Thunder End of the Year Report Card: Mike Muscala
It came as a little bit of a surprise when Sam Presti decided to re-sign the 31-year-old sharpshooter this past summer. After all, the Oklahoma City Thunder were supposed to be building for the future which meant allocating resources and capital towards investing in younger players with higher upside.
But in his ninth year in the league, and his fourth in Oklahoma City, Mike Muscala reminded everyone that older, more seasoned players can have an enormously positive effect on even the youngest of rosters — on and off the floor. Muscala stayed professional, stayed ready, and gave great effort each time he stepped on the floor, setting the example for what it means to don a Thunder jersey.
Per game, the 6-foot-11 sharpshooter put up 6.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 0.9 assists in 14.3 minutes while shooting 39.4% from beyond the arc on 3.3 attempts through a total of 43 contests.
Grade: B
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On the court, Muscala did what he’s always done best: knock down shots from all around the perimeter to space the floor for his teammates. And at 6-foot-11, he also provided some relief to a frontcourt that lacked any real experience or size when the team needed to roll out bigger lineups.
Eventually, Muscala’s impeccable reputation as a selfless roleplayer and ability to space the floor would lead to the big man being dealt to the Boston Celtics as they looked to bolster their bench ahead of another title run.
Offensively
Coming off the bench the majority of his time in Oklahoma City, Muscala’s ability to knock down 3-pointers off the catch gave the Thunder a huge boost, allowing the offense to capitalize on the creativity of ball-handlers Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey.
Muscala’s 6.2 points per game isn’t reflective of how he actually impacted the offense. It’s sort of a statistical lie. His on/off numbers do a great job of filling in the gaps here and show that the Thunder outscored their opponents by a whopping 9.5 points per 100 possessions when Muscala saw the floor.
The fact that Muscala could just walk on the court and stretch defenses without even touching the ball spoke to his reputation as a reliable marksman. He earns a solid “B+” here.
Defensively
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While Muscala excelled on offense, his defense is a different story. The 31-year-old stretch center has always had limited mobility and athleticism and is the reason why he’s always received a limited role throughout his career.
But despite those limitations, Muscala actually didn’t have a crazy negative showing this season. While a 0.8 steal percentage and 2.3 block percentage isn’t anything to get excited about, he did just enough to not be a total pushover as he used his big body and long arms to wall up and make opponents’ shots just a little more difficult, earning him a “C+” here.
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