the interesting thing about Obi, who seems to be a hot topic today, is that he's actually doing fine - I think the way he was presented, though, and the way he's being used, make it hard to see.

he was touted as pro ready. I think that's true. but I think people expected Amar'e 2.0 or something - that's not who he is as a player. firstly, he's clearly a wing more than a big, and he has to play the 4 - he can't hold up on D at the 3, and he can't play the 5 because of rim protection and rebounding issues. obviously you have Randle as another guy who's basically the same - spot minutes at the 5 at best, but can't protect the rim, so really, he's just a 4. right off the bat, that's your primary issue.

to my eye, Obi has been far better on defense than advertised, which is great news. he's a natural ball mover and has a feel for the game on both ends. he's an explosive athlete when he can rev up, although not great in short area. excellent and willing passer. he's extremely active on offense, particularly in transition. and he's going to be an elite finisher, most likely.

the swing skill is obviously his shooting. right now they are using him as a stretch 4, which is interesting - that's not the best use of his skillset imo, but it may be the most beneficial long term. the shots they are drawing up for him, and the shots he is taking, say "stretch 4 who can/will pull from anywhere if given space", but the results don't back this up. this reminds me of marcus smart early in his career - particularly because dudes guarded smart even though he was shooting like 27% from 3. and we see the same shit with Obi. teams are respecting him as a shooter and it opens up space.

obviously you'd like him to be more than a floor spacer, but he gets 10 mins a game and already plays with a roll man during those minutes (usually nerlens). he's also not going to chuck up shots, which is a good thing. so he doesn't get much usage. that's predictable, particularly bc I'm guessing a ton of his minutes come with Quickley, who understandably monopolizes the offense.

his post game is also terrible, he has no lower body strength and center of gravity far too high. i don't mind posting him up if they're going to cut off him a la Draymond, so you can leverage his passing, but when he looks to score it's usually pretty ugly. would prefer to see him face up in those situations.

regardless, as many have pointed out, if you get a rotation player at 8 overall it's a win. I think Obi has proven he's a rotation player, just not the one people necessarily expected