Ferguson’s future
Terrance Ferguson’s future is unclear as the young player starts the season in a slump.
Many of the Thunder players had long cleared out of the locker room Sunday, but Terrance Ferguson remained. The 20-year-old sat facing his locker, still in his uniform.
After the Thunder’s 131120 loss to Sacramento, Paul George was the last to speak to the media. He was asked about the Thunder’s shooting struggles through an 0-3 start, then asked about Ferguson within ear shot of the secondyear player who’s in a slump to start the season.
“It happens,” George said. “I’ve been in that position as the young guy. You just want to do so well.
“I think there’s a lot of pressure he’s putting on himself because of that, being in a starting role.”
After Ferguson’s rough start, coach Billy Donovan has a decision to make. The decision started to get made in the second half of the Thunder’s loss Sunday.
It's only three games into the season, but Hamidou Diallo is challenging Donovan and how much confidence he can still show Ferguson, who’s struggled on offense and defense against the Warriors, Clippers and Kings.
Ferguson’s struggles are a small sample size that’s been magnified because of how well the Thunder’s other 20-yearold wing player is performing. Diallo, the second-round pick from Kentucky, has played nearly half the minutes of Ferguson — 38 to Ferguson’s 63 — yet is outpacing him in every
significant category but rebounds.
Most important to the Thunder’s current struggles is shooting percentage, where Diallo is shooting 58.3 percent (7-of-12) to Ferguson’s 13.3 percent (2-of-15).
Beyond the numbers, the eye test has Diallo and Alex Abrines playing better than Ferguson at the moment, which has raised questions about how long Donovan can go with Ferguson in the starting five and outpacing the other wings in minutes. Abrines’ minutes (61) are at least in the ballpark of Ferguson’s, but Diallo is far behind. Players such as Deonte Burton, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Abdel Nader have played eight minutes combined, all via Burton.
"You’re not going to be able to play everybody every single night on your roster, but those guys have had great attitudes, they’ve worked hard," Donovan said. "You try to communicate, have dialogue with them."
In the absence of Andre Roberson last season, Donovan liked Ferguson with the starting unit last season as a way to build confidence in the then-19-year-old rookie. Early against the Kings, it looked like Russell Westbrook’s return to the starting lineup would pay dividends for Ferguson. Westbrook was looking to throw outlet passes early off defensive rebounds, with Ferguson the beneficiary on fast-break passes he wasn’t receiving in the first two games.
But Ferguson finished 1-of-7 from the field. He’s 1-of-11 from 3 in the first three games, which Donovan is insistent will improve.
It’s part of why he’s stuck with Ferguson as a starter.
“Terrance to me is a way, way better shooter than what he has shot the ball these three games,” Donovan said. “And I know he’ll be better in that. Part of his growth has got to be, ‘How do I handle adversity?’
“To me, the guys with the mental toughness to work through adversity are the guys that really get better. I have confidence in him. But him going through this, he’s got to have that confidence in himself.”
Diallo certainly isn’t
lacking confidence, which begs the question of why Donovan hasn’t played him more than 12.7 minutes per game, 11th out of the 12 Thunder players who’ve played through one week.
The shift may have started against Sacramento. Diallo was subbed out for all of 30 seconds before Donovan ran him back to the scorer’s table in the fourth quarter Sunday. Diallo played 13 second-half minutes to Ferguson’s seven. Some of those minutes would have went to Abrines if he hadn’t suffered an elbow to the head in the second quarter.
The message was apparent, though, even if Donovan cautioned Monday that Diallo will have his struggles eventually this season. It’s another reason Donovan is being patient on replacing Ferguson as a starter — he doesn't want to start Diallo, have him struggle, then potentially zap the confidence of two young players.
“To sit there and say, 'OK, Terrance hasn’t shot the ball well, he picked up some fouls in the game, therefore we’re not going to play him anymore. OK, Hami now you’ve got his minutes.’ Well, what happens if Hami’s out there not playing well as a young guy?,” Donovan said. “If someone’s playing well, you kind of want to let them play a little bit longer just to ride that momentum. If someone’s not playing well you want to maybe let them work through it a little bit.
"But at some point you have to make a change as well.”
More important than the starting spot is the distribution of the minutes among players who are giving the Thunder the best chance to win. Donovan has let Ferguson play through his struggles until Sunday night’s second half.
“He knows he can play at this level,” George said of Ferguson. “The good thing is we’re there for him, we’ve got his back. We’re going to continue to help him get through that. He’s going to make shots, he’s going to miss shots. It’s part of the game and he’s got to understand that.”
When George’s postgame media session ended and the crowd dispersed, Ferguson was still there, alone. Just before walking out the door, George made a point to walk over to him, to let him know he wasn't.