Aleksej Pokusevski has played four games in his very young NBA career. The first week in an OKC Thunder uniform has been solid, despite his shooting struggles.
The OKC Thunder have had a good start to the season. They are scrapping together as a team and every player is taking on a role.
Aleksej Pokusevski was taken with the 17th pick of the 2020 NBA draft as a stretch big who is yet to show what he can do from deep.
In his first game, Pokusevski took six shots in 11 minutes, all of them from beyond the arc. Unfortunately for the lanky rookie, he missed everyone one of them. He had an impact in other areas of the game by collecting four rebounds, one steal, and one block. He was minus 13 on the night in the box score.
Poku @ work.
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 1, 2021
Sharing & drilling. @aleksejpokusevs pic.twitter.com/KWeqMvCeIu
It is obvious after game one of his career, Pokusevski is a long term project. During his second game, however, it appeared that Pokusevski’s confidence had taken a bit of a beating. He only attempted two shots, one being a heave at the end of the shot clock. He only had two rebounds, a steal, and a block in just over 14 minutes.
Game three for the OKC Thunder started the Pokusevski turnaround.
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For the first half of the game against the Orlando Magic, Pokusevski missed every shot that he took. He was still active on the boards but it appeared that coach Mark Daigneault allowed Pokusevski to create more. He was driving and dishing, giving out three assists while collecting five rebounds.
Then it happened — Pokusevski made his first NBA bucket.
It was not a three, it was not even a pull-up jumper. Pokusevski drove to the hoop and put the shot up from a few feet away; it was too hard but he then got the offensive board and put it back in.
A well-deserved bucket for the hard-working rookie.
It was also interesting to watch how Pokusevski responded to the team’s first big loss against the New Orleans Pelicans.
He went about his business like a true professional who cares about his team. He even hit his first NBA 3-ball which should hopefully settle his nerves.
Pokusevski has shown in his first week that he is going to be a solid bench player at the very least. His movement, passing, rebounding and, eventually, his shooting will be solid. He still needs to work on his defense but he is getting his body deep into the paint to make life harder for the opposition.
All in all, ’twas a good first week for the birthday boy.