It’s not been a quiet summer for Usman Garuba. When he seemed to have found a place in the NBA, the best league in the world shows him a new and different dark side.
If in the first year it was the injuries and the few minutes, in the transit between the second and the third the ex of the Real Madrid has suffered from the well-known fleeting devaluation and memory loss of the NBA, as a talented youngster that a team like the Houston Rockets kept as gold in cloth to, incomprehensibly, mere bargaining chip, from the Texas franchise to the Hawks, and from Atlanta to Oklahoma in just two weeks.
Everything, due to the Rockets’ change of heart, from considering Garuba a treasure to transferring him to save money despite the low cost of his contract, 2.6 million. And with the ‘overbooking’ of the Thunder -now with up to 21 players on their roster-, as an added question mark for their future.
However, the NBA will wait for Usman Garuba and his current team. According to sources close to the player, Oklahoma’s idea is not to transfer to the interior, which they will follow closely in the World Cup. Oklahoma General Manager, Sam Presti, He sees the former Real Madrid player as an interesting player for his roster.
With Oklahoma initially counting on the player from 21 years, Garuba only contemplates continuing in the NBA despite the fact that the certain instability of his situation triggered by the hustle and bustle of recent weeks has aroused the interest of several teams in the Euroleague, who have asked about the interior of Azuqueca de Henares.
However, and although his continuity for one more year in the best league in the world seems assured, the World Cup may partly mark the short-term future of Usman Garuba, because, with the 31 October As a deadline, Oklahoma has to decide whether to exercise its franchise option to renew the interior for one more season in exchange for 4.4 million in the still ‘rookie’ contract of the Spanish international.
Garuba and Willy, in a game last season
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Garuba’s great performance in the past Eurobasket revalued the interior, which went on to acquire a more important role in the Rockets despite its ups and downs in the second half of the campaign.
However, with the unpredictable nature of the NBA, nothing can be 100% certain that what Garuba achieves in the World Cup can serve him in the long term in the case of Willy Hernangomez as a more recent illustrative example, since the Pelicans ignored their European MVPnot only reducing minutes, but without offering him a contract or guaranteeing a more important role for the brand new center of the Barça. New Orleans wanted him on the roster -as proof of this they did not let him leave in February-, but the eldest of the Hernangómez asked for more minutes and the Louisiana franchise did not finally exercise its franchise option.
Several Euroleague teams ask about Garuba but the interior only thinks about the NBA
By age and projection with his constant progress to his 21 years, Usman Garuba fits into the fresh and young project of the Thunder, who, as a sign of how clear they have their idea, cut a contrasting interior two days ago as Rudy Gay. The only thirtysomethings on the team right now are Victor Oladipo (31 years old) and Davis Bertans (30), rebounded in Oklahoma with operations in recent weeks.
Beyond the accumulation of players in a Thunder that must lighten the squad, the question is the fit that the newly renewed team could give Mark Daigneault to Garuba, with the advantage of being able to play up to three different positions, from 3 to 5 in which he played the last year in the Rockets as a substitute for Alperen Sengun.
Precisely one of the most realistic scenarios could be that the Spaniard plays a very similar role in the Thunder to the one he played last year in Houston.
Chat Holmgren has amazed in the Summer League
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Yes ok Chet Holmgrenwith his recovery, is indisputable as a pivot in a starting five that will form Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Luguentz Dortz, Jalen Williams and the number 2 of the 2022 draft, Holmgren -even without having fully developed his body-, can suffer against bigger centers -he still weighs just 94 kilos with his 2.16-, something that Garuba can compensate from the bench. In conversation with MD, Sengün recognized that the former Real Madrid player was a great support in the sense that he helped him to compensate for his defensive deficiencies.
The problem for the interior would be Jaylin Williams -started last season at ‘5’-, who would be the first ‘backup’ for Holmgren, although Usman’s perimeter defense can be considered better than that of number 34 in the 2022 draft. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.
Focused on improving his offensive game
The competition for the ‘4’ is also high, with Jalen Williams as owner and Ousmane Dieng y Alexey Pokusevski Like other bench options, Garuba is a better rebounder than the first and a better defender than the second. It will also be necessary to see the role that Davis Bertans takes and if he is left by some Thunder who will also be attentive to him in the World Cup. His 16 million -second highest paid player after Shai-, are a point against.
The Spanish international continues to focus this summer on improving his offensive gameworking to add more resources and insisting on a shot in which he improved significantly last year, from 25% of his ‘rookie’ year to 40.7%, although he can also influence in other ways such as from the distribution from the short role.
Capable of defending all positions from 1 to 5, the statistics that Sergio Rabinal pointed out in his Sporting News analysis says a lot about Garuba’s versatile side, the only one in the entire NBA that recorded more than 1.5 steals, 1 block, 10 rebounds and 40% from the perimeter per 36 minutes last season. Although in the best league in the world you can never be 100% sure, the Thunder love and value Usman Garuba, with the opportunity to show in the World Cup that he is a player to stay in the NBA for years.
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2023-07-21 04:06:18
#Garubas #future #lies #NBA #Thunder
