OKC Thunder: The exponential rise of Darius Bazley

The OKC Thunder has witnessed exponential growth in Darius Bazley since entering the bubble.

The OKC Thunder have seen tremendous growth in their rookie, Darius Bazley from early in the season. Taken with the 23rd pick of the 2019 draft, there was always a hint of ‘project’ about Bazley. His growth, both within himself and on the court, is certainly impressive.

Bazley has never lacked for confidence off the court. He came into the squad with a sense of humor and has certainly endeared himself to his teammates, as well as the fans. On the court, his confidence has not shone through as brightly.

Bazley started out similar to most late first round picks. He had a small smattering of points, some rebounds and a good amount of turnovers. Then in his sixth game, Bazley scored 17 points in the second OKC Thunder win of the season.

Even when struggling, Darius Bazley bought the energy for the OKC Thunder

He scored ten points the next game but then the rookie struggles began. It took him 25 more games to get back into double figures in points. He was always putting in work, collecting rebounds, being the first back in transition, or running the break. His energy was infectious.

However, Bazley seemed to be losing confidence on the offensive end of the court. He was regularly passing up open 3-point looks which is a sure sign of a lack of self-belief on offense. Chris Paul even said that he would not pass the rookie the ball if he did not believe that Bazley could make the shot.

Bazley then went through the rest of the regular season with the usual rookie bumps and bruises. His game was up and down, but you can never question his energy and effort. Then just prior to the All-Star break, Bazley suffered a bone bruise on his right knee.

He was expected to miss up to four weeks of action. This would get him back in mid March. Then COVID-19 happened. Six months after the injury, Bazley was back playing. Not only did he have time to rehab, he also had time to work on his game, knowing what was required of him.

The bubble

Every so often, we witness the coming of age of a player and it is exciting. As part of my role at TI, I had the joy of covering Bazley and his game. When he is in transition or attacking the hoop, Bazley is a sight to behold. When he took the ball at Joel Embiid and dunked it earlier in the season – – wow.

However, as mentioned earlier, watching Bazley suffering from a lack of confidence behind the 3-point line was painful. This young rookie has the potential to be a really good rotation piece for the next couple of years. He can then craft his game into a starting role near the end of his rookie deal.

The way Bazley has played in the bubble has shown that this is a real and exciting possibility. If there was an award for it Bazley would be in the running for Bubble Most Improved Player. He averaged 13.0 points, 6.25 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in the eight seeding games.

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What is even more impressive is that Bazley shot the ball with confidence. From the floor he went 37-of-87 which is good for a solid 42.5 percent. However, it was his shooting from deep which was eye catching, going 19-of-41. This translates into 46.3 percent which is exceptional.

He had five games in double figure scoring and three consecutive 20 point games. This makes Bazley the first OKC Thunder to achieve this since James Harden. That is no bad company to keep in terms of OKC Thunder records.

Comparing these numbers to those of the pre-COVID regular season and you can see the cause for excitement. Bazley averaged 5.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 0.7 assists. He averaged 39.4 percent from the floor and 34.8 percent from deep. This has been a huge uptick in his efficiency.

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.

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