Darius Bazley, the exciting rookie for the OKC Thunder, is demonstrating the typical growing pains of an inaugural professional season.
There have been a number of things said about the recent OKC Thunder win against the Chicago Bulls. Most of it about Chris Paul. However, as part of my role here at Thunderous Intentions, I am tasked with keeping tabs on rookie Darius Bazley.
This has been a joyous task all season, watching the rookie grow into part of the player he is going to become is exciting, but it does come with a few growing pains. This was highlighted in the recent win over the Chicago Bulls.
Bazley did not score, going 0-of-2 from deep, including one of his shots hitting the side of the backboard. That is not the biggest issue, every player in the league does this. The issue was that he started to pass up open shots again.
Donovan said Darius Bazley (four blocks) played himself to exhaustion, asked to come out. “I give him credit. It was a great sign of maturity to do that. A lot of times, young players will cut down on the effort to stay on the court.”
— Erik Horne (@ErikkHorne) December 19, 2019
I love watching Bazley figure it out, but when he starts to pass up open looks, this is a dangerous sign. Chris Paul needs to have another chat with the rookie, bolstering his confidence again.
The great thing about Bazley is that he appears to have a short memory. In the game against the Memphis Grizzlies, the youngster had a great end to the first quarter. He had a great drive and dunk and then followed that up with a block in the paint which caused a 24-second violation.
Bazley also made two huge plays to help the OKC Thunder get back into the game at the end of the third.
https://twitter.com/okcthunder/status/1208227047987912705?s=20
He blocked a shot which caused a Grizzlies turnover, leading to two easy points for the OKC Thunder. He also passed up another three, but using a screen by Terrance Ferguson made two easy points at the rim.
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What I loved was after the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander steal and bucket to end the third quarter, Bazley was off the bench, pumped. and celebrating with the team.
Bazley is all about helping this team win, as coach Billy Donovan says above, he plays himself to exhaustion.
Against the Phoenix Suns, Bazley was again hesitant, well until he started driving to the rim again.
This is going to be where Bazley needs to eat. When he took the drive from the corner and contorted his body for the dunk, Michael Cage compared him to Larry Nance Senior.
If Bazley can be anything like the Cleveland Cavaliers legend, he is in a good place. Mind you, he had some tremendous blocks again, causing more shot clock violations.
Darius Bazley is going to be up and down this season, he is a rookie after all. As long as he stays focused like he is on defense, the offense will come.