aak5fv wrote:76ciology wrote:pittsburgh22 wrote:
Could you explain more about how he is improving?(don't worry I think Jah is a stud) I think maybe the Jah haters are just more vocal and people get a twisted picture of how 76ers fans actually feel like about their budding star who is also just a great kid.
Rebounding: a bit old..
“I’ve seen the rebounding numbers, and I’m not happy with it,” the rookie said. “So I’ve watched film. When we played Cleveland at home, I only had three rebounds. So I asked our strength guy and coach to show me some footage of the rebounding I’m missing and what I’m doing wrong. It was little things. It’s not that I’m not trying. I would box out, but I was boxing out with my arm extended, not like this (forearm along his man). That leads to a stronger base. Those are just the little things I have to get used to.”
Averaged 5.6 rebounds first 5 games, averaging 9.2r/g in his last 10 games. DefenseBeen challenging more shots evident by block numbers.
He started with 4 blocks in his first 5 games. Last 10 games? 2.1 blocks per game.Overall, he's actually a really good rim protector when he gives the effort. He's limiting his opponent to 10% less than their average around the rim. It's just that his mistakes in defensive rotations are really bad on eyetest that is making it worse than it seems.
Offense:- improved jumper
- improved FT%
- more balanced post and face-up game
- lately he's adding some "mix" to his post game, namely that fake passes against Jordan Hill and Whiteside at the post. And I can't remember that possession where he looked like he would go for his usual reverse lay-up but he scored with at the left side of the rim with his left hand anyway.
Also do you feel like the 76ers present situation is hurting Okafor's development? One could actually say that this could light a fire under Jah to try to be even more dominant while addressing his real issues that might have been covered up on a better team like KAT and Minnesota (don't worry I think KAT is a stud too). By the time Okafor has some at least marginal NBA talent around him, he'll be ready to take over the league and will have a desperate need to win since he is in for a lot of losses this year.
No.
Rookie mistakes just looks worse than it seems and the Sixers is letting Jah be a better player by making mistakes. For instance against the Bulls or OKC, they really let Jahlil be relentless on offense to let him feel what works and what not against these good rim protecting teams. And if you read the latest ESPN article about Jah, I wouldn't be surprised if both these games where use as educational videos for jahli for him to adjust his game. And actually, after both these games I saw some counter moves off Jah's usual signature moves that can easily be scouted by the better teams.
Offensively, they are improving his ability to score individually off the post and face-ups. I believe once, K.Marshall returns, that's the time when they'd be developing Jah's "roll game" off PnR, where he's lacking in volume (10% frequency similar to ZBo) but looks promising with his ability to score more points per possession that his post/iso game.
On his def/reb, I thought it was great that Jah took a lot of beating/criticisms with his defense and rebounding in his first 5 games. In the long run, I think letting him make mistakes on that end would make him a better defensive impact player in the future, shown by his rebounding and block numbers in the last 10 games.
His flaws in def/reb is an issue of inexperience and conditioning. But on offense it's an issue of not having the right teammates to compliment him and just his style on offense in general.
Just as another note...I don't think people realize that Hinkie might be the best possible person to develop Okafor. As a stats guy myself, I've read repeatedly on the insane detail to which they are critiquing Okafor on his game. Hinkie might develop a monster.
I think Hinkie and Brett Brown are the best fit for Jah's development. Hinkie's background with analytics and BB's background with Duncan's evolution of his offense and fit with the Spurs system that BB is running would be a tremendous help for Jah.
With Hinkie and his sports science peeps such as the article where one of the staff tracks "Jahlil Okafor Effort", they can determine what parts of Jah's game he needs to change to be more efficient. For me Jahlil's pre-NBA game is obsolete because I don't think it's going to be efficient when you will try to score against guys like Gobert and Whiteside. Hinkie is the guy who can suggest ways for Jah to be a more efficient way in these analytic and modern game of pace and space, such as limiting his post game while having more volume on his PnR, Pick and pop, spot up and Iso. And this was the same evolution that happened in TD/DMC's offense. Where we see TD having more than twice the volume than Jah on rolling to the basket or we saw DMC more than doubling his non-post offense on half court setting, from 4/g in his rookie year to 10/g currently.
There’s never been a time in history when we look back and say that the people who were censoring free speech were the good guys.
stats like these tend to be a little misleading. If people can't see the talent, abilities, and overall potential that Okafor has than they are stubborn haters and nothing more than that. Analytics make my head spin. I'm sure if I actually cared to delve into them I could become more knowledgeable about them. PER seems fairly legit, thing is we didn't need advanced stats and analytics to determine how good a player was twenty years ago. It's not a matter of getting with the times for me, it's more IDGAF what analytics say (wadr), I can usually tell if a player is good by watching them.
