Preseason Contests Give Glimpses Into Thunder Depth, Roles

Playing two teams from international leagues doesn't help the Thunder drastically, but the games do have their importance.

Oklahoma City dominated its last two preseason games.

Albeit against two non-NBA professional teams, the Adelaide 36ers (Australia) and Macabbi Ra’anana (Israel), the Thunder still looked good. However, the success and play has to be taken with a grain of salt.

While the two teams both have talented players and are professional basketball teams, they aren’t NBA level basketball teams.

Here’s what can be taken away from those two games:

OKC’s Depth Looks the Part

Throughout the off-season the overloaded Thunder roster has served as both a problem and a saving grace.

While some of the players who played the best in the Thunder’s two games against international opponents won’t be on the Thunder’s opening day roster — most likely — they could always find a spot on the OKC Blue.

If an injury occurs, which happened frequently last season, the Thunder have other options. Lindy Waters, Eugene Omoruyi and Jaylin Williams have shown flashes of productivity throughout the off-season. Omoruyi averaged 22 points per game in the two non-NBA games for OKC.

If the Thunder need it they have the depth.

Poku Looks like a Lock

The starting flower forward spot in the OKC rotation seemed to be a battle between Darius Bazley and Aleksej Pokusevski, but that battle may have already been decided.

While the real winner won’t be known until the Thunder tip off the regular season, Pokusevski seems to have the inside track, but certainly things could change.

Bazley wasn’t active for the Thunder’s game against Macabbi Ra’anana, but did start against Adelaide. Poku was active both games notching eight points and six rebounds against the 36ers, and 15 points, six rebounds and 10 assists against Macabbi Ra’anana.

Poku’s length and size gives him the upper hand in a small Thunder rotation.

Thunder Focusing on the 3-point 

The Thunder have shot 84 shots from 3-point range in the two games against international squads. Combined OKC shot 48.8% from beyond the arc in those two games.

OKC was the worst deep ball shooting team a year ago, and the 84 reps in two games shows the commitment to not be in that same position this season.

OKC remains without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who could also see a rise in shooting percentages, but have been able to get looks at other guards who could help the shooting woes from a year ago.

It’s unlikely for OKC to keep the same clips and reps into the regular season, but it could show a glimpse of the improvement that could come in the near future. 

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