Philadelphia 76ers center Jahlil Okafor represents a dying breed of big men, and the 2017 NBA Draft is the clearest picture yet of just how irrelevant his brand of basketball is becoming.
The 2015 NBA Draft gave us an interesting crop of players. At the top, Karl-Anthony Towns filled the mold of modern day centers perfectly, evolving as a shooter while producing in a variety of different capacities offensively. At third, however, the Philadelphia 76ers selected somebody who represents the exact opposite of Towns’ evolution — the growing irrelevancy of post-oriented bigs.
Philadelphia 76ers
Jahlil Okafor was somebody who was lauded as the next Tim Duncan by some. His footwork left basketball junkies in awe, while his production throughout both high school and college was highlighted by one ever-important thing: winning.
His large frame overwhelmed collegiate defenders down low, while his production was one of the driving forces in Duke’s win over a talented — and far more experienced — Wisconsin squad in the National Championship.
Okafor’s flaws were always well understood. He was a subpar defender whose rebounding never quite stacked up like it should. He was almost all offense, yet many thought his prowess in the post was more than enough to sustain a long career of 20-point stat lines and significant contributions.
I was on the other side of that debate, which at the time was a rare position to take. I was perhaps overly-infatuated with Kristaps Porzingis, and as a result was a proponent of Philadelphia selecting him third, rather than Okafor. That was a controversial take at the time, but the last few seasons have showed us that is was more than simply correct. It was predictive.
Porzingis is 7-foot-3 with clear strength issues that still hurt him today. But he’s also mobile, shooting with impressive proficiency from deep while creating his own offense off the bounce with fluidity that you’d expect from somebody seven inches shorter. He, like Towns, has helped lead the revolution of the modern big.
The 2017 NBA Draft is a perfect example of that trend and it’s continuation. When you look at every big selected — in both rounds — there isn’t a single player whose game falls in the same vein as Okafor’s.
Here are the first round’s big men, for reference purposes.
| 2017 NBA Draft -- Big Men |
|---|
| 6. Jonathan Isaac |
| 7. Lauri Markkanen |
| 10. Zach Collins |
| 14. Bam Adebayo |
| 16. Justin Patton |
| 17. D.J. Wilson |
| 18. T.J. Leaf |
| 19. John Collins |
| 20. Harry Giles |
| 22. Jarrett Allen |
| 24. Tyler Lydon |
| 25. Anzejs Pasecniks |
| 26. Caleb Swanigan |
| 27. Kyle Kuzma |
| 28. Tony Bradley |
Of that entire group, only a few names are remotely comparable to Okafor. You can make some semblance of an argument for Jarrett Allen, Harry Giles and John Collins filling that mold, yet even they boast stark differences that should allow for plenty of success in the right situations.
WIth Giles, he may be the most limited from an athletic standpoint. His knee injuries have sapped much of the athleticism that once defined him as the nation’s top high school recruit, which has in turn relegated much of his game to the interior.
He’s still a far more willing rebounder, with defensive hustle that Okafor has seldom displayed during his brief career. He also has some mobility left in those legs, and the potential for further growth is still there if Giles begins to get some of that athleticism back.
Collins is a more mobile defender who made rebounding his calling card at Wake Forest, and has flashed some potential as a shooter during pre-draft workouts and Summer League — a significant step up from his iffy, post-heavy arsenal in college.
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Allen’s repertoire is most similar to Okafor, as he relies on length and a well-oiled post game for the bulk of his offensive production as it currently stands. Yet even with Allen, the differences are fairly significant. The former Texas product is a far better pick-and-roll threat than Okafor, while his jumper has shown flashes from mid-range.
When you add his athleticism and defensive prowess to that, he should have a far more viable path to relevancy in today’s league.
The rest of the first round was littered with stretch fours and mobile defenders. Guys who not only give energy, but can switch screens and stretch out to the perimeter defensively while operating at more than one level offensively are the hallmark of modern basketball — and Okafor doesn’t check any of those boxes.
While there are some bigs who are hanging on in terms of production at the NBA level, we’re quickly seeing the players that Okafor lines up with most being forced out of their regular rotational spots. Jonas Valanciunas was virtually unplayable at times during the Raptors’ playoff run, while Al Jefferson has devolved into a minimal role in Indiana.
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Bigs who struggle to defend, can’t stretch outside of the paint and have shown little commitment to improving physically really don’t have a spot in today’s league. The draft, among other phenomena around the league, has been the clearest example of that change to date.