The Okafor obsession is a poor reflection on this board, IMO.
What's the upside of the player? Al Jefferson? How's that worked for the Wolves / Jazz / Bobcats? I just don't follow the excitement for how he will drag this franchise down.
If nothing else, I'll just keep coming back to this...
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/page/2/sort/RPM/position/9
OKAFOR: His biggest strength is also his biggest weakness
With time Okafor can drastically improve his game. With all the info we have bc of the internet I am very excited to see him wear GREEN hopefully, and in our organization I believe he would flourish.
2 most important things Okafor needs to work on, and will get much better with time, are:
1) his jumper: In order to balance and ultimately take the most advantage of his post-game he needs to take WAYYYY more fga from 10-15ft and then 15-19ft. This will only make his post game that more dangerous and open things up for his teammates.
2) Sculpting his body: 280lbs solid is pretty dam impressive for anyone let alone a teen. He needs to get his body in shape and get quicker (laterally as well), more conditioned, and even stronger. We all know if he was wearing GREEN we would want him to defensively get better at: rotating on d, running the floor, defending both the 4 and 5 and be able to defend stretch 4's, block more shots, rebound more, defend the paint.
He will eventually get that "grown man strength"
He was only a rookie and schooled vet's on the block. Did you know that his fg% was largely affected by his shot getting blocked in the paint. It makes sense bc although he has good form and an improving shot, he seldomely took a jumper outside of 8ft. This made defenses pack the paint and dare him to either shoot or take it in the paint....99% of the time be took it in the paint and still scored, even off the dribble.
Basically -- you want a different guy. A guy who can play on the perimeter. A guy who's nimble -- who has lateral movement. A guy who's competent on defense. Somebody else.
TP x 10.
I can tell you right now that Okafor will NEVER be able to guard the guys like Crowder that play the 4 now in this league. Just not gonna happen. He'll never be an above average rebounder, because he's not very good at boxing out and he's not athletic enough to sky over people for boards. He's never gonna be able to guard guys on the perimeter without being burned, and he's never going to become an elite passer, a necessary skill for someone who's only way of scoring is around the paint.
That doesn't mean he can't be a good player in this league, he can. Big Al has been a good player in this league for years. But is he the kind of guy you trade some of your best assets for and build your team around? No. Not even close. Not if you wanna win championships at least.
Ask yourself this: Is it worth taking the ball out of IT's hands to have Okafor take on double teams in the post? Is it worth doing that if it costs you the 3rd pick in the draft?
Where were you when we were posting about Ingram or Turner or Towns. This Okafor thing has been going on for years and everything you just mentioned is what some of us were posting about years ago.
Your judging him on his sole year in the league after playing 1 season in college.
But he has more room to grow than you care to admit. Regardless he is undervalued.
He is a one dimensional offensive player, he cannot rebound, he cannot defend, advanced stats rank him as the worst player in the league at his position, and he's already raising character concerns.
He certainly is NOT undervalued.
Does he have potential to improve from the player he is now? Of course he does. But I'm quite strongly concerned about a the quantity (and extent) of his flaws. To reach the potential people initially expected of him he'd have improve his game significantly in every single area besides post scoring - that's a lot to ask of anybody, and I'm not sure it's a hurdle he's capable of leaping.
In addition to that, when I look at Okafor's conditioning, attitude and apparent work ethic it reminds me WAY too much of Jared Sullinger and perhaps a little Vin Baker - that scares me more then just a little bit.
I know it's a gamble, but I honestly think I'd rather take a chance with the #3 pick on a low risk prospect like Hield, Dunn or Poeltl. Ellenson even - he's not athletic either by any means, but at least he is a quality rebounder and can step out and hit the three - something like Kevin Love type.