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We’re digging in on the Summer League performances, of which the Thunder had heaps.
Previous player breakdowns
Contextualizing the numbers
Most exhibition statistics, primarily the percentages from the field, have little to no correlation to players’ output during real NBA minutes. The Summer League is more about the process and how these players are doing what they are doing on the floor.
This helpful guide by Owen Phillips showcases which Summer League numbers are sticky when projecting a player in their first season:
- Three Point Attempts
- Assists
- Blocks
- Offensive Rebounds
- Field Goal Attempts
As Phillips shows, all of these categories are less affected by statistical noise when compared to their counterparts. The least correlated stats from Summer League are:
- FT%
- Three Point %
- Steals
- Free Throw Attempts
- FG%
With these caveats out of the way, we’ll be digging into how OKC’s young prospects performed in Utah and Vegas.
Aleksej Pokusevski
Poku was once again a very divisive player during his minutes in Utah. He did not play at all in Vegas which was a bit surprising, and I would have liked to see more of him. I thought he was just okay during SL. Anyone who says they know for certain what Poku is going to become is lying to you, as he became a near-neutral defender last season and is still incredibly raw. The passing flashes in Utah were so enticing, as he was running PnRs as the ball handler and looking off the tagger. But then of course there are these absurd attempts of passes and weird-looking jumpers that make you question why this guy is on an NBA roster. He averaged 2 assists and 1 block in only 20 minutes a night in three games, a near meaningless sample. Poku is such an enigma that I don’t know what else to say other than he did not on the whole look out of place alongside his peers. We’ll see what his role is on the team this upcoming season.
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