Q12543 wrote:Terrific game report Lip. It's nice to hear the guys were loose on the bench and interacting positively with each other.
LST, Okogie's 3-ball looks good when he's set. He shot 38% on 166 attempts in college and is a good free thrower, so all signs point to someone that should at least be a league average 3-point shooter eventually, but ya know...Wolves and all...no guarantees especially when it comes to shooting.
What Okogie does need to stop are the pull up J's off the dribble. Those shots look horrible and, like Wiggins, he should extinguish them from his game. He also lacks creativity on drives to the hoop. It's either he muscles/dunks it in or it's a terrible miss because he can't adjust. Until he proves otherwise, I'm hoping that at minimum he becomes Covington 2.0 at SG.
Q - I disagree with you on Okogie's drives to the hoop. He's a much better ballhandler than Wiggins even as a 20-year old rookie. And while not highly creative on his drives, he actually has some change of pace and a high basketball IQ that will eventually make him very effective on drives to the hole. Watch his decision-making and passing. He has a great feel for the game. His main flaw right now, as you pointed out, is his jumper off the dribble. In my view, that will be his biggest challenge if he's going to become the great player I think he can be.
Exactly. I think his handle has been great for a 20 year old rookie. What I found interesting is that he said the NBA game actually slowed down for him more compared to college... seems hard to believe, but he's showing that statement to be true. He clearly has "IT". I remember being disappointed last year because we never get the Donovan Mitchell type picks. While "probably" not on the same level as Mitchell, it feels good to get the steal, or one of the steals of this draft.
monsterpile wrote:Teague NEVER gets the benefit of the doubt. Was it his fault they were doing all those post ups or swinging it to a guy like Wiggins who holds the ball for 5 seconds before doing anything with it? It wasn't all on him and JVG mentioned it. After the game Thibs said they needed to move the ball more. Was Teague part of the problem and not part of the solution? Yes but it's not all him. Plus with no Rose the level of Shot creation on the roster was low. That's why Tyus didn't play much it was pretty simple to see why he didn't get more run than he did.
Also for all the good Okogie did he also had a couple plays where he fumbled the ball for turnovers. Could he have played more? Yeah ainthink do. It was reported After the game someone asked Thibs about playing Covington at the 4 and Thibs smiled and joked you want to find him more minutes? Lol
It's not all on Teague. Much of it is on Thibodeau. At the end of the day, it was Teague who held and dribbled ineffectiveness, not for 5 seconds a few times, but 15 second repeatedly. There are a few realities. Teague generally looks first for his own shot before he looks to facilitate for his teammates. Did he play well in the first half? Yes. Is he a bad player? No. But truth is, he played poorly in the second half last night.
Sure he played poorly but why was that? Most people would agree Teague is not good at feeding guys on straight post ups. Plenty of PGs aren't really that good at it. What Teague is good at is manipulating the defense to either score or set up a player but he is best on the move and with some space to work with. The first half was showing exactly what he can do when playing that way and his teammates are with him.
I think Teague while he absolutely has some problems with indecision also gets frustrated by his teammates not doing what he expects them to do. It's not all Teague Thibs fault the offense grinds to a halt. Sometimes it's guys not doing anything. I think often it's what they are running or devolve into that makes Teague the guy people dislike. Teague does deserve some of the criticism he is the PG but I also think Thibs could get more out of him at times. Also it was well after the struggles had been apparent but Teague was banged up by some new injury that clearly slowed him for a while. He was able to play through it and ended up being solid down the stretch.
Again Teague NEVER gets the benefit of the doubt here because he replaced Rubio. It's unfortunate. It's like Rubio never had his own inconsistent play. Meanwhile the jazz who were supposed to be at the top of a loaded Western conference according to some pf the pundits are .500 with no real excuses (getting blown out by 50 by Dallas) and Rubio shooting as poorly as ever.
I should add to be fair to you Lip you often bring up how you see Teague being a good teammates I appreciate your insight there and otherwise. I just feel like there is more value to Teague than most people see and he just gets piled on to some extent. I think sometimes it's fair and sometimes it's not as much.
Q12543 wrote:Terrific game report Lip. It's nice to hear the guys were loose on the bench and interacting positively with each other.
LST, Okogie's 3-ball looks good when he's set. He shot 38% on 166 attempts in college and is a good free thrower, so all signs point to someone that should at least be a league average 3-point shooter eventually, but ya know...Wolves and all...no guarantees especially when it comes to shooting.
What Okogie does need to stop are the pull up J's off the dribble. Those shots look horrible and, like Wiggins, he should extinguish them from his game. He also lacks creativity on drives to the hoop. It's either he muscles/dunks it in or it's a terrible miss because he can't adjust. Until he proves otherwise, I'm hoping that at minimum he becomes Covington 2.0 at SG.
Q - I disagree with you on Okogie's drives to the hoop. He's a much better ballhandler than Wiggins even as a 20-year old rookie. And while not highly creative on his drives, he actually has some change of pace and a high basketball IQ that will eventually make him very effective on drives to the hole. Watch his decision-making and passing. He has a great feel for the game. His main flaw right now, as you pointed out, is his jumper off the dribble. In my view, that will be his biggest challenge if he's going to become the great player I think he can be.
Exactly. I think his handle has been great for a 20 year old rookie. What I found interesting is that he said the NBA game actually slowed down for him more compared to college... seems hard to believe, but he's showing that statement to be true. He clearly has "IT". I remember being disappointed last year because we never get the Donovan Mitchell type picks. While "probably" not on the same level as Mitchell, it feels good to get the steal, or one of the steals of this draft.
I think he has a solid handle. I just think that unless he has a straight line to the bucket and finish, he struggles in the paint. I haven't seen any scoop shots or switching of hands or floaters. I get that these are advanced moves so I'm not saying I expect him to have these shots in his arsenal yet. When people start talking about Mitchell the first thing that comes to mind for me is his craftiness around the hoop. I don't see those nuanced skills with Okogie.
