Summer struggles part of learning curve
LAS VEGAS — You can see it sometimes in a stilted movement, or a look on Terrance Ferguson's face. The Thunder guard should be playing basketball at NBA Summer League.
Sometimes, he’s thinking it instead.
Ferguson came here to work on expanding his game, on playing with the ball as well as off it, on showing more than just spot-up jump shots and transition finishes.
But growing means learning, and the Thunder staff has taught him a lot.
That’s why, Ferguson said, assistant coach Darko Rajakovic pulled Ferguson aside at a recent practice and preached patience.
“I was thinking too much, I was worrying too much,” Ferguson said. “(Rajakovic) was like, ‘It’s a process. Just play your game. Just keep going.’”
Ferguson struggled during pool play at Summer League, where tournament play begins on Wednesday.
Through three games, Ferguson is averaging 5.7 points, four rebounds and 1.3 assists in 28.7 minutes per game. He’s shooting 6 for 26 (23 percent) from the floor and 2 for 14 (14.2 percent) from 3-point range.
None of that matters much to the Thunder.
“I think for Terrance, there’s a growth to him,” said OKC coach Billy Donovan, who’s watched the past two games from courtside seats. “He’s defended very, very well. He’s gotten an opportunity to do some things differently than he had a chance to last year. He hasn’t shot the ball particularly well, but he’s making the right basketball plays.”
And that’s important for the Thunder, which has a vision for how Ferguson will play moving forward after a rookie season spent in a relatively simple role.
Donovan’s hope is to play faster and with more ball movement this season, but that requires that players other than Russell Westbrook and Paul George be able to put the ball on the floor, get into the middle of a defense and facilitate from there.
Given his athleticism, the 6-foot-7 Ferguson is a candidate to expand his game in that direction and that process has started at Summer League, and in the practices leading up to it.
“That’s definitely what I’m doing right now, just experimenting with different things,” Ferguson said. “Making plays off the ball, on the ball, facilitating, just trying to add to my game and be a better player.”
So Ferguson has had the ball in his hands, working around screens and looking to penetrate for points or pitches to the perimeter. It’s come with mixed results.
At times, Ferguson has looked comfortable as a facilitator, getting into the defense and whipping the ball to a teammate for a perimeter shot.
At other times, he’s seemed tentative, still clearly working through when to attack and when to make a play for someone else.
It’s been a statistical disappointment for a player who was in the Thunder’s rotation for much of his first season.
Because of that year of experience, Donovan said, “the perception is, OK, this guy should just dominate, and it doesn’t work like that.”
Instead, Ferguson is dealing with the discomfort of settling into a different role. Mark Daigneault, the head coach of the G League Oklahoma City Blue, who’s serving as the Thunder’s head coach here, said the staff has thrown all new looks at Ferguson.
And though Ferguson has had to think his way through them, the Thunder is fine with his thought process.
“He’s had his ups and downs,” Daigneault said. “That’s predictable, because we’re asking him to do a lot of things that he hasn’t done before. He’s handling that process really, really well, and this is the only way for a player to improve. You have to go through this to get better.”