Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel have struggled to get along all year in the frontcourt, but Brett Brown seems to believe moving Okafor to the four spot will help.
Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel were expected to have some growing pains as far as working well together in the frontcourt goes, and they certainly have struggled to coexist so far this season. Jahlil Okafor has, for the most part, done very well on offense but failed on defense where Nerlens Noel has exceeded. The struggles between the two have caused the Sixers to fall behind other teams and not do as well as they could have been doing all season, but Brett Brown seems to believe moving Okafor to the 4 spot completely will help.
On offense, Okafor has been the forward for a while. It’s not clear if it was by design, or just each player moving to their more natural position, but Noel has been playing closer to the rim and we’ve seen Okafor rely more on starting his play from beyond the arc. Okafor has hit jumpers from all over the floor all season where Noel has struggled to make anything outside of the key. Especially with the trade for Ish Smith earlier this season, we have seen Noel take an increased amount of shots at the basket because of how well he works in the pick-and-roll and subsequently lob-type offense.
Brett Brown has said he’s letting the two freestyle a bit, and giving them less guidance, which leads me to believe they’re tending to grow more in their natural abilities which would place Noel at the center, and Okafor at the 4 spot.
Addressing the media before Tuesday night’s loss to the Orlando Magic, head coach Brett Brown said he is officially moving Okafor to the 4-spot defensively, which was the last spot that he was not playing the power forward position at.
#Sixers Brown: 'The major one (rest if way) is (having Okafor) chase 4s & keeping Nerlens at the rim.'
— Tom Moore (@TomMoorePhilly) February 23, 2016
Noel was a candidate for defensive player of the year last year because of how good of a rim defender he was, but since he has been tasked with chasing power forwards with more range on their game this season, he has been unable to flex his blocking ability, which has been crucial for the big man. Okafor hasn’t done all that well on defense, and although he may be catching too much slack for his “bad” defense, he certainly struggles to figure out when he should and shouldn’t be sliding in to give help defense in the key.
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There were doubts with playing Noel in his natural center position this season because many felt that Okafor could not play defense on the power forwards because of their mobility, but that myth has been apparently debunked by the Sixers coaching staff if they’re looking to try him as the 4 on defense. I think with the ball handling and mobility Okafor has shown on offense, we can expect him to be fine on defense as a forward also.
Okafor has also been noted to have slimmed down as the season has gone on, pointing to his trajectory being towards the forward position.
Overall, I think it’s a fine move, and I think we still owe it to the young big men to let them grow. Sure, issues will arise with how you play Noel, Embiid, and Okafor once they are all healthy, but for now, we’ve got to realize that there is less than 3 years of experience between Noel and Okafor, so expecting them to have it all figured out as NBA players is pure foolishness. They also have less than a season of experience playing together. Letting the duo iron out their issues is something that we owe to each of them.
Okafor is the more skilled and versatile player. Despite his strengths as a center that can body his way into scoring, he can score from all over the floor inside the 3-point line, where Noel is quite limited. Okafor has exceeded in everything he has been tasked to do, and I think it will be the exact same scenario — that is to say, Okafor will be just fine. — when he is tasked with guarding forwards that have range shooting abilities. I’m pleased that Brett Brown is no longer shying away from the fact that Okafor simply is the better fit at the power forward position.