Role play. I'm Colangelo, make me an offer for Okafor

[RAAAAAAAANDY]

No interest in J.Okafor with Al Horford here.

We already have a better center in Horford.

I would be willing to move Horford to PF but only alongside a center who can play both inside and outside. J.Okafor can only play inside so I do not consider him a good fit next to Horford.

Okafor has an excellent mid-range game.  Very strong shooting percentage as a rookie.  Doesn't have three point range, but this notion that Okafor can't shoot is just nonsense.

Okafor shot 35% on jump-shots from 10-16 feet. 27% from 17-23 feet.

An overall shooting percentage of 32.6% outside of 10 feet.

Okafor made 563 field goals inside 10 feet.
Okafor made only 61 shots outside of 10 feet.
So 90% of his made shot attempts came inside of 10 feet.

That is not an inside & outside player. That is an interior player.

FWIW as a guy who watched him more last year than anybody else here, he's a much better shooter than that. The problem was largely twofold:

1. When he gets tired, which happens a lotb ecause he needs to improve conditioning, he settles for awful contested midrange shots.

2. The offense last year frequently involved aimless dribbling followed by dumping him the ball with 6 seconds left on the shot clock. Result? Contested long two.

I'd be shocked if he's not a high 40s mid range guy for his career. His defensive issues? No such mitigations, he's just really really bad.

[tazzmaniac]

Russell from LA for Okafor and Laker pick back would be my play if I'm 76ers.

Lakers flip their returned pick, Ingram and Randle to OKC for Westbrook.

If I'm the Sixers, I might do that trade for Ingram.  For Russell, I wouldn't give up much more than Okafor. 

The Lakers should just wait until next year's free agency to get Westbrook.  They should trade their young talent for Cousins. 

[colincb]

No interest in J.Okafor with Al Horford here.

We already have a better center in Horford.

I would be willing to move Horford to PF but only alongside a center who can play both inside and outside. J.Okafor can only play inside so I do not consider him a good fit next to Horford.

Okafor has an excellent mid-range game.  Very strong shooting percentage as a rookie.  Doesn't have three point range, but this notion that Okafor can't shoot is just nonsense.

Okafor shot 35% on jump-shots from 10-16 feet. 27% from 17-23 feet.

An overall shooting percentage of 32.6% outside of 10 feet.

Okafor made 563 field goals inside 10 feet.
Okafor made only 61 shots outside of 10 feet.
So 90% of his made shot attempts came inside of 10 feet.

That is not an inside & outside player. That is an interior player.

FWIW as a guy who watched him more last year than anybody else here, he's a much better shooter than that. The problem was largely twofold:

1. When he gets tired, which happens a lotb ecause he needs to improve conditioning, he settles for awful contested midrange shots.

2. The offense last year frequently involved aimless dribbling followed by dumping him the ball with 6 seconds left on the shot clock. Result? Contested long two.

I'd be shocked if he's not a high 40s mid range guy for his career. His defensive issues? No such mitigations, he's just really really bad.

Prepared to be shocked. Neither Curry, Durant, Paul, Reddick, or Korver have high 40s shooting percentages in the 10-23 foot zone. If you're in the mid 40s you're elite. That's why the 3 point shot has become so prevalent, because a 30 3FG% is equivalent to a 45% 2FG%.

I expect Okafor to improve his offense, but his offensive inefficiency last season was surprisingly bad and his defense was abysmal. I see nothing to suggest that he'll be any better than Al Jefferson long-term.

[RAAAAAAAANDY]

No interest in J.Okafor with Al Horford here.

We already have a better center in Horford.

I would be willing to move Horford to PF but only alongside a center who can play both inside and outside. J.Okafor can only play inside so I do not consider him a good fit next to Horford.

Okafor has an excellent mid-range game.  Very strong shooting percentage as a rookie.  Doesn't have three point range, but this notion that Okafor can't shoot is just nonsense.

Okafor shot 35% on jump-shots from 10-16 feet. 27% from 17-23 feet.

An overall shooting percentage of 32.6% outside of 10 feet.

Okafor made 563 field goals inside 10 feet.
Okafor made only 61 shots outside of 10 feet.
So 90% of his made shot attempts came inside of 10 feet.

That is not an inside & outside player. That is an interior player.

FWIW as a guy who watched him more last year than anybody else here, he's a much better shooter than that. The problem was largely twofold:

1. When he gets tired, which happens a lotb ecause he needs to improve conditioning, he settles for awful contested midrange shots.

2. The offense last year frequently involved aimless dribbling followed by dumping him the ball with 6 seconds left on the shot clock. Result? Contested long two.

I'd be shocked if he's not a high 40s mid range guy for his career. His defensive issues? No such mitigations, he's just really really bad.

Prepared to be shocked. Neither Curry, Durant, Paul, Reddick, or Korver have high 40s shooting percentages in the 10-23 foot zone. If you're in the mid 40s you're elite. That's why the 3 point shot has become so prevalent, because a 30 3FG% is equivalent to a 45% 2FG%.

I expect Okafor to improve his offense, but his offensive inefficiency last season was surprisingly bad and his defense was abysmal. I see nothing to suggest that he'll be any better than Al Jefferson long-term.

Fine mid 40s. He was efficient, his TS% was solid for his usage. I don't think he'll be the black hole he was in a more functional offense either. He was a good passer in college when his team had spacing, and his handle for a 6'11 is off the charts. I'm pretty confident he'll score a really efficient 20 ppg in his prime, his defense is the real issue. It's bad and I don't see a whole lot of room for improvement.

I think he's a better athlete than Big Al, and has a more versatile skill set.

[crimson_stallion]

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.

[crimson_stallion]

No interest in J.Okafor with Al Horford here.

We already have a better center in Horford.

I would be willing to move Horford to PF but only alongside a center who can play both inside and outside. J.Okafor can only play inside so I do not consider him a good fit next to Horford.

Okafor has an excellent mid-range game.  Very strong shooting percentage as a rookie.  Doesn't have three point range, but this notion that Okafor can't shoot is just nonsense.

Okafor shot 35% on jump-shots from 10-16 feet. 27% from 17-23 feet.

An overall shooting percentage of 32.6% outside of 10 feet.

Okafor made 563 field goals inside 10 feet.
Okafor made only 61 shots outside of 10 feet.
So 90% of his made shot attempts came inside of 10 feet.

That is not an inside & outside player. That is an interior player.

FWIW as a guy who watched him more last year than anybody else here, he's a much better shooter than that. The problem was largely twofold:

1. When he gets tired, which happens a lotb ecause he needs to improve conditioning, he settles for awful contested midrange shots.

2. The offense last year frequently involved aimless dribbling followed by dumping him the ball with 6 seconds left on the shot clock. Result? Contested long two.

I'd be shocked if he's not a high 40s mid range guy for his career. His defensive issues? No such mitigations, he's just really really bad.

Prepared to be shocked. Neither Curry, Durant, Paul, Reddick, or Korver have high 40s shooting percentages in the 10-23 foot zone. If you're in the mid 40s you're elite. That's why the 3 point shot has become so prevalent, because a 30 3FG% is equivalent to a 45% 2FG%.

I expect Okafor to improve his offense, but his offensive inefficiency last season was surprisingly bad and his defense was abysmal. I see nothing to suggest that he'll be any better than Al Jefferson long-term.

Fine mid 40s. He was efficient, his TS% was solid for his usage. I don't think he'll be the black hole he was in a more functional offense either. He was a good passer in college when his team had spacing, and his handle for a 6'11 is off the charts. I'm pretty confident he'll score a really efficient 20 ppg in his prime, his defense is the real issue. It's bad and I don't see a whole lot of room for improvement.

I think he's a better athlete than Big Al, and has a more versatile skill set.

I must respectfully disagree. 

I think Jefferson was a significantly better athlete in his first couple of years then Okafor is now. 

I think he was also a far more talented and skilled player.

Jefferson was very good rebounder as a youngster, and he was actually a respectable defensive player.  Not good, but respectable.  He was a decent passer, and he was a monster getting to the line.

As a post scorer, he was at least as good as Okafor, but he was better at just about everything else - much less of a liablity in other areas.

Maybe Okafor can improve on some of those things - I don't like the chances, but I'm willing to take a gamble if the cost is reasonable (which it seems to be).  But more athletic and more skilled then Jefferson?  Umm...no.

[Celtic_Pride777]

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.

Okay, so how much are you willing to give up for him?

TP 

[Who]

No interest in J.Okafor with Al Horford here.

We already have a better center in Horford.

I would be willing to move Horford to PF but only alongside a center who can play both inside and outside. J.Okafor can only play inside so I do not consider him a good fit next to Horford.

Okafor has an excellent mid-range game.  Very strong shooting percentage as a rookie.  Doesn't have three point range, but this notion that Okafor can't shoot is just nonsense.

Okafor shot 35% on jump-shots from 10-16 feet. 27% from 17-23 feet.

An overall shooting percentage of 32.6% outside of 10 feet.

Okafor made 563 field goals inside 10 feet.
Okafor made only 61 shots outside of 10 feet.
So 90% of his made shot attempts came inside of 10 feet.

That is not an inside & outside player. That is an interior player.

FWIW as a guy who watched him more last year than anybody else here, he's a much better shooter than that. The problem was largely twofold:

1. When he gets tired, which happens a lotb ecause he needs to improve conditioning, he settles for awful contested midrange shots.

2. The offense last year frequently involved aimless dribbling followed by dumping him the ball with 6 seconds left on the shot clock. Result? Contested long two.

I'd be shocked if he's not a high 40s mid range guy for his career. His defensive issues? No such mitigations, he's just really really bad.

I expect J.Okafor to become a good midrange shooter in time too.

I just do not think he is one now and I think it will take a few years for that to change.

Al Horford does not have a few years to wait for J.Okafor to develop.

[Moranis]

No interest in J.Okafor with Al Horford here.

We already have a better center in Horford.

I would be willing to move Horford to PF but only alongside a center who can play both inside and outside. J.Okafor can only play inside so I do not consider him a good fit next to Horford.

Okafor has an excellent mid-range game.  Very strong shooting percentage as a rookie.  Doesn't have three point range, but this notion that Okafor can't shoot is just nonsense.

Okafor shot 35% on jump-shots from 10-16 feet. 27% from 17-23 feet.

An overall shooting percentage of 32.6% outside of 10 feet.

Okafor made 563 field goals inside 10 feet.
Okafor made only 61 shots outside of 10 feet.
So 90% of his made shot attempts came inside of 10 feet.

That is not an inside & outside player. That is an interior player.

FWIW as a guy who watched him more last year than anybody else here, he's a much better shooter than that. The problem was largely twofold:

1. When he gets tired, which happens a lotb ecause he needs to improve conditioning, he settles for awful contested midrange shots.

2. The offense last year frequently involved aimless dribbling followed by dumping him the ball with 6 seconds left on the shot clock. Result? Contested long two.

I'd be shocked if he's not a high 40s mid range guy for his career. His defensive issues? No such mitigations, he's just really really bad.

Prepared to be shocked. Neither Curry, Durant, Paul, Reddick, or Korver have high 40s shooting percentages in the 10-23 foot zone. If you're in the mid 40s you're elite. That's why the 3 point shot has become so prevalent, because a 30 3FG% is equivalent to a 45% 2FG%.

I expect Okafor to improve his offense, but his offensive inefficiency last season was surprisingly bad and his defense was abysmal. I see nothing to suggest that he'll be any better than Al Jefferson long-term.

Fine mid 40s. He was efficient, his TS% was solid for his usage. I don't think he'll be the black hole he was in a more functional offense either. He was a good passer in college when his team had spacing, and his handle for a 6'11 is off the charts. I'm pretty confident he'll score a really efficient 20 ppg in his prime, his defense is the real issue. It's bad and I don't see a whole lot of room for improvement.

I think he's a better athlete than Big Al, and has a more versatile skill set.

I must respectfully disagree. 

I think Jefferson was a significantly better athlete in his first couple of years then Okafor is now. 

I think he was also a far more talented and skilled player.

Jefferson was very good rebounder as a youngster, and he was actually a respectable defensive player.  Not good, but respectable.  He was a decent passer, and he was a monster getting to the line.

As a post scorer, he was at least as good as Okafor, but he was better at just about everything else - much less of a liablity in other areas.

Maybe Okafor can improve on some of those things - I don't like the chances, but I'm willing to take a gamble if the cost is reasonable (which it seems to be).  But more athletic and more skilled then Jefferson?  Umm...no.

Except most of that just isn't statistically true.  Okafor's AS% on one of the worst teams in NBA history was 8.2%.  Jefferson didn't eclipse that until his 5th year.  Okafor had a FTr of .248, Jefferson's career mark is .232, early on Jefferson was higher, but he also wasn't taking the same amount of FGA.  By the time he started shooting as much as Okafor his FTr was in the same general range as Okafor was as a rookie though Jefferson was a seasoned veteran by then.  Okafor was certainly a poor defender, but you clearly misremember how bad Jefferson's defense was, especially early on.  Jefferson was every bit as bad defensively as Okafor was.  Jefferson was a better rebounder.  No dispute there.  Jefferson was a fouling machine early on, Okafor was not. 

Okafor was put into a bad situation, forced to play huge minutes as his teams #1 option as a 19 year old rookie, and performed quite well.  He has an excellent shooting touch and a very strong mid-range percentage and foul shot percentage, showing off that excellent touch.  You put him on a team where he isn't forced to be the #1 option and his efficiency will sky rocket.  He absolutely can be an elite level mid range shooter as he is already better than Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, Sullinger, Jerekbo among others. 

[Moranis]

No interest in J.Okafor with Al Horford here.

We already have a better center in Horford.

I would be willing to move Horford to PF but only alongside a center who can play both inside and outside. J.Okafor can only play inside so I do not consider him a good fit next to Horford.

Okafor has an excellent mid-range game.  Very strong shooting percentage as a rookie.  Doesn't have three point range, but this notion that Okafor can't shoot is just nonsense.

Okafor shot 35% on jump-shots from 10-16 feet. 27% from 17-23 feet.

An overall shooting percentage of 32.6% outside of 10 feet.

Okafor made 563 field goals inside 10 feet.
Okafor made only 61 shots outside of 10 feet.
So 90% of his made shot attempts came inside of 10 feet.

That is not an inside & outside player. That is an interior player.

FWIW as a guy who watched him more last year than anybody else here, he's a much better shooter than that. The problem was largely twofold:

1. When he gets tired, which happens a lotb ecause he needs to improve conditioning, he settles for awful contested midrange shots.

2. The offense last year frequently involved aimless dribbling followed by dumping him the ball with 6 seconds left on the shot clock. Result? Contested long two.

I'd be shocked if he's not a high 40s mid range guy for his career. His defensive issues? No such mitigations, he's just really really bad.

I expect J.Okafor to become a good midrange shooter in time too.

I just do not think he is one now and I think it will take a few years for that to change.

He is better than Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, Sullinger, Jerekbo already.  35% from 10 to 16 feet is a very good percentage. 

[Who]

No interest in J.Okafor with Al Horford here.

We already have a better center in Horford.

I would be willing to move Horford to PF but only alongside a center who can play both inside and outside. J.Okafor can only play inside so I do not consider him a good fit next to Horford.

Okafor has an excellent mid-range game.  Very strong shooting percentage as a rookie.  Doesn't have three point range, but this notion that Okafor can't shoot is just nonsense.

Okafor shot 35% on jump-shots from 10-16 feet. 27% from 17-23 feet.

An overall shooting percentage of 32.6% outside of 10 feet.

Okafor made 563 field goals inside 10 feet.
Okafor made only 61 shots outside of 10 feet.
So 90% of his made shot attempts came inside of 10 feet.

That is not an inside & outside player. That is an interior player.

FWIW as a guy who watched him more last year than anybody else here, he's a much better shooter than that. The problem was largely twofold:

1. When he gets tired, which happens a lotb ecause he needs to improve conditioning, he settles for awful contested midrange shots.

2. The offense last year frequently involved aimless dribbling followed by dumping him the ball with 6 seconds left on the shot clock. Result? Contested long two.

I'd be shocked if he's not a high 40s mid range guy for his career. His defensive issues? No such mitigations, he's just really really bad.

I expect J.Okafor to become a good midrange shooter in time too.

I just do not think he is one now and I think it will take a few years for that to change.

He is better than Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, Sullinger, Jerekbo already.  35% from 10 to 16 feet is a very good percentage.

None of those guys are good midrange scorers. They shoot 3s or at the rim.

Sully is the only one who has shown some talent as a scorer in the midrange area but he never developed it further which is a shame. Stevens was more interested in Sully becoming a 3 point shooter instead of maximizing his talent as a midrange scorer.

35% is not a good percentage.