pac213up wrote:Great to see him aggressive on the offensive side, hope he keeps that up. Defensively I continue to throw up in my mouth watching him. Only hope is he learns to anticipate better.
Olynyk' isn't quite as bad on defense as he looks, I don't think. He's clearly trying to learn to play D without fouling -- he had a tough time staying on the floor early in the season -- and so he's not contesting shots nearly as much or as aggressively as he did earlier in the year. It looks like they coached him up to just be tall underneath, throw his hands up and force guys to convert over his hands. He's doing that, but it doesn't look like terribly good defense and any big with enough lateral quickness or strength is either going around him or backing him down.
On the other hand, he seems to get his hands in passing lanes and cause strange turnovers at least a few times a game. He's got good anticipation and he's getting settled enough with his rotations that he's being more instinctive around the ball now. He's never going to be a good shot-blocker, but he'll get a few here and there, and a few steals. If he can just rotate a little faster, his team D will be fine.
I have a more optimistic view of his offense. I think Olynyk can be an 18-20 point scorer in the NBA. He's going to get a lot of garbage points just thanks to his size and his hands and the fact that he runs the floor pretty well. He's a very good free throw shooter. Add those two factors alone to more minutes and you've got a pretty good start. A seven-footer who shoots a decent percentage from deep, converts free throws and gets garbage points underneath is a high-efficiency player, someone who scores without a lot of attempts. If he can find a way to create his own offense just a little more -- the up-fake and drive left last night was a great example -- the coaches will certainly place more emphasis on getting him the ball, and his numbers will go way up.
I think we all agree that KO looked freaked out at the beginning of the year. He seemed really broken by the realization that he was at a strength and speed disadvantage every time he went out on the floor. But he's starting to get over that and work his way into being a productive player. We know from his college progression that he has a history of working hard to take his game up a notch. It's hard to imagine we won't see the same thing in the NBA.
