Until Giannis Adetokunbo (note the authentic spelling) mans up and embraces his Nigerian heritage, Josh Okogie is Nigeria’s best hope for an NBA superstar. What, you think Al-Farouq Aminu is the better choice? I’d rather have Ime Udoka than him. Current Udoka, mind you. And what’s Solomon Alabi up to these days, anyway? I’d take him over Aminu as well.
Okogie is currently playing and producing at a reasonable level, which puts him far ahead in this race. He’s pretty iffy on offense a lot of the time, but I’ve been told that he plays good defense, which is irrelevant when it comes to being a superstar but totally relevant when it comes to being a role-players. And look at that body. That’s an NBA body right there. If only he was a little taller. As it stands, he plays like (and I’ve said this before) what Giannis would play like if Giannis were 6’4″.
If he’s for real going to be a superstar at least for Nigeria in international competition, he has to really work on his perimeter scoring. I’ve been told that he has “good shot preparation”, but that’s the kind of thing you say when the shots aren’t going in. Does James Harden have good shot preparation? What about Stephen Curry? No one knows, because no one cares when it’s clear that you can make shots.