Post#5 » by lethalweapon3 » Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:58 pm
22 points, including 3-for-4 shooting on threes. Eight rebounds, a season-high six assists. And an eight-point loss at Clemson. Such was life around this time last year for the beleaguered Josh Okogie, whose Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets had dropped the eleventh of their past 12 ACC games.
“Obviously, it’s very sad knowing that this is the last game I’ll be able to play for Georgia Tech,” said a Yellow Jacket ten days later, after Tech got bounced by Boston College in the preliminary round of the ACC tourney. That player was graduating senior Ben Lammers, who at least had the solace of getting an invite to the Portsmouth Invitational.
Not so much for Okogie, the sophomore who would later declare for the NBA draft but withheld himself from hiring an agent, understanding chances were greater than likely he’d be returning to The Flats for his junior season.
What hopes existed that he’d wow scouts with his length and athleticism were predicated upon a successful second-season splash, coming off a trip by Tech to the 2017 NIT Final. But a false start to his 2017-18 season, due to NCAA violations plus an injured finger, took him off the NBA first-round radar.
“He would need to have a really strong NBA pre-draft process,” wrote ESPN Draft Express’ Jonathan Givony to AJC’s Ken Suguira, who queried scouts about Okogie’s potential after he declared. “Including,” Givony noted, “a great showing at the NBA Combine.”
Like the Jackets, there would be no NIT action in 2018 for the Maryland Terrapins. Kevin Huerter’s 20 points weren’t enough to keep the sophomore’s 8th-seeded team from bowing out of the Big Ten tournament with a loss to 9-seed Wisconsin. For both Huerter and Okogie, March Madness, or at least the appetizer to it, lasted for a single game.
Kevin threw his hat into the scouting ring, although not with the shooting hand that he seemed to have injured just two weeks before the Terps’ season came to a close. Like Okogie, Huerter was unaware whether he’d receive an invite to the NBA Draft Combine. Turned out, both were invited to the Combine and made the most of their respective visits to Chicago.
Today, these first-round picks play prominent roles for the Atlanta Hawks and Minnesota Timberwolves, meeting tonight at State Farm Arena (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Fox Sports North in MSP). The two rookies with guaranteed rookie-scale contracts are illustrative of the fact that, while the average hoop fan’s eyes are geared toward their favorite collegiate prospects’ play next month, it is May Madness that offers a chance to make the biggest splash for many hoopster hopefuls.
Tom Thibodeau played a prominent role in the eventual fates of each player. The Minnesota coach-GM’s 2018 first-rounder had been swindled away by Danny Ferry and the Hawks before 2015’s trade deadline, as the late coach-exec Flip Saunders wanted to see for himself what Atlanta couldn’t see in Adreian Payne.
Perhaps sensing the need to cover for his predecessor’s error, Thibs moved on from Ricky Rubio on the eve of 2017 free agency, signing former Hawks and Pacers guard Jeff Teague (out again for tonight, sore knee) several days later. The Rubio trade netted Minnesota, via Utah, the Thunder’s lottery-protected 2018 pick. Draft time arrives, and after Travis Schlenk’s Hawks snatched up Huerter at #19, the defensive-minded Thibodeau wasn’t about to pass up on the chance to take Okogie, the Lagos-born Shiloh High grad, at #20.
Thibodeau usually prefers to run his veteran players into the ground, giving them great deference over the developing rookies. But with Jimmy Butler giving everybody in and around the team heartburn until Thibs would acquiesce on their star’s trade demands, Okogie found himself starting in five of his first six NBA games.
Butler’s deal to Philadelphia brought Robert Covington, strident disciple of former Sixers assistant Lloyd Pierce, and Dario Saric to the North Star State. Promptly leaning on Covington for 35 minutes per game, worsening knee and ankle injuries that he has yet to return from, Thibodeau hastened not only his own ouster last month, replaced by Flip’s son, Ryan, but the full-time replacement of Covington with Okogie in the starting lineup.
Okogie goes by the nickname “NonStop”, and with his full-bore energy directed at getting stops, including an impressively fearless effort last week trying to slow James Harden’s roll, it is hard to stop and give pause to his problematic shooting splits (37.0 FG%, 26.5 3FG%, 74.1 FT%). Everyone knew, coming in, that Okogie’s offensive skills needed work. Few were aware how complete his on-ball defensive chops are (2.2 steals per 100 possessions, as per bball-ref) out the box.
Okogie’s defense is an essential component for a T’Wolves team (29-31, 3 games behind 8-seed San Antonio) that is climbing uphill, once again, for a playoff spot. They’re missing the go-getter attitudes of Butler and Covington, and Saunders (10-10 since Thibs’ firing) is not about to press for too much from franchise pillars Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins.
No jokes, please, about a “crash course” for Towns in figuring out how to properly defend bigs like Atlanta’s crafty Dewayne Dedmon and John Collins (18.6 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 81.0 FT% in February). To his credit, the two-time All-Star pivot is playing the full court as well as ever before (1.3 steals and 2.6 blocks per-100), and he has more than just the playoff push as a rationale.
An All-NBA nod for Towns (7th in NBA PER; 23.3 PPG, 12.2 RPG, 1.8 BPG) pushes his extended contract deal upwards by an extra $32 million over five seasons. The problem is, KAT has been playing great in relative obscurity, the national media having moved on after all the Butler consternation ended.
He needs to continue racking up pinball numbers, like the 34-and-21 he put up in Monday's crucial 112-105 home win over Sacramento, like the 31-and-19 he posted versus Atlanta back in December. Without Covington (28 points, 7 boards and 3 blocks before fouling out vs. ATL on Dec. 28) around, though, Towns cannot afford to get overwhelmed inside by the likes of Dedmon and Collins (combined 40-and-23, on 15-for-27 FGs @ MIN on Dec. 28).
Saunders has a motivated Towns and an array of codgers, including Gorgui Dieng and Taj Gibson, at his disposal to discourage opponents from thriving in the paint. The Wolves (71.0 D-Reb%, 26th in NBA; 13th in opponent paint points-per-48) also found an unlikely source for rim protection, assuming he passed his pee test. You just know 33-year-old former Hawk Anthony Tolliver was handed some water pills and a cup immediately after this weekend’s game, where he met the Greek Freak’s surefire dunk at the top of the square on the glass.
Away from the Twin Cities, the good news for Wiggins is he should hear more cheers than jeers echoing off the State Farm Arena walls. Unfortunately for the former first-overall pick, it’s because fans are aware he’s as likely to give the game away as he is to win it. Wiggins edges out Towns so far in shots taken from the floor (16.5 FGAs/game), but he continues to shoot atrociously from the field and from the free throw line (39.6 FG%, 70.9 FT%). Only Timmy Hardaway’s 39.2 FG% ranks lower among NBA’ers hoisting 15+ shots per contest.
Even when Wiggins’ shooting hand heats up for a spell or two, way too often he parks himself in the corners and doesn’t come assertively after the ball, the lack of movement or nuance rendering the Minnesota offense color-by-numbers. Meanwhile, the defensive awareness, or willfulness if you prefer, from 2015's Rookie of the Year (two steals in past 4 games, both against the Knicks) remains lacking.
Who has Andrew game-planned to guard tonight? Will he leave Trae Young (22.2 PPG, 43.9 3FG%, 81.3 FT%, 9.2 APG this month) to be chased around at turns by Okogie, Tyus Jones and Derrick Rose all night? If so, does he simply plan on trading baskets with Taurean Prince, who returns to action tonight, and Kent Bazemore, who led the charge with 23 points during Atlanta’s 123-120 OT victory at Target Center back on December 28? It wasn’t all on Wiggins, but there was little mystery behind the Hawks shooting 65.2 team FG% in the opening quarter.
Has Wiggins even bothered to read the scouting report on Huerter, whose overtime three-pointer helped seal the deal? To get himself back on track after missing time with an ankle injury, Simply Red (38.9 3FG%; 1-for-9 3FGs last three games) won’t be holding back the threes tonight, especially if Wiggins’ subdued activity forces Okogie to pick poisons with the Hawks’ Young (8-for-12 3FGs plus 8 dimes @ HOU on Monday night).
This time last February, Huerter and Okogie were looking toward 2019 with hopes of possibly earning third-team all-conference. Second-team All-Rookie was out of the question. At least the Terps have bounced back nicely after Kevin’s departure. Josh Pastner, you have my condolences.
In closing… Ja Rule, I rock with Lil B. I know Lil B. Lil B is a Twitter follower of mine. Ja, you’re no Lil B.
Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
"Dunking is better than sex." - Shawn Kemp, 1996
