I have been very vocal regarding my extremely strong *ahem* dislike (ahem* for Jahlil Okafor.
I can't say I hate the guy - it's a strong word. If there was a level of dislike that is just one step below hate, then that's how I feel about Okafor as a player.
HOWEVER
Outside of Horford, we currently have the following bigs guaranteed for next year:
1) Kelly Olynyk (career average of 5.1 fouls Per-36 Minutes
2) Jordan Mickey (57 minutes of NBA experience)
3) Ben Bentil (zero NBA experience)
4) Guerschon Yabusele (zero NBA experience)
5) Ante Zizic (zero NBA experience)
We also have the following who have team options and can become guaranteed:
1) Amir Johnson (struggled to average 22 MPG last year while battling Plantar Fasciitis issues)
2) Jonas Jerebko (6 year pro who has averaged 19 MPG for his career)
We have lost Evan Turner. We will probably lose Jared Sullinger. Those guys averaged some 45-50 minutes between them and were important producers for us all season long.
If we are aiming to improving on a season where we finished tied for the third best record in the East, then we are going to have to find somebody (better then the 7 bigs I just listed) to start alongside Horford in the frontcourt.
Horford is a nice player, yes. I'd even go so far as to say he is a very nice player. He's pretty close to being a star, though I won't go as far as to label him one. He's a good player though who does many things well. But he's not a superstar. He's not a Kevin Durant, or Dwight Howard in his prime, or Anthony Davis, or Demarcus Cousins. He's not a guy who you can just throw the ball to and allow him to take over the game. He's not a guy who you can start any scrub next to, because he's so dominant it doesn't matter who is in next to him - he's not that guy.
If we want to be better then we were last year, then we need to find a legitimate starting caliber big man to start for us. The great thing is that Horford is very versatile and can play either frontcourt position, and this affords us a great deal of flexibility in choosing somebody to put alongside him.
We could get Noel as a rebounder and defensive stopper, because Horford can stretch the floor with his shooting and can score, which offsets Noel's offensive weaknesses.
We could get Okafor as an extra scoring threat up front, because Horford will get most of his point from the perimeter, so there is plenty of room for an old school post up scorer to work...and Horford can handle the more complex/mobile defensive assignments so that's not a huge deal either.
Horford isn't an elite defender, he's not an elite scorer and he's not an elite rebounder. He's solid-to-good at all three, but elite at none of them. We could use help in either of those three areas, so there is room here for a guy like Noel and there is room here for a guy like Okafor.
At this point I don't honestly even care who we get - as long as we get somebody better then the guys we have on the roster right now, because I don't see a single guy on this team (beyond Horford) who I am confident to have as my starting big man moving forward. Not one.
Okafor can give us scoring (which we need), he is young, he is big, and he is on a cheap rookie contract that has even more value in this crazy market. Do I like him? No I do not. Would I take him? Absolutely.
Okafor is an overweight, out of condition bonehead who can't defend, can't shoot, and seems to have the basketball IQ of a squashed donut...but he's big, he's young, he's cheap, and he can score. He's better then any big on our roster not named "Horford" and that's enough to convince me to give him a shot.