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Oka4 Era begins! Happy 22nd Birthday

shades of Chris Webber. I liked what I saw from him tonight.

I like this kid. Even hearing how he actually felt the jitters and did that. It's gonna take time but man Kenny's gonna have fun molding him. Even his 3 takes didn't look bad. Just lacked confidence behind it.

I like what I saw. He tried his best to play within the flow of the offense, and he tried to compete on defense. That's all I ask for, an honest effort to do what's best for the team.

All he has to do is continue to buy in and he'll be fine imo. he's got some work to do and i think expanding his range will make him a keeper in the long run, but we'll see.

One thing that I don't think anyone can deny: the kid has a sick offensive skill set.

MrDollarBills wrote:I like what I saw. He tried his best to play within the flow of the offense, and he tried to compete on defense. That's all I ask for, an honest effort to do what's best for the team.

All he has to do is continue to buy in and he'll be fine imo. he's got some work to do and i think expanding his range will make him a keeper in the long run, but we'll see.

One thing that I don't think anyone can deny: the kid has a sick offensive skill set.

Yeah, he seems excited to be somewhere that cares about making him better. its a great situation for him and he seems genuinely happy to be here.

he is really skilled offensively, but i also think offense is where he needs the most work. he needs to become more of a team oriented offensive player. and when i say that i dont mean he is too selfish i mean he needs to work on things like setting screens, busting hard on your movement in the offense in spots where you know you wont get the ball (i.e. clearing out your side so the wing has a lane). things like that... the stuff philly clearly didnt work on him with.

Right now he has 2 glaring weakness i see that are easily correctable:

1) he doesnt set screens. like mccollough he will slip the screen more often then not and when he does make contact its barely getting in someones way. he has the size and coordination to be a good screen setter. so i expect that to be what kenny and his staff work on the most... then again, mccollough never improved at it so who knows

2) He "goes through the motions" in the offense when it isnt a playside movement. this isnt abig deal but it can really hurt the timing of the offense. you cant go half speed from the low block to the far corner behind the three point line in a clear out for the wing who has the ball. that has to be quick and crisp forcing the defense to move.

again, both correctable. the rest should be pretty easy. he has good hands and touch around the hoop. and will get plenty of opportunities to attack his man within the offense. i think he just needs to become a pick and roll threat to really take off here

He's really a 6'11 version of Russell. Great offensive skills, needs to learn the finer points of everything off the ball. Defense, effort, screens. Good gamble. He definitely looks lighter on his feet with the weight loss. Atkinson should make him watch 3 hours of Al Horford tapes every day.

The GOAT

Prokorov wrote:

MrDollarBills wrote:he needs to work on things like setting screens, busting hard on your movement in the offense in spots where you know you wont get the ball (i.e. clearing out your side so the wing has a lane). things like that... the stuff philly clearly didnt work on him with.

Right now he has 2 glaring weakness i see that are easily correctable:

1) he doesnt set screens. like mccollough he will slip the screen more often then not and when he does make contact its barely getting in someones way. he has the size and coordination to be a good screen setter. so i expect that to be what kenny and his staff work on the most... then again, mccollough never improved at it so who knows

first thing I noticed was his screen setting. I couldn't tell if it was rust or just him. He played nervous but w/ confidence. I don't he 2nd guessed himself on anything other than the 3 pt takes, which I liked.

I predict will love this kid just like Allen and Lin. He's so polite, gives you that puppy that was locked in the house and you let him out to play vibes happy.

I'm really curious what he can look like playing for a team that he actually feels like if behind him. He was basically drafted into a situation where from day 1 it was basically known from the fans and the coaches that he wasn't really in their future plans, he was just an asset collection for them. So he probably felt 0 support from day 1 and that could do a lot to a young players confidence.

So I'm curious if him being in a new place we will see better and more consistent effort from him and if we do, how will that translate to his defense and rebounding. He seemed a little nervous when he first came in, but at the end of the game he seemed to settle down and he grabbed a couple nice rebounds and played more within himself offensively. Like Prokorov said earlier, he needs to set better screens. Him setting better screens can actually help him get better positioning down low which would be huge for him and his efficiency. Defensively he's so big and long that all he really has to do is play with a consistent effort and he can be an average defender.

What he did was fine but Its not gonna work on other teams

ZemGOAT wrote:What he did was fine but Its not gonna work on other teams

that works against every team in the NBA. You can't prepare for the give n' go in the post. You can't cheat the sideline SnR euro.

LKIRNets wrote:

Prokorov wrote:

MrDollarBills wrote:he needs to work on things like setting screens, busting hard on your movement in the offense in spots where you know you wont get the ball (i.e. clearing out your side so the wing has a lane). things like that... the stuff philly clearly didnt work on him with.

Right now he has 2 glaring weakness i see that are easily correctable:

1) he doesnt set screens. like mccollough he will slip the screen more often then not and when he does make contact its barely getting in someones way. he has the size and coordination to be a good screen setter. so i expect that to be what kenny and his staff work on the most... then again, mccollough never improved at it so who knows

first thing I noticed was his screen setting. I couldn't tell if it was rust or just him. He played nervous but w/ confidence. I don't he 2nd guessed himself on anything other than the 3 pt takes, which I liked.

I predict will love this kid just like Allen and Lin. He's so polite, gives you that puppy that was locked in the house and you let him out to play vibes happy.

I DESPISED okafor at duke and in philly...

but he gets a 100% clean slate here. ill let him show me what he is and not project anything. he is saying the right things and its not like a 19-21 year old cant mature or improve epecially under a team that invests alot in him like we will.

if he can clean up the screens and the lazyness at times, he can contribute here for sure

ZemGOAT wrote:What he did was fine but Its not gonna work on other teams

The Raptors are one of the better teams in the league. if he does that against them I don't think he'll have a problem doing that against other teams.

Prokorov wrote:

LKIRNets wrote:

Prokorov wrote:

first thing I noticed was his screen setting. I couldn't tell if it was rust or just him. He played nervous but w/ confidence. I don't he 2nd guessed himself on anything other than the 3 pt takes, which I liked.

I predict will love this kid just like Allen and Lin. He's so polite, gives you that puppy that was locked in the house and you let him out to play vibes happy.

I DESPISED okafor at duke and in philly...

but he gets a 100% clean slate here. ill let him show me what he is and not project anything. he is saying the right things and its not like a 19-21 year old cant mature or improve epecially under a team that invests alot in him like we will.

if he can clean up the screens and the lazyness at times, he can contribute here for sure

I get what you're saying.

Watch this play w/ Levert leading to Mozgov when he really wanted to hit Sauce Castillo w/ that ball screen pass for 3 but Okafor (and this is b/c he's sat all season) doesn't hit this screen breaking our offensive rhythm and leading to a tougher shot selection.
damn just a second late on the rebound, again, effort is there but timing

Here's Joey and Acy boxing out for Okafor who claws the rebound and pushes it upcourt like Chris Webber

Then Okafor and Sauce start the 2 man iso game as Okafor takes it to the rim

Kenny Atkinson must have jizz'd in his pants watching that sequence.

LKIRNets wrote:Here's Joey and Acy boxing out for Okafor who claws the rebound and pushes it upcourt like Chris Webber

Then Okafor and Sauce start the 2 man iso game as Okafor takes it to the rim

Kenny Atkinson must have jizz'd in his pants watching that sequence.

I did when he brought it up the court lol.


The potential

I wish we traded for Nerlens Noel instead of Okafor. Okafor will score. But his defense is weak. The mozgov and okafor combo was atrocious on protecting the paint. If anything, we need to hide okafor on defense with Allen. Even tyler zeller is better option at center than mozgov. I think we might have to start Okafor at PF and Allen at C. Slide RHJ to SF. When everybody's healthy 1st unit Dlo/Crabbe/RJH/Okafor/Allen 2nd unit Dinweedie/harris/Lavert/Caroll/Zeller Garbage time players: Whitehead/Straukas/Mozgov

IceManBK1 wrote:I wish we traded for Nerlens Noel instead of Okafor. Okafor will score. But his defense is weak. The mozgov and okafor combo was atrocious on protecting the paint. If anything, we need to hide okafor on defense with Allen. Even tyler zeller is better option at center than mozgov. I think we might have to start Okafor at PF and Allen at C. Slide RHJ to SF. When everybody's healthy 1st unit Dlo/Crabbe/RJH/Okafor/Allen 2nd unit Dinweedie/harris/Lavert/Caroll/Zeller Garbage time players: Whitehead/Straukas/Mozgov

Noel is injury prone. Okafor's defense isn't weak, it's raw. He hasn't played enough games to teach it in the NBA level, he had 1 season, rookie season, sophmore he got hurt and came back too early when he was still hurt, became 2nd and 3rd priority. Then he loses weight, becomes more mobile. This is his real rookie season, NBA players don't develop until they're 24-26. He's 22. Rondae went through a learning curve too. Okafor deserves that.

IceManBK1 wrote:I wish we traded for Nerlens Noel instead of Okafor. Okafor will score. But his defense is weak. The mozgov and okafor combo was atrocious on protecting the paint. If anything, we need to hide okafor on defense with Allen. Even tyler zeller is better option at center than mozgov. I think we might have to start Okafor at PF and Allen at C. Slide RHJ to SF. When everybody's healthy 1st unit Dlo/Crabbe/RJH/Okafor/Allen 2nd unit Dinweedie/harris/Lavert/Caroll/Zeller Garbage time players: Whitehead/Straukas/Mozgov

That line up has zero floor spacing. Allen got beat up by the Knicks big men the other day, he's not ready to start at all.

we should maintain what we've been doing imo. I'd rather have Dinwiddie/Russell/Carroll/RHJ/Zeller start

Noel is always hurt and he appears to be a bit of a locker room cancer. I'd rather deal with Okafor who just wants a legitimate chance and a team that supports him and will help him grow as a player. He will have that here.

IceManBK1 wrote:I wish we traded for Nerlens Noel instead of Okafor. Okafor will score. But his defense is weak. The mozgov and okafor combo was atrocious on protecting the paint. If anything, we need to hide okafor on defense with Allen. Even tyler zeller is better option at center than mozgov. I think we might have to start Okafor at PF and Allen at C. Slide RHJ to SF. When everybody's healthy 1st unit Dlo/Crabbe/RJH/Okafor/Allen 2nd unit Dinweedie/harris/Lavert/Caroll/Zeller Garbage time players: Whitehead/Straukas/Mozgov

Noel/Allen is a pretty redundant pairing.

Kenny clarifying OKA4’s absence.