It wasn’t an ambitious selection for the Cleveland Cavaliers at #14 in the 2022 NBA Draft in going with Ochai Agbaji there.
Agbaji looks to have the makings of a terrific catch-and-shoot player on the perimeter for Cleveland, and over his time at Kansas, did progress in that area. He knocked down 40.7 percent from three-point range as a senior, and 37.7 percent of his three-point attempts as a junior, with the volume being 6.5 and 6.9 per game in those seasons.
With Agbaji, he is not a player that is likely to going to generate much of his own offense early on, though. That’s an area where in coming years, he does to have make further strides in his development.
But on the plus side, as we touched on, Agbaji is a player whose steadily improved his catch-and-shoot play, and that’s an area where he could help the Cavaliers in rotational minutes even early on. Agbaji is a player with a quick and high release point, and he showed in recent seasons with the Jayhawks that he can hit deep threes off-the-catch, and his catch-and-shoot play could very well translate for Cleveland, along with his impressive off-ball movement.
Agbaji is an intelligent off-ball player in the cutting sense, too, which could make a difference early on. He’s a vertical athlete as well, and defensively, he does do a nice job with his contests on perimeter players, and can make plays as a team defender with his instincts. A 6-foot-10 wingspan is notable on that end, also.
Nonetheless, as we alluded to, Agbaji is not a guy that’s likely going to regularly create for himself in his minutes, at least early, and creating for others is not a strength of his. Agbaji had an assist rate of 8.7 percent as a senior at Kansas, which was far from notable.
I do understand that in upcoming Cavaliers Summer League play in Las Vegas, Cleveland might want to see some playmaking work for Agbaji, to help make strides there. Here was more on that from Cavaliers Summer League head coach and assistant coach Mike Gerrity in recent media availability, via Evan Dammarell of Fear The Sword and Right Down Euclid.
#Cavs Summer League head coach Mike Gerrity wants to utilize Ochai Agbaji more as both a primary and secondary playmaker on offense for Cleveland during Las Vegas Summer League.
— Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) July 5, 2022
That is likely a stretch, though, quite frankly.
Potential playmaking from Agbaji in Summer League is probably wishful thinking from Gerrity/the Cavs, honestly.
I understand the rationale here with Gerrity’s comments above, via Dammarell. It’s Summer League play in Vegas, so it’s sensible to see if guys can have the potential to affect games in multiple ways on both ends, really.
I’m not going to grill Agbaji here in that sense, either. However, as a number of Cavs fans do probably remember from 2021 Summer League play, while there were flashes, Isaac Okoro seemingly had more playmaking opportunities, and there were good moments but several rocky ones throughout games.
Now, I’m not saying I’m not looking for Agbaji to help out the offensive ball movement, at least in the secondary sense after reacting from hard closeouts. Those plays he can feasibly make in stretches next season.
I just don’t want him initiating in pick-and-roll much, or for Cleveland to try to flow things through him a fair amount on the perimeter to generate stuff for others.
Conversely, I’d rather see guys such as Ashton Hagans, Amauri Hardy and two-way guy RJ Nembhard Jr., in this setting, be having ample opportunities to make plays for others for Cleveland, and at least generate some productive flow.
And realistically, as far as secondary playmaking goes, Nembhard himself, Cavs draft-and-stash pick Luke Travers and Isaiah Mobley, a fellow second-round pick (and later two-way signing), could be more reliable options. That’s when it comes to set offense.
Anyway, while I could be wrong, I’d honestly rather the Cavaliers prioritize Agbaji working on defense, and most importantly, focus on getting him quality catch-and-shoot looks. These sort of games in Vegas Summer League could be a nice way to get Agbaji in quality rhythm in game settings heading toward the rest of the offseason. Gerrity himself also highlighted Agbaji’s shooting, via Dammarell, too, as an aside.
We’ll have to see what plays out, though. But for a 22-year-old with a four-year collegiate career, him having 1.9 assists and then 1.6 assists the last two seasons didn’t lead to much optimism he’ll be a notable secondary playmaker for Cleveland. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong.
If he can give this Wine and Gold squad knockdown catch-and-shoot play, that’s not a big deal, anyhow.