Dukies in the NBA -- 2015-16

[Ichabod Drain]

Jabari has been medically cleared to play Wednesday vs the Sixers. It'll be his first game back this season and he'll get to face off against his good friend Jah.

[huey]

Okafor leads all scorers at the half with 14 (2-2 FT!) and the Sixers are up on some good shooting. He's unleashed a variety of post-up moves- bullying both Mozgov and Love- and had one of his nice push shots.

Also playing tonight, the new and improved Knicks. Lance was featured on the pre-game show. They talked about his hustle and how it's getting him rotation minutes in the 4th quarters of games. According to the League Pass wait screen, he's top five in field goal percentage in the league! (a little early, I know).

[luburch]

Okafor ended up with 24 points on 11/21 shooting and 2/3 from the line. As expected his offensive game has translated well to the NBA. I haven't heard or ready anything complaining about his defense yet, just his lack of rebounding.

[jimrowe0]

Okafor ended up with 24 points on 11/21 shooting and 2/3 from the line. As expected his offensive game has translated well to the NBA. I haven't heard or ready anything complaining about his defense yet, just his lack of rebounding.

Yes, rebounding is a concern. Full highlights from last night.

[phaedrus]

Meanwhile, KAT came back down to earth a little bit with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 turnovers (and 4 blocks) in 27 minutes in a Minnesota loss. So far, after 3 games, their stat lines look like this:

Okafor:

33.7 minutes/51% fg/20ppg/5.3 rpg/0.7 bpg

Towns:

30.7 minutes/57.9% fg/17.9 ppg/10.3 rpg/2.7 bpg

Pretty good start for both.

[huey]

Yes, rebounding is a concern. Full highlights from last night.

In Jah's defense, he actually did a great job of boxing his man out each time, which allowed the 76er guards to swoop in for easy boards. So although he didn't tally many boards himself in the box score, his boxing out (and defense!) really helped his team.

[Billy Dat]

Synergy Sports Tech ‏@SynergySST 13h13 hours ago
Though Jahlil Okafor's post game was his calling card at Duke, he ranks 2nd in NBA in ISO scoring. Very effective getting by Cs early on.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Yes, rebounding is a concern. Full highlights from last night.

His post game is really unbelievable. We'll get double teamed sooner rather than later.

Okafor will never be a defensive presence like KAT can be, but he definitely needs to average more than 5 rebounds a game.

[Furniture]

Gosh. What a beast Jah was there against Kevin Love! Brilliant!

[Billy Dat]

Gosh. What a beast Jah was there against Kevin Love! Brilliant!

I was thinking the same thing. Love is a bad defender, but Jah already recognizes that when he is singled covered by a guy like Love, he needs to punish him!!!! Considering he also punished much bigger Timofey, I think he's already brimming with offensive confidence very early in his career. The Okafor/Noel offense/defense frontline is an interesting experiment, one wonders if it will enhance or stifle the improvement in each players weak areas...we shall see.

[SilkyJ]

Synergy Sports Tech ‏@SynergySST 13h13 hours ago
Though Jahlil Okafor's post game was his calling card at Duke, he ranks 2nd in NBA in ISO scoring. Very effective getting by Cs early on.

I'm not sure I understand the "though" to lead off that tweet, as it implies a difference b/w what he did at Duke vs NBA. He had plenty of ISO situations (I think of that as unassisted scoring 1on1) in college where we just dumped it in to him and let him go to work.

Maybe they are referring to his face-up game, which has looked solid and more plentiful than we saw at Duke, but it would seem to me you can ISO score with both your face and back to the baskets.

[Ichabod Drain]

I'm not sure I understand the "though" to lead off that tweet, as it implies a difference b/w what he did at Duke vs NBA. He had plenty of ISO situations (I think of that as unassisted scoring 1on1) in college where we just dumped it in to him and let him go to work.

Maybe they are referring to his face-up game, which has looked solid and more plentiful than we saw at Duke, but it would seem to me you can ISO score with both your face and back to the baskets.

Yea they are referring to his face up and drive/shoot game. I guess technically a 1v1 post up is still an isolation but you never really hear it referred to that way.

[COYS]

I was thinking the same thing. Love is a bad defender, but Jah already recognizes that when he is singled covered by a guy like Love, he needs to punish him!!!! Considering he also punished much bigger Timofey, I think he's already brimming with offensive confidence very early in his career. The Okafor/Noel offense/defense frontline is an interesting experiment, one wonders if it will enhance or stifle the improvement in each players weak areas...we shall see.

Quick note, Love has the reputation of being a bad defender, but that doesn't seem to be true when you look at the stats. FiveThirtyEight rates him just shy of being in the top quartile of defensive players in the NBA. http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/carmelo/kevin-love/

That only makes what Jah has done even more impressive.

He will have to improve his rebounding, though. I think he will, but given that his defense will probably never be elite, he needs to become a really strong rebounder to maximize his value.

[luvdahops]

Meanwhile, KAT came back down to earth a little bit with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 turnovers (and 4 blocks) in 27 minutes in a Minnesota loss. So far, after 3 games, their stat lines look like this:

Okafor:

33.7 minutes/51% fg/20ppg/5.3 rpg/0.7 bpg

Towns:

30.7 minutes/57.9% fg/17.9 ppg/10.3 rpg/2.7 bpg

Pretty good start for both.

Worth noting that Jah's production has been against better frontcourt competition, especially Utah (Gobert/Favors) and Cleveland (Mozgov/Love). KAT has this far played the Lakers, Nuggets and Blazers, none of whom boast much in the way of post defense (apologies to Mason, and Hibbert is well past his peak).

[pfrduke]

Jabari officially in the starting lineup tonight against the 76ers. Will be nice to see Jabari and Jahlil on the same court.

[luburch]

Jabari officially in the starting lineup tonight against the 76ers. Will be nice to see Jabari and Jahlil on the same court.

Seems Jabari struggled a bit (to be expected) in his first game back. 1/6 from the floor for 2pts with 4rbs in 16 minutes of action.

Jahlil continues to impress. 21pts and 6rbs in 35 minutes.

[gumbomoop]

Hmmmm ... Seth hits 8 straight points (2 threes and a stutter-drive) v. Rockets, so they start double-teaming him.

Still needs to work on handle to make it excellent, not just adequate.

Three good hustle D plays, 2 while guarding Harden.

Nice assist. Smart player.

[dukebluesincebirth]

I'm unable to link the video from Instagram, but did anyone see Jabari dunk on Lance Thomas last night...commentator called it "Duke on Duke crime."😀

[dukelifer]

Hmmmm ... Seth hits 8 straight points (2 threes and a stutter-drive) v. Rockets, so they start double-teaming him.

Still needs to work on handle to make it excellent, not just adequate.

Three good hustle D plays, 2 while guarding Harden.

Nice assist. Smart player.

Seth like his brother can get hot very fast. Good to see him impressing early in the season. May start getting a bit more time.

[huey]

I'm unable to link the video from Instagram, but did anyone see Jabari dunk on Lance Thomas last night...commentator called it "Duke on Duke crime."😀

O this little 270 degree dunk? https://streamable.com/1w1g

Mods, can we please merge the two NBA/Dukies in NBA threads? This had been posted in the other thread, it's a little confusing.