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Minnesota Timberwolves: How Josh Okogie can be the best rookie next season

By Keith Rivas

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - FEBRUARY 21: Devon Hall #0 of the Virginia Cavaliers and Josh Okogie #5 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets reach for a loose ball in the first half during a game at John Paul Jones Arena on February 21, 2018 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - FEBRUARY 21: Devon Hall #0 of the Virginia Cavaliers and Josh Okogie #5 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets reach for a loose ball in the first half during a game at John Paul Jones Arena on February 21, 2018 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /
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MIAMI, FL – OCTOBER 30: Jimmy Butler (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL – OCTOBER 30: Jimmy Butler (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

Give Jimmy Butler a tremendous scoring cushion

Right out of the gate, it’s obviously not fair to expect Okogie to score 17 points per game in his rookie season and say that it’ll happen as a matter of fact. Hype doesn’t help these kind of situations. What’s much more realistic is to think that, in the best case scenario, he can crack double digits and average out about 10 points per game.

That might feel like a high number to folks, but Lonzo Ball was able to do so in his first season with the Los Angeles Lakers and scoring isn’t even his primary skill set. Donovan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz is another example of a rookie who can exceed expectations but in a much different environment, and he willed his way to a tremendous rookie campaign behind a 20 points per game average and nearly landed the Rookie of the Year despite being selected outside of the top ten last summer.

Now let’s focus on what that could mean for Okogie in Minnesota and what being an x-factor in the scoring department would mean for Jimmy Butler.

Since you can’t fix the unhappiness issues that Wiggins and Towns both seem to be dealing with overnight, something that you can fix in a draft night is picking up reliable scoring from a lesser scoring option.

The frustration with Wiggins seemed to be centered around not being the top scoring option for the Timberwolves behind Butler and Towns, while the problem with Towns wasn’t revealed in much detail, just that it was internal isssue, per Bleacher Report. Should Okogie emerge as a scoring threat the Wolves can depend on, he will thrive in my opinion if Jimmy Butler is continually allowed to be the team alpha.

Minnesota had six players that averaged double figures last season, and that list included Jimmy Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Jeff Teague, Taj Gibson, and Jamal Crawford. Butler played only 59 games during the regular season but still led the team in scoring with over 22 points per game and Towns not far behind him with 21.

Adding a rookie who can put up at least 10 points per game when needed would be an incredible benefactor that the Wolves can use to try and claw their way through the Western Conference.

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