After watching this...Okafor/Noel may really be available

Why does everyone want Okafor?

Centers that can't protect the rim = useless.

 

What is all of this talk of Okafor not playing defense?!
Mike "freakin" D'antoni people!!

 

Because Dwight was so useful last year right?

A guy with Okafor's skill set is rare. His ability to dribble and create his own opportunities in the post and play with his back to the basket has been a dying breed in this league. He also has exceptional footwork and natural feel in the post. You can't teach a lot of those skills. That's just Okafor practicing and playing that way since a young age. Finding a rim protector is much easier than trying to find a guy with Okafor's skills in the post.

Everyone always assumed anybody and everybody that trained with Hakeem would see magical improvement like in a video game where you train with a guru and it adds +5000 to your post game. No. It doesn't work like that but I'd absolutely love to see Okafor learn from Hakeem since he's already got a natural feel, footwork, coordination, comfort in the post. He's a player actually worthy of teaching.

 

I respect the fact that some like Okafur because I'm very impressed with his skill set. Problem is we signed Anderson already. Meaning with Okafur that would be 2 below avg defenders in the paint. If we want to build a contender that's going the wrong way. Had we not gotten Anderson I would be all for it.

 

Thats exactly right, a team without any legit paint defenders = suck, like we did last year when Dwight sucked.

There's a reason players with Okafors skillset is rare in the NBA, it's because it doesn't work like it used to, so kids aren't being taught how to do it. Not because post skills are some type of unicorn skill players are incapable of developing....

The best teams in this 3 point shooting, guard centric, pick and rolling NBA don't have back to the basket post players. They have roll to the rim or jump shooting rim protectors who can pass (preferably all of the above)

You know a skillset that's rare, ^ KAT is rare, not Okafor.

Can you even imagine a black hole like Okafor playing with Harden anyway? What's Harden gonna do? Stand around and watch?

Okafor is like Enes Kanter. He's very good offensively in limited spurts, but you pull him at the end of games because he can't play defense at the C.

 

Or he's Al Jefferson, Nice player that's gonna end up putting a lot of stats, but hard as hell to build a championship team around (because he can't play defense at the C)

 

There's only a few Centers that are great rim protectors. And they are already locked up.

 

Well hopefully even though our boy is no longer in Philly, we'll still be able to swing for this deal.

 

Developing post skills as a big man later on is extremely difficult and it is a unicorn skill-set indeed that still works. There's a reason why guys like Dwight, Tyson Chandler, Amare, Gortat etc tried to learn from Hakeem and it wasn't because they enjoyed wasting lots of money or time. They wanted to get better and develop a skill. A skill that would allow them to last a long time in the league when their athleticism dwindles and they're no longer able to get easy put-back buckets or simple dunks off pick and rolls. Obviously it didn't work out very well for those guys because it's extremely hard to learn later on if you don't have a prerequisite of skills prior hand.

How is Okafor a black hole? Dwight on offense was a true black hole and Harden had to stand around and watch him fumble away passes or try to make a move in the post with limited to no success. Having a player like Okafor would be a luxury since he can create his own buckets in the paint instead of relying on Harden or TBD pg for the perfect set up.

Scoring 17.5 ppg as a rookie big man leads me to believe he's better than "very good offensively in limited spurts". Did you ever see him get pulled at the end of games or are you just making that up?

A lot of the fundamentals and natural ability/size are all there. I think he can and will get better defensively. If he can develop a consistent jumper as well he's going to be a force for many years.

 

Both of them had to watch each other fumble away the basketball at a high volume. And those bigs never really had a low post game. They waited to late in their careers to learn from the Dream.

Okafor game will flourish on both ends. He actually has some legit moves in the paint. His outside jumper will continue to improve. Defensively he could improve if he gets with a defensive minded coach. But it's a hit miss because normally defense is already embedded in some big men. Okafor unfortunately doesn't have that type of mind set.

 

He played on the 76ers that weren't trying to win, obviously they wouldn't pull him at the end of games. But if you're telling me a center with poor lateral defense and no rim protection isn't being pulled on a good team in crunch time, you probably don't watch basketball very closely.

 

Okafor, makes a terrible team worse.

http://stats.nba.com/team/#!/161061...antity=2&sort=NET_RATING&dir=-1&CF=MIN*GE*500

 

Larry Sanders ain't so bad.

 

Okafor has only one year of experience. All aspects of his game should improve as his career develops.

 

Not saying Okafor is a bad player, but it's hard for me to ever see him developing into a legit defensive center. Not the way he moves.

The best you can hope for is pairing him with a power forward who can protect the rim/ defend the pick and roll/ spread the floor.

Someone like Draymond green, otherwise there's nowhere you can hide him. That person isn't Ryan Anderson either.

 

Capela

 

Or they could send over another one of their big in the trade. Like one of Woods, Holmes or the rookie Long. All three are known as capable floor spreading bigs.

 

The key skill you would need aside from a PF that can shoot. Is he needs to be a good help defender at the rim. This is arguably Okafor worst skill and biggest limitation.

He absolutely has no idea when to help, where to be, when to preemptive cut off drives, etc. He has like no defensive instincts whatsoever.

 

Some of you people are straight up crazy. Judging Okafor after his ROOKIE season. The kid is 20 years old. On top of that, he has way more talent and value than I believe we can afford. 20 year old kids with that kind of footwork is VERY rare. People said the same thing about Cousins years ago. Same thing about his defense and his attitude. Everything. On a side note, PLEASE stop asking how he would fit next to Capela. I can't even believe people are thinking in this manner. 1. I'm extremely surprised if Capela isn't gone for any trade involving Okafor.
2. Okafor is a MUCH better prospect than Capela. I know we have a lot of Rockets homers here, and I like the kid very much but come on. Are you people serious? If Okafor were to come here, he would obviously be given the starting spot next to Anderson. NOT CAPELA. Why do you think the Rockets would have any interest otherwise? Seriously. Just use your heads. This board is in the freaking gutter right now Jesus.

 

If we can get Capela to average a double/double in pts & rebs and 2 bpg, we'll be just fine without Okafor. He's more efficient at PnR plays than Dwight was last season and if he's getting Dwight minutes, it shouldn't be a problem.