As we now enter the final month’s stretch of action on the 2020-21 NBA regular season the OKC Thunder find themselves with only 16 games left to play before their campaign comes to a climax.
Somewhat uncharacteristic to see Oklahoma City packing it in on the regular season without gearing up for a postseason trip, as they’ve managed to see second-season action in five straight years and during 10 of their 13-years of existence, based on their recent decisions made it’s evident that the franchise is fully committing itself to the tank and, in turn, have their sights predominantly set on the draft.
As we’ve explained periodically throughout the last several weeks, this final stretch run of the season presents the coaching staff an opportunity to get creative with their lineups. From minutes distribution to specific roles for players, Mark Daigneault will have the luxury of experimenting with his band of ballers to get a better understanding of what he has in tow.
While there are likely to be many different schemes and types of play calls executed, one specific experiment we at TI hope to see during this final month of action is a longer-term trial of playing Aleksej Pokusevski as a point forward for the team.
The OKC Thunder should consider running Aleksej Pokusevski at point forward
An absolute wunderkind of a player, it appears as though the OKC Thunder may have landed a ‘Swiss Army talent’ with their rookie big.
At 7-0 with a 7-3 wingspan, the 19-year-old has shown an impressive set of skills all across the board, ranging from spurts of floor spacing to rim-protecting abilities.
Perhaps the two most impressive aspects of his specific skill set are his court vision and his ability to put the ball on the floor.
With his crafty combination of deception and hesitation maneuvers, Poku has proven capable of catching his defender off guard, allowing him to make his way past them to either look for his own shot or bring on a double-team where he can dish it to an open teammate.
With examples of frontcourt-built players who can handle the rock and pass ranging from Ben Simmons and Nikola Jokic to Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo, it’s evident how drastic of a shift the league is taking part in when it comes to positionless basketball.
Because of this, coupled with the Thunder’s apparent need for secondary ball handlers, perhaps running schemes and plays that consist of Pokuševski taking charge of the offense could be an intriguing way of getting a better understanding as to whether he can operate in such a role at some point down the road.
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Periodically throughout his first year, the Serbian-born baller has showcased a natural instinct to find the open man, serve as the dime dropper in pick-and-roll settings, and toss up lob passes when driving to the rim.
This, coupled with his impressive size allowing him to see over the entirety of an opposing team’s defense, could ultimately lead to unleashing a whole nother element to the young big’s game.
Getting him the ball earlier in the shot clock and allowing the offense to run through him for longer stints could do wonders to his comfortability with having the ball in hand, which could be of great benefit to this team moving forward.
In the final 16 games of action for the OKC Thunder, we hope to be seeing a bit of an uptick in ‘Point Poku’ possessions.