The OKC Blue is developing talent for the OKC Thunder and one player to keep an eye on is reserve Sedrick Barefield who could be a good long-range sniper.
During the first game of the season for the OKC Blue, the bench production was horrible. They had 35 points with DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell scoring 26 of them. OKC Thunder two way player Luguentz Dort carried the team to the victory. Our subject, Sedrick Barefield had five points in 13 minutes.
The next game was against the Agua Caliente Clippers and Barefield had a shocking performance. He did not connect on a single shot, had only one rebound and one steal. He had his second game of -9 in the box score. As a rookie, this can be hard to bounce back from.
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However, the OKC Thunder assigned Deonte Burton and Devon Hall to the G-League for the game against the Westchester Knicks and this changed the dynamic of the second unit in Barefield’s favor.
No longer were defenses able to closely guard him as they had too many other quality players on the court at any given time. Barefield took advantage of this and in 21 minutes was able to score 12 points on 5-10 shooting, including 2-6 from deep. He also filled out the box score with five rebounds, three assists, and one steal.
This is hopefully the turning point of the season for the rookie as he was +29 on the court and saw the ball go through the net on regular occasions. Then we come to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers game, the defending G-League champions.
— Mervsports (@mervsports78) November 20, 2019
How did the rookie fare? He nailed it. In 27 minutes he scored 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting. He shot a beautiful 5-of-7 from deep and connected on his first-ever free throw. He only collected two rebounds but his shooting was essential for floor spacing and massively helped the team.
Barefield is a long way off making the OKC Thunder roster, he has to prove that he can be effective over a period of time against a multitude of players. However, the shooting prowess he is showing in the past two games where he is 7-of 13 from deep will certainly help his cause.