Hornets Player Grades: Aleksej Pokusevski

What grade did Pokusevski earn after spending the second half of the season in Charlotte?

Apr 7, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Charlotte Hornets forward Aleksej Pokusevski (17) / Scott Kinser-USA TODAY Sports

After suffering a serious leg fracture late last season, Pokusevski entered this year after a summer of rehab. He found himself out of the rotation on a formidable Thunder team and was eventually waived. It was a surprise to see him land in Charlotte on a two year (Non-guaranteed) deal, an upside swing for a raw player who has a unique combination of size and skill.

Steve Clifford managed expectations early, stating he expected Pokusevski to mostly play in Greensboro. However, with a late season injury crisis Pokusevski was thrust into the rotation playing in 18mpg in 18 games and making an impression.

Glass Half Full

Pokusevski successfully usurped JT Thor in the rotation in a little over a week. Offensively, his versatility was on full show recording a 13.7% assist rate which ranks in the 77th percentile for centers, while also shooting 37% from three. He impressively managed a career low turnover rate, a real weakness in previous seasons.

His rim finishing, which had been a weakness so far in the NBA, finished at an encouraging career high 72%. Head Coach Steve Clifford marvelled at his skill set, suggesting with a full training camp next year the team would look to build Pokusevski more into the offense to take full advantage of his skills.

Defensively, Pokusevski filled the stat sheet racking up deflections, steals and blocks at good rates. It was clearly a struggle at times, but he was adapting to a new team mid-season which had a poor infrastructure for anyone to succeed defensively. His versatility to play both power forward and center makes him a useful back-end rotation player.

Glass Half Empty

Defensively, Pokusevski was a mess. Clifford even said as much "It will (probably) be a struggle on the other (Defensive) end". He had a very high foul rate, struggling to switch onto guards while also struggling with strong players on the interior. There were several areas of on and off ball defense where he made careless mistakes. Clearly there is potential on this end, but will Pokusevski ever be able to put it all together with consistency?

Offensively, despite flashes he didn't find a way to be an efficient offensive player, finishing in the 19th percentile in shooting efficiency for centers. Although, that is technically a career high, so maybe it's not all bad. For Pokusevski to make it as an every night rotation player, it will be his offensive mismatch potential which will be his calling card. He can't afford to be that inefficient offensively.

Best Moment Of The Season

Pokusevski's dunk over Jalen Suggs tops the bill followed by a sarcastic flex for one of the skinniest players in the league.

Vasilije Micić finds Aleksej Pokuševski for the dunk 😤#LetsFly35 pic.twitter.com/Ewf6LjBB7f

— NBA Serbia (@NBASrbija) April 6, 2024

Worst Moment Of The Season

As featured on Shaq'tin a Fool, Pokusevski's infamous inbounds mistep in the final game of the regular season takes the win. I'm still not sure what he was thinking here?

This may be the most RIDICULOUS #NBA/#basketball profesional play that I have ever seen!

📼: @shaqtin / @NBAonTNT / @SHAQ #NBAtwitter #NBApl #Hornets #Pokusevski #BuzzCity pic.twitter.com/V7UuyEDvdV

— 🏀 MY LIFE WITH NBA 🏀 (@Gutek_z_poligon) April 20, 2024

Overall Grade - B

Expectations were low for Pokusevski, the fact he has made JT Thor's future on the roster seem uncertain goes to show the impact he made in a short amount of time. Pokusevski went from being on his way out of the league to making him one of the more intriguing Hornets heading into 2024 training camp. Overall, he showed enough flashes of ability at only 22 years for it to be considered a successful stint in Charlotte.