Chuma Okeke drafted #16 by the Orlando Magic

[swarlesbarkley]

He is basically an AG clone, they play the same exact way.

Okeke seems way more skilled than even current AG.

He might be a little bit more of a natural scorer but not by much. If you watch the highlights they literally play the same way. Good defenders, no in between game, can't create, straight line drives and gets their points in the paint or at the 3.

Yeah, I don't know how you don't see this and don't get AG vibes.

I get more Tobias vibes than AG. Okeke pulling up off the dribble and shooting 39% from 3 puts him in a different category (not necessarily better) than AG.

[The Effect]

Okeke seems way more skilled than even current AG.

Based on what? SOme youtube HIGHLIGHT videos? I can go find you highlight videos of anyone to make them look great, thats why they are called highlights.
More skilled at what? AG averaged more pts, reb, assists, shot better from the field and free throw line, and did it against NBA players.

But no no, a youtube video clearly shows a guy no one on this board mentioned 4hrs ago is more skilled than AG, youre right

I apologize that I hurt your feelings. I guess "skilled" is vague so I'll expand. Okeke seems to have more skill with post-up moves, shooting, creating off the dribble - all the things that AG still struggles with. Okeke is efficient at these things, AG is not. AG is way more explosive.

Get excited man.

Again, based on what?
Like i said, 4hrs ago, this name was never once mentioned, now people are going to tell me hes more skilled than AG? If hes so skilled, why are people JUST NOW mentioned how skilled he is? We spent months discussing the draft, didnt see anyone talk about him, literally NOT ONCE, but all of a sudden, hes a future superstar and the steal of the draft?

And again, " Okeke seems to have more skill with post-up moves, shooting, creating off the dribble" where is this coming from? a youtube video?
Well here, based on just this video, youd think Gordon was a top 5 player, whos create at shooting, passing, posting up...

Watch on YouTube

[RookieStar]

I get that he is a PF in college and i saw March Madness as well. However that neans squat in the NBA. Is he a wing in the league? If so, then ita a good pick. We were hurting for some scoring/shooting especially in the bench when all we had was Tross. Now that we got one, him and Tross shooting together would be ideal.

[fendilim]

Did our Okeke pick leak before Adam Silver announced the pick? We defiantly don't want the teams above us in the draft order to know about us taking Okeke cause than those teams would do research and maybe pick Okeke before us.

Okeke has an ACL injury not the achilles. He is exactly 20 years old, He'll be playing December or January.

Possible that Woj and shams had no idea who they guy was too.

[fendilim]

Based on what? SOme youtube HIGHLIGHT videos? I can go find you highlight videos of anyone to make them look great, thats why they are called highlights.
More skilled at what? AG averaged more pts, reb, assists, shot better from the field and free throw line, and did it against NBA players.

But no no, a youtube video clearly shows a guy no one on this board mentioned 4hrs ago is more skilled than AG, youre right

I apologize that I hurt your feelings. I guess "skilled" is vague so I'll expand. Okeke seems to have more skill with post-up moves, shooting, creating off the dribble - all the things that AG still struggles with. Okeke is efficient at these things, AG is not. AG is way more explosive.

Get excited man.

Again, based on what?
Like i said, 4hrs ago, this name was never once mentioned, now people are going to tell me hes more skilled than AG? If hes so skilled, why are people JUST NOW mentioned how skilled he is? We spent months discussing the draft, didnt see anyone talk about him, literally NOT ONCE, but all of a sudden, hes a future superstar and the steal of the draft?

And again, " Okeke seems to have more skill with post-up moves, shooting, creating off the dribble" where is this coming from? a youtube video?
Well here, based on just this video, youd think Gordon was a top 5 player, whos create at shooting, passing, posting up...

Watch on YouTube

Its possible he meant aaron gordon in arizona..

[the_hobo]

Boring

A 'very successful' shooting PF picked in the teens by the Orlando Magic... the_hobo should be happy

Had to watch some vids, hes got some post moves but lets see if he can dust off the Torture Chamber!

[fklt]

since he kicks AG off from the young prospect pecking order, I guess we're updating BIG into BIO now.

[Rainwater]

Okeke seems way more skilled than even current AG.

He might be a little bit more of a natural scorer but not by much. If you watch the highlights they literally play the same way. Good defenders, no in between game, can't create, straight line drives and gets their points in the paint or at the 3.

Yeah, I don't know how you don't see this and don't get AG vibes.

I get more Tobias vibes than AG. Okeke pulling up off the dribble and shooting 39% from 3 puts him in a different category (not necessarily better) than AG.

Okeke doesn't really pull up off the dribble that often, when he does just like AG it's a quick move. Okeke doesn't create like Harris nor does he handle like Harris. Okeke doesn't have much of mid range game. Okeke is definitely a 4 while tobes is more of a 3.

[Rainwater]

I get that he is a PF in college and i saw March Madness as well. However that neans squat in the NBA. Is he a wing in the league? If so, then ita a good pick. We were hurting for some scoring/shooting especially in the bench when all we had was Tross. Now that we got one, him and Tross shooting together would be ideal.

He definitely not a wing lol

[RookieStar]

I get that he is a PF in college and i saw March Madness as well. However that neans squat in the NBA. Is he a wing in the league? If so, then ita a good pick. We were hurting for some scoring/shooting especially in the bench when all we had was Tross. Now that we got one, him and Tross shooting together would be ideal.

He definitely not a wing lol

Why not? I thought he olayed PF in college out of necessity not by choice. I mean you are 6'6 barefoot, you wanna play down low?

[Rainwater]

I get that he is a PF in college and i saw March Madness as well. However that neans squat in the NBA. Is he a wing in the league? If so, then ita a good pick. We were hurting for some scoring/shooting especially in the bench when all we had was Tross. Now that we got one, him and Tross shooting together would be ideal.

He definitely not a wing lol

Why not? I thought he olayed PF in college out of necessity not by choice. I mean you are 6'6 barefoot, you wanna play down low?

I don't know how you can play the wing position if you really can't handle, pass, or create. If you think AG is a 3 maybe Okeke can be a 3. They play very similar in my opinion.

[Xatticus]

I really don't see Okeke as a four. He struggled with size in college and that's only going to become a bigger problem in the NBA. A lot of guys around his size play as de facto bigs in college and have a lot of success, but the physical requirements are much more substantial in the NBA.

He switched onto guards a lot in college, but he was susceptible to blow bys. He has really good awareness at the defensive end, good anticipation, and really active hands. He is going to force turnovers. He looks to me like a 3-and-D SF.

[swarlesbarkley]

Based on what? SOme youtube HIGHLIGHT videos? I can go find you highlight videos of anyone to make them look great, thats why they are called highlights.
More skilled at what? AG averaged more pts, reb, assists, shot better from the field and free throw line, and did it against NBA players.

But no no, a youtube video clearly shows a guy no one on this board mentioned 4hrs ago is more skilled than AG, youre right

I apologize that I hurt your feelings. I guess "skilled" is vague so I'll expand. Okeke seems to have more skill with post-up moves, shooting, creating off the dribble - all the things that AG still struggles with. Okeke is efficient at these things, AG is not. AG is way more explosive.

Get excited man.

Again, based on what?
Like i said, 4hrs ago, this name was never once mentioned, now people are going to tell me hes more skilled than AG? If hes so skilled, why are people JUST NOW mentioned how skilled he is? We spent months discussing the draft, didnt see anyone talk about him, literally NOT ONCE, but all of a sudden, hes a future superstar and the steal of the draft?

And again, " Okeke seems to have more skill with post-up moves, shooting, creating off the dribble" where is this coming from? a youtube video?
Well here, based on just this video, youd think Gordon was a top 5 player, whos create at shooting, passing, posting up...

Watch on YouTube

I mean, most comps for Okeke have him as a Robert Covington-type player. Washington Post says "The 6-foot-8 sophomore is an intriguing prospect, as his game is one of the few in this draft field that directly compares to a player currently in the NBA — specifically, Minnesota’s Robert Covington." A 3 and D SF.

I like AG too but he's just not an efficient offensive player yet. Granted it's college stats vs. NBA stats, but Okeke has better advanced stats in nearly all categories. That suggests to me he's more skilled than AG.

[KillMonger]

A 3 and D version of paul milsap without the inbetween game....i just wish we had playmakers to spoon feed him

[doct3r dr3]

FULL GAME LINKS

Chuma Okeke - (Game log)
1/13/18: @ Mississippi State
2/24/18: @ Florida
11/19/18: vs. Xavier
11/20/18: vs. Duke
11/21/18: vs. Arizona
12/19/18: @ NC State
12/22/18: vs. Murray State
1/9/19: @ Ole Miss - (-)
1/16/19: @ Texas A&M
3/16/19: vs. Florida
3/17/19: vs. Tennessee
3/29/19: vs. North Carolina - (+)

[Def Swami]

He could potentially be ready to play as early as October, but they should probably be conservative and give him until December or January.

I remember watching Auburn a lot this year and liking his game and tenacity. He's a smart player and plays hard. I understand why the Magic took him. I think he's a reach at 16, but the draft's talent pool is pretty limited in this range this year that it's hard to get picky.

I generally like to commend front office's that don't pay attention to the mocks and media draft boards and just go with their own intel and gut, and I respect that Weltman and Hammond identified Okeke as their guy and just went and got him.

However, he doesn't address the more pressing issues in the backcourt and we already have Isaac and Gordon occupying the role that Okeke essentially plays. I hope his shooting translates to the league; I anticipate he should become a decent defender.

[ezzzp]

A versatile forward that play either forward spot with either Isaac or Gordon.

[KillMonger]

A versatile forward that play either forward spot with either Isaac or Gordon.

yeah but hes going to be a bench guy cause both those guys are starters and he's not taking their spot....i guess it's good we need all the bench help we can get.

[orlando1214]

I liked Chuma a lot from what I saw of him, he was really impressive last year before the injury. He really wasn't on my radar tough because of that injury, and I definitely felt the Magic could have traded down to get him, but it's hard to know who else was also interested in him. If he can recover, and get back to the player he was, I think it's a really good pick.

Trading the 2nd isn't a big deal. I would have preferred to have picked someone and stashed them in Lakeland, but it's not the end of the world. Knowing Chuma will be out for a while does make trading the 2nd round pick away a little more frustrating because I would have liked to have a rookie to watch in the summer league and preseason. At least they didn't just trade it away for cash, getting a future 2nd as well is good. Maybe they will bring in an undrafted rookie like one of the UCF guys or something, that would be nice.

Obviously, the question of shooters and guard depth is a big question mark. I really would have liked to have addressed that tonight, but we will have to see what the front office does during free agency and possibly in a trade. Hopefully, those needs can be addressed and Chuma gets healthy quickly and we will look back at this draft and offseason as a big success. Right now, I'm skeptical and a bit frustrated with some stuff, but overall I'm excited about Chuma and I'm believing in the front office's overall offseason plan.

[J the Drafter]

Is there any reason Okeke wouldn’t play alongside Isaac and Gordon? Is it just a given that none of those players should be guarding bigs? Or does everyone expect us not to have room in the lineup due to Fournier?