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Well, the Arizona Wildcats won't be playing for the rest of March, but one of their stars will. The Oklahoma City Thunder have called up Mustafa Shakur from the Tulsa 66ers. Shakur played for the Wildcats from 2002 to 2007, before going undrafted and landing with the Kings' summer league. After being released, he spent two years in Europe before returning to the states and playing for the D-League. His development this season, however, has been phenomenal.
Shakur was averaging 20.4 points, 7.2 assists, and 4.6 rebounds for the 66ers. He has arguably been the best point guard in the D-League this season, scoring in double figures in all 40 games played and features NBA-level explosiveness and scoring ability. Whether or not he sticks with the playoff-bound Thunder depends on a few things.
Shakur's positives are that he can flat out get buckets, son. His scoring ability is at an NBA-level, and he operates well in both the halfcourt and transition sets. He has tremendous vision on the break, and as Ridiculous Upside points out, he's good from deep (40% from three point land) as well as a killer at the rim. His defense is solid and he's shown considerable leadership on a young Tulsa squad. Perhaps best for him, he's been in Tulsa's system, which closely imitates what the Thunder run (Tulsa is owned by the Thunder).
Shakur's downsides are that he's turnover prone, the number one thing to get you yanked on a ten-day. Most coaches don't expect you to do much on a call-up, but they do expect you to not screw up. Shakur can show flashes, but if he's brought in to do work off the ball, like he was in Minnesota (as a possible alternative to struggling Kyle Weaver), he needs to stay within his limitations and not press to much. Conversely, if he does manage to get some minutes in a fairly loaded backcourt (starter Russell Westbrook averages 35 minutes at point), he's got to run the system and try and get buckets without going ISO too much.
Shakur is being brought in mostly for defense, and probably won't play on the upcoming road trip for the Thunder. It's a struggle for call-ups to get time to showcase what they can do in order to acquire contracts for the remainder of the season.
The Thunder released another D-League standout, Antonio Anderson to allow for the move.
Here's a look at some of Shakur's highlights:
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