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The Thunder announced Wednesday they’ve added two more names to the training camp roster as Andy Rautins and DeAndre Liggins have signed on with Oklahoma City.Liggins is a 6-6 forward that spent last season with the Orlando Magic.....Rautins, a 6-4 guard, is primarily a 3-point specialist and spent last season playing for Lucentum Alicante overseas.
Everything that you see above seems to indicate that he's mostly a shooter, and he didn't too too much to wow you. He obviously he never caught on with the Magic, and that's accentuated by the fact that the only evidence of his time on the Magic is J.R. Smith crossing him over at the end of a Knicks blowout.
But I took a quick look at some of his minutes last season, thanks to Synergy Sports, and the above really doesn't tell the whole story. Despite the majority of his time coming during blowouts, the guy actually looked like a reasonable player. On offense, he was mostly looking to score, and he did. He had a couple of impressive drives against the Spurs during a tight fourth quarter for some points. He hit a few nice looking shots, and was an impressive 45% from the field. Lastly, he had a good knowledge of where he was on the floor, making few rookie mistakes.
Still, there were some indicators telling you that his game just isn't up to NBA standards. His athleticism isn't too good, as he almost always goes for a layup in the paint, whether open or not. In fact, he was stuffed by the rim while trying to dunk...twice...during a blowout. A couple of his misses, which were wide open shots, went way off the mark, actually going over the rim. This pretty much fits with his draft description as a streaky whooter who could really go awry.
Below: More on Liggins, the Lowdown on Rautins!
Defensively, he got a few steals by applying pressure in the right places, but he was never really that good in one-on-one situations. He would get blown by a lot of the time, though his pressure against outside shots was decent. I could see him exploiting a matchup against a big, but for someone who's defense was supposed to be his calling card, it left a lot to be desired.
Andy Rautins plays for the Canadian National Team, and he was on the Knicks roster last season. Rautins is pretty much revered by Canadians, and would probably warrant a few articles if he made the Thunder so I could roll in those extreme Canadian page views (gotta get that paper, son). He was a early second round pick out of Syracuse, where he played in the infamous 6 Overtime game against UConn. Anyway, here's his highlights:
He can shoot. Yep, all of this video is just Andy shooting open threes. Over. And Over. And Over. And Over. He hasn't seen time with the Knicks since 10-11, but back then, he did what you'd expect him to. He shot threes. Nothing else he really did was notable, but he was decently quick, I suppose. The release on his shot was quick and something to behold, but I don't know if that alone could carry him in the NBA.
All in all, I see Rautins in the same vein as Robert Vaden, a late second rounder out of UAB that the Thunder drafted a couple of years back. He was a fantastic scorer in college, and even worked his way to a Thunder roster spot at one point after dominating the D-League. But there's just not much else to warrant putting this guy on the floor.
In the end, if I had to choose between the two, I'd go with DeAndre Liggins, mostly because he'd be useful in an emergency and I could see his game diversifying. But with the rookie Thompson and the more successful Orton standing in their way, I honestly would be shocked to see either of these guys make the roster. I'd say they're mostly here to give the Thunder different types of players to play against in practice, especially with the plethora of bigs now on the roster. But we'll have to wait until the Pre-Season before we can get the full story.
And this wouldn't be a true post about a Sam Presti signing unless we did our traditional wingspan check. DeAndre Liggins is 6'5", but his wingspan is 6'11". Andy Rautins is 6'5", and his wingspan is 6'7". Yep, both of them check out.
What do you think of the Liggins and Rautins signings? Let us know in the comments!
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