OKC Thunder: Despite loss, Al Horford shines in debut – player grades

OKC Thunder starting lineup grades:

Although it wasn’t a spectacular outing these preseason games for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are more about getting in his reps and developing chemistry with his new running mates.

In a meager 19 minutes, he delivered serving up a stat line of 12 points, three rebounds, three assists, and a steal. His shooting splits were 4 of 8 from the field 4 of 6 from the line and an unfortunate 0 of 3 from deep.

Shai is shaking off the early season rust which is most obvious on his perimeter shooting and misses at the line but he looks ready and prepared to become this team’s leader.

It was our first chance to witness last season’s most surprising member of the OKC Thunder. Unfortunately, his preseason debut was far from pretty. It’s one thing if Lu has a rough night offensively but his defense wasn’t up to par tonight either.

In fairness, Lu has been dealing with an injury and if last season taught us anything, he’ll be quick to put this bad night behind him and bounce back with a better performance.

It might not seem fair to give Jackson and Dort the same score but if anything this felt too high.  With a lack of depth in the frontcourt, Jackson has an opportunity to carve out a role on this squad via a strong camp and preseason. Yet, if he replicates this performance I’m not sure he’s worth retaining on the squad.

Jackson scored eight points, however, he did it on an inefficient 3 of 11 from the field (1 of 4 from deep and 1 of 2 from the line).

Worse— he was the most ineffective member on the court with a minus 24. While plus/minus isn’t always indicative of what happens on the court in this case it was spot on. In other words for every minute, Jackson was on the hardwood his team was losing a point!

Thunder Nation got their first peek at Darius Bazley and it was worth the wait! Undoubtedly you’ll be inundated with a bevy of effusive praise regarding this young man this season as the narrator believes he’ll take a big step.  (more on that in the coming days and months)

Like his fellow sophomore returnee, he’s coming off an injury but Bazley didn’t allow that to affect his performance.

Baz scored seven points on an efficient 3 of 5 from the field and 1 of 2 from deep (tip to Daigneault – more sets featuring an opportunity for Baz please). Additionally, he had two rebounds, two assists, and a steal.

In our first look at recently acquired big man Al Horford, the reviews are extremely positive. I’m not sure if I was expecting him to be less in shape or slower but he appears to be in stellar form and ready to use this season (or part thereof) to create a storyline similar to what Chris Paul did last year.

Horford registered an easy 15 points on 6 of 10 from the field, grabbed seven rebounds (three from the offensive glass) adding a single assist and steal as well as two 3-pointers (on four attempts).

Oh— and he did all of that in 15 minutes while producing the best plus/minus of the starters.