During Wednesday’s Sixers game, Jahlil Okafor’s bad defense went viral. After ballwatching with little effort to do anything else, he got caught out of position and let an easy 8-foot shot go right over his head. Through two shot attempts and a rebound opportunity, Okafor’s feet never left the ground. It wasn’t his only defensive brain fart in the game, and it was far from his only game with those moments, but that one blew up.

According to Jahlil Okafor, this isn’t laziness or ineptitude, but fatigue and gameplan. “Obviously, I know about the clip that everybody is talking about,” Jah said. “The persona of me not caring defensively is false.” Jah said assistant coach Lloyd Pierce, who is in charge of the defensive side of the ball, talked to him:

“He said the same thing I did [about] the defensive concepts, and I was to retreat, retreat, retreat. And I understand visually it looks bad, because I was fatigued. I played the entire first quarter, and I was tired. I’m not making excuses for me. It’s what the facts were. I did do what I was supposed to do, and that’s retreat.”

Jah did play the first nine minutes of the game before heading to the bench. And I don’t doubt that he was told to hang back on Whiteside, because if Hassan gets behind you, it’s game over. But playing retreat defense is also a symptom of how Jah plays. He’s not quick enough to play a man like Whiteside tight and stay in front of him, and his effort in the past has shown an unwillingness to actually fight (when on the court).

Okafor is plagued by the same issues on offense. When a player has natural basketball ability, they say the game “slows down” for them. For Okafor, it seems at times that he’s the one slowing down. The gears are turning, but not quick enough.

It could be strategy and gameplan. It could be effort and ability. But it’s definitely not working.