Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Aleksej Pokusevski credited his stint in the G League with the OKC Blue for gaining more comfortability with the pace and speed of the game in the United States.
Pokusevski averaged 7.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, four assists and 1.1 blocks in 13 games played with the Blue. While his numbers may not jump off the page, the 17th overall pick made improvements in several areas of his overall game.
“Finding my pace on offense and still playing hard, competing in every game and just finding my pace with the ball on the offensive end,” Pokusevski said, via Logan Newman of Thunder Wire. “Just getting more comfortable with the ball and learning the pace of the game in America.”
[mm-video type=video id=01f07sk5jjfvq15rar playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f07sk5jjfvq15rar/01f07sk5jjfvq15rar-da0043ff0a1cac569de8f6bc72ef729d.jpg]
With the G League season now over, Pokusevski re-joined the Thunder and turned in his best game to date. On Thursday, Pokusevski produced a career-high 14 points and eight rebounds to help the Thunder to an eight-point win over the Dallas Mavericks.
The improvements from the G League seemingly carried over into the NBA during that performance as the Thunder will certainly hope that can continue throughout the rest of the season. The organization loved Pokusevski during the pre-draft process and believes he can be a key contributor in the future.
While not every organization opted to field a team in the G League bubble, the early returns on Pokusevski for Oklahoma City appear to be well worth the investment.
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
[lawrence-related id=28758,28367,27817]
[listicle id=29219]