That bucket made it 10-0 Thunder, and after that it was time for Bazley to join the action as the team’s second-unit center. Just a few weeks ago, Donovan said that at this point Bazley, still a rookie who didn’t play organized basketball last year, was firmly situated at power forward but that he projected to play multiple positions in future years. Today though, the 6-foot-8, 208-pound scrapper was banging down low with Washington’s Thomas Bryant (6-foot-11, 248) and Moritz Wagner (6-foot-11, 245) to pick up the assignment his team needed from him.
“I just appreciate the opportunity to be on the floor with my team and do what’s asked of me,” said Bazley.
Holding his own down low, Bazley moved his quick feet to stay in front of his man when on the ball and recovered quickly on pick and roll actions too. Despite being undersized among the true centers, Bazley racked up seven rebounds. At the beginning of the Thunder’s time in Orlando, Bazley filled in for Noel in practice, battling the 265-pound Adams. If you can hang in there against the Big Kiwi, you can handle whoever is thrown at you.
“Just doing what we go through in practice, sticking to our principles, guys just being in help and showing our length to maybe discourage a drive,” Bazley explained. “Just showing a crowd.”
After missing his first shot attempt, Bazley got going in Sunday’s game thanks to a nice drop-off pass in the secondary fast break by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Bazley lined up an easy knockdown three from the left wing that splashed home. The 23rd overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft was not a prolific three-point shooter, particularly since he did an internship at New Balance and trained on his own between his senior year of high school and his initiation into the Thunder organization last July. But down in the bubble, Bazley has hit 41.6 percent of his threes (10-for-26) and has played at least 22 minutes in every game, with an uptick of 8 minutes per game more than his average during the year.
“It's been unbelievable,” Chris Paul said of Bazley’s maturation, before needling himself and his young friend. “Somebody showed me a tweet yesterday saying how 2005 was a special year because that was the year I got drafted, and it was the year that Baze started kindergarten.”
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