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Minnesota Timberwolves: Josh Okogie rookie recap

By James Grieco

TARRYTOWN, NY - AUGUST 12: Josh Okogie #20 of the Minnesota Timberwolves poses for a portrait during the 2018 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot on August 12, 2018 at the Madison Square Garden Training Facility in Tarrytown, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
TARRYTOWN, NY - AUGUST 12: Josh Okogie #20 of the Minnesota Timberwolves poses for a portrait during the 2018 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot on August 12, 2018 at the Madison Square Garden Training Facility in Tarrytown, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

The Bad

His shooting percentages are flat-out awful. You could apply them either here or in The Ugly slide to come, but I do have hope he’ll improve, so I’m putting them here instead.

Okogie’s shooting splits are .389/.282/.726. Yikes.

The same questions that are circulating around Okogie now stained him coming out of Georgia Tech, but he has only added fuel to the fire by shooting so poorly. During his two college seasons, Okogie shot 38.2 percent from 3 on nearly three attempts per game and 77.7 percent from the free throw line. Looking at those stats, you’d think his shot would at least translate to a league-average rate.

Look at this shooting clip below (I am aware he makes this shot):

When he has his feet set, his shot doesn’t look that bad; he has a low release point (which is also quite noticeable in the photo at the top of this slide), but the stroke and verticality are both smooth.

Diving deeper into the numbers, it does appear that Okogie’s awful shooting, particularly from 3, is poised to regress to the norm and raise his averages. When the closest defender is 4-6 feet away (an open shot), Okogie is shooting 17.1 percent from 3; on wide open shots (closest defender more than 6 feet away), he is shooting only 29.7 percent.

There is no way those historically bad stats alone hold up over hundreds of attempts and years of play.

He isn’t shooting 3s well on pull-ups (18.5 percent) or catch-and-shoot shots (28.8 percent) either. Okogie is nowhere close to being even a secondary creator at this point — and may never be, which isn’t the end of the world — so why he has attempted nearly three dozen pull-up 3s is a mystery.

His catch-and-shoot percentages are so low because he isn’t great with his body balance; he does a good job of drifting to open spaces, but can’t routinely control his balance, which results in him launching some straight up wonky shots.

Josh Okogie isn’t Klay Thompson, and that’s fine. If he can reel in the number of wild shots he takes, he’ll hit more 3s. It’s that simple. His rookie shooting has been abysmal, but there is hope yet for his long-term shooting profile.

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