Oklahoma City Thunder: Will Josh Huestis Contribute This Season?

By Andrew Kennedy | Sep 13, 2015

Mar 23, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; Stanford Cardinal forward Dwight Powell (33) and forward Josh Huestis (24) celebrate after defeating Kansas Jayhawks 60-57 in the third round of the 2014 NCAA Men /

People couldn’t wait to criticize the Oklahoma City Thunder when they drafted Josh Huestis. And they had good reason to.

Thunder general manager Sam Presti went with Mitch McGary at No. 21, well before most projected he’d be selected, and then at No. 29 Presti drafted Huestis. Huestis wasn’t on most fans’ radars and the news that came along soon after made the pick look even worse.

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Huestis would essentially be the first domestic draft-and-stash player as the Thunder didn’t even sign Huestis to a rookie contract, instead planning that the four-year Stanford product spend his first pro season in the D-League with the OKC Blue.

It immediately felt like a wasted asset. Presti may have been able to wait until No. 29 to take McGary, who was reportedly promised by the Thunder to be picked in the first round. The Thunder could have traded up or down with the other pick to take Huestis at a more appropriate time. Instead, Huestis will be remembered as a first round pick that was stashed away as a rookie.

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While all late first round picks by no means pan out, it will take a lot more than we’ve seen from Huestis already to make this selection seem like a good one.

Huestis may have a chance this season after signing a four-year contract last month that will actually pay him a bit more than what the rookie scale would’ve paid. The wing position is where the Thunder are the lightest on the depth chart heading into the season, so there may be more opportunity than you think.

The first unknown we’ll have to figure out around the start of the season, when determining how much of a chance Huestis will have to play, is what new head coach Billy Donovan plans to do at the starting two. Scott Brooks’ philosophy was pretty clear. Once Thabo Sefolosha was gone, he tried to replace him with as close a replica as possible, even down to looks it seemed.

That meant Andre Roberson was the guy for much of last season, even though Roberson is one of the worst outside shooters in the league for his position. And the Huestis pick almost feels like the Thunder rolling the dice again in search of a Sefolosha-type if Roberson doesn’t work out well enough.

There are definitely similarities between Roberson and Huestis, beginning with the general description of the type of pro they are: a 3-and-D guy. They both have good size at about 6-foot-7 and a knack for being particularly good shot blockers for wings.

Huestis averaged 1.4 blocks per game in four years at Stanford, including over 2.0 per game as a junior, and last year with the Blue he blocked 1.6 shots per game. At any level, that proves he has a particular skill. The numbers likely won’t translate to the NBA, but looking at these highlights show a little of what Huestis is capable of.

Outside shooting is the real issue and while Brooks was looking for defense first at the starting two-guard, Donovan may be more interested in surrounding OKC’s stars with better shooting. Anthony Morrow is the best three-point shooter on the team and then even Dion Waiters and Kyle Singler have much better reputations as outside shooters than the likes of Roberson and Huestis.

Huestis had his moments in the D-League despite shooting just 31.6 percent last season (career 31.2 percent at Stanford). He made seven triples in one game and his form certainly doesn’t appear broken like in the case of Roberson. When you play with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, you’re going to get your fair share of opportunities taking open threes, many of which will be shorter ones from the corners.

Huestis has never proven to be consistent with this, so it would be somewhat of a surprise if his shooting becomes a reason he has an edge over anyone else in the rotation.

But back to the potential differences between Brooks and Donovan. There is a legitimate chance that Huestis and Roberson won’t even be given much of a look when it comes to playing time. The way the league is going, it always felt like Brooks was behind the curve, focusing too much on players who were marginally better defenders while sacrificing a lot offensively.

Starting from scratch, Donovan may see Waiters, Morrow and Singler as a perfectly fine three-man rotation at the two and Durant’s backup. You could certainly get away with those three filling those roles from a minutes standpoint.

So a lot is up against Huestis with the roster as is. He’s of course young and could be around for awhile and see more opportunities in the coming year. But we haven’t seen enough thus far to think he will have much of a chance to contribute this season. Unless of course the Thunder have the kind of injury luck they did a season ago. In that case, Huestis may become incredibly important.

Next: NBA: Complete Offseason Grades For All 30 Teams

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