The Sixer Sense
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Why the Philadelphia 76ers Should’ve Traded Jahlil Okafor a Long Time Ago

By Michael Bronson

Feb 11, 2017; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Jahlil Okafor (8) prior to action against the Miami Heat at Wells Fargo Center. The Philadelphia 76ers won 117-109. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 11, 2017; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Jahlil Okafor (8) prior to action against the Miami Heat at Wells Fargo Center. The Philadelphia 76ers won 117-109. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Philadelphia 76ers’ general manager Bryan Colangelo waited too long to trade Jahlil Okafor and has destroyed any chance of getting fair value for him.

It’s a shame that Jahlil Okafor has become the “Glitch in the Process.” Selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the third pick of the 2015 draft, Okafor was seen as a potential star player whose ability to score near the basket would instantly improve a Sixers’ team that won 37 out of 164 games over the two seasons prior to his arrival.

Much of the hype surrounding Okafor was based on his incredible freshman season at Duke. Okafor averaged 17.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 2.5 turnovers per game while helping Duke win the NCAA National Championship.

From a statistical perspective, Okafor had a successful rookie season. By averaging 17.5 points, 7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.2 blocks, and 2.3 turnovers per game, he lived up to the player he was expected to be in his rookie season despite off-court issues.

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So why has Okafor been so hard to trade? Okafor was the 6th highest scoring center in the NBA during his rookie season, so how can teams be unwilling to give a potential lottery pick or star player for him? The answer to these questions is that Okafor is a fantasy good player, not an actually good player.

A fantasy good player will score enough points, rebounds, assists, and other stats to help you win over a thousand dollars in FanDuel while helping his team lose by double digits in the same game.

An actually good player is a vital part of his team’s victories while putting up impressive stats.

Despite Okafor’s good looking rookie stats, the Sixers only won six of the 53 he played in that season with Okafor being involved in 27.3 percent of the offense.

While the 2015-16 Sixers were a very bad team, and Okafor was just one of the many issues with that team, this season has really showed his flaws. When Okafor has played this season, the Sixers’ field goal percentage has decreased by 5 percent, total rebounds by 3.6 percent, assists by 10.2 percent, and blocks 3 percent.

The previous stats combined with the Sixers only winning 11 of the 41 games Okafor played in this season shows how Okafor playing doesn’t translate to wins.

"Some fans see a big man whose low post scoring could dominate the current NBA. These fans believe most NBA teams’ addiction to small ball and 3-point shooting, would leave them incapable of defending a big man with Okafor’s ability to score near the basket. Other fans see a center that would be great 30 years ago, but doesn’t play good enough defense to be a valuable player to a championship team in the current NBA."

The above quote is from an article I wrote evaluating Okafor’s potential days after the 2016 NBA Draft where I came to the conclusion that Okafor’s best role in the NBA is to be the fourth scorer in the starting line up or a sixth man off the bench.

I had hoped the Sixers would have traded Okafor for a 2016 lottery pick, but at the time many people saw a potentially dominant big man. Now many people see him as a player that isn’t needed in the current NBA and trying to get a first rounder for him might be asking for too much.

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The problem with fantasy good players like Okafor is you have to trade them before everyone realizes they are not very good. This is something the Sixers’ previous general manager Sam Hinkie understood when he traded the Sixers’ previous fantasy good player Michael Carter-Williams.

Selected by the Sixers with the 11th pick in the 2013 draft, MCW went on to win Rookie of the Year by averaging 16.7 points, 6.3 assists, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game his rookie season. Despite his impressive numbers, Hinkie understood MCW’s performance was an illusion and he needed to trade him before the rest of the NBA saw through it.

He successfully traded MCW to the Milwaukee Bucks for the Los Angles Lakers’ protected first-round pick as part of a three-team trade. This was a controversial trade at the time and Jake Fisher wrote a good article detailing the problems with trading someone with MCW’s perceived potential.

But over time, MCW has proven to not be very good. MCW only played in 79 games for the Bucks and was traded to the Chicago Bulls days before the 2016-17 season for Tony Snell, a player that has averaged 5.9 points, 2.5 rebounds, and one assist per game during his over three-year career.

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Whether Byran Colangelo himself still believes the fantasy that Okafor will become a Hall of Fame center or he is hoping and praying that there is an NBA team somewhere that is yet to realize Okafor’s flaws, he has likely ensured that the best asset the Sixers get when they trade Okafor is a protected first round pick that will only convey if the upcoming NBA draft is canceled before turning into two second round picks.