Rookie Promise Lavine vs Okogie

[Monster]

Lavine's rookie year was so long ago and quite frankly the expectations for him were so low that it's hard to really frame that experience of what he did the first couple months compared to what Okogie has done now. If you look at Lavine's shooting numbers from the first couple months they aren't much different from Okogie. In fact Okogie has the advantage in 3 point percentage. Obviously again their roles and players around them are mostly night and day which is important context to those numbers (Lavine was dishing out 5 assists a game in December) but it's worth noting Lavine's offensive numbers were not exactly great. Looking back at the guys that played on that team with Lavine (25 guys played for the Wolves) I was reminded so think Lavine actually had a nice stretch when he was playing with Lorenzo Brown who was more of a PG type. It was a all a small sample but I do remember that being a thing that was talked about both here and various other places.

It seems like Lavine gets a pass for being able to translate his woeful defense into something because of his physical tools. Okogie doesn't get the same pass on offense even though he actually seems to have some pretty good skills already. Okogie had a 2nd year of college but I think he is more of a complete player (who can do think to help you win games) no doubt at the same time during these guy's rookie years.

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Okogie could be a really special player. He shows some nice passing instincts that are ahead of Wiggins and may be even Year 1 and 2 LaVine. And in terms of hustling and defense, there simply is no comparison.

I think LaVine had more upside as a pure scorer, but Okogie has the raw materials to develop into a very good scorer himself with elite defense to boot. We'll see how things go, but kudos to Thibs for drafting this kid. There is a lot to be excited about.