Q12543 wrote:crazy-canuck wrote:longstrangetrip wrote:Q12543 wrote:Yeah, hard to believe how much Okogie is struggling after two solid shooting years in college. It's not like he was Andre Roberson (9.6 ppg) in college and always just a defense/hustle guy. Okogie had some big time games and made quite a lot of 3's. I don't quite get why he's been so bad other than it's the Wolves.
Everyone is just bigger, faster and more athletic in the NBA, and some guys have a difficult time adjusting. The G League is a step down from the NBA, but still a big step up from college. As you say, he was a pretty good shooter in college. Maybe a stint in Iowa would help him rediscover the shooting touch he had at Georgia Tech. The kid has so much potential...I want Ryan to find the best way to bring it out.
Okogie was never a shooter in college, more a scorer.
In think the distance in the nba is still throwing him off. Its like hes throwing the ball instead of shooting.
He is also shooting more because he cant attack the paint. Alot of his attacks are reckless fadeaway lay up attempts because he lacks the feel or explosion to go over or through guys. Defender just wall up and blovk hus shot. Hes a lot like early zach in that regard. Lavine was horrible at the rim attack and would often fade, but now hes added a craftiness to his attacks.
The biggest issue i have with okogie is that hes on the verge of being in that marcus smart tier of flopping everwhere, except not as convincing.
Take a shot, flop.
Attack the rim, flop.
Go through screen, flop.
Challenge a shot, flop.
He doesnt flop all the time, but he gets in 1 or 2 obvious ones every game.
Yeah, I get that he wasn't a high volume marksman in college. But he was pretty good and he made his free throws at a high rate too, which is usually a good sign for future shooting potential. So I didn't expect him to be gangbusters out of school, but certainly not THIS bad.
I'm just amazed at how this franchise consistently struggles to take whatever lump of clay its given and then help mold it into something greater than what that lump of clay can become on its own. Basically the Loves, KATs, and Wiggins basically become what they would have become anyway - good, bad, or indifferent. We seemingly never take a player and then add value on top of whatever inherent skills and work ethic they bring from the get go.
So with Okogie, we get the motor and defense and "nonstop" stuff, but he becomes almost the worst case scenario otherwise. Not middling. Not mediocre. No, absolutely HORRIBLE shooting the ball.
End of rant.
As a sophomore, Okogie hit 43% of his twos on 9 attempts, 38% of this threes on 4 attempts and 82% of his free throws. His two-point shooting was actually significantly better as a freshman. So he's never been a great shooter, but he was decent in college. So far this season, Okogie's shooting has been dismal as he's been hitting 36% of his twos, 24% of his threes and 71% of his free throws.
But I'm not worried. Unlike Lonzo Ball, his shooting mechanics aren't a mess. Actually, Okogie has a nice-looking stroke generally as we saw in his game-winning corner three the other night. And unlike Wiggins, Okogie has a level of intensity and competitiveness that will drive him to do everything possible to improve. Knowing that he was a decent shooter in college, I have no doubt he'll become a decent shooter in the NBA because he'll put the work in and has the intensity to focus. Part of what I see is that he often tends to rush his shot. That's probably a function of his hyper approach to the game, but moreso a function of the fact that he hasn't fully adjusted yet to the speed of the NBA game. As we often hear, he needs to play enough so that the game finally "slows down" for him. In other words, he needs time and NBA game-time minutes. That's precisely why sending him down to the G-League would be a mistake in my view. Thibodeau hasn't given him consistent minutes; hopefully Ryan will. Also, every minute Okogie isn't sleeping, eating or playing in a game, he needs to spend in the gym putting up shots.
I don't think there's much the organization can do to maximize the development of a young player other than having a head coach who uses him in ways that play to his strengths and help him build confidence. I think Towns has developed as expected. He's playing at a superstar level. I could see a scheme in which Towns scored even more - a scheme that featured him more in the offense and that took more advantage of his full skill set rather than simply posting him up repeatedly. A better playmaking PG than Teague would also probably increase KAT's offensive numbers. But again, that's a reflection of head coaching, not the organization's overall failure to develop Towns. I think the players themselves determine their development unless the head coach fails to give them adequate, consistent playing time or puts them in a bad scheme that accentuates their weaknesses and undermines their confidence - like having Wiggins initiate the offense at the end of quarters in spite of his poor ball-handling and marginal passing skills.
As for Okogie, I say just play him consistent minutes as part of the regular rotation the rest of the season. He brings enough other stuff, things that often don't show up in the box score, to be a net positive in spite of his poor shooting. So I don't see his presence in the rotation hindering the team's chances of making the playoffs. But even if having Okogie in the rotation were to jeapordize the team's playoff chance, I think it would still be worth it for the long-term sake of this franchise. Failing to give Okogie meaningful, consistent playing time is the one way the organization could actually stifle his development. The Wolves refused to turn the reins over to Billups because they saw Brandon as the sure thing to maximize wins in the near term. That turned out to be a huge mistake. The Wolves dare not make that same mistake again. We have several seasons to make the most of Okogie's rookie deal and help him develop into a key young piece around our young star, KAT. We need to make the most of that limited time. So shooting struggles or no shooting struggles, play him!
