A rocky two months for the sharpshooter

Scoring

McDermott didn’t get a ton of opportunities — he played 22 games for the Thunder and averaged 19.5 minutes — but his scoring output wasn’t as much as hoped for. McDermott averaged 12.1 points per 36 minutes, which was less than (13.9) or

(13.2), the two players most similar in role. At times, McDermott seemed lost, going protracted minutes without so much as a shot.

Defense

McDermott struggled defensively in his 21 Thunder games. Of the 19 players who suited up for OKC this season, McDermott ranked 19th in three key defensive categories — defensive win shares (0.004, which basically meant McDermott did virtually nothing to help defensively); defensive rating (113.0, which means the Thunder gave up 113 points per 100 possessions with McDermott on the floor); and field-goal percentage defense as the primary defender (57.6 percent field-goal shooting; gave up 44.3 percent). McDermott spent most of his time covering small forwards. But if continues his playoff experiment of McDermott as a power forward against smallball lineups, McDermott’s defensive liability could be mitigated.

Shooting

McDermott made just 36.2 percent of his Thunder 3-point shots. Good. Not great. But he will get better. McDermott made just 35.3 percent of his corner 3-pointers, and he was over 40 percent from the corner as a Bull the last two years. Even more encouraging, McDermott gave the Thunder a mid-range presence. McDermott was adept at coming off a screen for a 15-foot elbow shot. McDermott made 50 percent of his long 2-pointers (16 feet-up), second-best on the team behind only the automatic Anthony Morrow. And McDermott made 47.1 percent of his shots from 10-16 feet, secondbest on the team behind only

Playing with Westbrook

McDermott’s chief value would seem to be spreading the floor for

But the McDermott/ Westbrook tandem was not successful. The Thunder was outscored (albeit barely) in the 245 minutes McDermott and Westbrook played together. Among rotation players, only

also had a negative plus-minus with Westbrook. The Thunder scored 112.9 points per 48 minutes with Westbrook and McDermott together, but the defense withered; OKC gave up 113.7 points per 48 minutes with both on the court.

Building trust

After the season,

talked glowingly about McDermott’s addition to the team. But McDermott has not yet warranted trust from Donovan. In 22 Thunder games, McDermott played just 10 minutes of clutch time — last five minutes of the game, the score within five points or less — and got no such minutes in the playoffs. McDermott’s defense might always make him a situational player at the end of the games, but his offense should also keep him in the mix for such duty, and it hasn’t happened yet.