Sixers Trade Talk: Is Okafor’s defense as bad as we think?

Brian Colangelo will, undoubtedly, regret a trade that involves moving Jahlil Okafor.

Trying to figure out whether to trade a talent like Okafor or not, doesn’t require the touch of a seasoned general manager or NBA scout. It just requires common sense. If and WHEN another NBA team (especially Boston) calls Colangelo about the availability of Jahlil Okafor, he should politely listen to the offer and decline afterwards, unless the third overall pick and a player of interest is involved (then they should listen).

In particular, Boston has actually already offered their third overall pick for Okafor in a straight deal and the Sixers were smart enough to decline a deal that mundane. Trading Okafor for a pick in this year’s draft that is not guaranteed to be a hit is a waste of time since Okafor is, arguably, going to be better than any player in this year’s draft outside the top two picks. An offer Colangelo should think about with Boston needs to include the third overall pick and some kind of assurance that the player they select with that pick will have a higher ceiling than Okafor does, which is highly unlikely.

Honestly, there are always considerations that need to be explored. Okafor is an offensive nightmare in the post that will only improve with time. His scoring in the post is uncanny for his age and he can’t even legally drink. Okafor, like every other 20-year-old kid, has deficiencies in his game that he will need to improve on to become a better player. But trading him because of that, is basically trading him because he didn’t come into the league as a perfect or complete player.

Even in 2014, fans would never have considered trading Nerlens Noel after his rookie season, yet Okafor does not receive the same benefit because of how his weaknesses fit into their personal view of what a center should be in today’s NBA.

In the defense of everyone, including the 76ers, Okafor’s defensive track record is not impressive. He can be caught being a lazy or an unmotivated rim protector that rarely displays the foot speed and foresight to rotate in time to properly defend the paint. Defending pick & roll offenses is also a painful experience for fans to watch because Okafor just seems to be out of position half of the time (50 percent might actually be a generous estimate too).

He also seems to contest shots while keeping both feet on the ground and using only his 7-foot-3 wingspan to affect shots, which isn’t as bad as you might think until you compare that to a defender like Noel (who jumps out the gym to block shots with regularity). All in all, it is undoubted that Okafor is not a polished NBA rim protector or someone who thrives on defense at this point. Even Okafor’s supporters, which includes me, cannot deny this.

So is Okafor’s defense as bad as we think? Depends on who the “we” is but it definitely isn’t where it needs to be in order to be considered a great player (or even a complete one).

Besides the questions surrounding Okafor’s defense looms an even larger question though. Why are we so anxious to oust our best player? Okafor was the third pick in last year’s draft and the main reason most people seem hell-bent on trading him is because his skill set does not seem to fit well with top prospect, LSU’s Ben Simmons, in this year’s draft (who has defensive issues of his own, ironically).

Whether Okafor is traded or not, I think Colangelo and a lot of fans will regret the move. Trading him now is basically an acknowledgment that the team is giving up on a guy who averaged 17 points a game on a team in which he was the only reliable scorer as a rookie. His weaknesses have been constantly assessed and dutifully noted as well, but giving him less than 70 games to fix them before he can legally drink just doesn’t sit right with me.

We all have our opinions, but Okafor is going to give a team something of great value. If we are moving our most valuable pieces because those good pieces do not fit with another piece we THINK can be great, then I need to question the true value of this potentially great piece because if he doesn’t turn out to be great… Well, lets just hope he does.