OKC Thunder: B/R slots Lu Dort 14th in 2019 ReDraft

The OKC Thunder owed the 21st selection in the 2019 NBA Draft but eventually walked away with a trio of players from the class. The team selected New Balance Intern Darius Bazley with their selection, eventually traded for Isaiah Roby from the Dallas Mavericks, and signed the undrafted free agent Lu Dort to a two-way deal.

The team even gave Admiral Schofield a training camp tryout before releasing him last year. It is clear Presti has a bit of a soft spot for this draft class. How does B/R think a redraft will shake out?

OKC Thunder defensive standout Lu Dort tabbed 14th in B/R redraft

Bleacher Report continues their redraft series, recently elevating Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to the 5th spot in the 2018 edition.

B/R scribe Andy Bailey continued on with the 2019 NBA draft, and it was not kind to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Bailey only runs through a re-do of the top 30 picks, and Bazley sees his name fall out of the first round. Instead, Bol Bol, Cody Martin, John Konchar, Terence Davis, Naz Reid, Nicolas Claxton, Daniel Gafford, Terance Mann, Talen Horton-Tucker, and Lu Dort made their way into the first round after being selected in the bottom 30 or not hearing their name called at all on draft night.

Isaiah Roby did not see his status get elevated either even after inking the most lucrative second-round deal in NBA history.

Even in the redraft the first two picks remain the same, the Pelicans walk away with Zion Williamson, and the Grizzlies come away with Ja Morant, RJ Barrett falls in line as well, remaining as the third pick in the redraft.

The first jump comes as Matisse Thybulle leaps from the 20th selection all the way up to the fourth pick going to the Atlanta Hawks. Call me a homer, I try not to be, but I would rather have Dort than Thybulle.

Tyler Herro and Darius Garland ahead of Dort makes a ton of sense, I will even give De’Andre Hunter‘s slot a pass at seven.

The real jaw-dropping answers from Bailey are moving Talent Horton-Tucker all the way up to pick eight, Nickeil Alexander-Walker to pick nine while having Brandon Clarke and Rui Hachimura ahead of one of the best defenders in the league.

Lu Dort, on an OKC Thunder team without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Al Horford, or George Hill for most of the season was forced to take shots he normally would not and be an offensive focal point.

His usage leaped to 20.9-percent while he improved his assist percentage to 9.0-percent. The most encouraging uptick in production came beyond the arc as his overall percentage from deep jumped up five points to 35-percent. He even shot the corner three at a 46-percent clip. It was the non-corner three’s that still gave Dort trouble, shooting 33-percent in that category.

While Dort needs to improve his finishing, his defense more than makes up for it.

Matisse Thybulle really fills the same role as Lu Dort, while the 24-year-old is better around the rim shooting 66-percent at the cup, his corner three is a lowly 24-percent, which drags his overall triple percentage to a below-average 31-percent mark. On non-corner distant shots, Thybulle shoots 36-percent.

The 76er thrives defensively as well, turning in a 3.4-steal percentage and a 2.8-block percentage as a perimeter player.

B/R only accountant for the best player available, not team fit, contract status, or any other factor. Dort’s bargain contract that he signed prior to the Disney World Bubble also elevates his value, but I agree with the decision to leave that out of the discussion for this exercise.

Ultimately, a redraft is just a fun activity to get us through the dog days of the NBA offseason. Andy Bailey put a ton of time into these and while I might quibble with a few answers, I tend to agree with most of his selections.

I still think Building Block Bazley should have been selected in the top 30 still over a player like Bol Bol, but that is a conversation for another day.

In this redraft, the OKC Thunder walks away with Terence Davis, originally undrafted, Davis splashed onto the scene with the Toronto Raptors before being dealt to the Sacramento Kings. He averages 8-points, three rebounds, and nearly two assists per game.