Jahlil Okafor is Infuriating

Who is the most infuriating person when you play pickup basketball? It’s always the dude who holds the ball too long, half-asses his team play, and doesn’t even bother with rebounds. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s Jahlil Okafor.

By now, we all know his go-to move: Catch a pass in the post, hold it out away from the defender, use your super powers to slow down time, survey the court, go and shoot anyway. It looks like this:

Jahlil Okafor takes 65.4% of his shots after holding the ball for 2-6 seconds. Among players who have played 10 games*, that’s the highest percentage in the NBA (Derrick Rose is 2nd at 57%). And among the top 5 players in that category, Okafor has the lowest FG% on those attempts (45.3%). Only 27.2% of his shots come within 2 seconds of touching the ball.

So there are the times he holds the ball and slows down the offense, but what about his big-man game? Jah is listed at 271 lbs. That’s a big boy. So he should excel at setting a screen, which is essentially just getting in the way. He doesn’t. Here is an all-too common sight:

And here’s last night:

A screen assist is when a player sets a screen for a teammate that “directly leads to a made field goal by that teammate.” You’d guess, from the above evidence, that Okafor doesn’t get many of these. You’re right.

In 21 minutes per game, Okafor averages 0.9 screen assists. There are 31 centers who average half of Okafor’s minutes and top his number. You could argue that those players aren’t offensive focuses and therefore set more screens. Sure. But watch any stretch of time on the floor with Okafor and you’ll see four or five of those “screens” above. And he’s only the roll man on a pick and roll (which would also excuse fewer screen assists) 9.9% of the time. That’s not team basketball.

Finally, because I can’t take much more, let’s talk rebounding. Okafor is, once again, 6’10”, 271 lbs., with a 7’4″ wingspan. He should be snatching rebounds left and right. He doesn’t. Of centers who have played at least 10 games, he’s the only one averaging 20+ minutes and fewer than 4 rebounds.

Among players 6’7″ and above, he’s below such glass-cleaning dignitaries as Matt Barnes and Tony Snell. But let’s dig a little deep here: NBA.com defines the Rebound Chance % as the percentage of defensive rebounds the player grabs when he is within 3.5 feet of a rebounded ball. Among NBA centers, Okafor is last in the league at 36.7%.

So what’s the alternative? I’m glad you asked, because he’s already here and his name is Richaun Holmes. Look at this:

Per-36 minutes, they’re extremely similar statistically, with Holmes adding a 3pt shot and higher shooting percentages. But what about in the team context?

In the advanced categories, Holmes bests Okafor in every category. And he’s buried on the bench most of the time. He’s being wasted. When Okafor is off the floor, the Sixers’ offensive rating is 4.9 points higher than when he’s on. With Holmes on, the Sixers jump 4.3 in ORtg.

Okafor’s potential is still high (I think), but he has to start putting things together that aren’t his at-the-rim scoring or else he’s just wasting everyone’s time.

*A minimum of 10 games played was used as the cutoff for most of these stats. All statistics from NBA.com and Basketball Reference.