Okafor best college big man since Tim Duncan?

[lotusland]

He hasn't played a single game at the college level. Expectations for him are high but why not wait and see how he performs for Duke before anointing him as the second coming. I think this sort of thread is mere speculation and is just a disservice to him and the team. I hope he will be great but am willing to wait and see from his actual performance.

That's what makes him so great!

[-bdbd]

Amile welcomes Jahlil

Nice feature; Jahlil looking good.

Jahlil's NBA All-Star team included some guy named "Jordan" at the 2. Anybody know who this guy was? Must have played way back in the early days of the NBA, right?

[mattman91]

Jahlil's NBA All-Star team included some guy named "Jordan" at the 2. Anybody know who this guy was? Must have played way back in the early days of the NBA, right?

I hear he owns some soccer team now or something.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Chris Johnson did a run down of the top 25 college freshman. Okafor, not surprisingly, can in as numero uno. What surprised me is the description:

There were times last season when Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski opted to play Jabari Parker at center. This was a pragmatic choice: Duke was thin on the frontline, so Parker needed to play out of position sometimes. The Blue Devils won’t have any issues finding a big man to anchor their frontcourt this season. At 6-10 and 270 pounds, Okafor is a highly skilled post scorer who can work over both shoulders, utilizes drop steps and body fakes to get defenders off balance and can step out to hit jump shots. He has clear All-American potential and could be the best center to play at Duke in more than a decade. An NBA executive with more than 20 years of experience told Yahoo Sports last summer that Okafor is the most skilled high school center he’s ever scouted. Scout.com recruiting analyst Evan Daniels compared Okafor to two-time All-American Jared Sullinger and said last November that Okafor is the best post scorer he has seen play in high school since former Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins. “He can clear out space, he's got great hands, really good touch around the basket, a variety of post moves,” Daniels told SI.com. It should come as no surprise, given the superlatives used to describe Okafor, that he is the projected No. 1 pick in DraftExpress’s 2015 mock draft.

More here: http://www.si.com/college-basketball...liff-alexander

My quick thoughts on Okafor:

1) He'll be gone after a year. And I don't even think that's debatable. He's a) a big man who can score, b) an NBA ready body, and c) he has a ton of upside. Okafor, I'm gonna love your first and only year at Duke!

2) He will be our leading rebounder, leading shot blocker, leading FG%, but he won't be our leading scorer. I think that Sulaimon is gonna come up guns blazing and just torch our competition.

3) Okafor will follow the elite freshman path: ultra domination in the first 10 games, hit a freshman wall during late December/beginning of ACC, then regain form and slowly get better and better and better. Don't all elite freshman at Duke go through the same path?

4) Okafor will be praised for his passing by the end of the year. Once coaches know to double-team Okafor, he'll pass out. Okafor is a smart dude.

5) At the end of the day, I see Okafor as an upgrade to Boogie; maybe not the same low-post scorer, but a better passer, better defender (I hope. Duke OADs don't have a good track record of playing solid D), and significantly more sane.

[kAzE]

Chris Johnson did a run down of the top 25 college freshman. Okafor, not surprisingly, can in as numero uno. What surprised me is the description:



More here: http://www.si.com/college-basketball...liff-alexander

My quick thoughts on Okafor:

1) He'll be gone after a year. And I don't even think that's debatable. He's a) a big man who can score, b) an NBA ready body, and c) he has a ton of upside. Okafor, I'm gonna love your first and only year at Duke!

2) He will be our leading rebounder, leading shot blocker, leading FG%, but he won't be our leading scorer. I think that Sulaimon is gonna come up guns blazing and just torch our competition.

3) Okafor will follow the elite freshman path: ultra domination in the first 10 games, hit a freshman wall during late December/beginning of ACC, then regain form and slowly get better and better and better. Don't all elite freshman at Duke go through the same path?

4) Okafor will be praised for his passing by the end of the year. Once coaches know to double-team Okafor, he'll pass out. Okafor is a smart dude.

5) At the end of the day, I see Okafor as an upgrade to Boogie; maybe not the same low-post scorer, but a better passer, better defender (I hope. Duke OADs don't have a good track record of playing solid D), and significantly more sane.

I'd love to share your optimism on Sulaimon, but I think the offense will be run through Okafor, and he will lead the team in scoring. Not that I don't think Sulaimon is capable of it, I just don't think that's the game plan, and he's also not in the same area code as Okafor in terms of talent. Rasheed should be 2nd or 3rd in scoring, though. He and Cook SHOULD be our best 3 point shooters next year, which will be important for creating space down low for Big Jah.

[kAzE]

More here: http://www.si.com/college-basketball...liff-alexander

So, I checked out the rest of that list, and found this gem in the Tyus Jones section:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIRZe9EVL_8

Pretty impressive.

[Duke3517]

You are all asking for too much if you expect Okafor to be as good as Duncan or Davis. I'm not going to say he can't achieve that type of success but that is a height that is almost unrealistic. Only a certain few can reach to that limit.

Okafor might be that certain few but it is way to premature.

[lotusland]

I'd love to share your optimism on Sulaimon, but I think the offense will be run through Okafor, and he will lead the team in scoring. Not that I don't think Sulaimon is capable of it, I just don't think that's the game plan, and he's also not in the same area code as Okafor in terms of talent. Rasheed should be 2nd or 3rd in scoring, though. He and Cook SHOULD be our best 3 point shooters next year, which will be important for creating space down low for Big Jah.

Without bothering to consult boring past year statistics I'd rate Sheed's first 2 years higher than Nolan's so a Junior jump is certainly realistic. If we have a "big 3" this year I'd definitely pick Sheed to be in it.

[CameronBornAndBred]

1) He'll be gone after a year. And I don't even think that's debatable. He's a) a big man who can score, b) an NBA ready body, and c) he has a ton of upside. Okafor, I'm gonna love your first and only year at Duke!

There will still be a 97 page "will he enter the draft vigil" thread.

[flyingdutchdevil]

There will still be a 97 page "will he enter the draft vigil" thread.

Unfortunately, there will be. But I think DBR is finally understanding that these kids are really OAD. Hoping for the best is hoping that our talent gets replenished, not that the player stays.

But you're right. There will be 5-10 optimistic posters who think Okafor will stay. Like Jabari. Like Kyrie. Like Austin.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

[lotusland]

There will still be a 97 page "will he enter the draft vigil" thread.

Yes and he will consult with his parents and the coaching staff before announcing that, after careful consideration, he's decided to fulfill his dream of playing in the NBA. It's inevitable but it's also natural for guys like Parker and Okafor, if they're all in, to not walk off the court for the last time at Duke thinking "now I'm off to the NBA". But when reality sinks in he'll make the obvious choice.

[flyingdutchdevil]

I'd love to share your optimism on Sulaimon, but I think the offense will be run through Okafor, and he will lead the team in scoring. Not that I don't think Sulaimon is capable of it, I just don't think that's the game plan, and he's also not in the same area code as Okafor in terms of talent. Rasheed should be 2nd or 3rd in scoring, though. He and Cook SHOULD be our best 3 point shooters next year, which will be important for creating space down low for Big Jah.

I'm not disagreeing that our offense will flow through Okafor, but that doesn't always mean that that player will be the highest scorer. And I think this is one of those cases.

Sulaimon is our most diverse scorer: excellent 3pt shooting, good at getting to the rim (not great at finishing), nice mid-range, fast enough for fast breaks... he is a diverse player. He's also the only player who can take the ball to the hoop off the dribble. We don't know about Winslow's handle, and I'm not 100% sold on that skill for Tyus Jones. Cook can't really do it, and our slew of wings (M Jones, Allen, Semi) haven't showed anything to suggest they can effectively either.

Sulaimon is also a decent FT shooter (79% for his two years at Duke). I think he takes the most number of shots during the game as our frontline is huge (Okafor and Amile, finally playing his natural position, are going to clean glass) and is also one of two players given the green light for 3pt shooting (Cook being the other. I hope M Jones finds his 3pt stroke somewhere in his dorm room).

Regardless, the fact that we are having this debate is a very good thing. He can two players highly capable of leading the team in scoring. The best news is that a least one player is competent in defense (and I hope Okafor can hold his own). That's a huge plus.

[johnb]

Yes and he will consult with his parents and the coaching staff before announcing that, after careful consideration, he's decided to fulfill his dream of playing in the NBA. It's inevitable but it's also natural for guys like Parker and Okafor, if they're all in, to not walk off the court for the last time at Duke thinking "now I'm off to the NBA". But when reality sinks in he'll make the obvious choice.

It's not clear to me that you can generalize. Sure, if he's the runaway NPOY, it would be weird for him to not accept being the first pick in the draft, but stranger things have happened.

Injury, maturity, and (relative) mediocrity could also potentially delay his NBA entry. He might even really like school.

So, sure, the coaches should assume he's gone in regards to recruiting, but I kinda think we fans should just let him enjoy the ride.

[flyingdutchdevil]

It's not clear to me that you can generalize. Sure, if he's the runaway NPOY, it would be weird for him to not accept being the first pick in the draft, but stranger things have happened.

Injury, maturity, and (relative) mediocrity could also potentially delay his NBA entry. He might even really like school.

So, sure, the coaches should assume he's gone in regards to recruiting, but I kinda think we fans should just let him enjoy the ride.

No one is saying that we shouldn't let him enjoy the ride. He should, and he probably will. The reality of the situation is that there is a 99% chance he's gone after his freshman year. For every Marcus Smart, there are 50 Jabari Parkers.

We as fans should appreciate everything that Jahlil is going to bring with him this year. But we as fans should also be cognizant that he's a OAD.

[sagegrouse]

3) Okafor will follow the elite freshman path: ultra domination in the first 10 games, hit a freshman wall during late December/beginning of ACC, then regain form and slowly get better and better and better. Don't all elite freshman at Duke go through the same path?

Strange as it seems, hitting a wall is not nearly as bad as hitting a toe.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Strange as it seems, hitting a wall is not nearly as bad as hitting a toe.

I loved that season because my favorite Duke player in the last 8 or so years crushed it. I hated that season because if Kyrie had been there the whole time, there is no doubt we would have been Final Four bound at the least.

Kyrie and Nolan just had no chemistry during the tournament. Tough to build chemistry in one month.

[HaveFunExpectToWin]

So long as the bar is being set so unrealistically low... I hear Okafor has Russell's hands, Iverson's feet, Allen's jumper and Olajuwon's dexterity... you know, realistic expectations that are in no way driven to obtain web page hits.

As an aside, I heard Grayson Allen can dunk from crosscourt like the players in the video game NBA Jam.

A spectacular dunk!

[Ggallagher]

As if there weren't enough hype on Okafor already, they did kind of an interesting story on him on PTI yesterday. The theme of the piece was that now the Duke coaching staff was talking Okafor up so much that they were going to create enormous pressure and unrealizable expectations for him - jeopardizing his chances to do well.

The first two minutes of the discussion was the typical hand-wringing, shouting, pleading, what are they thinking? type shouting match that's not too unusual on their program. But once they got that out of their systems, Wilbon closed with an interesting comment that was much quieter and almost a throw away line at the end.

He said, and I'll paraphrase as best as I recall, "But we all know how understated Coach K can be. If what's he's been saying is what he feels - then Wilt's back".

Looking forward to seeing him out on the floor in Cameron...

[freshmanjs]

Tim Duncan averaged 9.8 pts and 9.6 rbs per game as a freshman

[OldPhiKap]

I am wary of all the hype -- the Black Pigeon is still fresh in my mind -- but K has always said that if you're THAT good, there's no reason to downplay yourself. I do not know if the coaches are hyping or not, but if they are -- it's because K really thinks the kid is that good.

Hope he stays healthy, progresses well, and that our offense and defense all meshes as a full team regardless of who is on the floor.