Okogie the new Wolves PF

[FNG]

I guess I wouldn't have thought of Josh as a PF, but I actually think it's kind of creative.. I'm not concerned about Okogie defending PFs...he's tough and strong enough that he's not going to get bullied, and his 7'-0" wingspan is equal to Juancho's and 3" longer than Layman's. And he should be able to beat a lot of slower PFs off the dribble. His 3-point shooting is a problem of course, but don't we expect decent 3-point shooting more from a wing than a PF? Maybe PF is a way to "hide" Josh's shooting weakness. We'll have to see. I at least give Ryan some creativity points, but I find it a little odd that he is discussing possible rotations with Dane before he's even had a chance to see how the new pieces fit in pre-season.

[AbeVigodaLive]

The reason why I hate this so much. Is we get no advantage with Okogie playing PF. Sweet they get to put there PF on Okogie and not guard him and let him shoot 3s. Sweet we get one of the worst 3 pt shooters to get open 3s. Okogie also won't be able to intiate offense and if he does it will be really bad. Wolves legit get no offense advantage. Then all the negatives in getting out rebounded, Okogie giving up possibly 6 inches and multiple lbs on people. Wolves legit get no advantage.

Hopefully it is just coach talk but when we are talking about the least experienced coach in the NBA I don't think it is.

Yeah. I'm thinking the same thing.

[Porckchop]

So they chose Okogie at PF over Towns ( who can hit perimeter shots) when they decided against drafting Wiseman. Interesting move.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I was one of the 7 people that actually watched the press conference. He made it clear that the "big" playing next to KAT was going to be based on an open competition and he re-iterated, "when I say this will be a competitive camp, I mean it.". Then he just threw out every name on the roster as potential fits, including Okogie, Reid, Davis, etc.

If you hear his answer first-hand on this question, you won't feel like he has a pre-determined answer...

(but I thought I saw a twinkle in his eye - ever so slightly - when he mentioned Jarred Vanderbilt).

[Monster]

I was one of the 7 people that actually watched the press conference. He made it clear that the "big" playing next to KAT was going to be based on an open competition and he re-iterated, "when I say this will be a competitive camp, I mean it.". Then he just threw out every name on the roster as potential fits, including Okogie, Reid, Davis, etc.

If you hear his answer first-hand on this question, you won't feel like he has a pre-determined answer...

(but I thought I saw a twinkle in his eye - ever so slightly - when he mentioned Jarred Vanderbilt).

Wow Q one of the 7. Are you going to print up T shirts for that group? Lol one of the local sports stations morning shows jokes that only 12 people listen to the show and they call them "The Twelve". People started to really get into it and so now I think it's pretty much a thing.

I watched the Ryan Saunders and Anthony Edwards Media availability. Edwards was asked about defense and he said all the right stuff and how he had been working with Vanterpool. He does seem like a fairly likable guy. Other than that I didn't take much from either of these not that I was expecting much.

[Leado01]

I think it's funny that people get wrapped up in position titles.

It's a match up game. Okogie is valuable because he can guard almost any size/type player (back to basket 7 footer is exception). Their aren't that many PF's left in the league that don't require putting the ball on the floor or catch and shoot 3's which Okogie does very well defending against anyone.This isn't even moderately surprising to hear that Saunders will consider playing him at the 4. He also has the advantage in transition against the slower PF's which still exist.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I think it's funny that people get wrapped up in position titles.

It's a match up game. Okogie is valuable because he can guard almost any size/type player (back to basket 7 footer is exception). Their aren't that many PF's left in the league that don't require putting the ball on the floor or catch and shoot 3's which Okogie does very well defending against anyone.This isn't even moderately surprising to hear that Saunders will consider playing him at the 4. He also has the advantage in transition against the slower PF's which still exist.

Transition works better... after a stop.

The Wolves will need many more of those this season... regardless of who's guarding the opposing team's 2nd tallest player.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

An already undersized, bad rebounding team is thinking about playing another guard next to Karl-Anthony Towns for stretches... This isn't a video game where you can get away with that. The Wolves will get killed during those minutes, especially on the glass. Mark my words.

[worldK]

The problem is we have too many wings that deserve rotation minutes while we are thin at the 4 spot.

Playing okogie at pf is nonsense. He is one of the better wing defenders who can also defend the scoring pg's in the league. Why play the 6'4 guy at pf? Can you imagine tony allen playing pf? Thats a guy I think okogie can be and we are wasting his best skill if we expect him to defend pf's.

dlo-rubio-edwards-beasley-culver-okogie. These 6 guys should all get at least 20mins of playing time but we cant accomodate them all. 1-2 of them will get the short end of the stick. We just have to deal with that and not play okogie at pf for 20mins a game.

Rondae is the best option at 4. Juancho, Q's guy vanderbilt and layman(if he wants to play) will have to play the 4. That is a pretty weak but playing a guard at 4 is not going to work.

Bam started at the 4 all regular season. The lakers and bucks play big. Even the warriors got bigger with Wiseman. Most teams have legit size 4's as their starters. Forget about a 4 guard lineup. It wont work.

[FNG]

I think we may be getting a little too worked up over a casual comment Ryan made about playing Josh at PF. I posted earlier that I wasn't too troubled about it, but found it a little peculiar that Ryan would be discussing possible rotations before training camp even began. But then Q (as one of the 7 people who actually listened to the interview) explained that Ryan hadn't really said much at all, that he listed almost everybody on the roster when he talked about PF candidates. It makes sense to me that the coaching staff really doesn't know how the PF minutes will be divided- too many new pieces.

So this thread is actually a hypothetical...what are our thoughts about whether Josh should get some minutes at PF. I still am intrigued by the idea. I understand he might be overmatched defensively by some of the stronger PF's in the game, but mismatches go both ways...a typical plodding PF will have little chance keeping up with Josh's athleticism and speed. And let's not forget a defender disrupts and blocks shots and rebounds with his arms, not his head. Josh's 7'0" wingspan puts him somewhere in the middle of PF wingspans (Bam, for instance, is only 1 inch longer). I get that his wingspan is what makes him more effective against wings than PF's, but his length shouldn't be much of a drawback at PF.