OKC Thunder: 3 improvements Aleksej Pokusevski needs to make
OKC Thunder goal for Aleksej Pokusevski No. 3) Cut down on the turnovers.
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One thing about Pokusevski which was frustrating to watch this season was his propensity to turn the ball over. He did it in the most frustrating ways, dribbling the ball off his foot or trying to force a pass that just was not there. He also struggled a little with the rule differences, with basket interference being the main one.
Pokusevski had 11 games where he had four turnovers or more, this is too many in 45 games. In fact, Pokusevski had one game where he had six turnovers, and he only had five rebounds and three points. This was the only game where he had four or more turnovers that Pokusevski had more turnovers than any other statistical category.
In the 11 games where he had those four or more turnovers, the Thunder were 1-10 which highlights the importance of looking after the ball. Considering that Mark Daigneault had him playing as a guard in a few games towards the end of the season, he needs to cut these out of his game.
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To be fair, the Thunder had a lot of new and young players on their roster. This means that the chemistry was not there at the start of the season which would not have helped Pokusevski’s turnover issues. This will improve next year as players return from this season and Pokusevski gets more used to the offensive schemes of the coaching staff.