The Pistons gave up three second-round picks to Memphis to move up from No. 21 in Monday’s draft to No. 17. They selected Stanford freshman guard Ebuka Okorie. President of basketball operations Trajan Langdon believes the lightning-quick Okorie, a prolific college scorer, can provide a much-needed jolt of energy to Detroit’s half-court offense, according to Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press.
“If you watch him, he’s always in the lane,” Langdon said. “That ball is on a string. He’s fast, he’s quick. Incredible stop and go and change of direction on a dime. Those kinds of things, we think they’ll translate to our level. He’s going to be surrounded by some pretty good players and so I think, transition or halfcourt, he’s going to be able to get in the lane and do this thing and find others. And that’s what we’re looking forward to.”
Okorie is confident he can blend in with franchise player Cade Cunningham and take some of the pressure off him.
“I feel like alongside Cade I’ll just be another play-maker on the floor, another shot creator able to create for myself and others, and on the defensive end just bringing in intensity, using my quickness getting in passing lanes and getting a lot of deflections,” Okorie said.
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- The Bulls invested the No. 15 pick on wing Dailyn Swain, who averaged 17.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists per contest for Texas last season. The knock on Swain is his lack of a perimeter game. He made 34.4% of his threes last season but only attempted 2.6 per game. The Xavier transfer barely took any outside shots in his first two college seasons. New executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham is confident Swain will improve that part of his game, but he also isn’t concerned that his young core doesn’t feature several marksmen, according to Julie Poe of the Chicago Tribune. “A lot of people might ask, ‘Where is the shooting at?’” Graham said. “I’m not worried about that right now. There’s a certain mentality and a certain profile and a way that Coach Tiago (Splitter) and myself want to play. We felt like today was a good layer for that.”
- Bucks general manager Jon Horst can’t discuss the agreed-upon Giannis Antetokounmpo trade with Miami but feels he found two building blocks in the lottery — guard Brayden Burries at No. 10 and forward Nate Ament at No. 13. “We’re building,” Horst said. “These guys are important to it. We’re just really excited to continue to build and add on piece and piece and create an identity, a style of play, a roster full of character and versatility and size. Got a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s a good start.” Horst called Burries, who lifted Arizona to the Final Four, a “winner,” Jamal Collier of ESPN writes. “We think (he’s) one of the best two-way guards in the draft,” Horst said. Ament was selected with one of the picks the Heat are sending to the Bucks. “We were clear. If we had the chance to take Nate with that pick, that’s what we were going to do,” Horst said. “To acquire those draft rights, that was an unbelievable opportunity for us.”
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo played with the Bucks for six of the last seven seasons. As an unrestricted free agent, he’ll be free to join his brother in Miami, Gabriela Hartlaub of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel points out. Thanasis appeared in 34 games last season, averaging 4.4 minutes and 1.4 points per game.
