Jahlil Okafor
- Thread starter DukeDenver
- Start date
Was released by the Nets and is currently a free agent without any offers.
He will get scooped up by training camp, but he probably wont be paid much more than the minimum salary.
Yup. Dennis Rodman just wanted the ball more and he went and got it. Ben Wallace imposes his will when rebounding and was rewarded for his effort/hustle/desire. You gotta want it because everyone is skilled in the NBA. You can’t just show up and be good to great. I am not sure you can just turn that in and off though. For Okafors sake, I hope he can.
Jah is getting several offers to play in China. His inability to block shots at six ten and his rather moderate rebounding has hurt him. Of course the biggest thing the game now wants bigs who can step out and drain the jumper and Jah is great in the paint but not a real good option on pick and pop. More of aback to the basket player in a game simply going away from that type of center. Does not look like his workouts with Bulls or Pacers will result in a contract offer.
At this point, Jah’s best option may be to go overseas, show his lacking skill sets have improved and get a chance to come back in good graces. He’ll get playing time overseas. He may not get more than end of bench rotation minutes at this point in the league until he can prove he deserves it. I’d like to see him make it in Israel or Spain though over China.
The China talk must be about money and side opportunities. The CBA doesn't pay very well on average (Jimmer makes about 1.8 million per year, and he's their biggest star right now), but their star players could be making tons off of endorsements, opportunities that would never happen here in the US for bench players. Jimmer could have easily gotten a bigger contract in the NBA this year, but he's staying for two more years for some reason. Jah could get 4-5 million per year in China (there have been a few contracts like that lately) and another few million from an apparel deal. That would beat playing for close to the league minimum and not getting much PT. Jah would be very popular over there too.
The ability to make threes is like sprinkles on a sundae. Nice, but not necessary. The ability to step out and make threes is what separates high quality starters, like Gobert and Capella, from superstar unicorns like Davis and Embiid.
.
But the foundation for all those guys is defense, especially WRT rim protection, and rebounding. Those two abilities, in that order, are the most necessary abilities bigs today simply have to possess. They are sort of the base line "you have to be this tall to ride this ride" necessities.
.
Jah's O is fine. Ideally, he'd have more perimeter skills, but he's already better on O than Gobert. Oak, as is, is in the top half of starting C's on offense. Only the true unicorns, with their ability to make threes, are ahead of him. On offense.
.
But Oak is near the rock bottom of all C's on defense. He just doesn't score enough to offset what he gives up by playing poor D. He could probably get a steady 18 and 6. But he'd give up 20+, while rebounding horribly. That equation dooms him.
Remember the first meeting between Jah and KAT? Okafor got the better of him, no question. If he could re-gain his old form, he could at least be a serviceable backup.
Seeing clips like this definitely lead me to believe, from a fans perspective at least, that the issue is a motivation one. He showed nice things like footwork, strength, and activity. Those coupled with his talent should easily make him a starter. But as @PatrickYates pointed out so eloquently above, Jah lost sight somewhere of what could have made him great.
Lost in the ether of this discussion is that KAT is no longer really considered a "unicorn." Offensively, he does everything one might hope for, but he's never translated his supposed defensive potential. Jimmy Butler is dragging him, and his effort on D, as a prime reason as to why JB is on his way out of town (probably).
.
Point being, while Oak beat KAT head to head, early, that doesn't mean as much as we might like. KAT's effort is spotty, and he's a poor defender. Sadly, as spotty as KAT's effort is, he's a model of efficiency compared to Oak. While KAT is a poor defender, he's better than Oak, and KAT rebounds well.
.
And there is a lesson for Oak there, IMO. I'm not sure if Oak has it in him, physically, to be a "good" defender. He could be far better than he currently is, but Oak's defensive peak is probably "adequate." But if Oak would hunt down 11+ rpg, to go along with around 20 ppg, he'd be making 10 million a year. But he doesn't rpg like that, so, here we are.
.
A big with a polished scoring arsenal like Oak could be a bad defender, but good rebounder, and still get minutes and serious money. Not Max money, but nothing to sneeze at . Similarly, Oak could defend well, but rebound poorly (though, practically, defending well and rebounding poorly is pretty much mutually exclusive) and he'd have tons of suitors. You can't be bad at both.
I'm afraid Oak has realized that the predicted "greatness" that his early promise indicated is effectively impossible. The game has changed. I think he has let the fact that he won't ever be great prevent him from being adequate.
.
And don't get caught up in discussion about the "changing nature of the game" confuse you (not you personally, hokie, you =you all). An "adequate" big man will make 7-12 million, per year, in the current NBA. 15 and 9 from a big man is still incredibly valuable if the defense is commensurate with that offensive and rebounding output.
I totally agree with you. His ceiling for best in the game vanished a long time ago. But he, as you mentioned, could be a starter with a renewed passion for rebounding and some semblance of defense. Maybe he can find that overseas. He is 22 after all and relatively uninjured.
