Chuma Okeke drafted #16 by the Orlando Magic

[OrlandO]

So much controversy over a crapshoot 16th pick... Can't wait to see this board's reaction when we don't add any notable guards and end up using the MLE to sign a backup forward to fill in as a stand-in for Okeke while he rehabs.

[RookieStar]

i watched Auburn in the March Madness tourney.. He never stood out for me but when he went down, it was obvious their team was doomed.

At 16 I think he is a value pick. Yes too bad he isnt a G/F that we all wanted but with the NBA nowadays, who cares what their position is.

Look at the playoffs! We had Embiid guarding Siakam, Simmons guarding Gasol, George guarding Lillard, etc etc... Its about skills wingspan and scoring nowadays. No one saying that if you are 6'5 you gotta be ashooting guard not a pg or you are 6'11 you bang bodies downlow

[ezzzp]

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[Mule Tears]

So much controversy over a crapshoot 16th pick... Can't wait to see this board's reaction when we don't add any notable guards and end up using the MLE to sign a backup forward to fill in as a stand-in for Okeke while he rehabs.

That’s been our MO for years. lol!

I wood wike to see some changes soon !!

[VFX]

So much controversy over a crapshoot 16th pick... Can't wait to see this board's reaction when we don't add any notable guards and end up using the MLE to sign a backup forward to fill in as a stand-in for Okeke while he rehabs.

How is that controversial? That’s what this FO does. The more surprising thing would be making a real move that didn’t continue to field Hennigans roster plus Isaac.

[Gomagic44]

After watching some footage he seems like something we need. Sure, he won’t be here next year. But a serviceable player who does many things well is a great thing to have. I was especially turned on by his passing. Good ball movement seems to increase everyone’s shooting percentage and Clifford can work with that.

Can’t judge the pick until it pans out.


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[SOUL]

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Anybody know where in the podcast he talks about him?

[yoyojw17]

He caught me by surprise, but I am pumped for this guy.

6'7 with a 7' wingspan, a 230lb body, and the athleticism, length and strength to cover 2-4.

He hits the 3, can (apparently) make the pass, gets to the rim with a variety of moves ranging from strength (some powerful dunks) to craft, to freak contortion. Handles the ball well enough to get him where he needs to be (near the rim).

He can come in and cover 2-4 for any sub, lineup or rotation just fine - providing he's healthy and a capable NBA player.

Where I see really exciting potential is if he can last full time at SG. Defensively, he's not as quick as some, but his length makes up for that, and he's still explosive once he decides to go for something. His athleticism should be comparable to Fournier's, at the very least. Offensively though.... He can still hit the 3, pulling up and off the catch, his handles can get him a straight line drive to get him in the paint, and once he's in there he should have the advantage over most SGs in the league. His strength, power and length could make him a pretty unstoppable matchup for a lot of SGs. If you've got a floor spacing C like Vuc, you could even run post ups for him.

He seems like he could be anything from Crowder to Harris, to Gordon, to Granger.

He seems like he'll be useful, at the very least.

No doubt in my mind if the Magic want him to be a combo SG/SF instead of a combo SF/PF, that they could pull it off. He's one less biscuit away from having typical SG weight and he's got a lot of baby fat. He could get toned up in a pinch under and NBA training regimen.

If you think about it, a 7'0 wingspan at PF does not fit the long wingspan glorification that WeHam covet. At SG, certainly it does. We shall see.... I guess it would be all a part of the "let the process play out" mindset that Weltman speaks of.

Skinnnnn.... stop getting me excited with all this talk!!! lol

but for realz... if it is possible for him to hit 220 and play sg...WATCH NOW! Especially once i think about him being able to shoot, drive..... AND POST. he will be a nightmare. just gotta see if he can legit guard the sg position. i guess being a "hhigh level team defender" would help a lot.

[Xatticus]

I think people should rein in their expectations a bit.

Okeke isn't the offensive player that people are describing in this thread. Kawhi wasn't an efficient scorer in college, but he was the primary option for his team. Kawhi led his team in USG% and scoring, whereas Okeke only had a 20.0 USG% this year. To put that into perspective, Isaac had a 20.3 USG% in his only season at FSU. Wes Iwundu had a higher career usage rate in college (19.9%) than Okeke (18.5%). Both Isaac and Okeke averaged 12.0 points per game in the season in which they were drafted. Isaac and Leonard were both about a year younger than Okeke when they were drafted.

Robert Covington is Okeke's closest comp. Covington and Okeke had very similar steal, block, and rebound rates and they are roughly the same size. It's rather difficult to know for certain because we don't have Okeke's measurements. I don't know what the source is for his reported 7'0" wingspan. Covington was a better shooter though and on significantly higher usage.

[nymets1]

SG, SF, PF and C should all be thrown out the window by now. PG will never go away because you need 1 player on the court that can dribble and set up the team. The other 4 players on the court are supposed to now to be called "position-less" or "play multiple positions". SG is kinda saying that's the only player on the floor for his team that can shoot/ make 3's. You don't need all 5 players on the court that can shoot/make 3's but you definitely need at least 3 players, maybe 4 guys.

Chuma can't turn into Kawhi at least not right now but it could be possible because nobody thought Kawhi would be this good before Kawhi entered the league. If Chuma played at the same level as Pascal Siakam in the NBA that we definitely hit a home run picking Okeke.

[Magicaljosh]

I love this pick. Issac at the 3 and Gordon at the 4 and okeke coming off the bench to replace either of them. I like it. TBH I never heard of him but looking into him he can be a very good player. Just sucks we have to wait to see him.

[NotACat]

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Anybody know where in the podcast he talks about him?

SoundCloud link quoted in the first tweet

[tiderulz]

SG, SF, PF and C should all be thrown out the window by now. PG will never go away because you need 1 player on the court that can dribble and set up the team. The other 4 players on the court are supposed to now to be called "position-less" or "play multiple positions". SG is kinda saying that's the only player on the floor for his team that can shoot/ make 3's. You don't need all 5 players on the court that can shoot/make 3's but you definitely need at least 3 players, maybe 4 guys.

Chuma can't turn into Kawhi at least not right now but it could be possible because nobody thought Kawhi would be this good before Kawhi entered the league. If Chuma played at the same level as Pascal Siakam in the NBA that we definitely hit a home run picking Okeke.

only teams with exceptional talent play "positionless", and really its about 2 teams or so. Philly? they have positions. Champion RAptors, they have positions. Toronto, Denver, SA, Milwaukee. they all play positions.

[fendilim]

My concern with Chuma actually is he might be too slow to play the 2. But I have no question he can play 4 and sometimes 3.

[Skin]

My concern with Chuma actually is he might be too slow to play the 2. But I have no question he can play 4 and sometimes 3.

When I look at the the 2 SGs in the Finals, Klay and Danny Green, they are pretty slow. I don't think Okeke would be outmatched because of speed.

[basketballRob]

I think people should rein in their expectations a bit.

Okeke isn't the offensive player that people are describing in this thread. Kawhi wasn't an efficient scorer in college, but he was the primary option for his team. Kawhi led his team in USG% and scoring, whereas Okeke only had a 20.0 USG% this year. To put that into perspective, Isaac had a 20.3 USG% in his only season at FSU. Wes Iwundu had a higher career usage rate in college (19.9%) than Okeke (18.5%). Both Isaac and Okeke averaged 12.0 points per game in the season in which they were drafted. Isaac and Leonard were both about a year younger than Okeke when they were drafted.

Robert Covington is Okeke's closest comp. Covington and Okeke had very similar steal, block, and rebound rates and they are roughly the same size. It's rather difficult to know for certain because we don't have Okeke's measurements. I don't know what the source is for his reported 7'0" wingspan. Covington was a better shooter though and on significantly higher usage.

I think it's hard to say what he's going to be. If you look at Kawhi and Chuma's two years in college they both improved shooting one year to the next. Chuma's two pt shooting went up 70 pts and ft shooting 50.

Kawhi was a 70% ft shooter in college and like a less than 30% 3 pt shooter.

Kawhi had a decent handle and could shoot off the dribble in college is what separates him. If Chuma can continue his upward trajectory and learn how to handle the ball and become an even better shooter, I don't know.

If you look at Covington you don't see much improvement one year to the next.



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[Message Boar]

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Anybody know where in the podcast he talks about him?

Chuma Talk starts at roughly 1:19:45 and ends at 1:22:05. The recaps in this thread have it pretty well covered.

[SOUL]

I think people should rein in their expectations a bit.

Okeke isn't the offensive player that people are describing in this thread. Kawhi wasn't an efficient scorer in college, but he was the primary option for his team. Kawhi led his team in USG% and scoring, whereas Okeke only had a 20.0 USG% this year. To put that into perspective, Isaac had a 20.3 USG% in his only season at FSU. Wes Iwundu had a higher career usage rate in college (19.9%) than Okeke (18.5%). Both Isaac and Okeke averaged 12.0 points per game in the season in which they were drafted. Isaac and Leonard were both about a year younger than Okeke when they were drafted.

Robert Covington is Okeke's closest comp. Covington and Okeke had very similar steal, block, and rebound rates and they are roughly the same size. It's rather difficult to know for certain because we don't have Okeke's measurements. I don't know what the source is for his reported 7'0" wingspan. Covington was a better shooter though and on significantly higher usage.

I think it's hard to say what he's going to be. If you look at Kawhi and Chuma's two years in college they both improved shooting one year to the next. Chuma's two pt shooting went up 70 pts and ft shooting 50.

Kawhi was a 70% ft shooter in college and like a less than 30% 3 pt shooter.

Kawhi had a decent handle and could shoot off the dribble in college is what separates him. If Chuma can continue his upward trajectory and learn how to handle the ball and become an even better shooter, I don't know.

If you look at Covington you don't see much improvement one year to the next.



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Kawhi is an MVP and will be in the HOF. Doing a disservice to rookies by comparing them to guys like that. I'd be so excited if he was a Covington sort of player, but will obviously be even more stoked if he developed even further. Time will tell.

[basketballRob]

Pearl says, Chuma has a great dimension shooting and only cares about championships not stats.

https://www.wsfa.com/2019/06/22/bruce-pearl-speaks-after-big-draft-night-tigers/

[yoyojw17]

Not sure if posted... but imma leave this right here cuz it sounds pretty familiar.

lol

While Orlando Magic fans complained, experts loved Chuma Okeke

https://orlandomagicdaily.com/2019/06/22/orlando-magic-fans-complained-experts-loved-chuma-okeke/