games with Austin and put up 8.2 points per game and 4.4 rebounds, but he only shot 33.7 percent from the field and 31.4 percent from the three-point line. He did show glimpses though of the defensive player on the perimeter that he has the tools to be. Bouncing back from this injury, he’s confident that he has plenty to offer to an NBA team."

Dennis Schroder the x-factor?

In a recent article by Clay Horning of The Norman Transcript, he speaks to the value of Dennis Schroder for the OKC Thunder. Horning ignores the negative VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) of the backup guard electing to stick with his positive production.

Still, it’s odd that Schroder would be considered an x-factor when he doesn’t positively affect his teammates on the hardwood. Given his overall stats, one would presume that number would be in the plus.

Perhaps the more intriguing aspect of Horning’s article is the revelation of how quickly the German exited games and his penchant for being the first out of the lockerrooms post games. Horning points out how verbose Schroder was at season end given his disappearing act in season. He highlighted quotes from Schroder’s exit interview:

"Schroder on the Thunder before and after the All-Star break: “We did everything as a unit before … When somebody got beat, your brother was there to help you. But we didn’t do that [after the All-Star break]. I watched film a lot and tried to see what went wrong.”Schroder on coach Billy Donovan: “Billy is a kind of way I never had before and it can go either way … [If] he listens too much to the players, then it can go bad … I never tried to change anything.”"

It’s odd Schroder seems to reference boredom as a reason for the regression and it certainly doesn’t feel like he’s giving head coach Billy Donovan his full support. Moving forward, with the OKC Thunder salary situation already well over next year’s cap and several open roster spots it begs the question of how safe Schroder is on the team.

Albeit, Schroder as Horning points out was a valuable piece but his and Steven Adams‘ contracts are the only bargaining and leverage Sam Presti has to work with other than the money obtained via the Carmelo Anthony trade exception and the mid level exception.

Draft Prospect Talen Horton-Tucker:

More from Thunderous Intentions

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• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

Rylan Stiles served up another preview in the Thunderous Intentions draft prospect series. Stiles suggests Talen Horton-Tucker may be someone Sam Presti would want to take a closer look at and compares his long range game to have the same potential as  Deonte Burton.

"Talen Horton Tucker spent a year at Iowa State and established himself as a mid-to-late first round pick. Horton-Tucker was a bright spot for the Cyclones who made some noise in the Big 12 unexpectedly last season.His highlight reel will remind fans of one of their favorite OKC Thunder players, Deonte Burton, who also attended Iowa State and is a freakish athlete."

The NBA Finals begin tomorrow so for those interested check out our article on everything you need to know on the Finals. For those more invested in matters closer to home, our prospect series and player reviews continue daily on Thunderous Intentions.

Have a great day!