blkexec wrote:EnySpree wrote:nixluva wrote:I think OK4 is already better than Al Jeff. At this age he's way ahead of the curve. I think he's gonna develop even more. Wait till OK4 get in a pro level Conditioning and training program to tighten up his game. Russell is a mix of Curry and Kidd. He rebounds like Kidd and has the offense of Curry.
Towns makes me think of a smaller Bynum. The way he moves is very similar to me.
Portia reminds me of Bosh. Skilled and very much a finesse big.
If Okafor is already better than Al Jefferson then we are getting a kid that is going to be 20/10/2 blk.... do you see that in this kid? If the Knicks had al Jeff with melo we'd be really good.
OK4 is solid, but I can't say he's better than Al Jefferson or any starting caliber NBA forward. OK4 could be the next sullinger, nobody knows. Once you become an instant millionaire, you will instantly change. How will the money and fame affect OK4? Nobody knows. How will the practice and everyday grind affect OK4? What about the energy he now has to spend on defense, when playing man to man and guarding the elite players like Tim Duncan? Especially for a guy that has a weakness on defense. I know when you exert too much energy on defense, your offense will take a major hit. So nobody knows about any of these college prospects. His ceiling is Al Jefferson....I'm willing to put money on that. But it could also be higher or lower, depending on his work ethic and willingness to improve. Jordan and Kobe (for example) wanted to be the best. Others just want that paycheck to buy momma a house....Then they lose that motivation, and their career falls off the map.
But NBA comparisons are always fun.....As long as you keep it real. Between Sullinger and Jefferson is a good potential window for OK4. I would still trade him for anybody that thinks he's better than Al right now.....Because if they believe that, then picking OK4 and trading him might be a better move for the entire team. Anybody with a young player on Al Jefferson's level with Tim Duncan's potential, has multiple pick trade value. I think he's more Sullinger than Al, but that's just me avoiding the trap to over hype him.
By all accounts OK4 is a good and humble kid.
Slaughter said: “He can handle New York.”
Okafor said his personable character comes partly from tragedy, losing his mother, Dacresha Lanett Benton, at the age of 9 from a severe case of bronchitis. It taught him how precious life can be, to cherish everyone around him. He used basketball as a coping mechanism at a young age — his therapy, he said — increasing the time he spent honing his craft to deal with his grief. It cleared his mind. He still thinks of her often, particularly when he is on the court. A photo of her is the screensaver on his phone.“I know without a doubt that made me a lot more mature that I would’ve been,” Okafor said. “People always credit me with having an old soul. That all goes to losing my mom at an early age, always appreciating everybody around me. Tomorrow is never promised.
“There isn’t a day I don’t think about her. She’s watching over me.”
After her death, he moved in with his father, Chukwudi (who goes by Chucky), in Chicago. Asked about his son’s advanced offensive skill set, Chucky said they worked on everything — ball handling, shooting, posting up — so that Okafor would be a complete player. It was the same off the court. Chucky wanted his son to be a complete person, not just a basketball player. Academics were emphasized. His son attended Whitney Young because of its education prowess, not its basketball program.
“He never bought a bad grade home in his life,” Chucky recalled fondly. “ ‘C’ was the lowest.”
More than his nimble post moves or his rare combination of size and quickness, his character is what stands out to those close to him. Chucky was proud to say his son has the same friends now he had before he became a star. Okafor was the one who always reminded Slaughter of the team’s annual trip to the soup kitchen over the holidays. In September, Okafor asked Capel if he could attend his 2-year-old son’s birthday party and brought a remote-control car as a present.
“The dude is like a walking multi, multi-millionaire. He’s going to be one of the top picks, he’s going to be a franchise player. He can be an arrogant prick, just think it’s all about him, and he’s the total opposite,” Capel said. “He’s beloved by his teammates. He just wants to be one of the guys.
“Someone is hurting on the team, someone is going through a tough time, he’s the one there for them. Someone falls down in practice, he’s the first one top help them up. He gets as much satisfaction if other guys are doing well as he does [as he is].”
The Duncan comparisons are humbling, Okafor said, and so are the predictions of grandeur, his name atop virtually every mock draft. But Okafor is enjoying being a 19-year-old kid for now, immersing himself in the Duke community. He has the fifth-ranked Blue Devils near the top of the polls, considered one of few teams capable of topping top-ranked Kentucky.
At the moment, that’s all that matters. His lottery ticket of a future can wait. He’s not even sure he will declare for the draft after the year, as long of a shot as that seems.
“My main focus, my No. 1 focus for the year, is winning a national championship,” he said. “That’s what I want to bring to Duke University.”
I think people are really underestimating how good he is as a freshman.
3/5/2015 11:12 PM