Oklahoma City Thunder make a qualifying offer to Daequan Cook – NBA Update
About two weeks ago, Oklahoma City Thunders’ 24 year old shooting guard Daequan Cook had openly expressed his desire to stay at the franchise.
“That’s where I want to be. That’s where I fit in. My gut feeling right now is that’s where I’m going to end up. I had a great season there. I helped out a lot. (They like) my habits, becoming not just a better player on the court, but better off the court.”
On Monday, OKC fulfilled his wish and handed him a qualifying offer.
OKC’s vice president Sam Presti, who is also the general manager, announced that the team will re-sign Cook and will match any contract offers that Daequan receives from other teams in the league. This move was widely anticipated as Presti had praised at the end of Oklahoma’s brilliant post season campaign.
“He's not a guy that got a ton of opportunity but was ready and prepared when that opportunity came about,” Presti said at that time.
The Oklahoma City acquired Cook in a trade with Miami Heat last year. During the first half of the 2010-2011 season, he was benched in nearly all the games and it was midway through the season that he earned a role in the team’s rotation. Cook lived up to his reputation of a prolific parameter shooter and finished at the 11th spot in three-point shooting despite playing only 43 games in the last season. Daequan connected on more than 40 percent shots from beyond the arc and buried 65 blows from the total 154 attempted.
The shooting guard averaged 5.6 points and 1.7 rebounds in 13.9 minutes of playing time per game during last season. His ability to play in adversity and knock down decisive shots in the crunch time is what impressed the front office and the coaching staff.
This move by the OKC management is another step in building a champion time around their superstar Kevin Durant. The young Thunder punched above their weight last season as well and reached the Western Conference Semifinals, only to lose to the eventual NBA Champions Dallas Mavericks.
Over the span of last three years, the Oklahoma City franchise has established a young core of blue collared players and Daequan is a vital cog of that foundation. He is young, very athletic and a magnificent shooter and he will only get better with the passage of time.
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