After watching Alex Ovechkin score his 731st and 732nd goals in a Washington Cap win over the New York Rangers…I watched the entire second half of the Thunder’s preseason win over the Denver Nuggets.
Granted it was preseason and Jamal Murray didn’t play… it was still what I thought was a huge improvement from what I saw from the Thunder in their preseason loss to Milwaukee.
Josh Giddy on the offensive end is going to be a player. I’ll feel fairly confident writing that based on his natural offensive instincts and decision making. His comfort on the offensive end seems advanced for such a young guy. You could easily envision a three guard lineup with Giddy, Shai ,and Lu Dort in which their skill sets could work together quite nicely as their chemistry grows.
Some of the other young guys looked good as well. I like JRE’s offensive game and instincts as from I guess the power forward position. He needs to shed some of the baby fat, but his instincts offensively seem to be there to be honed for the NBA game.
Tre Mann had some moments. The Thunder need perimeter shooting from their bench. I would assume this is why Tre was drafted and yet he had a couple of nice drives at the basket.
Aaron Wiggins could be a solid player as well with an overall two way style of play which the Thunder need to evolve as a relevant team at some point in this rebuild process. I like his body…it’s NBA ready unlike the other rookies on this team.
Coming into this season I have mixed feelings in regards to Bazely and Roby… so I would prefer to watch more of them before I write anything about their games.
Same with Poku… his body looks better, but his offensive comfort in his own game doesn’t seem to be there. This isn’t the Greek B League and he looks somewhat confused at times. He should have played in the summer league. The best part of his game is his defensive reach from what I saw tonight as in deflections and blocked shots with that freak wingspan of his.
Poku and the Thunder need to decide what they want from him offensively is the way I see it in pre-season.
The same two teams end their preseasons with a game in Tulsa tomorrow night. I doubt I see much of it with the Dodger-Giant game being played, but on this night the young guys plus Shai and Lu looked somewhat promising. With a couple of heady vets added to the mix with a rim protector included in the team upgrade…they could be fun next season.