Phoenix Suns: Complete 2018 offseason grades
Drafting Elie Okobo
The gap between first and second round prospects after the lottery was fairly small in this year’s draft class, but most mocks projected French point guard Elie Okobo going somewhere in the mid-to-late 20s. Instead, Phoenix was able to scoop him up with the 31st overall pick to start off the second round.
On the one hand, people saw similar value when Tyler Ulis dropped to the Suns near the beginning of the second round in 2016. On the other hand, Okobo has more upside than Ulis did, since he’s only 20 years old and is nowhere near as undersized as Ulis was.
Okobo is bursting with score-first potential, so even though there are clearly areas of his game that need refining, a recent 44-point outburst overseas gave further credence to the possibility of him reaching his ceiling as a legitimate NBA starting point guard.
Okobo is interesting prospect. Had 44 points in game recently. Suns like potential as a scorer, believe he can develop into someone who can run a team. Could be instant scoring threat off bench
— scott bordow (@sbordow) June 22, 2018
Though he only averaged 2.3 points, 3.5 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game in Summer League, he was limited by an eye injury, so the numbers were skewed. He still managed to flash court vision and passing ability that was better than most expected.
At the beginning of the second round, McDonough may have found one of the hidden gems in the draft. Whether he’s Phoenix’s eventual starting point guard for “The Timeline” or just a backup with microwave scoring, Elie Okobo should provide good value considering where he was drafted.
Grade: A-