76ciology wrote:I don't agree on Jah's lateral being slow for a 5.
The issue with Jah is with his reaction time as a help defender at the 5 where he's basically a goalie. But if you look at his individual defense he has always been good and this even includes brief stints when he was faced against quicker players like Milsap, Tobias Harris and other pgs
The thing makes me hesitant to subscribe to this is that he doesn't seem to have slow reaction time in other facets of the game except those that, conveniently, require a degree of athleticism (lateral quickness, explosion off the ground, etc). I don't deny that Okafor is acceptable as an individual defender, but the instances where he's been good on quicker players is balanced by the many more instances where he doesn't even attempt it.
Maybe he's good at judging when he has a chance to contest, and when he does he's actually good at it. Who knows, maybe he's getting the most of his limited athletic ability on defense already.
But when it comes to consistently contesting a guard off the pick and roll, hedging out onto perimeter players, exploding off the ground to grab a rebound (all attributes that require a degree of athleticism/lateral quickness), Okafor is suddenly slow to react. Maybe you're right and if you tested Okafor's reaction speed, he would have below average reactions. But IMO, I think he's just limited athletically and would struggle to keep up if he has to chase around stretch 4s.
phifans wrote:TeamHigh wrote:It could work because Embiid is a freakish player who has enough skill to play the 4. But that would be minimizing Embiid's massive size and post skills so you can accommodate Jahlil Okafor. Why would you want to do that exactly?
You do that because a) Okafor/Saric is a terrible pair on defense and we need to find minutes for Noel once he comes back. b) We need to bump OK4 and Noels' value to put them on a situation where they could most likely perform well if you don't plan to keep them for your long term. c) As talent as Embiid is I think he will be fine play at 4 for this season.
You're right, Okafor/Saric is awful. But Noel/Saric seems like it could be reasonable.
Embiid/Ilyasova is working. Plus, it's good for Embiid's long term development to play his natural position and play with a complementary player that works for him in the modern NBA (e.g. a stretch 4 like Ersan).
What you're by playing Embiid/Okafor is trying to shoehorn in Okafor in to Embiid's detriment, when the season should be able developing Embiid because he's the long term future of the franchise.
When Noel gets back and Okafor still cannot become a part of a decent front court pairing, then you sit him on the bench next to Holmes. There's no reason why he absolutely must get minutes unless he earns/deserves them.
Okafor is an asset, no reason to hate him that much... 