Durant would make this a top 5 offense. Blake Griffin might be able to make it a top 5 offense. Cousins could if he played motivated. James Harden maybe.
But that's the caliber of offensive player you'd need to turn this team into a top 5 offense right away. Okafor is not that type of offensive player.
exactly. Okafor is a good offensive player and would certainly improve the offense, but no where near enough to make this team a top 5 offense overall.
Wrong. People he was 20 years old last year! He is absolutely 100℅ on pace to be better than Cousin's. I would much rather have him than Cousin's especially for the asking price.
That's crazy talk. Boogie is a top 15 player in the league while playing for the absolute worst franchise in the sport. Cousins does EVERYTHING better than Okafor (outside of maybe ISO post ups) and to compare the two is laughable. When engaged, Cousins is a legit two way player who's an absolute force on the court. If he's lucky, Okafor becomes a new age Al Jefferson. There will never come a day where Okafor is as impactful as Cousins is on the court. His defense, rebounding, versatility and shooting will never improve THAT dramatically. I'd rather give up Brown and another Brooklyn pick for Boogie than give up Smart, KO and whatever else for Okafor. If it all pans out, Boogie can be that transformational superstar that pushes you to contention. Okafor will never be that. Just not talented enough.
As to the original question, no. Okafor would not make this team a top 5 offense. And if he was on this team, the only possible way to play him is off the bench in a 6th man kinda role, where his horrible defense can be less evident and his offensive skills can actually be utilized. The problem with Okafor right now (besides the defense), is that in order to put him on the floor, your whole offense needs to be centered around utilizing his low post skills. Otherwise, he's a total black hole out there. Problem is, if you did that with this suggested line-up, your taking the ball out of IT's hands WAY too much, your taking too many possessions away from a Horford/Thomas P&R, and your giving a lot leas shots to the Bradley, Crowder's and Olynyk's of the world, all of which would result in a net negative to the offense. When you add in the fact that he can't guard basically any "stretch" bigs, or switch on defense AT ALL, or protect the rim, it becomes clear he's just not playable in the starting line up.
I get that Okafor has a really pretty post game. I get that he can get buckets when it seems like a lost possession. I get that he's a lot of people's binkie. But mark my words, Ainge wouldn't trade much of substance for him. As a said before the draft, there's no way he moves a top 5 pick for him, or even a guy like Smart and other stuff. He's just not good enough, and he never will be. Very limited ceiling. If all goes well, he'll have a nice long career like Big Al did. Pretty good player, but not one you trade a lot of assets for or build your offense around. And with Okafor, just like with Al, if you don't build your offense around him, he's going to hurt more than he helps.
We should probable let it go, cause Okafor isn't coming here any time soon.