Brooklyn 2016 Pick + KO for Okafor

[celticsclay]

I am pretty sure Okafor's advanced stats are truly awful. It would not shock me if his first couple years in the league are the best stats he ever puts up.

[Birdistheword]

I don´t think Okafor is the kind of player you want in the modern NBA. I see his ceiling similar to what Love is now for the Cavs. Might become a really good offensive player, but with his nonexistent defense you might not be able to play him extended minutes in meaningful situations.
For me the Nets Pick an it´s potential needs to get the C´s a player that can play in every situation, not a better Al jefferson, around whom you´d have to build the whole team, to hide him on defense.

Kelly is better suited for the mordern NBA, geting comfortable in his role, and we can keep the Pick, so no thanks to that trade!

[Timdawgg]

Sorry, still can't pass up a chance on Simmons....Checked his stats on Yahoo and he leads his team on 5 of the 6 major categories and the only reason he is tops on fg% is one guy is 1 for 1 on the year...LOL

Points Scored

Ben Simmons
19.8 Pts
Keith Hornsby 13.2
Craig Victor II 12.8
Total Rebounds

Ben Simmons
12.7 Reb
Craig Victor II 6.6
Tim Quarterman 4.8
Assists

Ben Simmons
4.9 Ast
Tim Quarterman 3.6
Josh Gray 2.2
Steals

Ben Simmons
1.8 Stl
Craig Victor II 1.3
Jalyn Patterson 1.3
Blocked Shots

Ben Simmons
1.0 Blk
Craig Victor II 0.9
Brian Bridgewater 0.6
Field Goal Percentage

Henry Shortess
100.0 FG%
Ben Simmons 55.3

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/teams/lav/stats/

[wiley]

Alright, I'm not big on making "what if" polls. There's a first time for everything I suppose. Let's say Philly sees Noel as their guy. He and Okafor don't play well together. If Okafor has to go, do the Cs make a move to get him? Note that I'm not a proponent of this trade though I find it an interesting situation.

The Pros:
I know quite a few people tend to poo-poo him but without a doubt Okafor is a talent. You simply don't see many 20 year old (and he just turned 20) rookie big men averaging 17.5 ppg and 7.5 boards a game while exiled in Basketball Siberia. With some growth in his game he could be a dominating offensive force inside for many years. Even now he's basically as good as David Lee was in Lee's prime - and a better defender (which ain't saying much folks).

The Cons:
By trading that Brooklyn pick the Cs give up any chance of Simmons or Ingram. And yeah, Danny probably be kicking himself if that pick turned out to be #1. But there are no sure things in the draft - even Greg Oden busted - and that has to be considered. A bird in hand...

Of course, there's Okafor's immaturity. I think that is in part due to the environment in Philly but I'm not forgetting him getting into fights and generally acting like a brat.

And then there's the system fit. Okafor doesn't shoot 3 pointers and he really doesn't have a shot outside of 10 feet. Thus he doesn't have that stretch component that Stevens likes. Nor is he a defensive presence and probably never will be one. But still his offensive game more than makes up for it.

Personally I'd rather give up Sully but if this deal were to go down Philly would probably demand KO.

So what say you...and why?

Not only the bolded, but let's not give Philly a shot at a Simmons Ingram draft. 

[Moranis]

can't trade the BKN pick until you know what it is unless you get a clear established star (like Cousins).

[flybono]

Okafor is like many former Duke Alum, soft!

No chance

[crimson_stallion]

No way in a million years do I even spend three seconds contemplating making that trade.

Okafor is looking like the 3rd best player in this draft right now (at best) and that Brooklyn pick in it's current position has a pretty good chance of falling top 2.  Not a great chance, but a pretty good chance. 

At the very least, that Pick is worth as much as Okafor, potentially more if the lottery is nice to us.

Okafor is a player who has talent, but who has many question marks. 

Aside from the obvious attitude issues, he is also a big, slow seven footer who cannot stretch the floor or and can only defend one position...in a league where everybody wants small, mobile seven footers who can stretch the floor and cover multiple positions on defense. 

Statistically:
* He's a mediocre rebounder (8.6 Rebounds Per 36 is woeful)

* He has the third worst Defensive RPM among centers (-1.46, only Enes Kanter & Andrea Bargnani are worse)

* He has the second worst Offensive RPM among centers (-3.46, only Bismack Biyumbo ranks worse)

* He takes 70% of his shots inside 10 feet, yet still doesn't get to the line much (25% FTR). 

This guy looks very much like a poor man's Brook Lopez at this point.  I say "poor man's because Lopez has similar weaknesses, but at least he has always seemed to have reasonable physical conditioning (unlike Okafor, who seems to be approaching Sully levels of heffer-ness) and always seems to have had a decent attitude (again, unlike Okafor).

I have no doubt Okafor will be a nice player, but i don't think he'll ever be a great player or a franchise player.  I think borderline all star (Al Jefferson, Brook Lopez) is as good as he'll ever get. 

Not even sure he's a better player than Sully to be completely honest. 

Better offensive player sure.  But Sully, even as a rookie, was a much better rebounder, passer and defender than Okafor is right now.  It's not even close.

[colincb]

Okafor = Al Jefferson 2.0 +/-10%. I can get the offense elsewhere if needed and would keep the high lottery pick and KO who has a pretty unique set of skills.

[nickagneta]

I think it fair to say I haven't been the biggest supporter of Olynyk on this site but I am not sure I would trade Olynyk for Okafor straight up right now, never mind throwing in the best asset this team has owned since having the 2nd best odds at getting a top two pick in 2007. If Olynyk can become consistent and play at that level in the playoffs, then I might rather have KO than Okafor.