Official Ochai Agbaji Thread - Welcome to Toronto, Ochai!

[ArthurVandelay]

It is amazing what winning does to player perception

[YogurtProducer]

Utah also gave up on NAW so quickly.

didn’t even realize this at first, makes it even funnier though.

[brownbobcat]

It's more telling that Utah gave up on this player so quickly.

No Immanuel.

It was more about rebuilding than giving up on him - NAW was playing well for Utah. They moved him and Conley for the Lakers '27 FRP.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

He's still undersized and can't shoot. Not great for a SG (he's not a SF).

[OakleyDokely]

Ochai definitely isn't undersized. At the combine, he was measured at 6'5.75 with a 6'10.25 wingspan. Plus, he's built very well. That's very good size for a guard and he should be able to guard many forwards as well at that size.

The swing skill for him is the shooting. He needs to be able to hit open shots in order to become a key regular.

[YogurtProducer]

Ochai definitely isn't undersized. At the combine, he was measured at 6'5.75 with a 6'10.25 wingspan. Plus, he's built very well. That's very good size for a guard and he should be able to guard many forwards as well at that size.

The swing skill for him is the shooting. He needs to be able to hit open shots in order to become a key regular.

If he hits them like he did in Utah he’s a solid bench piece. If he improves on that and gets it higher he’s a starting caliber player.

[will]

Just hit the 3 ball!

[OakleyDokely]

Defense against each position this year.

Time Spent Guarding:
G: 53.3%
F: 39.1%
C: 7.5%

Opponents TS% when being guarded by Ochai:
G: 49.7
F: 53.3
C: 75.1
Overall: 53.0

[Los_29]

It's more telling that Utah gave up on this player so quickly.

No Immanuel.

It was more about rebuilding than giving up on him - NAW was playing well for Utah. They moved him and Conley for the Lakers '27 FRP.

He barely played for them. Only averaged 14mpg which is very surprising given the fact he’s young. They traded him and ended up giving a ton of minutes to Kris Dunn of all people. They gave up on him. lol.

[ItsDanger]

Need to see extended run with full roster. But if he's a sub 30% 3 pt shooter, he's a liability on the court regardless of other factors. He's got 1 more season to prove he's a rotation level guard or his career might be over.

[will]

Need to see extended run with full roster. But if he's a sub 30% 3 pt shooter, he's a liability on the court regardless of other factors. He's got 1 more season to prove he's a rotation level guard or his career might be over.

He'll get another shot based on his age and physical makeup. Literally, all he has to do is keep the defense honest and knock down the 3 ball at a better clip than his current crappy clip.

[WaltFrazier]

You've yet to give the guy reasonable time and you're jumping to conclusions already. lol

Writing a 23 year old after 27 games is a weird flex.

Such a weird flex. The sophomore slump is a real thing. At least give him year 3 to see if he can bounce back to his rookie fg%, 3pt% etc.

What flex? The initial post was about how we could use Ochai as that 6"3ish guy who could guard other smaller guards in the league while posting average shooting numbers and bring some intangibles.
My reply was about how we already have that guy in Bruce Brown. Who has shown to be capable of playing some tough nose disruptive defense while being respectable on offense in denver. It would be more immediate to plug BB into that role than wishing Ochai become a Bruce Brown.

Then some smart-ass comes in and wants to flaunt that he has access to basketballreference.com about TS% and talk some rude ass ****. We see how the conversation is always steer hostility from these specific posters.

Denver is certainly missing Brown right now

[WaltFrazier]

Just hit the 3 ball!

True for so many players. Hit the 3 you can get minutes. He could be a decent 3nD guy.

[will]

Just hit the 3 ball!

True for so many players. Hit the 3 you can get minutes. He could be a decent 3nD guy.

Brook Lopez and Paul Milsap extended their careers for way longer than what it should have been. They added the 3 ball to their respective arsenals.

Going to be tough for a swingman that can't knock it down.

Ochai may want to invest in time time and money with Ray Allen.

[Duffman100]

Again, he showed progression through college and into his 1st NBA season. And then a huge step back.

He has the physical tools, great defense. Can guard 1-3 and small ball 4s. Good off ball cutter.

It's not a bad flier to take.

[WaltFrazier]

Just hit the 3 ball!

True for so many players. Hit the 3 you can get minutes. He could be a decent 3nD guy.

Brook Lopez and Paul Milsap extended their careers for way longer than what it should have been. They added the 3 ball to their respective arsenals.

Going to be tough for a swingman that can't knock it down.

Ochai may want to invest in time time and money with Ray Allen.

It's a great trivia stat that Brook is still the Nets franchise points leader, after 7 years away. All low post points too.

Although when I googled it recently to confirm, his Nets points total is lower than the all time best for any other franchise. Which is a sad commentary on Nets history

[will]

True for so many players. Hit the 3 you can get minutes. He could be a decent 3nD guy.

Brook Lopez and Paul Milsap extended their careers for way longer than what it should have been. They added the 3 ball to their respective arsenals.

Going to be tough for a swingman that can't knock it down.

Ochai may want to invest in time time and money with Ray Allen.

It's a great trivia stat that Brook is still the Nets franchise points leader, after 7 years away. All low post points too.

Although when I googled it recently to confirm, his Nets points total is lower than the all time best for any other franchise. Which is a sad commentary on Nets history

Looking back, Brook has gone the complete opposite. From being an exclusive low post player, to being a 3 point shooter. Seems like Bobby Portis is in the post more often.

[Tor_Raps]

Again, he showed progression through college and into his 1st NBA season. And then a huge step back.

He has the physical tools, great defense. Can guard 1-3 and small ball 4s. Good off ball cutter.

It's not a bad flier to take.

Agree with most of what you said but how come other teams don't take fliers on our players (Lowry/Fred/Brown/Trent) and we're handing out 1st Round Picks for the likes of Ochai and a guy we could have signed this offseason for nothing?

[Tor_Raps]

Didn't like what I saw from Ochai but I'm not ready to write him off. Let's see how he improves this offseason going into his Year 3 before I form definitive opinions.

One factor that needs to be considered is that Ochai is older than RJ Barrett. He played 4 years in college so these type of players are expected to produce more in the nba right away and deserve less of a leash longterm.

[Duffman100]

Again, he showed progression through college and into his 1st NBA season. And then a huge step back.

He has the physical tools, great defense. Can guard 1-3 and small ball 4s. Good off ball cutter.

It's not a bad flier to take.

Agree with most of what you said but how come other teams don't take flier on our expiring players (Lowry/Fred/Brown/Trent) and we're handing out 1st Round Picks for the likes of Ochai and a guy we could have signed this offseason for nothing?

Because Ochai isn't expiring and is cost controlled for another 5-6 years?