Good read on the 2nd rd pick Alex Oriakhi

[sunsfan88]

Phoenix might be perfect fit for Oriakhi

First, Oriakhi, the 57th pick by the Phoenix Suns in Thursday’s draft. The Suns are undergoing a major rebuilding effort in the desert. A new coach in Jeff Hornacek. A new general manager in Ryan McDonough. They drafted Maryland 7-footer Alex Len to be the new centerpiece to their frontcourt. The Suns even have new logos.


In Oriakhi, they have a 6-9 rebounder who adds some muscle in the paint and a soft shooting touch. McDonough, who came to the Suns from the Celtics front office, was familiar with Oriakhi, a native of Lowell, Mass., who played three seasons at Connecticut.


“I've watched Alex over the course of his career, he's a Boston guy," McDonough told reporters Thursday. "So, I've seen him play since high school. Watched him a lot at UConn, you know when I was with the Celtics that was a local team for us. I was at a bunch of their games. And once saw him play this last year at Missouri.


"Alex was a key part of the UConn team that won the national championship (in 2011). He's got good size and strength. He's a good rebounder. He plays hard, and he's a good kid."


Here are the players the Suns have under contract for 2013-14


Name, position, age, (HT, WT)


Marcin Gortat, C, 29 (6-11, 240)
Hamed Haddadi, C, 28 (7-2, 265)
Channing Frye, PF, 30 (6-11, 245)
Marcus Morris, PF, 23 (6-9, 235)
Markieff Morris, PF, 23 (6-10, 245)
Luis Scola, PF, 33 (6-9, 245)
Michael Beasley, SF, 24 (6-10, 235)
P.J. Tucker, SG, 28 (6-6, 224)
Jared Dudley, SG, 27 (6-7, 225)
Malcolm Lee, SG, 23 (6-5, 200)
Goran Dragic, PG, 27 (6-3, 190)
Kendall Marshall, PG, 21 (6-4, 195)
Shannon Brown, PG, 27 (6-4, 210)


The Suns also acquired the rights to Kentucky 6-5 guard Archie Goodwin in Thursday’s draft, in addition to Len, the 20-year-old lottery pick from the Ukraine.


Former All-Star center Jermaine O’Neal, 34, played with the Suns last season but is an unrestricted free agent, as is 6-7 small forward Wesley Johnson, a first-round pick by Minnesota out of Syracuse in 2010.
By some measures, Phoenix might be the perfect team for Oriakhi. Why? The Suns arguably had the league’s worst power forwards last season.


Looking further at the Suns’ frontcourt at the website 82games.com, power forward was the team's worst position last year for net production, mostly for defensive reasons. The Suns’ power forwards posted a 14.1 Player Efficiency Rating for the season. (Don't be scared by the PER stat, a creation of former ESPN analytics guru John Hollinger.) But their opposing power forwards posted a 19.1 PER, giving the Suns’ PFs a net PER of minus-5. Across the entire NBA, only the Charlotte Bobcats’ power forwards had a worse net PER.


Here are the Suns’ power forward rankings for some other stats among the 30 NBA teams, as measured by 82games.com:


Field goal percentage: 29
Offensive rebounds: 25
Turnover-assist ratio: 25
Points allowed: 29
Defensive field-goal percentage: 30
Offensive rebounds allowed: 26


Translation: The Suns need some major upgrades at power forward.
Among the Suns’ under-contract frontcourt players, Scola started the most games last year (67), followed by Gortat (61). Markieff Morris (32 starts) and Marcus Morris (23) were also regulars in the rotation and occasional starters.


Scola was the Suns’ leading scorer in the frontcourt, averaging 12.8 points per game, while Gortat (11.1) and Beasley (10.1) both averaged double figures. Gortat was the top rebounder, averaging 8.5 per game. Using the Player Efficiency Rating, Scola (16.8) had the best score among the under-contract big men, followed by Gortat (15.5), Markieff Morris (12.7) and Marcus Morris (11.3).


The Suns expect to get Frye back healthy next season — he missed the entire season after being diagnosed with a virus caused by an enlarged heart — but he’s more of a 3-point shooting big man, not a low-post banger.


Here’s where Oriakhi can find his niche with the Suns: They’ve been among the bottom half of the league’s rebounding teams by most measures. The Suns were minus-143 in rebound differential last season, which ranked 23rd in the league. They’ve been ranked 23rd or lower in that category each of the last three years.


It’s impossible to know what the Suns will do in free agency or in the trade market, but assuming they don’t resign O’Neal, Oriakhi will be competing for playing time with Len, Scola, Gortat, Frye, the Morris twins, Beasley and possibly Haddadi, a 7-2 Iranian who came off the bench 17 times for the Suns last season.


http://www.stltoday.com/sports/coll...cle_cb2f9bf8-b229-59ae-8897-0426690a447f.html

Wow I had no idea the Suns had the worst PFs in the league last year after the Bobcats. Hope this kid Oriakhi can come in and be bruiser inside. I can see him being a better version of Lou and I'm happy with that in the 2nd round.

What do you guys know/think about Oriakhi?

 

[Mainstreet]

It's more what I think of the Morris twins (not impressed), I do not think Frye will risk coming back (this is my hope for him) and Scola will be traded as may Gortat. So Mr. Oriakhi, at least you have an invitation to a party.

 

[carey]

Wow I had no idea the Suns had the worst PFs in the league last year after the Bobcats. Hope this kid Oriakhi can come in and be bruiser inside. I can see him being a better version of Lou and I'm happy with that in the 2nd round.

What do you guys know/think about Oriakhi?

I like it. He was described as a high motor player that had a great rebounding rate in college. Exactly what we need because basically all our big men run cool.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'm a sucker for these kind of picks. Great motor, great wingspan.

Steve

 

[Mainstreet]

The last ranking I could find for Oriakhi at Draft Express had him rated from #96 to #100 of the top 100 players. Just saying.

Although the Suns probably wouldn't have drafted him, one of my favorites, PG Peyton Siva, went #56 right before the Suns final pick. I definitely think Siva will have an NBA career. Someone just wanted to ruin my day.

 

[binkar]

I'm a sucker for these kind of picks. Great motor, great wingspan.

Steve

Haha me too. I remember being excited about Dwayne Collins in the 2010 draft. He had a freakish wingspan and was supposably a high motor guy.

Let's hope we get a little more from Oriakhi than we did from Collins.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Haha me too. I remember being excited about Dwayne Collins in the 2010 draft. He had a freakish wingspan and was supposably a high motor guy.

Let's hope we get a little more from Oriakhi than we did from Collins.

Yeah I bought into him too, had him penciled in as Amare's replacement.

Steve

 

[sunsfan88]

Where is Collins btw? I remember that was the year we didn't have any 1st round picks so we took him and Gani Lawal in the 2nd round.

Steve Kerr's last two selections as GM of the Suns and he made sure to miss on both picks just like he had done during his entire tenure in PHX.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I am wondering if Horny is considering playing Gortat at the 4. We are just logjammed with mediocrity at the 4. Marcus has an opportunity to break in as a 3 if he is up to it.

We are going to have to find a quick easy way to differentiate between those two names. Keef and Cuss maybe.

 

[sunsfan88]

I am wondering if Horny is considering playing Gortat at the 4. We are just logjammed with mediocrity at the 4. Marcus has an opportunity to break in as a 3 if he is up to it.

We are going to have to find a quick easy way to differentiate between those two names. Keef and Cuss maybe.

I don't expect Scola to be here when season starts and Frye nobody knows about.

Expect Morris and Oriakhi to share mins at the PF imo.

 

[carey]

Haha me too. I remember being excited about Dwayne Collins in the 2010 draft. He had a freakish wingspan and was supposably a high motor guy.

Let's hope we get a little more from Oriakhi than we did from Collins.

Funny, that was my immediate comparison as well.

Collins: 6' 7.5" w/ out shoes, 7' 4.5" wingspan, 236lbs.
A.O.: 6' 8" w/ out shoes, 7' 3.75" wingspan, 258lbs.

A little shorter wingspan but a much bigger load to handle with 20 more lbs.

 

[carey]

Where is Collins btw? I remember that was the year we didn't have any 1st round picks so we took him and Gani Lawal in the 2nd round.

Steve Kerr's last two selections as GM of the Suns and he made sure to miss on both picks just like he had done during his entire tenure in PHX.

Lawal was supposedly playing really well overseas and had some NBA interest last season. He played in the Italian league I think where he averaged 26 mpg, 14 ppg on 63% shooting and 8.5 rpg. I kind of half expect to see him in the league at some point.

 

[Superbone]

Am I the only one that gets hungry every time I read Oriakhi's name?

 

[Dalbrin]

I abhored the Len pick, and am neutral on the Goodwin pick, but actually like this one. Every team needs that tough rebounding presence whose talent lays in grabbing an offensive rebound or two, having six fouls to commit on someone going off, and laying a flagrant on someone getting too cocky.

Second round is the place to look for a guy like that, and I'm hoping the Suns got lucky here.

 

[Russ Smith]

I always liked him until Missouri played UCLA this year and he spit at Jordan Adams in the middle of the game.

The coach must have seen it because he pulled him out of the game and jumped all over him.

I can see getting mad in a game but I've never understood the spitting on an opponent thing.

 

[slinslin]

Oriakhi is a practice body

 

[AzStevenCal]

Oriakhi is a practice body

Probably. It doesn't hurt to hope for more though.

Steve

 

[Superbone]

I always liked him until Missouri played UCLA this year and he spit at Jordan Adams in the middle of the game.

The coach must have seen it because he pulled him out of the game and jumped all over him.

I can see getting mad in a game but I've never understood the spitting on an opponent thing.

Haven't you ever heard the phrase, "spitting mad"?

 

[Griffin]

So just for fun I looked up how many players there were drafted with the last 10 picks since 2003 whose names would be generally recognizable to NBA fans:

kyle krover (51)
aj price (52)
patty mills (55)
amir johnson (56)
ramon sessions (56)
marcin gortat (57)

That's out of a 100 picks.

Gortat obviously beat all kinds of odds to make it in the league. That does not happen often. More than half of players drafted 51-60 in the last six years have never even played a single NBA game.

And this was not a deep draft.

 

[AzStevenCal]

So just for fun I looked up how many players there were drafted with the last 10 picks since 2003 whose names I actually recognized:

kyle krover (51)
aj price (52)
patty mills (55)
amir johnson (56)
ramon sessions (56)
marcin gortat (57)

That's out of a 100 picks.

Gortat obviously beat all kinds of odds to make it in the league. That does not happen often. More than half of players drafted 51-60 in the last six years have never even played a single NBA game.

And this was not a deep draft.

I'm not so sure about that. It appeared to be lacking at the top but I don't see any problem with the depth. I saw a lot of good players go in the 2nd round.

Steve

 

[Phrazbit]

Yeah, I agree. There was good value in the middle picks of this draft, its weakness was in top end talent.

Also, those late 2nd round picks are kind of shots in the dark no matter what the draft year.

 

[sunsfan88]

If he can be as good as Lou, then I'll be very happy.