torsport wrote:Ugh,
I was initially excited about the Ochai trade as a potential OG type replacement. Lottery pick with a good pedigree of 3 point shooting and defense. Great in transition and good cutter. But he's been awful and Summer League was even worse considering a 3 year NBA player should really go in and dominate competition (which is made up mostly of fringe NBA prospects).
If this is a development year, I'm good to start the season with him in the starting lineup. See what he can do with better players around him. He's proven he's not a creator so camping out at the corner and cutting to the basket is really the kind of player our starting rotation needs on offense. IQ and Scotty, even Jak will have the ball in their hands more to initiate offense and can catch a cutter or someone in the corner for an open shot. RJ is one of the only driving forces and having an outlet to pass to is all Ochai needs to be.
Then if he can show POA defense to support IQ on the perimeter and allow Scotty to patrol the low block we have a pretty decent defense.
It also gives Gradey another year (or half season) of development and building strength. Not to mention gives our bench a scoring threat.
If he can't thrive in the above role you trade him at the deadline if you can (someone may think they can develop him), or relegate him to the bench and not offer an extension in the off season because he's proven he's not an NBA player.
I'd give him 20 games to see what he can do with the starters before I close the book on him. We've seen other players thrive with the starters and perform poorly off the bench (GTJ). Maybe it's what he needs.
What complicates matters is if BB isn't dealt before the start of the season. I think Raps would prefer to showcase BB for a potential deadline trade rather than develop Ochai, to minimize the risk of wasting BB as an tradeable player that can return draft capital or a 2nd draft type player.
This bit actually isn't accurate, GTJ played better as a reserve in 22-23 season than a starter. Last year he was marginally worse, at worst I'd say it's a wash. A player is definitely going to play better with more talent around them, but you shouldn't fall off the face of the earth due to that. You don't take a player who has a ceiling of like a 7/8th guy and throw him with the starters cause he's not good on the bench, you find another player. You don't make roster moves to accommodate mediocre/bad players.
While I don't think last year was a fair shake to pretty much anyone on the roster, he didn't exactly impress in SL either. As critical as I am about RJ, he was playing in a bad situation like the rest of the roster, and he played better than his time on the Knicks. Maybe it's not sustainable, maybe it is, but talented players will still look better surrounded by worse ones, think Malachi Flynn dropping 70+ in a pro am tourney.
Ochai just makes bad plays, and fades into the background. He's like Flynn, Achiuwa, and a myriad of other players that are too good for the lower leagues, but not really good enough for the NBA.
