Josh Giddey Injury Update

Aleksej Pokusevski shows defensive improvements.

After of waiting to hear an update on Josh Giddey’s injury it would seem that Thunder fans will need to wait a little longer.

Even though Giddey did attend practice today, he did not participate in any live situations.

Thunder Head Coach Mar Daigneault explained,”he participated in it like he shot he got a lot of shooting in. He participated in some movement, but nothing live and unpredictable.”

Despite Giddey being out for at least awhile longer, the offense has been moving smoothly.

The Thunder have been focusing more on catch and shoot threes and that focus has paid off. In last night’s victory against the Magic, OKC shot 17-of-41 from long distance making 41.5 percent of their attempts.

“Lately, our offenses actually is ticked up and a lot of that's the threes, were shooting more threes,” Coach Daigneault said. ”They're just as open and we're making more right now, the last like 13 games or so and obviously, there's that volatility that comes with shooting jump shots.”

The increased efficiency from behind the arc can be somewhat attributed to Tre Mann. In his past two games, he has averaged 54 percent from deep. Against Boston he shot seven-of-seven in the first half, breaking NBA history.

While his sharp shooting is quite impressive, Coach Daigneault is more impressed by how he’s embracing OKC’s program.

“He's done a really good job of leaning into the more uncomfortable aspects of the program that may not be as fun is dribbling the ball around and shooting it, but that our investments in his long term success and he's done a great job of embracing that,” Daigneault said.

“I like to think that some of his, you know, little breakthroughs that he's having right now are a byproduct of that type of fortitude that he showed, you know, even before he started getting the outcomes that he's getting now.”

Another player that has gotten strong outcomes from sticking to the program is Aleksej Pokusevski. Offensively, he has been making smarter decisions and improving his shot selection.

Pokusevski said,“I think I've improved a little bit both on the floor and to be more consistent with the game every night. I think I get better at that there’s more growth for sure. I'm just going to try to finish the season right away to try to get better.”

Lately, his defense has made vast improvements. He’s begun to use his length to his advantage by taking up space in the lane. Pokusevski also got down in a true defensive stance and moved laterally to impose his will on opposing players attempting to drive.

Finally getting a hold of utilizing his length defensively is a big step in the right direction for Pokusevski.

Daigneault mentioned,”another thing that he is, you know, quite frankly, you know, behind the curve at this point in his career, is with his lateral movement, you know, and a lot of it's just body type. I mean, he's seven feet, and he's just all kind of arms and legs and it's hard to like, you know, you think like (Lu) Dort and how low to the ground he is and how compact he's built…”

“Poku’s the opposite you know, he's stretched out more and so that's another you know, huge developmental piece for him defensively is to be able to move laterally and to be able to use his length to bide him some space to react to the the offense.”

The Thunder take on the Nuggets in Denver on Saturday at 8pm CT.

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