Minnesota Timberwolves: Okogie deserves expanded playing time

If he wasn’t known well enough already, Minnesota Timberwolves rookie Josh Okogie’s two highlight reel dunks versus the Kings have officially put the rookie on the map.

In Josh Okogie, the Minnesota Timberwolves have found an athletic high-flyer who plays above the rim.

A bit of a diamond in the rough at the No. 20 pick in June’s draft, the raw rookie guard entered the draft after two solid years at Georgia Tech where he was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team and a Third Team 2017-18 All-ACC selection as a sophomore.

Combined with Jimmy Butler‘s trade to Philadelphia and on-and-off injuries to Andrew Wiggins, Jeff Teague, and Derrick Rose, some minutes have opened up and when given the chance, Okogie has shown plenty of flashes of ability. As the Wolves make a push to climb in the playoff standings, Okogie needs to get more playing time.

His numbers (6.7 points, three rebounds, and one assist per game) are nothing special but he has only played sporadically during the first half of the season. He’s hardly found time to get into a groove on most nights. During the first month, Okogie averaged nearly 30 minutes a game and even made a few surprise starts, including a career night against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers when he dropped 17 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists.

Since November, however, his playing time has dropped from about 16 minutes per game) to 11 minutes per game in December, largely due to improved health across the board in the Wolves’ rotation.

As with many rookies, Okogie has had to make adjustments as the NBA game is vastly different from college when it comes to both skill and speed. The most obvious area in which he needs improvement is shooting from the outside, as he’s currently only averaging 39.4 percent shooting from the field and 29.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Okogie makes up some of those shortfalls with his athleticism and the ability to play above the rim. Over 62 percent of his made shots have come from within three feet of the rim, which is obviously a relatively high mark.

Then, of course, this happened on Monday night against the Sacramento Kings.

The Wolves are going to need someone outside of Karl-Anthony Towns and Derrick Rose to step-up if they want to make a push for the playoffs and that could load could fall on the rookie.

Andrew Wiggins has continued to be disengaged far too often since signing the max contract. Point guard Jeff Teague’s scoring numbers are also down this season, and if he continues to struggle and the Wolves slip in the standings, then he could become expendable.

To this point, Okogie has been getting minutes only when someone is out of the rotation due to injury. And the rookie has responded by continuing to work hard and develop more consistency on his shot and shooting from distance.

If this trend continues, we could be looking at a new staple in the Wolves rotation for the near future and beyond.