When Josh Okogie landed in Arizona, Devin Booker inquired with his friend, D’Angelo Russell. The Suns rookie came from Minnesota, where the leader plays. ” He told me that we would love to play with him. He will defend, he will make things easier for us. This is what we need », brought back the back of Phoenix.
The latter, since the start of the season, has had little opportunity to see his counterpart at work, other than in training at least. With wings already well supplied, Monty Williams regularly solicited Josh Okogie but for short sequences of a few minutes.
Some like Mikal Bridges, also a very big defender, knew well what his new teammate was capable of: “ Josh is a monster. He has this defensive mindset that allows him to read things. » « Kal and I were on the same team a few weeks ago, we were causing havoc in defence. I looked at him, he looked at me, and we were like, ‘Yeah, it’s going to be a long year for opposing attacks’ “, remembered the newcomer a few weeks ago.
The fullback, drafted by Wolves in 2018 in 20th place, was lucid about his future role with his new team. Already, when rookie, he played with Tom Thibodeau, things were clear: “ I’m not going to go out there to score points. Because we had so many players who could do it in the team. So he needed me to be on the field to defend and take care of someone. »
Career best
His role in Phoenix has evolved recently with the combined absences of Chris Paul, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder and Torrey Craig. For three games, each time finished with very substantial gaps, his playing time has indeed exceeded 20 minutes on average.
He thus took advantage of a “garbage time” against the Celtics to afford a career-high 28 units, with four award-winning baskets. A great feat for the young player who had only exceeded the 20-point mark four times so far, and whose 3-point percentage is limited to 27%.
” Lately he’s been attacking the basket more than just shooting 3-pointers, although it’s believed he can make those shots. He hits a ton of them in practice, but we love when he attacks the basket, because he’s so big and strong that he can end up on the free throw line. “, Claims Monty Williams whose player has 16 points (47% on shots including 40% from afar), 7 rebounds and 4 assists in these three games.
The technician says he appreciates the physical dimension of his player, which he even compares to bo jackson, one of the few athletes to have been a pro in two major sports (American football and baseball). ” He permeates the game with his physique, and for me, that’s something you need in the regular season and in the playoffs. »
| Josh Okogie | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2018-19 | MIN | 74 | 24 | 38.6 | 27.9 | 72.8 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 7.7 |
| 2019-20 | MIN | 62 | 25 | 42.7 | 26.6 | 79.6 | 1.4 | 2.9 | 4.3 | 1.6 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 8.6 |
| 2020-21 | MIN | 59 | 20 | 40.2 | 26.9 | 76.9 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 5.4 |
| 2021-22 | MIN | 49 | 11 | 40.4 | 29.8 | 68.6 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 2.7 |
| 2022-23 | PHX | 21 | 9 | 38.5 | 24.1 | 69.2 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 3.6 |
| Total | 265 | 20 | 40.3 | 27.3 | 75.5 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 6.1 | |
