RealGM

He's the youngest player in the league and post-G-League bubble he's shooting 32% from 3 and 79% from the line. He has issues but I wouldn't worry too much, he's very improved from earlier in the season and he's yet to have a full offseason under an NBA program.

I have enjoyed watching him. He's essentially only 5 months older than Chet Holmgren.

Yeah this entire season was a punt year. Honestly not taking anything away from it statistically speaking in a negative light because he's just so young and raw and honestly wasn't even supposed to be doing this. Plenty of people figured he'd not see an NBA court yet. Right now it's just about flashes and seeing if maybe there's something there, and looks like there could be.

bondom34 wrote:Honestly not taking anything away from it statistically speaking

Good and you never should have tried.

bondom34 wrote:Right now it's just about flashes and seeing if maybe there's something there, and looks like there could be.

Because this was always the perspective to have.

mr570 wrote:

bondom34 wrote:Honestly not taking anything away from it statistically speaking

Good and you never should have tried.

bondom34 wrote:Right now it's just about flashes and seeing if maybe there's something there, and looks like there could be.

Because this was always the perspective to have.

I'd say there are plenty of rookies you can take some larger context negatives from, this one in particular was a mid/late first not projected to be getting NBA minutes at this age. He's kind of ahead of the curve and I think it's been said before by a few folks, this year was just pretty much a punt.

There have been Thunder rookies who I wasn't big on after year 1 if I'm recalling, but Poku is just a giant shrug emoji.

Honestly, I'm just glad he hasn't had a major injury. He frame really scared me although his legs aren't as scrawny as I expected.

jake_swivel wrote:

slick_watts wrote:i still think he sucks. he just has a strange skillset for his size. if it included any shooting ability whatsoever i'd be more interested. until he shows that he can make jump shots he's a non-entity to me.

Of course he still sucks. But he went from suckiest nba player of all time to developmental player who EVERY team in the league would clear a roster spot for tomorrow if they had the opportunity. It’s an enormous in-season leap.

His shooting sucks, but it sucks way less than it did early in the season and he hasn’t had an nba off-season yet at 19. To not have some optimism compared to earlier this year is a real grumpy-Gus POV.

yes i know all the extenuating factors. congratulations, poku. you're not the worst shooting rookie of all time. i don't think anyone thought he would be that, and his early season performance was probably not indicative of where he was at (or he wouldn't have been drafted at all).

i'm not sure every team in the league would clear a roster spot for him. specious claim. he's just been bad and his skillset won't matter if he can't shoot imo. so the passing and whatnot doesn't thrill me much.

Nobody thought he'd be in the NBA right now. So not really sure what teams clearing a roster spot means.

He's shown more than would be expected, rookies aren't good and super young super raw rookies are worse. And he hasn't even been the worst rookie.

He was a big swing and no one should have expected some steady contributor. But the flashes he shows are special flashes, top-3 player on a playoff team if he develops type flashes.

OKC is making the smart move intentionally tanking because this team, IMO, has 2/3rds of a future 'big 3' already in SGA and Poku. Get a guy like Cade or Suggs and cross your fingers that the development of Poku and the rookie goes well (SGA is no worry, he is a guaranteed star).

I am impressed by the tepid nature of the OKC fanbase on RealGM when it comes to looking at the talent of their young guys, most fanbases go way, way off the rails. But as an outsidere, its bright. I think you have a special one in Poku, know you have a special on in SGA and if you get a top pick this year, your getting another special guy there.

He has imo the highest ceiling on the roster.

BlazersBroncos wrote:I am impressed by the tepid nature of the OKC fanbase on RealGM when it comes to looking at the talent of their young guys, most fanbases go way, way off the rails. But as an outsidere, its bright. I think you have a special one in Poku, know you have a special on in SGA and if you get a top pick this year, your getting another special guy there.

Go to Reddit and see their non-tepid takes. They’re thinking dynasty within 3 years

I think the reddit guys are young bandwagon dudes and new, local NBA fans that don’t have a tremendous idea of how much luck is involved in hitting on players, injuries, and development. The new fans were spoiled by Durant/Westbrook/harden/etc. and think that’s just what happens when you build a team. I also think a lot of locals are spoiled by OU football. They have a college local dynasty mindset. I’m an OU football fan and hate OU football fans. And they’ve picked up the thunder in a similar manner.

I think realgm in general skews a little older. You have a lot of people who found this site 10-20 years ago, and either came over from the Sonics or switched from other longterm teams they’ve followed for decades when the thunder came to town. They have a tad more perspective.

jake_swivel wrote:

BlazersBroncos wrote:I am impressed by the tepid nature of the OKC fanbase on RealGM when it comes to looking at the talent of their young guys, most fanbases go way, way off the rails. But as an outsidere, its bright. I think you have a special one in Poku, know you have a special on in SGA and if you get a top pick this year, your getting another special guy there.

Go to Reddit and see their non-tepid takes. They’re thinking dynasty within 3 years

I think the reddit guys are young bandwagon dudes and new, local NBA fans that don’t have a tremendous idea of how much luck is involved in hitting on players, injuries, and development. The new fans were spoiled by Durant/Westbrook/harden/etc. and think that’s just what happens when you build a team. I also think a lot of locals are spoiled by OU football. They have a college local dynasty mindset. I’m an OU football fan and hate OU football fans. And they’ve picked up the thunder in a similar manner.

I think realgm in general skews a little older. You have a lot of people who found this site 10-20 years ago, and either came over from the Sonics or switched from other longterm teams they’ve followed for decades when the thunder came to town. They have a tad more perspective.

I completely agree with this. I've said before the conversation here is so much better than anywhere else online and especially Reddit. I've been dead wrong on takes before and I know you and I have disagreed on Poku. But I learn a lot from participating here and having those disagreements.

bondom34 wrote:Nobody thought he'd be in the NBA right now. So not really sure what teams clearing a roster spot means.

He's shown more than would be expected, rookies aren't good and super young super raw rookies are worse. And he hasn't even been the worst rookie.

we will put that on his wiki page.

'not the worst rookie'.

he needs to see MAJOR improvement next season.

slick_watts wrote:

bondom34 wrote:Nobody thought he'd be in the NBA right now. So not really sure what teams clearing a roster spot means.

He's shown more than would be expected, rookies aren't good and super young super raw rookies are worse. And he hasn't even been the worst rookie.

we will put that on his wiki page.

'not the worst rookie'.

he needs to see MAJOR improvement next season.

He was taken at 17 and projected to not get NBA minutes. If people expected him to be any good this year....maybe expectations need to be reassessed.

The only hope was that he'd show some flashes of being able to do something at an NBA level. He's done that. Everyone said before the year this season was basically a punt, and nothing can really come of it other than seeing if maybe he does that. He did.

He might not be in the league in 5 years, he might be a really good player, either of the two wouldn't shock me right now, but nothing this year really changed for anyone looking at him with reasonable expectation (and he was just taken by draft analysts 7th in a redraft). Rookies are bad, and he was supposed to be a long term project. Him now looking like a long term project who's shown some positive flashes is fairly encouraging.

Pokusevski - SGA is -17pts / 100 possessions. Slightly better than Pokosevski's average but worst pair of 10 most used for SGA. (Bazley, Maledon and Roby are next worst with SGA.) Weak shooting with them and horrendous net turnovers. About 200 minutes of trial. Biggest lineup at 32 minutes. With Roby. -42pts / 100p. There should be better lineups to try next season. Terrible with Dort. Jerome is his best pairing so far and the only non-terrible one besides with Muscala. "His game" so far coincides with completely non-competitive team results. About twice as bad as team average. By on / off the team is worse with him vs. off at every factor except the two kinds of rebounding.

Pokusevski's assist rate for season is just a tiny bit above Roby's and his turnover rate just slightly less. Kenrich Williams is roughly 20% better on both.

His assist rate went way up in March but plateaued in April. The TO rate per minute was steady thru March but jumped 50% in April. A-TO was 1-1, rose some, then fell back to 0.9 to 1. You don't want a guy with an A-TO of 1 playmaking outside of a development / tanking scenario and / or above average shooting / scoring.

If they start Pokusevski with SGA, the rest right now imo should probably be Jerome, Williams and Bradley. Maybe Krejci or Deck but too early to say.

They'll start Dort. I dunno if they'll start Pokusevski. If they do Williams drops out. Maybe it is Brown over Bradley. If they are tanking again; yeah, they'll do all that.

Probably won't admit to tanking but it will be the tacit excuse for likely being very bad next season.

I think this season is a really bad one to be trying to draw even the smallest conclusion based on plus minus numbers. Tank + experimentation + drastic improvement after disastrous start = data confusion.

Draw permanent conclusions? No.

Anticipate likelihood of future problems based on current problems over pure agnosticism? That is where I'd be.

I discussed idea of him starting. At some point they should / will try it. Earned / strong idea or not, have to eventually try.

Poku has had a successful year. Case in point: The Athletic's draft guru, Sam Vecine, had him at #4 on his board in the re-draft on his recent podcast. Poku has a super high ceiling which hasn't changed and it's clear the floor has raised. He can be a plus defender on the wing. Personally, I'm more confident that he can fill out as well. Whether he is solid or an all-star will depend on whether he can shoot. I'm pretty optimism. The 3pt % and FT % is pretty good since the bubble and he is taking tough, tough 3's as opposed to open 3's in the corner.

It's clear the floor has raised? Where exactly was his floor if what he did this year raises it? Was his floor us finding out that he was three kids in a trench-coat when he got off the plane?

I'm very cautiously optimistic about him. But the long term likelihood is still that he continues to suck.