Jahlil Okafor's apparent street fight is more proof of 76ers' flawed rebuilding plan
By Michael Lee
3 hours ago
Yahoo Sports

Grainy cell phone footage turned prized rookie Jahlil Okafor into a Twitter trending topic for the wrong reasons on Thanksgiving, but it should also encourage the Philadelphia 76ers to revise at least one aspect of their controversial, build-from-the-bottom and hope-for-lottery-luck strategy.

Whether you believe the 76ers have been making a mockery of the NBA with their blatant quest for losses, or you trust the process, there is no denying the downside of the plan for the experiment's guinea pigs – leaving youngsters to fend for themselves with little guidance or direction could stunt any perceived progress.

On Thursday, TMZ Sports released footage of Okafor in an apparent altercation Wednesday night with a heckler outside of a club in Boston, where his team lost its 16th straight game to start the season. Okafor, the third pick of last June's draft, is apparently spotted shouting an obscenity ("We got money, you broke [expletives]"), shoving the man into a car and eventually punching him to the ground while holding back another man.

The reason Okafor lost his cool? According to TMZ Sports, the unidentified man yelled, "The 76ers suck!"

Okafor hasn't won a game since helping Duke win a national championship April 5. That was back when winning was a formality for Okafor and the weight of being the best, most highly scrutinized player in his class was met with a nonchalance that suggested maturity beyond his teenage years.

But Okafor needed only one month of losing with an organization participating in a questionable rebuilding plan to make a mistake that he won't be able to easily escape in a social media era in which errors caught on cell phone cameras get played out in endless loops.

The 76ers' last win occured before Okafor's – March 25 – as they dropped their final 10 games last season and are attempting to avoid an NBA record for consecutive defeats with 27 Friday in Houston. If Philadelphia keeps losing through Saturday in Memphis, it will then have a chance to set a new mark with 19 consecutive losses to start a season Tuesday at home against the Los Angeles Lakers. Okafor is having an otherwise fine rookie campaign, leading all first-year players with 18.4 points per game while grabbing a respectable 8.1 rebounds.

But the failures of the mess surrounding Okafor prompted a Duke fan to create a #SaveJahlil video that went viral this week. The video showed several black-and-white lowlights of the 76ers' ineptitude with depressing Sarah McLachlan music playing in the background. In the last scene, a frustrated Okafor waddled down a hallway and leaned against a wall, seemingly unable to handle all of the losing.

While the #SaveJahlil video could elicit laughter or sadness, depending on your vantage point, the episode captured on TMZ is much more troubling – and not just for Okafor, still three weeks shy of his 20th birthday.

The 76ers haven't had a player older than 25 step on the court this season. Luc Mbah a Moute, now with the Los Angeles Clippers, is the only player older than 27 to appear in at least 20 games the past two seasons. Nearly three dozen NBA players have appeared in more career games than the combined total of the 12 players who have played for Philadelphia this season. Carl Landry is the team's oldest player at 32 but he has yet to make his season debut, putting too much pressure on Brett Brown and his coaching staff to teach the kids what it takes to be professional.

Philadelphia hasn't hidden its desire to lose big now to win big later, but it shouldn't just view veterans as salary-cap holds or a means to acquire more second-round picks. The Minnesota Timberwolves finished with the league's worst record last season but invested in expediting the development of No. 1 overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns, reigning Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins and fellow first-round pick Zach LaVine by bringing in aging vets Kevin Garnett, Tayshaun Prince and Andre Miller to help serve as examples on and off the court.

Some of Okafor's peers from the past draft have landed in situations with ready-made, veteran, all-star assistance. D'Angelo Russell is in Los Angeles with Kobe Bryant. Kristaps Porzingis has Carmelo Anthony in New York. Okafor's Duke former teammate, Justise Winslow, has Dwyane Wade in Miami. Okafor has … Robert Covington? Isaiah Canaan? Kendall Marshall?

Earlier this week, Winslow was asked how Okafor was dealing with defeat and he replied, "It's tough. Obviously, their organization is going through something different than us, but he's a winner. I'm sure he'll figure it out. He'll find a way to stay positive. Obviously, it's not the record he wants, but I'm sure in the coming years or this season, they'll figure some things out and get going in a positive direction."

Through his one notable misstep thus far, Okafor might inspire the necessary change in Philadelphia. Having seasoned players around won't prevent kids from making mistakes altogether, but the TMZ video should serve as a reminder that the long-term development of the 76ers might be enhanced if a chaperone or two were around to help the youngsters deal with getting their heads beat in.

mreinman wrote:Not a good look for Ok4. I'm sure that everyone will blame the tanking though ...

sadly, tanking is not the efficient cause here. i had questions about his character from the beginning, which in my opinion stems from his personal circumstances, which include the breakup of his family, the loss of his mother at an early age, and the father basically turning into a "stage father" once he was burdened with raising a child.

okafor is a classic example of the "conveyor belt" ethos that pervades usa basketball culture, being recruited since 8th grade.

he has been exploited. i hope he can attract a genuine mentor.

dk7th wrote:

mreinman wrote:Not a good look for Ok4. I'm sure that everyone will blame the tanking though ...

sadly, tanking is not the efficient cause here. i had questions about his character from the beginning, which in my opinion stems from his personal circumstances, which include the breakup of his family, the loss of his mother at an early age, and the father basically turning into a "stage father" once he was burdened with raising a child.

okafor is a classic example of the "conveyor belt" ethos that pervades usa basketball culture, being recruited since 8th grade.

he has been exploited. i hope he can attract a genuine mentor.

not to laugh at this matter but you did kind of call it. I've been shocked by OK4's actions early on. Because of their build and look I was expecting a more mild mannered player like Tim Duncan. Npt JR Rider/ Ron Artest!

Apart from the obvious - that Okafor, at age 19, and that Wood, at age 20, are not legally permitted to consume alcohol - the incident raises a number of troubling questions for the Sixers and for Okafor, whom the franchise selected with the No. 3 overall pick in this year's NBA draft out of Duke and who leads the team in scoring, averaging 18.4 points per game. If Okafor was indeed frustrated by ridicule over the Sixers' record, his reaction lends credence to the idea that the franchise's plan to withstand several losing seasons for the sake of acquiring high draft picks and rebuilding their roster may be having a corrosive effect on its players.

With an average age of 23.3, the Sixers are the youngest team in the NBA, and none of the nine players who saw action Wednesday night in Boston is more than 24 years old or has more than three years of experience as an NBA player. The Sixers' next game is Friday night in Houston against the Rockets. Yet the team chose to stay overnight in Boston instead of traveling to Texas immediately after the Celtics game - meaning a group of players with little veteran leadership and guidance had a night's worth of free time on their hands.

When asked what steps, if any, police would take to investigate the incident and Okafor's involvement in it, McGuire said that she had seen the video, but "as far as the Boston Police Department was concerned, there's not much we can pursue. Nobody was there when we arrived. We unfortunately don't have the identity of the alleged victim. But if the victim wants to come forward and file a police report, he or she is encouraged to do so."

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20151127_Jahlil_Okafor_caught_on_video_punching_man_in_Boston_street_fight.html#be86FivHjxWoZDG5.99

Are there other incidents besides this one that I am unaware of? :

gunsnewing

I've been shocked by OK4's actions early on.

Knew about his mom's early death and the fact that he had found her and had to call 911- are there documented problems in school or with the law that he had as a kid?

dk7th
the father basically turning into a "stage father" once he was burdened with raising a child.

I don't exactly know what a "stage father" is ...Am I to assume that his means he was a father in name/title only, and not a good dad??

I figured that he had recruited at a young age because of his size, and would have expected that one "amateur" program pr another had him on a traveling team.

That OK4has some holes in his skills-set would make me think that some of his early coaches were not that concerned with making him into a complete player- more concerned with just winning, but this is frequently the case in early amateur ball and even in college.

Add in the fact that he and Noel might not be a great tandem at this point...something that was predicted before the season by a scout quoted in a SI article:

I don’t see, at all, the combination of Nerlens Noel at power forward and Jahlil Okafor at center. That’s probably how they’ll start. Okafor is legit. You can build your team around him. But Noel’s a center too. He’s not a power forward. How’s he going to go out and guard stretch fours? And then opponents don’t even have to guard him. Noel can’t shoot past 10 feet.

This was a recent article supporting the defensive part of the above comment:

Keith Pompey, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: Thursday, November 26, 2015, 3:01 AM

image:

BOSTON - Brett Brown has a dilemma.

Does the 76ers coach keep his best players on the floor no matter what? Or will be put in what he believes is his best situational lineup despite possibly losing his top players who aren't on the floor?

In this the Sixers' third consecutive season of tanking, one of their main goals is developing Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel in a talented twin-towers tandem. However, the 6-foot-11, 223-pound Noel sat the final 2 minutes, 11 seconds in Monday's 100-95 setback to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Brown opted to put a smaller player on Timberwolves swingman Andrew Wiggins, who was playing power forward at the time.

"I have to coach basketball," Brown said. "I have to do it where you walk the most incredible concoction. There's a recipe you are always trying to figure out. I never coached more moving parts in my life."

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20151126_Sixers_dilemma__Keeping_Noel_and_Okafor_on_floor_together.html#rCGwGJdxAK5XgcgL.99

Not a good situation for Philly. Perhaps Hinkie will come to understand that the "assets" he acquires need more attention once they take on the form of actual players.

WaltLongmire wrote:Are there issues about his character that I am totally unaware of?

Are there other incidents besides this one that I am unaware of? :

gunsnewing

I've been shocked by OK4's actions early on.

Knew about his mom's early death and the fact that he had found her and had to call 911- are there documented problems in school or with the law that he had as a kid?

dk7th
the father basically turning into a "stage father" once he was burdened with raising a child.

I don't exactly know what a "stage father" is ...Am I to assume that his means he was a father in name/title only, and not a good dad??

I figured that he had recruited at a young age because of his size, and would have expected that one "amateur" program pr another had him on a traveling team.

That OK4has some holes in his skills-set would make me think that some of his early coaches were not that concerned with making him into a complete player- more concerned with just winning, but this is frequently the case in early amateur ball and even in college.

Add in the fact that he and Noel might not be a great tandem at this point...something that was predicted before the season by a scout quoted in a SI article:

I don’t see, at all, the combination of Nerlens Noel at power forward and Jahlil Okafor at center. That’s probably how they’ll start. Okafor is legit. You can build your team around him. But Noel’s a center too. He’s not a power forward. How’s he going to go out and guard stretch fours? And then opponents don’t even have to guard him. Noel can’t shoot past 10 feet.

This was a recent article supporting the defensive part of the above comment:

Keith Pompey, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: Thursday, November 26, 2015, 3:01 AM

image:

BOSTON - Brett Brown has a dilemma.

Does the 76ers coach keep his best players on the floor no matter what? Or will be put in what he believes is his best situational lineup despite possibly losing his top players who aren't on the floor?

In this the Sixers' third consecutive season of tanking, one of their main goals is developing Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel in a talented twin-towers tandem. However, the 6-foot-11, 223-pound Noel sat the final 2 minutes, 11 seconds in Monday's 100-95 setback to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Brown opted to put a smaller player on Timberwolves swingman Andrew Wiggins, who was playing power forward at the time.

"I have to coach basketball," Brown said. "I have to do it where you walk the most incredible concoction. There's a recipe you are always trying to figure out. I never coached more moving parts in my life."

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20151126_Sixers_dilemma__Keeping_Noel_and_Okafor_on_floor_together.html#rCGwGJdxAK5XgcgL.99

Not a good situation for Philly. Perhaps Hinkie will come to understand that the "assets" he acquires need more attention once they take on the form of actual players.

yes the loss of his mother has no doubt scarred him. how could it have not? when i look at this kid i see someone who looks like he knows he has been exploited by the conveyor belt of american basketball and yes, by a father who had to come into his son's life not by choice but by necessity. this has to create inner turmoil and even a certain sort of unhealthy cynicism over and above the usual stuff that 19yo boys go through.

kp6 has his brother with him wherever he goes.

Don't know what happened, the only thing I can really fault him for is being underaged and coming out of a club at 2am. No amount of losing can condone that. Someone who played under coach K should know better. Im sure he will be getting a call from him, not the first time he has called a player when he believes they need some advice.