Oklahoma City Thunder: 3 reasons Darius Bazley was a bad pick

2. They have drafted players just like him recently

In 2017 the OKC Thunder drafted Terrance Ferguson. Ferguson did not have college basketball experience but he played overseas. He was going to be a project that would help them down the road.

After two seasons Ferguson has found his way as a spot up shooter and slasher in the Thunder’s offense. He also started in place of the injured Andre Roberson for most of the season. Just like Bazley, Ferguson is a long and athletic player with a lot of upside.

Then in 2018, they drafted Hamidou Diallo. Diallo played college basketball for one season and he was going to be another player that was long and athletic with a lot of upside.

Both players did not play a lot in their rookie years and that may be the same for Bazley as he may have to spend time in the G League in order to fine-tune what is likely to be an incredibly raw set of skills.

When you include the 6’9” Bazley, that makes three straight drafts where the Thunder picked the same kind of player. You can look at it this way if you want to be optimistic: This is who the Thunder draft. Although that may be true they needed to get a different kind of player this time around to further help its push for a championship.

It has yet to be seen if all three of these picks can pan out but the Thunder did not come out of this draft winners.