Due to the OKC Thunder going into full rebuild mode, the role of Darius Bazley changed from a key reserve to a starter. After gaining a huge amount of experience playing with the likes of Chris Paul and Danilo Gallinari last season, Bazley was always going to be asked to step up to be a key piece for the Thunder.
Bazley showed what he was capable of with his incredible play in the bubble. He elevated his 3-point shot and played with a confidence that had previously been unseen. There is no doubt that his future is bright and when the Thunder gets the right pieces on the court, Bazley will be a key player.
This season he averaged 13.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks in 31.2 minutes per game. His scoring average is almost three times that of his rookie season but with the number of quality players who are no longer on this team, these numbers needed to grow.
The OKC Thunder suffered through Darius Bazley getting injured.
Unfortunately, Bazley went down in the middle of March with a right shoulder injury. He had been flying up until that point, collect nine of his 11 double-doubles for the season prior to his injury. After missing 15 games Bazley came back and scored heavily. He would only collect two more double-doubles for the season.
Bazley was a bit of a barometer for the Thunder with the team having a 7-4 record when he collected a double-double. The point of this is it shows that when Bazley had everything working he was so hard to stop. He needs to have these games be the norm for the Thunder if they are to speed up the rebuild.
With all this in mind, let’s take a look at three areas of his game Bazley needs to improve.
OKC Thunder improvement for Darius Bazley No. 1) Gain some confidence in the long ball
As mentioned before, Bazley developed a massive level of confidence within himself in the bubble and shot the lights out from deep. However, that all changed this season, much to the dismay of almost every fan of the team.
Bazley shot the long ball at a very poor 29.0 percent. Last season, when he averaged 2.3 attempts from beyond the arc, this was not a problem. He also had a huge level of talent around him who could help pull him out of a shooting funk.
This season, Bazley took 5.2 attempts from beyond the arc and this is more of a problem when he is not shooting the ball well. He also lost the more talented players on the Thunder squad late in the season due to being shut down or injured and did not have the support on the court that he needed.
For Bazley it is not a question of having the talent. He has shown that he has the ability to do almost anything that he wants to the court. What he appears to lack is a level of confidence in himself when his feet are behind the 3-point line. He needs to believe in the work and let the percentages take care of themselves.
OKC Thunder improvement for Darius Bazley No. 2) Cut the turnovers
Being a young player, Bazley is prone to turnovers. This is particularly true when he is also playing with a team that has not played together much meaning that turnovers are par for the course. However, Bazley is in the second season with the Thunder and should be used to their systems.
While the Thunder changed coaches last season, Billy Donovan and Mark Daignault have the same coaching styles and the current Thunder coach was the OKC Blue’s bench boss last season. This means that Bazley should know his, and everyone else’s roles on the team and where they should be on the court.
Bazley averaged 2.2 turnovers per game last season. This is well up from his 0.7 turnovers per game in his rookie season. Again, some of this can be put down to the personnel that he is playing with, but some of it is Bazley’s lack of confidence.
The two-year veteran needs to understand that he needs to put his stamp on this team and part of this is making sure that other players are in the right spots on the floor on offense. The other part is to minimize the travels and other turnovers that a player can control.
OKC Thunder improvement for Darius Bazley No. 3) Work on his free throws
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Last season Bazley took 3.2 free throws per game, shooting them at 70.2 percent which seems to be a decent number. However, Bazley has the ability to get these numbers up even further. He is a confident shooter and when his mind is not where it should be, he can struggle with his shot.
Bazley has the potential to shoot his free throws at over 80 percent given that he is still only 21 years old and what we did from him in the bubble. If he can quiet his mind, he can start making more of his shots from the line.
He seems to feel more pressure at home than on the road, making only 66.4 percent of his free throws at home compared to 72.9 percent on the road. Usually, players shoot better at home than on the road so he will hopefully relax more as he starts to get more comfortable in his own game.
Bazley also has the ability to get to the line more. He took 12.5 shots per game, 5.2 of them from the perimeter. If Bazley can shoot a little less from the perimeter and use his athleticism by getting inside and drawing contact at the rim where he can get more and-1 opportunities.