Official Ochai Agbaji Thread - Welcome to Toronto, Ochai!

[youreachiteach]

I do like Porter, though. He has good tools.

[Madhouse]

he isn't great and probably will never be but if we get a solid 20 min bench mob player who is consistent, its a lot better than what we could get with the draft pick realistically.

[Scase]

With better defense.

I’m not seeing the comparison at all. Norm was more of a slasher. And their defence is not comparable.

Two totally different players.

lol this thread is giving me similar "Johntay Porter is Jokic-lite" vibes after he had like 1 good game

Raptor fans and overreacting, go together like lamb and tuna fish.

[Psubs]

I’m not seeing the comparison at all. Norm was more of a slasher. And their defence is not comparable.

Two totally different players.

lol this thread is giving me similar "Johntay Porter is Jokic-lite" vibes after he had like 1 good game

Raptor fans and overreacting, go together like lamb and tuna fish.

Comp would be a more athletic Wesley Matthews.

[ForeverTFC]

I’m not seeing the comparison at all. Norm was more of a slasher. And their defence is not comparable.

Two totally different players.

lol this thread is giving me similar "Johntay Porter is Jokic-lite" vibes after he had like 1 good game

Raptor fans and overreacting, go together like lamb and tuna fish.

I love lamb. I love tuna. I'm not sure I've ever had lamb and tuna together. Am I missing out on something?

[tecumseh18]

lol this thread is giving me similar "Johntay Porter is Jokic-lite" vibes after he had like 1 good game

Raptor fans and overreacting, go together like lamb and tuna fish.

I love lamb. I love tuna. I'm not sure I've ever had lamb and tuna together. Am I missing out on something?

You can tune-up a Lambo, but you can't tuna fish.

[disoblige]

This video is a pretty good take on Ochai.

Watch on YouTube

Raptors traded for him because he a good athlete that can shoot corner 3's, slash, finish and defend well. We are not asking him to be the creator, those job is for Barnes, Barrett and Quickley.

[mihaic]

Raptor fans and overreacting, go together like lamb and tuna fish.

I love lamb. I love tuna. I'm not sure I've ever had lamb and tuna together. Am I missing out on something?

You can tune-up a Lambo, but you can't tuna fish.

You can lambast a tune though if you don’t like it

[MessiahUjiri]

I’m not seeing the comparison at all. Norm was more of a slasher. And their defence is not comparable.

Two totally different players.

I agree. He is closer to a Danny Green type of player than a Norm Powell type of slasher. People need to calm down.

Danny Green is a great comparison. Norm is a far better ball handler but at least Ochai can defend. That’s one thing Norm has struggled at.

There are many reasons why Danny Green is a great comparison for Ochai.

They’re both identical (6’5 215 lbs).

Both of them are 4 year college players who won a national championship.

Both of them are corner shooters + guard defenders.


It took Danny a few years to fully realize his potential. Ochai may be the same.

[Blazing_royale]

as long as we keep it simple for him i think he can be elite 3+D. Not pull a precious and let him go wild on offense and "expand his game" lol

[sbsat]

I’m not seeing the comparison at all. Norm was more of a slasher. And their defence is not comparable.

Two totally different players.

lol this thread is giving me similar "Johntay Porter is Jokic-lite" vibes after he had like 1 good game

Raptor fans and overreacting, go together like lamb and tuna fish.

Jokic is a hall of famer. Norm is a bench player not sure its the same. Anyways, you can see the defensive prowess in this guy which makes the norm comp very weird given norm stinks on defense. Just hope he continues to develop defensively and has somewhat of a consistent jumpshot

[Scase]

lol this thread is giving me similar "Johntay Porter is Jokic-lite" vibes after he had like 1 good game

Raptor fans and overreacting, go together like lamb and tuna fish.

I love lamb. I love tuna. I'm not sure I've ever had lamb and tuna together. Am I missing out on something?

Just an old movie reference lol

Watch on YouTube

[BetterCallSaul]

Beyond the 3/D platitudes and the player comparisons we are all drawn to. Ochai's value will be measured in intangibles, as cliche as that sounds.
Does he get loose balls, deflections, key defensive stops? Actually - are these intangibles anymore, the NBA tracks everything these days.
Naturally, like every player, he will already have a motor to prove himself as a shot maker so the team just needs to use that fuel to see if they can get him to become elite at the things that are actually low hanging fruit for him. We want him making meaningful impact in the lane whether as a cutter or a disruptor. I see a really good future for him if he is motivated to excel in that area.

[XTC]

as long as we keep it simple for him i think he can be elite 3+D. Not pull a precious and let him go wild on offense and "expand his game" lol

This x100

Keep it simple. Use your athleticism to become an elite defender, hit your open shots, and make smart cuts. We need him to become a elite 3+D who actually defends and hits his shots at a high level.

If he can be a Bruce Bowen/Andre Roberson/Thabo Sefolosho who can hit 40% from 3, man that would be ideal. I'm not saying he's going to be that good, but that's my goal for him. Just a locked own POA defender, who can hit 3's at a high level, and the funny thing is he's been doing just that the last 2 games. The potential is there.

[Jadoogar]

I agree. He is closer to a Danny Green type of player than a Norm Powell type of slasher. People need to calm down.

Danny Green is a great comparison. Norm is a far better ball handler but at least Ochai can defend. That’s one thing Norm has struggled at.

There are many reasons why Danny Green is a great comparison for Ochai.

They’re both identical (6’5 215 lbs).

Both of them are 4 year college players who won a national championship.

Both of them are corner shooters + guard defenders.


It took Danny a few years to fully realize his potential. Ochai may be the same.

Danny Green was a really good three point shooter tho. He shot 40% for his career and put up an elite shooting performance in the finals (25 threes over the first 5 games of the 12-13 finals). There was talk about him being the potential finals MVP that year before the Spurs blew the final 2 games

Ochai has a long way to go on that front.

[XTC]

Danny Green is a great comparison. Norm is a far better ball handler but at least Ochai can defend. That’s one thing Norm has struggled at.

There are many reasons why Danny Green is a great comparison for Ochai.

They’re both identical (6’5 215 lbs).

Both of them are 4 year college players who won a national championship.

Both of them are corner shooters + guard defenders.


It took Danny a few years to fully realize his potential. Ochai may be the same.

Danny Green was a really good three point shooter tho. He shot 40% for his career and put up an elite shooting performance in the finals (25 threes over the first 5 games of the 12-13 finals). There was talk about him being the potential finals MVP that year before the Spurs blew the final 2 games

Ochai has a long way to go on that front.

The archetype is there. I think we're all seeing what Ochai needs to excel at to be valuable. Defense + shooting.

[Chandan]

lol this thread is giving me similar "Johntay Porter is Jokic-lite" vibes after he had like 1 good game

Raptor fans and overreacting, go together like lamb and tuna fish.

I love lamb

Watch on YouTube

[Ell Curry]

Elite POA and guard defender, and great corner three point shooter. He kind of sucks at everything else though, he's a cheap rotation player for 2 more years and useful off the bench. There's a lot of value in that and he can likely be extended for market value (worst case). If he expands his elite corner shooting to above the break and provide some form of movement shooting he would be a very high end role player like OG.

I think he's probably close to a finished product apart from becoming a better above the break 3pt shooter, but his cutting, 3pt shooting and D fit well with Barnes, so the question is can we extend him for below the MLE. Seems plausible to me we could keep him for like 30M over 3 years which would be nice.

[Chalky_White]

From his few media comments, Ochai seems like a pretty smart player that is very coachable. Can see him really improving next season after an offseason with our coaching group. He should easilly gel well with a coach like Jama who's excellent at player development.

[metafisical]

This video is a pretty good take on Ochai.

Watch on YouTube

Raptors traded for him because he a good athlete that can shoot corner 3's, slash, finish and defend well. We are not asking him to be the creator, those job is for Barnes, Barrett and Quickley.

I am asking Ochai to be a creator and a better version of Michael Jordan immediately. I want a team full of GOAT and future hall of famers right now, so Ochai better step up his game.