Nashua's Ebuka Okorie talks at his post draft press conference after being selected by the Pistons with the 17th pick on Tuesday night. (YouTube photo)

He was on their radar for a long time.

The Detroit Pistons had known about Nashua’s Ebuka Okorie all winter, and if there was anything negative in their thinking, that was not evident when they took the former Stanford standout with the 17th pick in Tuesday’s NBA Draft.

“He’s a winner,” Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said in the early hours Wednesday. … “The other team knows he’s the guy and he’s still getting it done. He’s got some things you can’t teach.

“He’s going to be the best player he can be, and hopefully we can help him get there as quickly as possible.”

Langdon said that Okorie “just exploded onto the scene” at Stanford, and made Stanford have a better season in the ACC than expected. Langdon said he knew former Brewster Academy coach Jason Smith and that Okorie came as advertised. “A high character young man,” he said, “who loves the game of basketball. We think he’ll come in here and fit with this culture.”

There is one attribute Langdon kept repeating in his press conference, that separates Okorie from others:

Speed.

“Incredible speed with ball in hand,” he said, adding “What he did in a very good conference like the ACC hasn’t been done much.

“His ability to get in the paint, nonstop with speed, with pick and roll, without pick and roll – another guy with ball in hand who can push the pace with creation for our team.

I think he’s incredibly skilled on his finishes. Head is always up, he’s reading the floor …

I think anybody who can push pace … He’s going to fit here in terms of his competitive nature. …He can push the pace, and he can make things easier.”

Okorie makes it look easy, but nothing could be further from the truth, because he has worked incredibly hard to get to this point. And he takes the responsibility of being of Nigerian heritage seriously.

“This moment means a lot, the only reason I’m able to get here is by the grace of God,” Okorie said. “My faith as really big to me, my parents have instilled those values into me.

“Being able to inspire other people of Nigerian background that had the same upbringing as me, hopefully I can inspire them and show them that hard work pays off, to just chase your dreams.”

And that’s why he’s motivated. Okorie wasn’t heavily recruited at Brewster until Stanford arrived on the scene after he de-committed from Harvard. That lack of attention has ignited his passion.

“The story of my life is as me being overlooked, continuing to work hard, and hard work paying off, me outperforming expectaions,” he said. “I’m not expecting anything different to happen here. Going to Detroit, I’m going to put the work in, and once I get on the court, I’m going to let the work show.”

“He’s a high level competitor, and he plays bigger than he is,” Langon said. “He’s 6-2 but has a 6-8 wingspan. He really gets after it. Young, 18-19-years old, when his body can develop and get stronger.

He’s going to reach his potential, he’s going to reach his ceiling because that’s the young man that he is. … Highly highly competitive and a hard worker.”

Will Okorie be able to help the Pistons right away? Langdon wouldn’t go so far as to say that, because there are a lot of factors involved.

“Year One? We’ll see,” he said. “He’ll compete right? That’s going to be more to be more up to how he develops. I’ll tell you this, he’s going to bring everything every day,and lke I said I don’t know how long it’s going to take to reach his ceiling and reach his potential, but I have no doubt that he will.”