I'm personally not even sure Cousins is a great fit here...the thing is, honestly, we still lack talent. Gordon and Anderson are good shooters and decent scorers, as today they're our second and third best player...but even assuming they'll play in most of the games, none of them is even close to be the third best player in a great team. Okafor on the other hand, with all his flaws, he has the chance to become that kind of player. I just think we're not in a position to refuse to trade for a talent like him if he's available.
Good post. I'm not necessarily convinced that Okafor will become a more productive player than Anderson, but yes he certainly has a chance to be the 3rd best player on a contender some day. Being traded so early in his career after putting up decent non-advanced stats on a team starving for talent will surely be a wake up call for him. He seems to be aware and willing to work on his flaws. What doesn't make sense to me is an organization with a good head coach, an ex GM who was a statistician and a new GM who's a traditionalist would trade someone with that kind of potential when they do in fact need the depth off the bench at PF/C and still do not have someone they can call a sure fire star. Why not just keep Okafor and he is already good enough to come off the bench and costs virtually nothing? When it's time to renew, his performance off the bench will have dictated his price. Are two marginally talented veteran starters worth more to the Sixers than Okafor? Doesn't add up to me. Very confusing.
Yeah, all good points. I agree that Okafor seems like a guy with some fire inside of him, looks like someone willing to accept challenges and i think it's always a good sign if a young player shows this. The only way i can see them trade Okafor (and/or Noel) though, is if they're pretty sure Embiid can stay on the floor, because i think he's their true potential franchise player. Noel and Okafor are probably just insurance until they see if Embiid can be trusted or not. The problem is that Noel is expiring and i don't think they want to pay him if he's not going to be their starting center in the future, but at the same time they know he's the best fit for them if Embiid will not be able to stay healty so...yeah, not an easy situation, but i think they just need time to see what Embiid can bring to the table and then they will make one or two big moves. In the end, imo they see those three guys like: 1. Embiid 2. Noel 3. Okafor so i can see Okafor being the first to go, but we should also not forget that Bryan is not the smartest guy running a franchise so, you never know, i wouldn't be shocked if someone (hope that one is Morey) is going to rape him in a trade for one of those guys.
Sixers fans probably still remember the KJ McDaniels on their team and all that potential. I doubt the Sixers management is as enamored of a player buried deep in Houston's bench, enough to make him a major piece in the trade.
Boogie to Houston. Okafor to Sac. Ryan Anderson and a lottery protected 1st round pick to Philly by the February trade deadline.
Why does it matter what one random 76ers fan would want for Okafor? That trade is terrible for them. Hopefully their new GM, who is going to take all the credit from Hinkie, isn't so stupid he'll do a trade like this. Just because PHI has multiple big-mean doesn't mean other teams have all the leverage. Okafor is already beast with a high ceiling and has a very unique and rare skill-set. No way P-Bev (back-end starter, mid-level role player at best), KJ (I'm drawing a blank... this guy has had two years to crack the rotation on one of the worst supporting casts in the NBA and has done nothing... and the 76ers would want him back because??) and a likely mid-late 1st round pick are equal to his value. Yeah, I'm drooling over that haul for one of the best young players in the NBA if I'm a Sixers fan
Not sure how you rank those guys, because Okafor is so different. Okafor has a skill-set that is so rare in the modern day NBA, while Embiid looks like he has the potential to be the epitome of the new-age athletic, defensive minded NBA center. I'd take any of those 3 players on the Rockets.
And i agree with you. I just think that while Embiid is clearly the one with most potential, probably the only one of those three to have a franchise player potential, between the other two it's easy to build around Noel, especially when your main guy is someone like Simmons.
??????? He only averages 1.8 blocks per 36 minutes. Now that we've eliminated the "people are blinded by his blocks" theory, do you have any other ideas on why a player with little to no value will be getting a 100 million contract? I mean, sure his per 36 stats went up in every single catagory. I mean, sure his field goal percentage increased by almost 6% in one year. His assist rate per 36 is actually on par with Tim Duncan's rookie year. He is exactly as valuable as the NBA thinks, according to every measurable statistic. Maybe him being able to block shots is blinding your ability to see why he's actually valuable?
