The Minnesota Timberwolves used the draft to add a pair of players possessing the skills they want for the wing positions.
Even if Josh Okogie and Keita Bates-Diop prove they are capable right away of a place in the rotation
Menelik Watson Jersey , though, there is a question about how much they will actually play as rookies. This is, after all, the team run by Tom Thibodeau, who is as likely to prefer experience over potential as any head coach in the NBA.
”Practices are important. Playing time is based on performance. You earn that,” Thibodeau said. ”That’s not just something that is given to you.”
Okogie and Bates-Diop, during their introduction at a news conference Tuesday, sounded like they understand the climb they face. All five starters for the Wolves last season averaged 33 minutes per game or more and ranked among the top 36 most-used players in the league, with Jimmy Butler third and Andrew Wiggins ninth.
”Everybody wants to play a lot as a rookie, but that comes with trust and learning the system and being productive out there,” said Bates-Diop
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Okogie, who was selected 20th overall out of Georgia Tech, also expressed a willingness to accept the no-nonsense, tough-love supervision that comes with playing for Thibodeau.
”I’m definitely comfortable with it,” Okogie said. ”I’ve never really had a coach who wasn’t hard on me.”
Both players will go through an adjustment phase with their offensive game, beginning with the longer 3-point shot. Bates-Diop led the Big Ten in scoring (19.8 points per game) and Okogie was fourth in the ACC (17.9 points per game), though, so they’re not coming to the league without any shooting prowess. They’re not one-and-done prospects, either. Okogie will be 20 before the season starts, and Bates-Diop will turn 23 in January, just two months after Wolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns.
What will help them the most toward working their way onto the court is the athleticism
Ryan Hewitt Jersey , tenacity and versatility they’ve exhibited while playing defense. That’s at the top of reasons Thibodeau and the front office targeted these two, enamored by a high leap and a long reach that makes switching from a 6-foot-4 classic shooting guard to a 6-foot-10 stretch power forward doable. Bates-Diop and Okogie were two of the four non-post players with a ”wingspan” of 7 feet or more at the NBA scouting combine last month.
”You can kind of be in two places at once,” Okogie said.
The other factor in their favor? The roster. Butler and Wiggins don’t currently have any backups in place, with Jamal Crawford’s decision to opt out of his contract and become a free agent. There’s nobody else who played on the wing last season who is under contract entering the start of free agency this weekend.
So just how important is it for a rookie to play right away?
”I think it’s important,” Okogie said. ”Is it the most important thing? Probably not. But if I was given a chance to produce and to help this team win nothing would give me more joy than that. So hopefully it happens, and I’ll work and do everything in my power to make it happen.”
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— Green Bay Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari avoided a serious injury after being carted off the field at practice during the weekend.
Bakhtiari was hurt during the Family Night practice on Saturday at Lambeau Field. He walked to a cart with his left shoe removed before being driven back to the locker room.
Bakhtiari twisted his ankle while retreating in pass protection. He likened it to a “typical basketball” injury.
“It was weird,” Bakhtiari said Monday, when the Packers returned to practice following a day off. “It didn’t really feel bad, just kind of putting some weight into it and it just told me no. That was kind of (why) I was worried, but it should be all right.”
Coach Mike McCarthy said Bakhtiari’s injury was “not of the long-term nature.” Bakhtiari will be evaluated as he goes through rehab.
“Obviously, you don’t want to get hurt but
Thomas Davis Jersey , thankfully, nothing catastrophic, nothing that is going to derail anything moving forward,” Bakhtiari said.
Good thing for the Packers, because he is one of their most important players given his role as quarterback Aaron Rodgers‘ reliable blind-side protector. He has been voted a second-team All-Pro each of the past two seasons.
Starting right tackle Bryan Bulaga just returned to practice on a limited basis following a right ACL injury that knocked him out at midseason last year.
Without those two, Kyle Murphy probably will start at left tackle and Jason Spriggs likely will start at right tackle for Thursday’s first preseason game, at home against Tennessee. Murphy started three games last season before a foot injury ended his season. Two of those came at left tackle.
Green Bay placed inside linebacker Jake Ryan on injured reserve on Monday, likely ending his season. One of the team’s best run-stoppers suffered a significant right knee injury in practice last week.
In that same practice, safety Kentrell Brice also was driven off the field on a cart, having re-injured the right ankle that required season-ending surgery last year. Brice, who had been taking first-team reps in the secondary
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“It wasn’t broken, so it was a positive outlook,” Brice said. “Once they told me it wasn’t fractured or broken, I just started walking on it. I figured sprain, bruise, something like that. I’ll be all right.”
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