The Detroit Pistons identified Ebuka Okorie as one of their top targets and then made aggressive moves to get him, trading three second-round picks to move up four spots and outflank the Raptors.
It wasn’t a direct route, but the Pistons eventually got their Jaden Ivey replacement with the twitchy Okorie, who was one of the best scorers and self-creators in the country last season.
The Pistons needed more of this profile, as they lack ball handlers, a problem that became more pronounced in the playoffs. Okorie is a guy who takes care of the ball and can get to the rim (and line) at a high clip.
But his selection does put into question the future of Daniss Jenkins and Marcus Sasser, two other small guards whose spot in the rotation is no longer a sure thing.
Ebuka Okorie might supplant Jenkins and Sasser right away
My only reservation about Okorie was that he’s a small-ish guard and the Pistons already have two of them in Jenkins and Sasser.
But let’s not get it twisted, Okorie comes into the NBA as the far more prolific scorer, averaging nearly double the points per game as a freshman as either Jenkins or Sasser did as seniors.
I’ve seen a lot of Pistons fans saying, “we already had Jenkins and Sasser!” Neither Jenkins, nor Sasser moved like Okorie coming out of college, and both were guys who had spent 4-5 years there before entering the NBA.
That doesn’t mean a teenager is going to step in and take a spot right away, but the Pistons didn’t move up in the draft to select a guy they didn’t think was going to play next season.
Given Okorie’s ability to take care of the ball and create his own shot, he might be the backup point guard right now and will challenge for a starting role at some point depending on what else the Pistons do this offseason.
Sasser is only under contract for one more season, and we could see him moved in a deal this summer, as he will likely be pushed off the depth chart altogether with the addition of Okorie.
Jenkins is the real question mark, as he only has a team option left on his deal. The Pistons have until the end of the month to exercise it, or Jenkins becomes a free agent.
The Pistons don’t want to just swap one ball handler for another, and need more ball handling overall, but it’s hard to see how both Okorie and Jenkins get minutes next season unless one of them is in the starting five.
It would be difficult to play Jenkins and Okorie at the same time given their size, so this draft pick could cause some additional roster churn. Okorie may not supplant Jenkins right away but his addition almost certainly means the end of the Marcus Sasser era in Detroit.
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