OKC Thunder: The exponential rise of Darius Bazley
The playoffs
The current playoff series against the Houston Rockets probably came two seasons too early for the 6’8″ power forward. The Rockets have famously gone to small ball in order to carve a different path through the Finals (they hope).
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They have sent multiple double teams to Steven Adams to box out the big Kiwi on every board. They are also exploiting his perimeter defense using various players behind the 3-point line. An experienced Bazley would lessen this issue.
We saw it during the 2014/15 Golden State Warriors/Cleveland Cavaliers finals series when Andrew Bogut had started the entire regular season for the Warriors. He was struggling to deal with the Cavaliers, particularly LeBron James.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr famously switched Bogut out of the starting lineup for Andre Iguodala and the momentum of the series changed. The same could be possible in the next few years with Bazley, just not yet. His playoffs have been decent, just not spectacular.
He has averaged 6.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, shooting 38.5 percent from the floor and 47.1 percent from deep. In time, Bazley should develop into a double-double machine against the small-ball Rockets, he got his first one in Game 5.
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No matter what happens, Bazley will be better for his first playoffs appearance. HIs confidence, has been on the rise since entering the bubble and adding experience to this will only help. If Bazley can continue his growth, the OKC Thunder young core has another solid contributor for years to come