In depth analysis of Okafor

[Vermont Green]

Okafor, with his injury and his play, has changed himself from a top prospect to a project.  A project is still not a bad thing, it is just not as good as a top prospect.  I have not seen him play enough to make a call one way or the other (and I don't fully trust advanced stats).  He is better than say Avery Bradley was at the beginning of his second season and Bradley didn't come off a series injury.

I think it is tough on these young players.  With his recent option picked up, he is guaranteed to pocket close to $14M and could probably sleep walk to $20M for career earnings (and he probably has some endorsements).  That is a really big distraction for a 20 year old kid.

[TheSundanceKid]

If at the trade deadline there is the opportunity to get Okafor for Rozier and KO I take it 100%. I would free up the necessary cap room to chase Griffin or Hayward and it would give us a true center presence alongside Horford.

I get that he has weaknesses right now but what 20 year old doesn't? It's clear he doesn't want to be in Philly either and it's adversely affecting his career. That doesn't mean the pre draft projections just go out the window

[Dennis_D]

Hey all,

I know this topic has, in some respects, been beat to death. However, I also know this is a guy that many many celtics fans are interested in getting. I encourage those to read this article and watch the vines because it is really pretty eye opening. I also encourage you to check out what the Philly fans say about this guy in the comments section.

http://www.libertyballers.com/2016/11/8/13559540/jahlil-okafor-lack-of-defensive-awareness-appalling-duke-nba-nerlens-noel-center-sixers-76ers-embiid

I'm not a fan of Okafor, but the article wasn't an in-depth analysis of him. It more shows the author's lack of knowledge.

The author provides a vine for Okafor's supposedly terrible pick-and-roll defense. In the longest of the two plays, Philly's #33 gets badly beaten by Utah's #6. Okafor does a great job of stopping the dribble penetration. After getting beaten, #33 just hangs around instead of switching on to Okafor's man, who has moved out to the three point line. Now, maybe what was intended was for one of the Philly players to rotate over to Okafor's man, but none did. Okafor did his job in that one play and his teammates didn't.

[celticsclay]

Hey all,

I know this topic has, in some respects, been beat to death. However, I also know this is a guy that many many celtics fans are interested in getting. I encourage those to read this article and watch the vines because it is really pretty eye opening. I also encourage you to check out what the Philly fans say about this guy in the comments section.

http://www.libertyballers.com/2016/11/8/13559540/jahlil-okafor-lack-of-defensive-awareness-appalling-duke-nba-nerlens-noel-center-sixers-76ers-embiid

I'm not a fan of Okafor, but the article wasn't an in-depth analysis of him. It more shows the author's lack of knowledge.

The author provides a vine for Okafor's supposedly terrible pick-and-roll defense. In the longest of the two plays, Philly's #33 gets badly beaten by Utah's #6. Okafor does a great job of stopping the dribble penetration. After getting beaten, #33 just hangs around instead of switching on to Okafor's man, who has moved out to the three point line. Now, maybe what was intended was for one of the Philly players to rotate over to Okafor's man, but none did. Okafor did his job in that one play and his teammates didn't.

I thought the Vines did a pretty good job of showing both the issues with his slow foot speed (which he can't really fix) and with his effort (which he theoretically could improve).

Whether you agree with the Vines or not, I think Utah ran a pick and a roll 6 times straight when Okafor came in the game and scored on every posession. This is the kind of stuff that will happen if he is ever on a playoff team without major improvements. He can certainly score offensively, but if he is giving it all up and them some on the opposite end a team wouldn't keep him on the floor in a playoff series.

Here is more examples of the defensive issues from the charlotte game by a different writer
read the tweets and comments. If philly fans can acknowledge this is a major issue with him we should be able to.

https://twitter.com/MWhittington13/status/794188986474434562
https://twitter.com/MWhittington13/status/794185596394672128
https://twitter.com/MWhittington13/status/794188100096368640

[tazzmaniac]

Hey all,

I know this topic has, in some respects, been beat to death. However, I also know this is a guy that many many celtics fans are interested in getting. I encourage those to read this article and watch the vines because it is really pretty eye opening. I also encourage you to check out what the Philly fans say about this guy in the comments section.

http://www.libertyballers.com/2016/11/8/13559540/jahlil-okafor-lack-of-defensive-awareness-appalling-duke-nba-nerlens-noel-center-sixers-76ers-embiid

I'm not a fan of Okafor, but the article wasn't an in-depth analysis of him. It more shows the author's lack of knowledge.

The author provides a vine for Okafor's supposedly terrible pick-and-roll defense. In the longest of the two plays, Philly's #33 gets badly beaten by Utah's #6. Okafor does a great job of stopping the dribble penetration. After getting beaten, #33 just hangs around instead of switching on to Okafor's man, who has moved out to the three point line. Now, maybe what was intended was for one of the Philly players to rotate over to Okafor's man, but none did. Okafor did his job in that one play and his teammates didn't.

I thought the Vines did a pretty good job of showing both the issues with his slow foot speed (which he can't really fix) and with his effort (which he theoretically could improve).

Whether you agree with the Vines or not, I think Utah ran a pick and a roll 6 times straight when Okafor came in the game and scored on every posession. This is the kind of stuff that will happen if he is ever on a playoff team without major improvements. He can certainly score offensively, but if he is giving it all up and them some on the opposite end a team wouldn't keep him on the floor in a playoff series.

Here is more examples of the defensive issues from the charlotte game by a different writer
read the tweets and comments. If philly fans can acknowledge this is a major issue with him we should be able to.

https://twitter.com/MWhittington13/status/794188986474434562
https://twitter.com/MWhittington13/status/794185596394672128
https://twitter.com/MWhittington13/status/794188100096368640

Okafor certainly has defensive shortcomings but the most of the Sixer guards are terrible defensively so that doesn't help.  His foot speed on defense is an issue so I think his hanging back at the free throw line on the PnR defense is probably a good thing especially since the Sixers help defense isn't good.  Now if he was on the court with Embiid (or Noel) that would be a different story. 

[walker834]

I would take Okafor or Noel.  I think people are misinterpretting Philly being careful with both as them being projects.  Sure they are young players but both are capable of playing right now.   They might not be Towns or in that class  but both can play. 

Just was watching these two dunks from Okafor which both occured in the past week.  He's fine.  Philly is just being careful with both these guys because they are trade assets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lISCyozHMqg

We need big men here.  Maybe DA will pull off a trade for both.

[walker834]

DA needs to stop sitting on his hands in general and be an aggressor.  I value the Brooklyn picks but they are there to make moves as well.  We can keep waiting on Cousins or make a move.  Whether Philly would even trade these guys to us is the question.  I would move for Okafor or Noel over anyone in next years draft.

We have Horford here but he's not going to be here forever.  Having a guy like Okafor or Noel or both to bring along would fit well here imo.

[LooseCannon]

DA needs to stop sitting on his hands in general and be an aggressor.  I value the Brooklyn picks but they are there to make moves as well.  We can keep waiting on Cousins or make a move.  Whether Philly would even trade these guys to us is the question.  I would move for Okafor or Noel over anyone in next years draft.

We have Horford here but he's not going to be here forever.  Having a guy like Okafor or Noel or both to bring along would fit well here imo.

Ainge should aggressively seek out trades, but he should still try to "win" trades and avoid doing a deal for the sake of doing a deal.  Panic moves are what an idiot GM would do.

Okafor is a horrible fit for a defense-first team that wants to push the pace. 

[LarBrd33]

all that said, he's still a better prospect than Jaylen Brown

[TheSundanceKid]

I would take Okafor or Noel.  I think people are misinterpretting Philly being careful with both as them being projects.  Sure they are young players but both are capable of playing right now.   They might not be Towns or in that class  but both can play. 

Just was watching these two dunks from Okafor which both occured in the past week.  He's fine.  Philly is just being careful with both these guys because they are trade assets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lISCyozHMqg

We need big men here.  Maybe DA will pull off a trade for both.

That first dunk 

That was against one of the best shot blockers in the NBA. Okafor has so much strength, I don't think people realise the potential that is there.Put him in the right environment and he can become this generation's superior big man

[TheSundanceKid]

Okafor having a nice stretch of games recently. 19 pts on 73% shooting against Washington and 18 on 54% against the Hawks. He went up against two top centers in those games as well. I watched a bit of the Hawks game and whilst he was quite slow footed he showed good defensive positioning and had a nice block as well. I'd say he's about where KO was in his 2nd season but with more strength. You could definitely make him a good team defender and one on one he has the strength. He positions himself well to deny drives by the opposition guards.

He and Embiid seem to be rotating games. When Okafor starts he does well, off the bench he seems to have bad games.

Offensively he has some beautiful moves. He'd be the kind of go to guy in the post we would want in the coming years

Edit: in those two games his stats were 22mins, 18.5ppg, 5.5 rpg, 2.0 apg, 62.5% efg, 110.5 Offrtg, 102.9 Defrtg, 33.8% usg and 15.4% ast%
I know it's only 2 games but it's nice to see

[celticsclay]

Okafor having a nice stretch of games recently. 19 pts on 73% shooting against Washington and 18 on 54% against the Hawks. He went up against two top centers in those games as well. I watched a bit of the Hawks game and whilst he was quite slow footed he showed good defensive positioning and had a nice block as well. I'd say he's about where KO was in his 2nd season but with more strength. You could definitely make him a good team defender and one on one he has the strength. He positions himself well to deny drives by the opposition guards.

He and Embiid seem to be rotating games. When Okafor starts he does well, off the bench he seems to have bad games.

Offensively he has some beautiful moves. He'd be the kind of go to guy in the post we would want in the coming years

Edit: in those two games his stats were 22mins, 18.5ppg, 5.5 rpg, 2.0 apg, 62.5% efg, 110.5 Offrtg, 102.9 Defrtg, 33.8% usg and 15.4% ast%
I know it's only 2 games but it's nice to see

are you skipping the last game where was like 2-10 got blocked repeatedly and was benched for Holmes? I really encourage people to read liberty ballers. The majority of fans strongly prefer Noel which should tell you something 🤔

[wayupnorth]

all that said, he's still a better prospect than Jaylen Brown

Seriously what is your problem?

Your posts like this being down the quality of the threads you post them in, and you know it.

Shameful.

[max215]

Impressive stuff from the young fella.  Looks like he can be a dominant force offensively long term.  Still coming back from an injury that kept him out over half a year including all of training camp and pre-season, and yet despite his lack of conditioning and current minute restriction, he was able to abuse a top-level defender like Rudy Gobert last night to the tune of 15 points in just 22 minutes. 

https://streamable.com/4edp

Uncanny. 

Clear star potential there once he gets into game shame and finds a role within a team's defense. 

Despite the exaggerated poor reputation, the 20 year old is still probably a greater prospect than anyone on the Celtics including Smart and Jaylen Brown.

You are really getting to be on an island with that viewpoint. You just discount his defensive play and effort?

Yes.  It's not new information.  I don't care at this point.  He's limited to 24 minutes per game off the bench right now while he gets back into proper cardiovascular shape.  Meanwhile, the team's superstar is also limited to 24 minutes and it's other superstar is out until January at the earliest.  It's a team that has no short-term future.  Most of these games are blowouts.  He plays for a team that is widely believed to not have him in their long term future.  NOthing about my opinion of Okafor has changed between the 10 win season and the start of this 0-5 season.  He's still someone who has star potential.

If "defensive effort" is his biggest problem right now, I wouldn't make that a deal-breaker in acquiring him.  He's 20 years old.  We don't know what he'd do on a team with a winning mentality where defensive effort is mandatory.   If he was playing for Boston, it would be a priority.  If he still lacked defensive effort after getting into game shape and playing on a system like this, I'd say it's concerning.  At this point, I'm considering context when looking at his laziness on the defensive end.

This of course is assuming Boston will actually be a strong defensive team and not the Okafor-esque bottom 3 defensive team that has exhibited pansynippled defensive effort over the first 6 games.  I'm not too concerned about that either at this point.

You must love Enes Kanter.

[Celtics4ever]

I think he has big time talent, but I think he has a bad attitude.  Pretty simple analysis.