OKC Thunder rookie Darius Bazley making strides
OKC Thunder rookie Darius Bazely is making progress in his rookie year, it is just not translating overly well into the box score.
OKC Thunder rookie, Darius Bazley is developing nicely on a team that is surprising the rest of the NBA.
Bazely is having a difficult December in terms of raw box score output. However, the Thunder have won four games out of the six played, losing one road and one home game.
Bazley has averaged 1.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in 15.7 minutes of action. His scoring numbers are lower than his season average of 3.8 points per game.
Bazley’s shooting percentage has dipped to 10.5 percent over the past six games. He has made 2-of-19 from the field.
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He is shooting slightly better from deep, going 1-of-8 which is 12.5 percent. The one area where Bazley is shooting better is at the line where he has gone 3-of-4 for 75 percent. However, this is not a great worry to the team as Bazley is only taking 3.1 shots per game and only 1.3 shots from deep.
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Where Bazley is having a good impact on the team is on the glass. He is collecting 4.3 rebounds per game This is up from his season average of 3.8. Bazley is starting to get down into the paint to help out his centers, whether he’s paired with Nerlens Noel or Steven Adams.
Bazley also got his first start of his career during this road trip. With Danilo Gallinari out for a game against the Utah Jazz, Bazley stepped up. How did the rookie do? Well, he was certainly not overawed. He only scored two points but collected seven rebounds, all defensive.
Bazley was plus two in the box score, playing 26 minutes in a huge road win on the second night of a back-to-back. There is an awful lot that could have tripped up the rookie in his first start but he showed a tremendous level of composure.
Next. Thunder rookie Darius Bazley is the transition maestro. dark
Darius Bazley may not be hitting the box score all that well, but he is always the first back in transition defense and he is doing the non-quantifiable one-percent plays which help the team win.