In light of Hollinger's remarks about Boston possibly targeting Okoro with a tradeup I'm starting a deep dive on the game tape. I watched a couple of Auburn games during the season and was impressed by his defense. He plays D sort of like a more aggressive/athletic Semi. He doesn't try for blocks, but focuses in staying in front of his guy. Disrupts the dribble with quick hands.
Now, looking at the highlights I will confess to liking the defense even more. Combined with the J-Crew and Marcus you'd have a wing rotation that gave opposing coaches ulcers. He's not the defensive housewrecker that Marcus is, but he has the size/speed/athleticism (6'6" 225 with a +3 wingspan) combo to switch 1-4. He a good open court player and makes some nifty passes in transition. Great defensive awareness and in transition. He has some creative layups that he breaks out when he gets downhill. He's also pretty good with his left hand in traffic. He finishes strong, which bodes well for his success at the next level.
The bad... You could write a 200 page doctoral dissertation on the horrors of his jumpshot. I mean everything is wrong with it. From the footwork, to the elevation, to the timing, to the actual motion, to the lack of a consistent release point, to using his guide hand for extra power (which becomes a necessity with his failure to jump into the shot). He makes Marcus look like Ray Allen.
He also has that same problem that Josh Green does, as great as his drive game looks when he gets downhill, it looks just as bad when the defense is ready for him. A lot of comically bad turnovers in halfcourt sets. I tried looking for workout tape of him and couldn't find any, which raises a red flag for me. He needed to completely rebuild that jumper of his, much like Hampton. And with the latter you can look at extensive tape of the rebuilt shot. Not with Okoro, though, which makes me wonder how he spent his time off (and who promised their draft slot to him).
Sooooo, while looking at game tape I can see why Danny likes him, but he's
really raw. The guy he reminds me most of right now is
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, which is the problem, because that's his floor, a lottery pick that turns into a useful end of the rotation guy. As far as ceiling, I've seen a lot Kawhi v2.0 talk, but honestly I'd say his 1% projection is someone like Jimmy Butler. He's a much better playmaker than Leonard was at the same age and I don't think he has prime Kawhi "I'll smoke any SOB 1-5" defense in him. And I know that Ainge and Zarren regret not listening to me about Jimmy Butler.
(For those of you that don't know me, I'm irrational where Marquette players are concerned, so my hits there tend to be accidental because I think
every Marquette star is going to have a productive NBA career. Don't let me down, Markus!)