Thunder make surprising picks in first round of draft

The Oklahoma City Thunder took Michigan forward Mitch McGary with the 21st pick in the NBA draft on Thursday night.

That pick could be considered a surprise.

Then the Thunder picked Josh Huestis with their second pick of the first round.

And that's definitely a surprise.

The McGary pick makes sense because the Thunder need someone to go along with Steven Adams and Kendrick Perkins at center, but the Huestis pick is curious because Oklahoma City already has a pair of long players to play the wing.

Huestis played at Stanford last season, is 6-foot-7, 230 pounds. He is considered a great athlete, but not a great scorer. Huestis is valuable because he can defend multiple positions. However, the Thunder already have Andre Roberson, who got minimal playing time as well as Jeremy Lamb, who is considered more of an offensive player.

McGary, at 6-foot-10 and 255-pounds, averaged 9.5 points and 8.3 rebounds last season, but he played just eight games after electing to have back surgery. He tested positive for marijuana last season and faced a suspension, so he left after his sophomore year.