Sixers

Quick Thoughts on Okafor

By Kyle Scott

Published: Jun 25th, 2015 · 9:48 PM EDT

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Best player available, right? Sure. But the Sixers are so unlucky. Two lottery disappointments. Protected picks get kicked down the road. Embiid still hurt. Saric has incentive to stay two more years in Europe. Lakers take Russell. Can’t win.

They made the right pick, and having the closest thing to a sure thing is never bad, especially with so many question marks and unknown assets. But as badly as I want the Triple Towers to be a thing, there’s no way the Sixers keep, in the long run, Embiid, Noel and Okafor. Drafting Okafor and then the immediate reports that they were keeping him tells me that either A) it’s not looking good for Embiid or B) they’re not married to anyone, including and especially Noel – the only player supposedly a part of the rebuild to actually play in a game – and will hold an open competition for the two forward spots and move the third player. That’s disappointing, because it’s not progress– it’s asset swapping… which I suppose is the whole point of this.

Scouting report? Okafor has an impressive post game, but, well, not so good otherwise. Liberty Ballers scouting report:

Okafor struggles to contain pick-and-rolls, and despite having an amazing set of physical tools, is not yet the rim protector that he should be. But that concern has perhaps been overstated in recent months, as Karl Towns rocketed past him in mock drafts. For a player who is as skilled offensively as he is, it would be unwise to think he can’t develop abilities in other areas.

One place where he’ll need to apply that logic offensively is at the free-throw line. Okafor shot a putrid 51 percent from the line this season, a full 15 percent below what he managed from the field, which is rather incredible.

Not a bad pick. The right one. But, again, not what we wanted. Or needed.