Author Topic: Rumors: Boston Celtics might trade 3rd overall pick in 2016 NBA draft for Okafor  (Read 41085 times)

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Offline crimson_stallion

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For the 76ers last year:

- Okafor averaged 21 points per 36 on 51% shooting
- Ish Smith averaged 16 points per 36 on 41% shooting
- Nerlens Noel averaged 13.7 points Per 36 on 52% shooting

If you look at those stats in a vacuum, you would think that Ish Smith is a good offensive player, and that Nerlens Noel is a solid one.

In reality, Ish Smith is a scrub who was pulled from the D-League, and Nerlens Noel is quite possible the worst offensive big man in the entire NBA.

I suggest people take this into consideration when using Okafor's stats to gauge how impressive he was, offensively, in his rookie year.

Offline Future Celtics Owner

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The Okafor obsession is a poor reflection on this board, IMO.

What's the upside of the player? Al Jefferson? How's that worked for the Wolves / Jazz / Bobcats? I just don't follow the excitement for how he will drag this franchise down.

If nothing else, I'll just keep coming back to this...

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/page/2/sort/RPM/position/9
OKAFOR: His biggest strength is also his biggest weakness
With time Okafor can drastically improve his game. With all the info we have bc of the internet I am very excited to see him wear GREEN hopefully, and in our organization I believe he would flourish.

2 most important things Okafor needs to work on, and will get much better with time, are:
1) his jumper: In order to balance and ultimately take the most advantage of his post-game he needs to take WAYYYY more fga from 10-15ft and then 15-19ft. This will only make his post game that more dangerous and open things up for his teammates.

2) Sculpting his body: 280lbs solid is pretty dam impressive for anyone let alone a teen. He needs to get his body in shape and get quicker (laterally as well), more conditioned, and even stronger. We all know if he was wearing GREEN we would want him to defensively get better at: rotating on d, running the floor, defending both the 4 and 5 and be able to defend stretch 4's, block more shots, rebound more, defend the paint.

He will eventually get that "grown man strength"

He was only a rookie and schooled vet's on the block. Did you know that his fg% was largely affected by his shot getting blocked in the paint. It makes sense bc although he has good form and an improving shot, he seldomely took a jumper outside of 8ft. This made defenses pack the paint and dare him to either shoot or take it in the paint....99% of the time be took it in the paint and still scored, even off the dribble.

Basically -- you want a different guy. A guy who can play on the perimeter. A guy who's nimble -- who has lateral movement. A guy who's competent on defense. Somebody else.

TP x 10.

I can tell you right now that Okafor will NEVER be able to guard the guys like Crowder that play the 4 now in this league. Just not gonna happen. He'll never be an above average rebounder, because he's not very good at boxing out and he's not athletic enough to sky over people for boards. He's never gonna be able to guard guys on the perimeter without being burned, and he's never going to become an elite passer, a necessary skill for someone who's only way of scoring is around the paint.

That doesn't mean he can't be a good player in this league, he can. Big Al has been a good player in this league for years. But is he the kind of guy you trade some of your best assets for and build your team around? No. Not even close. Not if you wanna win championships at least.

Ask yourself this: Is it worth taking the ball out of IT's hands to have Okafor take on double teams in the post? Is it worth doing that if it costs you the 3rd pick in the draft?
Where were you when we were posting about Ingram or Turner or Towns. This Okafor thing has been going on for years and everything you just mentioned is what some of us were posting about years ago.

Your judging him on his sole year in the league after playing 1 season in college.
But he has more room to grow than you care to admit. Regardless he is undervalued.




Offline KG Living Legend

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Am I crazy for wanting to draft Bender instead of acquiring Okafor? I wonder if there was some way to package our other picks and get a guy like Hield with the 8th pick or something.

I certainly think you are.

Not crazy at al. Well, maybe the drafting Bender part, but not on Okafor. This is a dude who you'll have to design your whole offense around to get a positive contribution from, but he's not talented enough to justify doing that.

For every bucket Okafor gets, he'll be taking a bucket away from IT, Crowder, Bradley, etc. I get that people are desperate for an other offensive option, but Okafor is far too flawed on both sides of the ball to justify giving up our best asset for

Trade Rozier, 16 and 31 for Noel and we'd be much better off in the long run, even if we have to give Noel 10$M a year next summer.



 This just isn't true, If Okafor comes here Coach Stevens is not going to build the offense around him.

 He's going to have one of the best post up options in the league to dump it into when he wants. Last year Okafor played 30 mins a game and avg 17.5 ppg. My guess is that next year if he was on the Celtics he'd play 27 mpg and avg about 16ppg and his fg% would go up to around.530%

 When we got beat by Charlotte you saw how nice it is to have an unstoppable post precense on your team. It's a great option. He's 20 coach decides how much he shoots.

Offline slightly biased bias fan

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Quote
Your judging him on his sole year in the league after playing 1 season in college.
But he has more room to grow than you care to admit. Regardless he is undervalued.

I think what most peoples points are that the Okafor's flaws are possible unfixable red flags.

-Very slow lateral movement
-Very poor vertical leap
-Terrible mid/3 point jumpshot & unwilling to work on
-Poor defensive instincts
-Poor rebound instincts
-Weight issues at a very young age
-Attitude issues; unwilling to run back on defence, refusal to modify game

These all point to unfixable problems, the only possible hope for him is that he has a Draymond/ Sir Charles awakening and puts in massive efforts to correct his flaws but it doesn't look like his personality.

Offline crimson_stallion

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The Okafor obsession is a poor reflection on this board, IMO.

What's the upside of the player? Al Jefferson? How's that worked for the Wolves / Jazz / Bobcats? I just don't follow the excitement for how he will drag this franchise down.

If nothing else, I'll just keep coming back to this...

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/page/2/sort/RPM/position/9
OKAFOR: His biggest strength is also his biggest weakness
With time Okafor can drastically improve his game. With all the info we have bc of the internet I am very excited to see him wear GREEN hopefully, and in our organization I believe he would flourish.

2 most important things Okafor needs to work on, and will get much better with time, are:
1) his jumper: In order to balance and ultimately take the most advantage of his post-game he needs to take WAYYYY more fga from 10-15ft and then 15-19ft. This will only make his post game that more dangerous and open things up for his teammates.

2) Sculpting his body: 280lbs solid is pretty dam impressive for anyone let alone a teen. He needs to get his body in shape and get quicker (laterally as well), more conditioned, and even stronger. We all know if he was wearing GREEN we would want him to defensively get better at: rotating on d, running the floor, defending both the 4 and 5 and be able to defend stretch 4's, block more shots, rebound more, defend the paint.

He will eventually get that "grown man strength"

He was only a rookie and schooled vet's on the block. Did you know that his fg% was largely affected by his shot getting blocked in the paint. It makes sense bc although he has good form and an improving shot, he seldomely took a jumper outside of 8ft. This made defenses pack the paint and dare him to either shoot or take it in the paint....99% of the time be took it in the paint and still scored, even off the dribble.

Basically -- you want a different guy. A guy who can play on the perimeter. A guy who's nimble -- who has lateral movement. A guy who's competent on defense. Somebody else.

TP x 10.

I can tell you right now that Okafor will NEVER be able to guard the guys like Crowder that play the 4 now in this league. Just not gonna happen. He'll never be an above average rebounder, because he's not very good at boxing out and he's not athletic enough to sky over people for boards. He's never gonna be able to guard guys on the perimeter without being burned, and he's never going to become an elite passer, a necessary skill for someone who's only way of scoring is around the paint.

That doesn't mean he can't be a good player in this league, he can. Big Al has been a good player in this league for years. But is he the kind of guy you trade some of your best assets for and build your team around? No. Not even close. Not if you wanna win championships at least.

Ask yourself this: Is it worth taking the ball out of IT's hands to have Okafor take on double teams in the post? Is it worth doing that if it costs you the 3rd pick in the draft?
Where were you when we were posting about Ingram or Turner or Towns. This Okafor thing has been going on for years and everything you just mentioned is what some of us were posting about years ago.

Your judging him on his sole year in the league after playing 1 season in college.
But he has more room to grow than you care to admit. Regardless he is undervalued.

He is a one dimensional offensive player, he cannot rebound, he cannot defend, advanced stats rank him as the worst player in the league at his position, and he's already raising character concerns.

He certainly is NOT undervalued. 

Does he have potential to improve from the player he is now?  Of course he does.  But I'm quite strongly concerned about a the quantity  (and extent) of his flaws.  To reach the potential people initially expected of him he'd have improve his game significantly in every single area besides post scoring - that's a lot to ask of anybody, and I'm not sure it's a hurdle he's capable of leaping.

In addition to that, when I look at Okafor's conditioning, attitude and apparent work ethic it reminds me WAY too much of Jared Sullinger and perhaps a little Vin Baker - that scares me more then just a little bit.

I know it's a gamble, but I honestly think I'd rather take a chance with the #3 pick on a low risk prospect like Hield, Dunn or Poeltl.  Ellenson even - he's not athletic either by any means, but at least he is a quality rebounder and can step out and hit the three - something like Kevin Love type.

« Last Edit: May 31, 2016, 02:21:39 AM by crimson_stallion »

Offline LGC88

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I find difficult to believe that Brad wants this type of player.
After all Zeller role got reduce this season and he was arguably our best offense solution at the Center position. He run the floor well with a good jump shot and post play.
I always thought Brad prefer a good defensive player like Amir, or someone who can shoot the 3s to spread the floor.
How is that going to work with a player like Okafor?

Maybe Brad has a plan already, but I'm doubtful at this moment.

Offline TA9

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If Danny does this, then it's because there isn't anyone better than Okafor at #3. Personally, I would be a lot more comfortable about trading for Okafor (who we know is somewhat of a good player) than selecting a huge question mark in Dragan Bender.
Jack of all trades, master of none.

Offline cltc5

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So then sixers get to pick Simmons and Dunn and we get okafor?  Ummmm no.

Offline dannyboy35

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I find difficult to believe that Brad wants this type of player.
After all Zeller role got reduce this season and he was arguably our best offense solution at the Center position. He run the floor well with a good jump shot and post play.
I always thought Brad prefer a good defensive player like Amir, or someone who can shoot the 3s to spread the floor.
How is that going to work with a player like Okafor?

Maybe Brad has a plan already, but I'm doubtful at this moment.
I agree with you that he may not fit best with his style. Coach has to be able to coach more than one style though.

Offline Celtics4ever

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Quote
In reality, Ish Smith is a scrub who was pulled from the D-League, and Nerlens Noel is quite possible the worst offensive big man in the entire NBA.

Your on quite the roll with the silly hyperbole today.   I think even offensively Noel is almost as good if not better than Sully.  He is not a spread the floor kind of guy, but let us be honest neither was Sully.   Teams let him shoot it.

He shot .521%   to Sully's  .435%
Noel averaged 11.1 PPG to Sully's 10.3

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/2991280/nerlens-noel

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/6624/jared-sullinger

So he is not the worst, and these guys are not close to being the worst.

Offline rickyfan3.0...

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Hopefully this is all leverage that we can use to go get Jimmy Butler.

Winning teams need 2-Way players. Okafor fills a need and makes us a little better, but isn't a 2-way player. I think for the #3 combined with the pieces we have, we can go seek out a real foundation player.

...if not, just keep it and draft the BPA.

Offline kozlodoev

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Can we stop calling a rumor every worthless piece of junk that some dude with a keyboard and Internet connection put on a website?
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

Offline footey

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For the 76ers last year:

- Okafor averaged 21 points per 36 on 51% shooting
- Ish Smith averaged 16 points per 36 on 41% shooting
- Nerlens Noel averaged 13.7 points Per 36 on 52% shooting

If you look at those stats in a vacuum, you would think that Ish Smith is a good offensive player, and that Nerlens Noel is a solid one.

In reality, Ish Smith is a scrub who was pulled from the D-League, and Nerlens Noel is quite possible the worst offensive big man in the entire NBA.

I suggest people take this into consideration when using Okafor's stats to gauge how impressive he was, offensively, in his rookie year.

So you're saying Ish smith for the 3 pick? 😎

Offline slightly biased bias fan

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Can we stop calling a rumor every worthless piece of junk that some dude with a keyboard and Internet connection put on a website?

http://info-europa.com/basketball/nba-trade-rumors-2016-isaiah-thomas-boston-celtics-could-part-ways-for-no-1-draft-pick-hall-of-fame-magazine-66/273153

Extremely reliable source...I've heard the guy writing this is the european Woj  ;)

Offline Clench123

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People on this board blow my mind sometimes.  The same people who are crying Bender instead of Okafor are the same people who thought we struck gold with James Young, they're the same people who thought Cousins donning green is a negative, they are the same people who thought R.J Hunter is the best thing since sliced bread.  I mean, the "logic" of these people...smh.

To go for Bender when you have a chance at Okafor is asinine.  It's just plain crazy.  There is very little to this guy, Bender.  I just don't see it, just like I didn't see with James Young or R.J Hunter.

Bender instead of Okafor?  What is wrong with people?  Jeez.

Okafor averaged 17.5 pts and 7rbd as a f'ing rookie for godssakes....AS A ROOKIE!

Man, I'm glad some folks here aren't running the Celtics Organization.  Opportunity would be smackin' folks in the face and kicking them in the nuts and they still won't see it.  Unbelievable.

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