What Gains Are Realistic For Aleksej Pokusevski Ahead of Year 2 in OKC

When the Oklahoma City Thunder drafted Serbian playmaker Aleksej Pokusevski, it was with the future in mind.

His ability with the basketball in his hand captured the imagination of Thunder general manager Sam Presti, but there was still plenty of work to be done on his body to be truly NBA ready.

A year ago, Pokusevski flashed some of those limitations.

Quick enough on the perimeter to have a nice first step and utilize his length to get his shot off, Pokusevski struggled at times on the defensive end of the floor, and he said getting stronger and faster was one of his primary goals this offseason.

Unfortunately for Thunder fans, they were unable to get eyes on their seven-foot wonder during the NBA Summer League, as Oklahoma City made the determination that he had played enough minutes during the season, and he didn’t need the extra work in Las Vegas (despite sending Theo Maledon, who led the Thunder in minutes last year, but I digress).

“He got a lot of minutes this season and we have him on a specific track and plan for the summer,” Presti said of Pokusevski after the NBA Draft at the end of July. “We don’t really feel like the Summer League actually would be a huge barometer for us with him and where he’s at.

“He’s having a great summer. He looks great. He’s worked his tail off, and we couldn’t be more excited about it.”

So while Pokusevski continues to work on his game out of the public eye, Thunder fans will hope for a Giannis-like body transformation out of their young big.

The before and after photos of Giannis Antetokounmpo continue to capture the imagination of the online NBA community, as he’s become the gold standard for maturing physically and elevating his level of play to MVP and NBA Champion levels.

But even for Giannis, those changes didn’t happen overnight.

Reporting at 210 pounds his rookie season, well short of the 242 pounds Antetokounmpo took the floor this year at, the Greek sensation added seven of those pounds from Year 1 to Year 2.

Entering an NBA strength program, plus the around the clock nutrition advice available to professional athletes, helped Antetokounmpo continue to grow throughout his NBA career.

Even if Pokusevski doesn’t report back with noticeable physical gains, it’s important to remember that he’s still just 19-years-old with plenty of NBA career ahead of him.

The most important thing for Giannis actually didn’t pertain to his weight, but to his ability to use it on the floor and the leap he took from his rookie to sophomore year in the NBA.

Giannis’ shooting from the floor increased from 41.4 percent to 49.1 percent as he identified the shots he wanted to take and began perfecting his game.

While Pokusevski’s game is much different that Antetokounmpo’s, as he’ll continue to want to live on the perimeter, the growth in shot selection and decision making with the basketball should continue to improve as the Serbian gets more NBA minutes and experience under his belt.

A great place to start would be Pokusevski’s 3-point percentage, which hovered at 28.0 percent last year. It improved as the season went along, but a poor start from downtime in the early stages of the season initially gave many pause about his shooting stroke.

It’s only the second year of the Pokusevski project, but it will be fascinating to see what kind of steps forward the Thunder big can take in 2021 alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

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