Official Ochai Agbaji Thread - Welcome to Toronto, Ochai!

[Scase]

Competing with teams isn't necessarily a bad thing. Good teams that need vets don't have much cap to give, and bad teams don't want to put money on vets. In hindsight, we know the market on bench players plummeted. We might have gotten Kelly for even cheaper (and probably would have). We might not have gotten Kelly at all, but then what is the big loss there? The team looks to be pretty bad, says they're fine with being pretty bad, and Kelly is 33 years old.

Not to mention JV just went to the wiz for 10/yr and had zero suitors, JV is inarguably a better player, who is marginally worse from 3, and can actually play centre as opposed to a PF playing the role of a stretch 5.

This is ultimately not a trade that I'll lose sleep over, but it's just another case of a wasted asset, and bidding against themselves for no reason.

JV is terrible center to have on a developing team. Olynyk is a good one to have especially with the pieces we have.

I’m sure there was a ton of demand for the 29th overall pick in a draft that was widely regarded as being awful.

So Olynyk is good, and Ainge wanted the pick for him. Yet at the same time there was no demand for a pick in an awful draft.

Gotcha. I guess Ainge who is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, FO exec in the league, is just dumb and doesn't know what he's doing.

[Tripod]

Not to mention JV just went to the wiz for 10/yr and had zero suitors, JV is inarguably a better player, who is marginally worse from 3, and can actually play centre as opposed to a PF playing the role of a stretch 5.

This is ultimately not a trade that I'll lose sleep over, but it's just another case of a wasted asset, and bidding against themselves for no reason.

JV is terrible center to have on a developing team. Olynyk is a good one to have especially with the pieces we have.

I’m sure there was a ton of demand for the 29th overall pick in a draft that was widely regarded as being awful.

So Olynyk is good, and Ainge wanted the pick for him. Yet at the same time there was no demand for a pick in an awful draft.

Gotcha. I guess Ainge who is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, FO exec in the league, is just dumb and doesn't know what he's doing.

And who else is regarded as one of tbe best?

Masai.

[LoveMyRaps]

Seems like the Raptors organization have miscalculated on prospects lately. Only good pick recently has been Scottie Barnes while the rest were all busts.

Please do tell us who these busts are.

You say "us" as if you represent most others on here, you don't.

"us" equates to those who are genuinely curious in knowing who these recent "busts" are.

For most, that's not hard to comprehend.

[Chandan]

Not apologizing for Ochai as I think he has lost confidence and not sure how to get that back?
I do think we are trying to play him a lot at PF and he is just too short for D assignments. We need to move Bruce B for some Forward to C depth so Ochai can fit in with the RJ, Gradey, JaKobe and Ochai should be our main 4 SG/SF with maybe a bigger SF to plays there too sometimes.
End of the day this guy will get some chances first half of season to add Def off bench and shoot some counter to up the side 3s if he is an 0 for player too many nights he will be out of league.

Hes too short against SF don't even mention PF.

[Chandan]

JV is terrible center to have on a developing team. Olynyk is a good one to have especially with the pieces we have.

I’m sure there was a ton of demand for the 29th overall pick in a draft that was widely regarded as being awful.

So Olynyk is good, and Ainge wanted the pick for him. Yet at the same time there was no demand for a pick in an awful draft.

Gotcha. I guess Ainge who is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, FO exec in the league, is just dumb and doesn't know what he's doing.

And who else was regarded as one of tbe best?

[LoveMyRaps]

Will give him a 10 game leash.

Don't let me down Ochai.

[Scase]

JV is terrible center to have on a developing team. Olynyk is a good one to have especially with the pieces we have.

I’m sure there was a ton of demand for the 29th overall pick in a draft that was widely regarded as being awful.

So Olynyk is good, and Ainge wanted the pick for him. Yet at the same time there was no demand for a pick in an awful draft.

Gotcha. I guess Ainge who is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, FO exec in the league, is just dumb and doesn't know what he's doing.

And who else is regarded as one of tbe best?

Masai.

Ainge is objectively a better, and more accomplished exec. He is known for fleecing on damn near every single trade, not one or two every 3-5 years.

Masai is good, Ainge is great.

And this is all to say, your comment is entirely irrelevant to the original point. Pick has no value, yet the arguably best exec in the league was willing to trade for it. But again, I guess Ainge is just dumb and doesn't know what he's doing.

[MonkBatter42]

He's a classic example of a "shooter" who can no longer shoot. Usually this phenomenon happens with players once they start playing here, but he was obviously pretty bad already with Utah. You just know that if we cut bait with him and some other team picks him up, he's dropping 20 against us the next time we face him.

[OAKLEY_2]

He's a classic example of a "shooter" who can no longer shoot. Usually this phenomenon happens with players once they start playing here, but he was obviously pretty bad already with Utah. You just know that if we cut bait with him and some other team picks him up, he's dropping 20 against us the next time we face him.

I def think we should clear Vezenkov, Agbaji and Boucher and be able to snap up some camp cuts. KO for 29 in light of the fact we got 31-Mogbo and 45-Shead and 57-Chomche means the Paskal haul was respectable for a rebuild.

Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk, Jakobe Walter, 2026 Pacers first rounder is the haul for Allstar Paskal.

OG fetched RJ, IQ and Shead.

They have to start Bruce Brown and give quality minutes to Olynyk. Might as well have them as deadline available with value.

[Indeed]

I realize a late first isn’t a lot to give up but this trade was just as bad as giving up a previous first in that Thad trade. KO was a free agent and could probably have been had for much cheaper in a free agent market that has become unforgiving for role players. And Ainge cut bait on Agbaji for a reason as we are clearly seeing.

Compound that with losing our own lottery selection this year, and all the firsts being shipped off for veterans start adding up for a team that has been circling the drain.

We might not have the cap space to sign Olynyk out right. Agbaji is a throw in like Flynn.

Never like the trade, just that it wont make a big difference with a low pick and Agbaji contract

[Blazing_royale]

Ochai looks pretty bad right now

[KrazyP]

Not to mention JV just went to the wiz for 10/yr and had zero suitors, JV is inarguably a better player, who is marginally worse from 3, and can actually play centre as opposed to a PF playing the role of a stretch 5.

This is ultimately not a trade that I'll lose sleep over, but it's just another case of a wasted asset, and bidding against themselves for no reason.

JV is terrible center to have on a developing team. Olynyk is a good one to have especially with the pieces we have.

I’m sure there was a ton of demand for the 29th overall pick in a draft that was widely regarded as being awful.

So Olynyk is good, and Ainge wanted the pick for him. Yet at the same time there was no demand for a pick in an awful draft.

Gotcha. I guess Ainge who is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, FO exec in the league, is just dumb and doesn't know what he's doing.

More like the team felt taking a flyer on Agbaji is the same as taking a flyer on some random player with the #29 pick. Kelly Olynyk you get for free and have his bird rights to sign him which frees up the MLE to use up on somebody else if you want. Theres no wasted asset here.

[YogurtProducer]

So Olynyk is good, and Ainge wanted the pick for him. Yet at the same time there was no demand for a pick in an awful draft.

Gotcha. I guess Ainge who is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, FO exec in the league, is just dumb and doesn't know what he's doing.

And who else is regarded as one of tbe best?

Masai.

Ainge is objectively a better, and more accomplished exec. He is known for fleecing on damn near every single trade, not one or two every 3-5 years.

Masai is good, Ainge is great.

And this is all to say, your comment is entirely irrelevant to the original point. Pick has no value, yet the arguably best exec in the league was willing to trade for it. But again, I guess Ainge is just dumb and doesn't know what he's doing.

Arguing Ainge is objectively better is like complaining about LBJ because "MJ is objectively better".

Masai is constantly regarded as an elite GM. Your absolute ridiculous bias is showing here.

Lets see if Ainge even builds up that Utah team to be anywhere near as good as the Mitchell/Gobert Jazz he inherited before we start jerkin' it to his moves.

It is just funny how quickly you are to try and prove a pick has value because Ainge wanted it, without realizing that you could also argue a pick has limited value if Masai was willing to move it.

Just classic.

[canz55]

I dont understand what made Ochai think being passive and basically invisible during the entire summer league was a good idea for his NBA career.

Sent from my SM-S908W using RealGM mobile app

[Scase]

JV is terrible center to have on a developing team. Olynyk is a good one to have especially with the pieces we have.

I’m sure there was a ton of demand for the 29th overall pick in a draft that was widely regarded as being awful.

So Olynyk is good, and Ainge wanted the pick for him. Yet at the same time there was no demand for a pick in an awful draft.

Gotcha. I guess Ainge who is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, FO exec in the league, is just dumb and doesn't know what he's doing.

More like the team felt taking a flyer on Agbaji is the same as taking a flyer on some random player with the #29 pick. Kelly Olynyk you get for free and have his bird rights to sign him which frees up the MLE to use up on somebody else if you want. Theres no wasted asset here.

Maybe they did, but then it would seem as though it was a bad call. Besides, I'd rather have a 20 year old you could develop from day 1, who you have salary control at a cheaper rate, and for more years. Over a soon to be 24 year old who has shown nothing since he's been in the league.

When we are looking at players like Filipowski being available at 32, it looks like a pretty bad move.

[youngRAPZ]

So Olynyk is good, and Ainge wanted the pick for him. Yet at the same time there was no demand for a pick in an awful draft.

Gotcha. I guess Ainge who is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, FO exec in the league, is just dumb and doesn't know what he's doing.

More like the team felt taking a flyer on Agbaji is the same as taking a flyer on some random player with the #29 pick. Kelly Olynyk you get for free and have his bird rights to sign him which frees up the MLE to use up on somebody else if you want. Theres no wasted asset here.

Maybe they did, but then it would seem as though it was a bad call. Besides, I'd rather have a 20 year old you could develop from day 1, who you have salary control at a cheaper rate, and for more years. Over a soon to be 24 year old who has shown nothing since he's been in the league.

When we are looking at players like Filipowski being available at 32, it looks like a pretty bad move.

Ok we get it. You think you’d do a better job than Masai. Congratulations!

[Scase]

More like the team felt taking a flyer on Agbaji is the same as taking a flyer on some random player with the #29 pick. Kelly Olynyk you get for free and have his bird rights to sign him which frees up the MLE to use up on somebody else if you want. Theres no wasted asset here.

Maybe they did, but then it would seem as though it was a bad call. Besides, I'd rather have a 20 year old you could develop from day 1, who you have salary control at a cheaper rate, and for more years. Over a soon to be 24 year old who has shown nothing since he's been in the league.

When we are looking at players like Filipowski being available at 32, it looks like a pretty bad move.

Ok we get it. You think you’d do a better job than Masai. Congratulations!

Do you have an issue? This is a basketball discussion forum, we are discussing alternatives to what happened. Don't like it, block and move on.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

When you shoot .217% from three, and don't stand out amongst summer league players...it's who you know.

Just what we need, a guy who can only defend SG's eating a roster spot.

[Duffman100]

When you shoot .217% from three, and don't stand out amongst summer league players...it's who you know.

Just what we need, a guy who can only defend SG's eating a roster spot.

He showed last year he can guard 1-3. He even defended Banchero really well in one game.

The issue is not his defense.

[OakleyDokely]

The Ochai situation is pretty simple. If he hits his 3s, he's useful off the bench because he's a capable cutter, passer and defender. If he doesn't hit his 3s, he's not really playable.

He hit his 3s in college and he was in the mid 30s with UTA, but his % collapsed in TOR. Some of that might be just due to a small sample size, some of it might have to do with playing in terrible lineups without proper spacing.

But it's up to him to prove his time in TOR last year was just a blimp and he starts hitting shots again when the Raps are at full strength.