Feb 25, 2015; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Duke Blue Devils center Jahlil Okafor (15) drives to the basket past Virginia Tech Hokies forward
Christian Beyer(22) in the first half at Cassell Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports
4. Jahlil Okafor
I’m sorry Laker fans, but the likely number overall prospect is the worst fit to play alongside Julius Randle.
This has nothing to do with Okafor’s game but Randle’s. Okafor is the most dominant post player that college basketball has seen in quite some time and will have no problem translating his game into the NBA. Okafor’s size, footwork, and soft touch make him the ideal post player in a league that has a small number of them. The worst thing to do with a post player is to pair him with a player that might take up some operating space, and Randle will do nothing short of that.
Randle’s jumper is a huge work in progress. Randle does a large portion of his damage down low, whether he is posting up, or driving to the basket. When Randle is posting up, where does Okafor go? And vice-verca?
I have no problem with building a team around a dominant center but that means making a few sacrifices. Take a look at the Detroit Pistons. Stan Van Gundy has made it clear that the future is in the hands of Andre Drummond and he will be their “guy” on the offensive end. Josh Smith didn’t exactly complement Drummond’s game. Because of Smith’s inconsistent jumper, teams could pay much more attention to Drummond and leave Smith unguarded to go double-team.
Then, you look at a team like the 2009 Orlando Magic who were built around the best center in the NBA at the time, Dwight Howard. Howard was surrounded by Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson, and Courtney Lee. You take your pick but I’m not leaving any of these guys free in 2009.
The point is, if a team is going to build around a post player, a majority of their players must be able to space the floor, most importantly the power forward. Having a power forward who cannot shoot makes it way to easy to double-team the post player, in this case Okafor.
Another problem is that neither of these players present much of a threat to protect the rim at the NBA level. We already discussed Randle but Okafor’s block percentage of 4.3, ranking only tenth in the ACC, is very poor considering his size and heavy playing time. Okafor averages only 1.4 blocks per game which does not even place him in the top 100 in the country.
With the way guards attack the rim nowadays, winning a championship with no rim protection is impossible.
Next: Emmanuel Mudiay