Suns Squared: Chuma Okeke

The Phoenix Suns might slide back in the first round of the draft. If they do, Auburn’s sophomore Chuma Okeke could be a target for a forward spot.

The Phoenix Suns need a power forward, and 6’8″ 230lbs Chuma Okeke has the perfect body size for a tweener power forward, but does he have the skill-set necessary to excel in the NBA?

Prior to injuring his ACL in the NCAA Tournament, Chuma served as a linchpin for Auburn both offensively and defensively.

Okeke displayed all the tools needed to be an effective player at the NBA level as a Wing/Forward hybrid. When you deep dive into his stats, you see more of what makes him such an intriguing prospect despite his injury.

He was a solid shooter in college and projects to have NBA range as a floor spacer. He made 38.8% of his 3s and 57% of his 2s, including finishing at a 70% rate on shots at the rim and posting a TS% of 59.0% which is a solid number.

Also, Okeke flashed a solid post game to attack mismatches if he gets a smaller man on him and passed the ball accurately, making the right reads even when pressured.

Okeke also hits the glass well especially offensively, posting an offensive rebound rate of 11%. He was also an opportune cutter with a good feel of when to cut and attack.

Defensively, Okeke has solid on-ball potential despite his tendency to not sit all the way down in a stance. However, he really shines off the ball and making impact plays. There isn’t a consistent stat to measure rotations and ability to get deflections but these are two things Okeke did extremely well in college.

He also brought impact plays posting a block rate of 5.5% and a steal rate of 3.7%, which is even more impressive considering that steal rate ranked 42nd in the country and Okeke played as a big or forward in Auburn’s system.

Okeke’s advanced numbers also show his solid hustle game. He posted a Box plus/minus off 13.4 with 6.7 numbers on both offense and defense.

His overall BPM number ranked second in the SEC this season. Okeke consistently made the hustle plays and wasn’t afraid to get on the floor.

There are still some issues he is not an elite athlete and the ACL injury could limit that further.

How he bounces back from the injury could determine his ceiling in the NBA. Also, his handle is a little loose and he needs to improve his footwork especially when attacking closeouts, he traveled more frequently than ideal on these plays.

All of this contributed to his turnover rate of 16.8%. Also, according to hoop-math.com, Okeke shot around 30% on 2 point shots, not around the rim.

Okeke will need to improve his intermediate in case teams run off the line at the NBA level.

Okeke provides a lot of the skills that are much needed in the NBA now and has the size and length to provide positional versatility on defense. His injury is worrisome and will keep him out for much of the year but much of the indicators paint Okeke as someone who will pay off for an in the long run as a floor-spacing, multi-positional, defender and hustling role player.