Obekpa is getting a lot of love. I really like the kid, and I think he can be a monster defensively in this zone in time, but the kid is a boy compared to some of the men on the roster. Obekpa turned 17 this year, right? Sanchez is 24 with two years of experience at JUCO and a few summers of playing with professionals in FIBA. GG is 22 or so with three years of college experience.
Obekpa is young and raw...I don't see more than a 10-15 mpg for him this year with all of the older and more polished kids ahead of him.
You really think a consensus top 70 recruit - a 6'9 GREAT shotbocker - is only going to get 10 minutes a game on a team
that won only 14 games last year? Wow.
Yes. He's incredibly raw and thin as a rail. I think his ceiling is very high, but freshman bigs almost always need a few years. He's the same size as Sanchez, but doesn't have anywhere near the experience, age, physical maturity, or skill at this point. It really just comes down to 17 vs. 24: boy v. man.
I agree. These ranking are based on ceiling, not immediate impact. A lot of us, myself included forget that. Pointer was actually our top recruit last year.
Along those lines I expect Dom to have a breakout year wherever he plays. This is a guy I wouldn't want to lose due to a lack of minutes so I look for Lavin to create ways to use him to win games. Not many defenders as good as him out there.
Buddy snuck a laptop in to me here in the hospital!
I imagine Lav's uses him similar to Ryan Hollins as a frosh for him at UCLA - He had top 100 center Mike Fey, Top 25 PF TJ Cummings, #28 Dijon Thompson, and #31 Andre Patterson up front (Fey, Patterson & Cummings would all be 15pt 7 reb guys in the D-League, Thompson would reach the NBA) - Tho Unranked, Lavs got Hollins 17 minutes a game, including 15 starts, and Playing time at both C and PF. 5pts 4rebs, 2nd on the team in blocks. Led the team in FG% at 59.4%.
We DON'T have a higher ranked prospect at his position - so I think he gets more minutes than that.
We dont have a higher ranked prospect at any position. RE: CO I think as the season progresses you ll see him getting more minutes. By Jan I think he will be a major contributer and see him getting more minutes then Gift.
If Obekpa is quick to learn where he needs to rotate to in our zone - then he'll play big minutes. That'll be the biggest key. He's raw offensively, but I think the coaches will live with that in exchange for his shot blocking and rebounding. What will get real frustrating for them (and us) is if teams swing the ball around the perimeter and he's slow to go from the weakside block to guard a guy who's alone in the corner.
The past two years our "big men" have had very flat learning curves ,on this topic, from Oct to January. See Evans and Burrell two years ago, and Gift and Moe even last fall.
Not and easy thing to learn, you gotta anticipate, and have quick feet.
But mark my word... that's gonna be what determines how much we see Chris O.
(an illustration of my point, and Gift's struggles with it early last season... this has been recycled, but it's good
http://hoopspeak.com/college/2011/11/whats-wrong-with-st-johns-zone-defense/)