Minnesota Sports Forum

Wes Johnson...if that dude had played anywhere near as hard as Okogie...well that would have been something to see. He was more physically gifted than Brewer. Abe I know the point you were trying to make but Wes is more like a less talented version of Wiggins than Okogie. Playing hard is a legit skill.

monsterpile wrote:Wes Johnson...if that dude had played anywhere near as hard as Okogie...well that would have been something to see. He was more physically gifted than Brewer. Abe I know the point you were trying to make but Wes is more like a less talented version of Wiggins than Okogie. Playing hard is a legit skill.

However you want to chalk up their efforts and performance... they were sorta similar as rookies.

As I wrote... there's no guarantee playing hard will lead to better shooting percentages. It could happen. It might not. Anybody's guess...

He's definitely an outlier, but go look at Jimmy Butler's rookie stats...

The Butler and Harris suggestions are pretty good, but don't meet the criteria I set out because they each had so few minutes and attempts their rookie years...Harris only played 13 MPG with less than 4 shot attempts per game, and Butler only played 8,5 MPG with less than 2 attempts. I don't think either of them was given enough of a chance to show what their true shooting ability was, while Josh has had ample opportunity with 22 MPG and over 7 attempts. I'd feel a lot better about Josh's potential to improve his shooting if someone could find an example of a rookie getting over 20 MPGwith terrible stats, and then becoming a decent shooter later in his career. Otherwise, we may be in another Rubio situation...always believing that Josh is going to figure out his shot next year.

Interesting stat from yesterdays game. James Harden attempted more 3pt shots than the entire wolves team - 22 vs 20.

I'm predicting a 1st round exit for the Rockets, and I'll be smiling when it happens.

Everyone debating Okogie's potential/growth/stats. I am really just happy to see a Wolf give a shit honestly. That's why I root for him, even with his horrible offensive stats and dumb fouls. He stands in contrast to Wiggins, and of course all the other Wolves who came before him that lacked any sort of fire

Sorry I got to rant a little;

To insinuate that Josh won't develop as young as he is and by looking at his college shooting is pretty asinine. You could be right maybe he never develops as a shooter but he doesn't let missed shots cause him hesitation from taking the next open shot. He plays with no fear and has the form to turn more of the Ray Allen, JJ Redding, Rip Hamilton, Klay Thompson type of non-stop in motion shooter coming off picks. Maybe those levels of great shooters are to much, but I'd argue his play style is much more them in 2-3 years than that of a young man continuing to be at the bottom of the league in shooting. Playing against NBA starting caliber guards, some adjustment period should be expected. Players grow both in season and really work hard on there game in the offseason. He's a plus rotational player at the worst with the upside of players I mentioned above in my eyes.

Coaching doesn't mean much? Coaching means everything they develop players, they provide wants and desires for drafts, free agents and provide roles for everyone on the team and all this impacts team chemistry which is huge. They provide the scheme and framework in which the team runs its offensive and defensive concepts and impact the game by calling timely timeouts to interrupt other teams runs. In addition to creating mis-matches with subs and play calling. Quinn Snyder of the Jazz seems to get the most out of his roster and uses both Gobert and Favors to set picks to free up D. Mitchell to attack the rim and get open shots. He probably also had a little something to do with the drafting of D. Mitchell. There are many examples of coaching leading to overachieving, look at K. Atkinson, yes players mean a lot but coaching is arguably as important.

KAT doesn't get calls because he doesn't respect the refs calls frequently arguing or throwing a tantrum in thier direction. Worst part is sometimes he's so wrong about these calls that I have seen refs just shake there head at him. He'd be better off focusing on what he can control and saving the complaining for egregious calls. Plain and simple he doesn't respect the refs and thus they disregard his complaints.

ItsJustSoSab wrote:Everyone debating Okogie's potential/growth/stats. I am really just happy to see a Wolf give a shit honestly. That's why I root for him, even with his horrible offensive stats and dumb fouls. He stands in contrast to Wiggins, and of course all the other Wolves who came before him that lacked any sort of fire

I agree, Sab. I like Josh a lot, just like I always liked Rubio...they both consistently work hard, and they both can make contributions on the court beyond shooting. I'm just saying let's be realistic about Josh's strengths and weaknesses. I think Ryan (or whoever ends up coaching) will get the most out of Josh by encouraging him to focus on defense and layups, and ignore the low percentage shots.

Or maybe Josh turns out to be the exception, and becomes a decent shooter.

Josh shot 38% in college from 3pt range two years in a row. I think him starting and playing against better players early in the year a while moving and becoming part of a new team as a young player lead to a down year in shooting give him time people.

longstrangetrip wrote:The Butler and Harris suggestions are pretty good, but don't meet the criteria I set out because they each had so few minutes and attempts their rookie years...Harris only played 13 MPG with less than 4 shot attempts per game, and Butler only played 8,5 MPG with less than 2 attempts. I don't think either of them was given enough of a chance to show what their true shooting ability was, while Josh has had ample opportunity with 22 MPG and over 7 attempts. I'd feel a lot better about Josh's potential to improve his shooting if someone could find an example of a rookie getting over 20 MPGwith terrible stats, and then becoming a decent shooter later in his career. Otherwise, we may be in another Rubio situation...always believing that Josh is going to figure out his shot next year.

Please nobody waste their time to with this...