Jahlil Okafor Shows Above All, He Can Win With Offense

Jahlil Okafor has been said to not fit with the Philadelphia 76ers, but he showed how his scoring was valuable Saturday night.

Jahlil Okafor has been the subject of plenty of criticism so far this season for the Philadelphia 76ers. Some would say perhaps too much, as he wasn’t even supposed to be a member of a team struggling like this to win games. Then again, the story that was supposed to play out was him getting drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, who are not doing much better than the Sixers this season, arguably losing by design in order to protect their future, and keep their high-stock draft pick that will be owned by Philadelphia if it falls outside of the top three overall picks.

But that’s another story. Okafor, since he stepped into a system where he was expected to be a focal point and a functioning tool right away, whereas some rookies are put on the back-burner and coming off of the bench to develop more. He’s been an offensive machine, getting bucket after bucket in several games, averaging almost 20 points per game, which is much better than most fans–myself included–expected him to do this season. There were no rookie jitters that had to be worked out. In fact, some of his biggest issues at Duke were worked out by the time he made it to the NBA, including his defense–which still needs a bit of work–and his free throw shooting.

I could praise this 20-year old big man’s game all day, bringing up things like his spin move and post game, but let’s get to what he’s been criticized for.

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Despite being an incredible scorer, and making sure that the Sixers are at least on the board every single night, some have pointed out a big flaw with Okafor, his inability to fit in well with the system that Brett Brown, head coach of the team, wants to run.

Brown was vocal earlier this season about kicking the pace up. Early on in the year, they were coming dangerously close to being dead last in pace, but as the year has gone on, have done a great job of keeping the pace high. Bringing in point guard Ish Smith has helped that as well. But Okafor needs a different offense, it could be argued. While center and power forward Nerlens Noel works well alongside Ish Smith in a fast-break, up-tempo offense, Okafor works best when the team slows it down and gives him the ball, as well as un-rushed time to work with.

This has clashed with the mission, and often led people to believe that Okafor is hurting the rest of the team. The offensive rating has been well-documented as being down when Okafor is on the floor, and this is alarming to fans. But let’s also remember, we have only seen half a season of this young man’s career, and if his 17 points per game tell us anything, it’s that his career should be nothing short of remarkable.

While I agree, Okafor doesn’t exactly fit with the current system, that’s not to say he can’t find a place in the future, or have the Sixers make something happen that satisfies everyone, and especially Jahlil, who is arguably the foundation of the future.

On Saturday night, the Sixers got their fifth win of the season over the Portland Trail Blazers, and Okafor had a big night. He got off to a great start in the game, and made it known early that he would be a big component of the game.

Okafor scored from every angle. From spin moves at the top of the key, to driving with the ball, and of course, his usual post up game was present as well. He hit a few fadeaway jumpers on top of all of that. Okafor was scoring from all angles, hitting almost everything he took. At the end of the game, he shot 12-for-16 and had 25 more points to add onto his already growing points total.

The scoring was a huge part of the win. The Sixers got ahead on the scoreboard early on, and that was something the Blazers couldn’t overcome, falling by nearly 30 points to the Sixers, who are the general-consensus worst team in the NBA. But this worst team may have one of the league’s best scorers. And in the NBA, that’s what works. Although the methods of scoring have changed and evolved immensely over the years, the one constant is that a dominant scorer, whether it be an efficient 3-point shooter, or classic big man, is going to set you up nicely for wins.

Did it help that the Blazers were forced to take some shots they didn’t like? Of course. And it should t be ignored that Nerlens Noel ended the game with just 4 points. When you win by that much though, you have reason to think it doesn’t matter

The Sixers got a nice look into the future on Saturday night as Okafor showed he can push his team to a win with his scoring, even if he isn’t a perfect fit just yet.