Okafor Theory

[LastWaltz]

I will have to go read the paper again but I don't think it is arguing Oakafor should use less energy on offense to make him better defensively. The beauty of numbers is that they eliminate things like effort from the equation. I don't think lowering his minutes would make him a better defender because to me it isn't an effort issue it is a fundaumentals issue. Jah has not been taught to play good defense pry because he has never had to really play good defense. I do think he needs to challenge more shots and play more physically on the defensive end.

I also don't think having a post scorer is needed to win in March. Dating back to Duke's 2001 title I would argue that only three teams had legitimate enter and get the F out of the way bigs (Anthony Davis, Hanstravel, and Emeka Okafor). What I will say is in order to win you have to have a 'dude' , someone when times get tough can get you a bucket, ie Melo, JWill, Napier, Russ Smith, Kemna. Duke 2010 is pry the exception to this.

I would be interested to know the 3pt shooting percentages when Jah is in vs not or percentage of open 3's. I still think sample size is too small. The NBA's use of these statistics is more accurate because they play more games and more minutes.

 

[skysdad]

Originally posted by skysdad:
Yes it's true Jah is a terrible free throw shooter. I said that too many times. Sometimes he looks bad on defense all though that may be due to some one else missing an assignment. I read that he's soft or he's lazy then I read he's a bully. You know what I think. I think no matter what we tend to find fault with our players. I think we've become way to spoiled. I think we've starting to over analyze things I think Jah is a beast and we would be sucking rotten eggs without him. He's a killer my fellow Duke fans and I know that every team in the country would love to have him standing down in the paint. OFC

I posted this under the wrong thread. Should have been under Okafor's Style. Oh well.OFC

 

[Crank_it_loud]

Best lineup to me:

Jones
Cook
Winslow
Okafor
Plumlee

2-3 or 3-2 zone on D

 

[aah555]

Originally posted by LastWaltz:
I will have to go read the paper again but I don't think it is arguing Oakafor should use less energy on offense to make him better defensively. The beauty of numbers is that they eliminate things like effort from the equation. I don't think lowering his minutes would make him a better defender because to me it isn't an effort issue it is a fundaumentals issue. Jah has not been taught to play good defense pry because he has never had to really play good defense. I do think he needs to challenge more shots and play more physically on the defensive end.

I also don't think having a post scorer is needed to win in March. Dating back to Duke's 2001 title I would argue that only three teams had legitimate enter and get the F out of the way bigs (Anthony Davis, Hanstravel, and Emeka Okafor). What I will say is in order to win you have to have a 'dude' , someone when times get tough can get you a bucket, ie Melo, JWill, Napier, Russ Smith, Kemna. Duke 2010 is pry the exception to this.

I would be interested to know the 3pt shooting percentages when Jah is in vs not or percentage of open 3's. I still think sample size is too small. The NBA's use of these statistics is more accurate because they play more games and more minutes.

That's just wrong. Beyond the ones you mentioned, Maryland had Lonny Baxter (a 15 / 10 guy), UNC '05 had Sean May (who was the single biggest reason they won), UF won 2 national titles behind Noah and Horford, Kansas's best player was Darrell Arthur and they had 3 other future NBA bigs on a program that's always played inside-out, and Louisville had Dieng and Chane Bohannon, with Montrez Harrell off the bench. Even Duke had Boozer and Battier, who scored a lot around the rim.

Now, am I saying that you necessarily must have an Okafor-type to win a national tile? No. And that's partly b/c in many years there isn't anyone who resembles an Okafor. But, it's very very difficult to win a title if you can't control the glass and get easy baskets at the rim when you need points. Even Duke's 09-10 team, which didn't necessarily have back-to-the basket scorers, did control the lane like no team we've ever really had here --- with a frontline of 6'8, 6'8 and 7'0 with two 6'10-6'11 backup -- and, in late game situations, could regularly count on offensive rebounding misses.

The only real exceptions are the two UConn teams and Syracuse -- and, those, frankly were a bit of fluky runs in years where the top-end teams weren't that great, and good (but not great) teams snuck through. While obviously anything can happen in the NCAAs -- you don't build a team to look like the Uconn squad that won the title last year (and which had to go OT in round 1 against St. Joseph).


This post was edited on 2/27 7:02 PM by aah555

 

[aah555]

Originally posted by bdotling:


I never said he'd be better on D if we spent less time posting him up...that is fantasy, but you are coming up with arguments to points I never made.


This post was edited on 2/27 5:39 PM by bdotling



What are you talking about? Of course you did. Here's a direct quote from above:

What these numbers imply is that Okafor's team would likely be better off this season if Okafor plays more of a Plumlee role in the offense and saves some energy to put in Plumlee-level effort on defense.

 

[youngman42]

Originally posted by Showenuff:
Wow, Okafor is killing us, let's cut his ass! (Insert a 75 ft tall roll eyes icon here)

Yeah ... to bad no one sad that. A college logic course on fallacious ad hominem might help here.

 

[Showenuff]

This post was edited on 2/28 11:08 AM by Showenuff

 

[mo.st.dukie]

I don't know, I think it's a pretty big leap to suggest the best way to improve the team is to give our most talented player fewer shots and fewer minutes. That could easily have negative consequences over the long haul and against the better teams. There's a good possibility that the team is what it is (a very good basketball team) and the best way to improve is to keep doing what they are doing but just do it better on a more consistent basis.

 

[JCColsCane]

I posted this under the wrong thread. Should have been under Okafor's Style. Oh well.OFC

Sky, I thought we had discussed the timing of your naps? I know you think better after a nap, so please stay on schedule (haha)! It's bad enough to put something in the wrong post, but to do it before your nap is inexcusable (lmao)!!
Hang in there ole' buddy, everything will be ok.
Go Duke!!



JC-OFC

 

[skysdad]

Originally posted by JCColsCane:

I posted this under the wrong thread. Should have been under Okafor's Style. Oh well.OFC

Sky, I thought we had discussed the timing of your naps? I know you think better after a nap, so please stay on schedule (haha)! It's bad enough to put something in the wrong post, but to do it before your nap is inexcusable (lmao)!!
Hang in there ole' buddy, everything will be ok.
Go Duke!!



JC-OFC

LOL. My theory is this thread is way too deep for me.

OFC

This post was edited on 2/28 9:31 PM by skysdad

 

[spike05rk]

I don't know why K even recruited Okafor.

 

[Dukesince90]

Go throw that theory in the trash!