I understand completely that it’s not fair to judge rookies too harshly, given that, well, they’re rookies. They’re not used to the NBA. They’re not supposed to be good, except when they are. They’re not done developing. The flashes of skill they show aren’t supposed to be consistent features of their game yet.
Having acknowledged all that, Elie Okobo has negative win-shares this season, which is bad news for him because I revere win-shares above every other stat. Many players that I think of as “bad” players are actually neutral from a win-shares standpoint. Okobo is negative. Of the many rookies who are negative, he’s played the third most minutes, behind Collin Sexton and Kevin Knox (fellow Sunsman De’Anthony Melton has also played more minutes, but his win-shares are at exactly 0.0). That, by some twisted definition, makes him the third-worst rookie
If anybody takes issue with the fact that I use win-shares to make judgments of players whose game I have directly observed very little, they’re welcome to come up with a system where I have enough time in my life to watch hours of game film for every player and then make judgments that way. Or a system where every team’s video coordinator gives me detailed breakdowns of every player for free. Or a system where I don’t have to write video descriptions anymore and therefore don’t have to have any specific knowledge of the players for whom I’m making highlight videos.
I will say that, given the whole “negative win-shares” thing, my new nickname for Okobo (“Okobo, Elie Have It All”) doesn’t really apply.