Betrayer Posted July 10 Posted July 10 I can't be the only one watching, right? Game 1: Okorie looked solid with 20pts and good PG play even though he had nobody worthwhile to pass it to. Good handle. Nice speed. The size will definitely be an issue on defense in the real league. The team we're fielding is pretty bad, so I guess Okorie should feel at home like he's back at Stanford. Chaz Lanier is not an NBA player. Onyenso just looked like your typical big body second round pick. Struggled to move his feet and looked pretty clunky. For the Sixers Philon looked pretty good as well. I know a lot of people were interested in drafting him over Okorie. He had 18. Started strong and then fell off while jacking up a bunch of bad shots. Nice handle, but gave me Lamelo Ball vibes with his antics and overdribbling. At this point I'm still wishing we would have taken Cam Carr. Quote
buddha Posted July 10 Posted July 10 so few nba players on the floor. philon looked smooth. once he gets the nervous showoffiness out of him, he could be a really good scorer. okorie looked like a point guard. might be a little small against nba players. his shot was going down, but its kind of a push shot. lanier will be out of the league as soon as the pistons find a place to trade him to. 1 Quote
papalawrence Posted July 10 Posted July 10 I watched part of it but ended up watching the Tigers instead. Okorie should fill out more. Tough to assess from summer league, but he looks like he belongs Quote
1984Echoes Posted July 10 Posted July 10 Okorie looked great. Onyenso looked HORRENDOUSLY raw. Lanier looked like: not good enough. Roddy Gayle surprised. I don't think he NBA-level surprised... more like 2-way contract so he can develop in the G-League surprised. I thought he was supposed to be not-good at 3's but he looked OK from there. But... we're out of 2-way contracts so...? I'd swap out Lanier and Onyenso for Gayle and Basheer Jihad (also looked raw but at least athletic enough and active and SOME offensive skill...) in the next game just to give Okorie different/ better looks at playmaking on offense. Quote
buddha Posted July 10 Posted July 10 i think okorie is the only player on the pistons roster who will ever play meaningful nba minutes. 1 Quote
papalawrence Posted July 13 Posted July 13 Looks like Okorie struggled today. Still just a kid. Going to be a hi learning curve for the young man Quote
1984Echoes Posted July 14 Posted July 14 1 hour ago, papalawrence said: Looks like Okorie struggled today. Still just a kid. Going to be a hi learning curve for the young man I think in the NBA he'll need to worry about playmaking more and scoring less. In summer league he's carrying almost as much scoring load as in college... And he may be a defensive liability with his size... and he'll have trouble scoring inside amongst all the trees... But what did he have today...? 7 steals? As long as he is hyperactive on D I think he could still be a net plus on D... but we'll see on that. I think the scoring options in summer league... meaning his teammates, are a little subpar. I think with his NBA teammates, his assists will go a little up and his turnovers down a little. If he can hit open 3's or drive and kick or pick-n-roll and hit Duren or Collins or others for lob passes he'll be fine. I have no idea how long that learning curve will be for him... but he seems like an exceptionally sharp mind/ high basketball IQ so, hopefully, the learning curve isn't too long... Summer league is worthless anyways... but that's just what I'm seeing... My 2 cents. Quote
1984Echoes Posted July 14 Posted July 14 On 7/10/2026 at 4:08 PM, buddha said: i think okorie is the only player on the pistons roster who will ever play meaningful nba minutes. Chaz Lanier played quite a bit better the past two games... I know it's only Summer League... I'm just not ready to write him off just yet... (Besides... you know how I am!!!) Quote
papalawrence Posted July 14 Posted July 14 51 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said: Chaz Lanier played quite a bit better the past two games... I know it's only Summer League... I'm just not ready to write him off just yet... (Besides... you know how I am!!!) 15-24 on 3-pt attemps for Chaz in 2 games. I agree with you. There could still be something there Quote
buddha Posted July 14 Posted July 14 summer league means nothing. BUT, for a guy like lanier, it would be a death knell if he sucked. at the end of the day, if youre not a core player you are just waiting to be traded or cut. Quote
Deleterious Posted July 15 Posted July 15 He should save this to show European teams next year. 1 Quote
Deleterious Posted July 15 Posted July 15 Okorie is not NBA ready at all. I sincerely hope they use the G-League with him this year instead of letting him rot away at the end of the bench. He needs practice reps and game time, and he won't get any of that if he spends most of his time with the Pistons. He is fine out on the perimeter, but the second he gets inside, he gets bodied and muscled. Not a shock since he only shot 50% at the rim in college, against guys that will mostly be playing in YMCA leagues next year. He really could stand to put on 15-20 pounds of muscle if his frame can support it. He probably would have been better off staying in school another year. Hit the weight room, add muscle, and he would most likely go higher next year in a much weaker draft. Quote
Hongbit Posted July 15 Posted July 15 1 minute ago, Deleterious said: Okorie is not NBA ready at all. I sincerely hope they use the G-League with him this year instead of letting him rot away at the end of the bench. He needs practice reps and game time, and he won't get any of that if he spends most of his time with the Pistons. He is fine out on the perimeter, but the second he gets inside, he gets bodied and muscled. Not a shock since he only shot 50% at the rim in college, against guys that will mostly be playing in YMCA leagues next year. He really could stand to put on 15-20 pounds of muscle if his frame can support it. He probably would have been better off staying in school another year. Hit the weight room, add muscle, and he would most likely go higher next year in a much weaker draft. I thought the reason the Pistons fell in love with him was because his ability to get through traffic and drive to the rim and score. Quote
Deleterious Posted July 15 Posted July 15 27 minutes ago, Hongbit said: I thought the reason the Pistons fell in love with him was because his ability to get through traffic and drive to the rim and score. They might have. I'm just repeating what his numbers were. From Sam Vecenie's draft guide. Quote For a player who often finds himself at the rim and has a tremendous amount of counters off terrific footwork, Okorie was not an effective finisher. His size hindered him here. In half-court play, he made just 51.9 percent of his shots at the rim. Given they were all self-created looks, this number isn’t as bad as it looks. However, it’s also probably not good enough to live off if it’s his primary source of offense, especially as he transitions to playing against bigger, longer, stronger rim protectors and defenders in the NBA. Quote
buddha Posted July 16 Posted July 16 3 hours ago, Deleterious said: Okorie is not NBA ready at all. I sincerely hope they use the G-League with him this year instead of letting him rot away at the end of the bench. He needs practice reps and game time, and he won't get any of that if he spends most of his time with the Pistons. He is fine out on the perimeter, but the second he gets inside, he gets bodied and muscled. Not a shock since he only shot 50% at the rim in college, against guys that will mostly be playing in YMCA leagues next year. He really could stand to put on 15-20 pounds of muscle if his frame can support it. He probably would have been better off staying in school another year. Hit the weight room, add muscle, and he would most likely go higher next year in a much weaker draft. they will not do that. he'll be their backup point guard and probably get just as much time as danniss. Quote
Deleterious Posted July 16 Posted July 16 I like this kid. I'm curious to see how Chicago screws him up. Quote
buddha Posted July 18 Posted July 18 final summer league thoughts: summer league is kind of dumb. just a glorified pick up game. hard to get any real feel for the players. okorie is too small right now. got beat up by nba sized guards. but the nba games will have better spacing for him. the scouting reports on his finishing were correct, he's not great at it right now. looked smooth on the ball. made some good passes. quick hands on d. but he's not going to get any taller, and he's not kyrie, steph or isiah when it comes to handle and moves to the basket. prediction: he'll be "ok" in the regular season and then a liability in the playoffs. Quote
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