Chuma Okeke drafted #16 by the Orlando Magic

[Bensational]

I don't understand why all these Chinese gymnasts are contorting themselves so much over this pick. It was obviously a questionable draft for the Magic at best, especially considering the complete punt in the second round. No one is rooting for Chuma to fail. He is a member of the team now, but let's at least be intellectually honest with ourselves here. An undersized, injured, older tweener two picks outside the lottery is not a good pick. It at least invites criticism, actually begs for it. So, don't come down on us that glaringly see it, just because you don't. There is a difference between being a fan and a sycophant. I'm going to try to move on now, but it is what it is.

How so? How is any pick a good pick and any other a bad pick? Nobody knows until the players play the game. If there were redrafts on the past 2 drafts, there would already be dramatic shakeups with a lot of lottery names falling out of the rankings - not to mention some of the mid-1sts and later. Some of those from mid-1st and later actually moved up to fill the tops of those redrafts.

What may seem questionable at the moment, might be a franchise player in a few seasons...

[spinedoc]

I don't understand why all these Chinese gymnasts are contorting themselves so much over this pick. It was obviously a questionable draft for the Magic at best, especially considering the complete punt in the second round. No one is rooting for Chuma to fail. He is a member of the team now, but let's at least be intellectually honest with ourselves here. An undersized, injured, older tweener two picks outside the lottery is not a good pick. It at least invites criticism, actually begs for it. So, don't come down on us that glaringly see it, just because you don't. There is a difference between being a fan and a sycophant. I'm going to try to move on now, but it is what it is.

How so? How is any pick a good pick and any other a bad pick? Nobody knows until the players play the game. If there were redrafts on the past 2 drafts, there would already be dramatic shakeups with a lot of lottery names falling out of the rankings - not to mention some of the mid-1sts and later. Some of those from mid-1st and later actually moved up to fill the tops of those redrafts.

What may seem questionable at the moment, might be a franchise player in a few seasons...

Sure that happens, where second rounders turn into studs. Not saying that I'm clairvoyant, what I'm trying to say that neither is Weham. You wouldn't know that from reading this thread however. People are trying to suggest that he is given all the red flags that came with this pick. Sure, the so called experts can be wrong, but he was slotted as a second rounder for a reason. If we had a history of finding gems like that in the draft, it would be one thing, but we clearly don't. The draft for us has been abysmal. you would think we would go a much safer route. Also, if this is really the guy you want there is something to be said at getting him at the right value. That's also what it means to be a good drafter. I don't see that, all I see are apologists trying to explain away what should be an obviously questionable pick. Sorry.

[j-ragg]

There is a ton of blind faith being thrown into WeltHam, not sure they've deserved it yet. Clifford earned my blind faith this year. The others, not so much. Free agency will be interesting.

[yoyojw17]

I don't understand why all these Chinese gymnasts are contorting themselves so much over this pick. It was obviously a questionable draft for the Magic at best, especially considering the complete punt in the second round. No one is rooting for Chuma to fail. He is a member of the team now, but let's at least be intellectually honest with ourselves here. An undersized, injured, older tweener two picks outside the lottery is not a good pick. It at least invites criticism, actually begs for it. So, don't come down on us that glaringly see it, just because you don't. There is a difference between being a fan and a sycophant. I'm going to try to move on now, but it is what it is.

How so? How is any pick a good pick and any other a bad pick? Nobody knows until the players play the game. If there were redrafts on the past 2 drafts, there would already be dramatic shakeups with a lot of lottery names falling out of the rankings - not to mention some of the mid-1sts and later. Some of those from mid-1st and later actually moved up to fill the tops of those redrafts.

What may seem questionable at the moment, might be a franchise player in a few seasons...

Sure that happens, where second rounders turn into studs. Not saying that I'm clairvoyant, what I'm trying to say that neither is Weham. You wouldn't know that from reading this thread however. People are trying to suggest that he is given all the red flags that came with this pick. Sure, the so called experts can be wrong, but he was slotted as a second rounder for a reason. If we had a history of finding gems like that in the draft, it would be one thing, but we clearly don't. The draft for us has been abysmal. you would think we would go a much safer route. Also, if this is really the guy you want there is something to be said at getting him at the right value. That's also what it means to be a good drafter. I don't see that, all I see are apologists trying to explain away what should be an obviously questionable pick. Sorry.

And i'm sure they know they aren't. but unlike us and all of our thoughts and ideas WE don't have to actually make a pick.... and at the end of the day ...whether a star turns into a dud or vice versa it's does not become part of our history.... all we will do is say.. "i told you so" if we hit or just never speak of our mistakes. And no matter what this is going to happen to every GM out there. You win some ... you lose some. WeHam has their formula... and they will stick by it.

The thing isn't thinking are they clairvoyant... it's understanding their point of view on the matter. and doing the due diligence I can see where they are going with this selection. Whether it is gonna be a good pick or not... we won't know for sure for a few years. And that is the nature of the game.

[VFX]

ehh, i debate that. the progress made came from Clifford. What key acquisitions have they made for the team that made the playoffs?

So they get no credit for hiring Clifford?? I will argue there biggest asset is what I am preaching patience. They could have traded Vuc for pennies on the dollar like most people including me wanted. Then he went and had best season of his career. Now everyone wants them to dump Fournier coming off his bad season. They are building this slow and methodical. There are no short cuts here. You try to do short cuts you end up with the oladipo and Sabonis for ibaka trade and biyombo contract.

I can still argue that not trading Vuc was a mistake. Had we traded him when I wanted to trade him then we woulda lost more and Trae Young or Luka Doncic would be with us. Thats a very acceptable result. We were never gonna trade him this past season. The time to move him was 2 seasons ago. They get props for the Cliff hire but thats about it

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This is what will always get overlooked. Now they find themselves in a difficult position to either overpay him and bring back the same system that largely hasn’t worked, until Clifford squeaked by this last season, OR lose him for “nothing” and avoid both overpaying him and getting any asset of value in return. Either way, the FO will look stupid for deciding to sit on their hands and “play it out”,because that window is gone now. Even if they sign him now to a market friendly deal he is getting nowhere the return he could have had in a trade back then. None of that even addresses the hypothetical scenario of possibly landing Doncic at the expense of nothing 2 years down the line.

They’ve hired Clifford, resigned AG, drafted Isaac, and traded Simmons for Fultz. Those are their main transactions of consequence in a 3 year period. Pretty **** lame honestly. If they don’t make moves this offseason, and we are watching the same Hennigan roster, it’ll be massively disappointing.

Now, bringing this back to Chuma in this thread... He’ll be a solid player regardless of what the roster becomes. It’s always good to have long wings that can shoot and defend always in any roster scenario. The pick was really only a risk because of his injury and not addressing the back court that they seem allergic to.

[basketballRob]

Just reading the draftnet write up on him. They say if he can improve scoring off the dribble can be an NBA star.

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[Bakomagic]

Tweener is a word that probably needs to be retired. In today’s NBA it’s celebrated. No longer are 6’7 long-armed college bruisers who physically dominate in college (example: Corliss Williamson) coming into the NBA and getting brutalized by Vuc types on every team. Its a different world, Kawhi, Draymond, LBJ are the new ideal....this guy has the right body if he can move. We’ll see. I’m not saying he’s all-NBA or even a starter, but his size and shape are not a problem...either was Bennett’s

Where I come from, we call that denial. Its probably why every child is an honor student now and gets a trophy for anything. In my world there are still paste eating mouth breathers and not every one as precious as the next. Things are circular. Even if you retire the word, it will come back, or at least still have relevance in certain circles. Namely mine, lol.

Off topic here but:

I’ve heard this everyone gets trophies Schtick for the past decade or so but didn’t think nothing of it cuz I honestly just assumed it was true. I was in my early twenties and was finishing up my life as an athlete and had no younger siblings who played sports.

But now I have a family, coach a sport every season and sat on the little league board of directors this year, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a a second place team receive a trophy or even been recognized in our post season award ceremony.

Is this just a metaphor or is my experience an isolated one ?

[OrlChamps2030]

Just reading the draftnet write up on him. They say if he can improve scoring off the dribble can be an NBA star.

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Just like Aaron Gordon and Jon Isaac

[drsd]

My guess is that he is 6'6" at best. That's really not sufficient for a PF in the NBA.

Charles Barkley is 6'4". It is not just about height.


..

[drsd]

I also like the idea that he can already shoot as opposed to “athletic guy who needs to learn to shoot” model

... and can readily guard the 3 and 4 and serve on rotational switches to the 2.

He is ver versatile on defense.


Okeke projects as a prototype 3 and D player in my mind. A taller version of Danny Green is his upside.


..

[j-ragg]

My guess is that he is 6'6" at best. That's really not sufficient for a PF in the NBA.

Charles Barkley is 6'4". It is not just about height.


..

It's not just about height. But for every Barkley, how many undersized power forwards do you think didn't make it?

[drsd]

So not the alpha male this team needs. Check.

I agree Kawhi Leonard is not an alpha. Yet he is a top-3 player in the NBA. That Okeke models his game after Leonard's, I am ok with that


A quite leader, leading by example: fine.


..

[basketballRob]

I think Okeke plays most small forward anyway.

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[drsd]

Thinking of undersized Pdfs from Aburn, I am again left with one name: Charles Barkley.

[j-ragg]

I hope he kind of pushes Iwundu out of the rotation and takes over the backup forward minutes. Iwundu got better, he's cool, he just kills the spacing any time he's out there. I'm fine having him as a cheerleader end-of-the-bench guy, but especially exacerbated by the bench unit his offense is just rough.

[drsd]

Anthony Bennett Weight: 239 lbs. Height (w/shoes): 6'7" Wingspan: 7'1" - Source: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Anthony-Bennett-5866/ ©DraftExpress

Anthony Bennett at #16 is a good pick.


..

[spinedoc]

Tweener is a word that probably needs to be retired. In today’s NBA it’s celebrated. No longer are 6’7 long-armed college bruisers who physically dominate in college (example: Corliss Williamson) coming into the NBA and getting brutalized by Vuc types on every team. Its a different world, Kawhi, Draymond, LBJ are the new ideal....this guy has the right body if he can move. We’ll see. I’m not saying he’s all-NBA or even a starter, but his size and shape are not a problem...either was Bennett’s

Where I come from, we call that denial. Its probably why every child is an honor student now and gets a trophy for anything. In my world there are still paste eating mouth breathers and not every one as precious as the next. Things are circular. Even if you retire the word, it will come back, or at least still have relevance in certain circles. Namely mine, lol.

Off topic here but:

I’ve heard this everyone gets trophies Schtick for the past decade or so but didn’t think nothing of it cuz I honestly just assumed it was true. I was in my early twenties and was finishing up my life as an athlete and had no younger siblings who played sports.

But now I have a family, coach a sport every season and sat on the little league board of directors this year, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a a second place team receive a trophy or even been recognized in our post season award ceremony.

Is this just a metaphor or is my experience an isolated one ?

Its a bit hyperbole, and trending back the other way, but its mostly about mindset I think. you see commercials and such still reference it. Also, terms like helicopter parents, and now bulldozer parenting. Kids are more coddled these days, less competition in general. I joke now and say, "hey mom, going down to the pond to play". And she say, "okay don't drowned". We have a different mindset and style now. But yeah, mostly trying to make a point.

[basketballRob]

I hope he kind of pushes Iwundu out of the rotation and takes over the backup forward minutes. Iwundu got better, he's cool, he just kills the spacing any time he's out there. I'm fine having him as a cheerleader end-of-the-bench guy, but especially exacerbated by the bench unit his offense is just rough.

What I do like about Iwundu is after the games where he plays a few minutes the other teams and fans usually make comments about our length. I could see a lineup of Fultz, Iwundu, JI, Okeke, and Bamba giving teams nightmares.

[j-ragg]

I hope he kind of pushes Iwundu out of the rotation and takes over the backup forward minutes. Iwundu got better, he's cool, he just kills the spacing any time he's out there. I'm fine having him as a cheerleader end-of-the-bench guy, but especially exacerbated by the bench unit his offense is just rough.

What I do like about Iwundu is after the games where he plays a few minutes the other teams and fans usually make comments about our length. I could see a lineup of Fultz, Iwundu, JI, Okeke, and Bamba giving teams nightmares.

It'd give me nightmares watching them on offense and an erection watching on defense.

[Skybox]

Tweener is a word that probably needs to be retired. In today’s NBA it’s celebrated. No longer are 6’7 long-armed college bruisers who physically dominate in college (example: Corliss Williamson) coming into the NBA and getting brutalized by Vuc types on every team. Its a different world, Kawhi, Draymond, LBJ are the new ideal....this guy has the right body if he can move. We’ll see. I’m not saying he’s all-NBA or even a starter, but his size and shape are not a problem...either was Bennett’s

Where I come from, we call that denial. Its probably why every child is an honor student now and gets a trophy for anything. In my world there are still paste eating mouth breathers and not every one as precious as the next. Things are circular. Even if you retire the word, it will come back, or at least still have relevance in certain circles. Namely mine, lol.

Off topic here but:

I’ve heard this everyone gets trophies Schtick for the past decade or so but didn’t think nothing of it cuz I honestly just assumed it was true. I was in my early twenties and was finishing up my life as an athlete and had no younger siblings who played sports.

But now I have a family, coach a sport every season and sat on the little league board of directors this year, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a a second place team receive a trophy or even been recognized in our post season award ceremony.

Is this just a metaphor or is my experience an isolated one ?

#fake news

I get tired of that shtick too. How much tougher, harder-working, independent we were...who the hell is raising them? #guilty