Philadelphia 76ers Better Off With Jah Or KAT?
When reading about the Philadelphia 76ers latest and greatest, a curious debate began in the comments section: fans of the Philadelphia 76ers look to the NBA draft and now believe we were thiiiiis close (you can’t see it, but my thumb and index finger are very close) to getting Karl-Anthony Towns in the NBA draft of 2015, instead of picking third and selecting Jahlil Okafor. The debate raged over age, subsequent success of their respective teams, impact on teammates, maturity, box score and statistics, upside, and a host of other things that happen when folks debate behind the impervious immunity of a computer on a public forum.
Fearless or foolish, I’d like to weigh in on this debate.
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Fruit salad. That’s what we are talking about… oranges and apples. There is no way to compare two players effectively who had ended up on teams on the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of success. KAT arrived as a final piece to a team on the rise, Jah arrived to a team looking for point guard help, and stumbled into the situation where the projected center, Joel Embiid, is shut down for a second consecutive season.
But if we were to discuss the comparative components of Jahlil Okafor with Karl-Anthony Towns, where would you start?
Leadership
Both young men have entered the NBA at a young age. But while Karl-Anthony Towns knows he merely needs to know his role, the fates were not as kind to Jahlil Okafor. Not only does Jah know that his team depends on his offense, but a team that is struggling to find success wears down the preparedness of individual players as each will take inventory of what they did and seek ways to do more, more effectively, and with better results. When the path is ambiguous, when the role is fuzzier, it takes a much greater individual to define themselves, improve themselves. That is discipline. Jahlil Okafor was identified early in the season as a standout player among his peers when he was voted as the rookie most likely to win Rookie of the Year. The qualities of a leader are inherent in a player.
Production
If you were a team facing the Philadelophia 76ers, who would you identify as the top player to defend? Likely center Jahlil Okafor. Despite that knowledge, Jah is generating offense for the Philadelphia 76ers at a healthy pace. His 20.6 points per game (PPG) at the time of this article is good enough for 17th in the league. In fact, he is currently the top scoring center in the NBA, with Brooklyn Net’s Brook Lopez coming in a full point per game less at 19.6 PPG . In Minnesota, Karl-Anthony Towns comes in at 16.1 PPG. Jah is shooting at 50.7% accuracy on field goals, while KAT is coming in at 48.6%
On the Sixers team, the goal for the 2015-2016 season was to produce offense to match their solid defense without cannibalizing the progress achieved on that defensive side of the ball. KAT does generate defense – with an average of 10.5 rebounds per game and 2.6 blocks per game. But to Jahlil’s defense, those tasks are not required of him. The Sixers have Nerlens Noel, and Noel masters the defensive side of the court. To his credit, while Noel is playing solid defense, he is also managing to drop 12.2 PPG in as well.
Stamina
The last area of evaluation is simply stamina. Which of the two can “take the pressure” of minutes on the court? The longer the span of time, the more likely the player experiences fatigue, and his production could suffer.
KAT is averaging 29.1 minutes per game. His back-up center, Gorgui Dieng, his averaging 19.4 minutes per game. JAH on the other hand is enduring an additional 4.7 minutes per game because his backup is Nerlens Noel, who is also the starting power forward.
Which would you prefer?
It’s hard to argue against the success of the 4-4 Minnesota Timberwolves at this early juncture. Most look at a team’s record and use that as the litmus test, the “tiebreaker” if players are close in their talent levels.
But I think this is a case of maturation. The Minnesota model has KAT developing slowly, not doing too much, not learning from mistakes. The Philadelphia 76ers on the other hand are getting as much out of Jahlil Okafor as they can now. He is growing at a more rapid pace, and due to the absence of true player leadership on this team, his ability to show others the way as he learns himself will bring his focus into an even sharper clarity. To teach, one must learn to do. To lead, one must learn to teach.
In either case, this is clearly an example of two very talented players. The point however is which of the two players are the better fit for the Sixers overall plan. Regardless of how we got here, for the situation the Sixers find themselves now, Jahlil Okafor is taking ownership of this team in a major way. It’s that boldness, that willingness to do so much on a team that appeared to have little room for one more center, that makes Jahlil the clear ideal player for the Philadelphia 76ers.