Elie Okobo must certainly represent the best chance for another French player to become a star in the NBA. They’ve already got a couple stars in Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier (that’s right, I’m calling him a star, and not just because he’s on my exclusion list), one washed-up semi-star (Nicolas Batum the scrotum puncher), and one Euroleague star who doesn’t seem to want to play in the NBA (Nando De Colo), but past those guys, the pickings are slim, so Okobo wins by default. The only other young Frenchman in the NBA is Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, and he’s hanging on to his roster spot for dear life, having appeared in just seven games this season.
Since Okobo is the young player upon which all the hopes of France must be pinned, they’ll be happy to know that Okobo looks like a perfectly capable scorer in this league. With Rubio in the picture he’s not getting as many minutes as last season, but he’s doing a lot better in the small amount of minutes he’s getting, and you could do a lot worse when it comes to a backup point guard.
By the way, when is Alexis Ajinca coming back to the NBA? That guy was a beast. His midrange jimbo was pure. Sure, he was skinny-fat and slow, but when he got minutes he could not be stopped. I am still upset about this.
By the way part 2: If somebody doesn’t sign Joffrey Lauvergne in the next two weeks I am going to personally fly over to France, abduct him, tie him up, fly him back, and drop him on the steps of the Bucks front office with a ransom note that says “He dies if you don’t sign him to a minimum contract within fifteen minutes of receiving this note”.