Okafor continues to veg out on the bench
CAMDEN, N.J. » Whenever he has had a chance over the last three years, Brett Brown has not denied the obvious about Jahlil Okafor.
“He can score 20 points,” the Sixers’ coach once said, “in his sleep.”
As recently as 2015 the No. 3 overall pick in the draft, Okafor has played just once this season, clocking 22 minutes in Toronto on a night that Joel Embiid was rested in a backto-back concession. Even Wednesday, when the Sixers were desperate to score at the end of an unraveling 105-104 loss to Houston, Okafor remained on the bench.
Yet even with his team at 1-4, Brown not only chose not to wake up Okafor Friday … but defiantly warned Sixers fans not to expect him to do that any time soon. When Embiid starts, Brown will use Amir Johnson as the backup. He’ll give Dario Saric some run at the five-spot. And he will wait for Richaun Holmes to regain health.
So that’s the reality for Okafor.
“It is,” Brown said Friday after practice. “I’m playing Amir ahead of him, and that’s just the situation. But Jahlil doesn’t let people know. He comes in. His head is good. His spirit is good. And he and I talk all the time.
“But that is the bottom line. He is not in the rotation.”
The Sixers have been trying for almost a year to trade Okafor. They were close enough to a trade at the last deadline to sideline Okafor rather than risk an injury. According to ESPN Friday, the Sixers are actively shopping Okafor again.
Whatever happens, Okafor is unlikely to soon reclaim a regular shift.
“I think it’s going to be Amir’s spot to lose,” Brown said. “If I see that there’s a decline in performance, then it will be his spot, right now, to lose. It’s always competitive. But the competitive nature has shifted more to Amir’s performance.”
Save for scant moments toward the end, Sixers practices are closed to the press. But Brown’s tone suggested that Johnson is clearly outplaying Okafor behind those closed doors.
The Sixers tried last season to pair Embiid and Okafor in the same frontcourt, but concluded, with little argument, that both were centers and could not play together. Okafor’s lack of mobility at the defensive end makes him ineffective in the era of stretch-bigs.
Okafor was requested for an interview Friday, but a Sixers spokesman said he’d left quickly, motioning toward a back door. The secrecy added fuel to the recent trade whispers. But the center has not made a public scene. Indeed, he spent the summer slimming down on a vegan diet, theoretically to make himself more mobile. And in his one appearance, Okafor did — yes — score, shooting 4-for-7 in those 22 minutes.
But Holmes, who is recovering from a broken wrist, has been cleared to resume light workouts. And while he will not play in at least the next three games, according to the Sixers, he likely will shove Okafor farther from the scorer’s table.
“I think we’re going to have another conversation soon, because here comes Richaun,” Brown said. “And here we go again. It’s pro sports. It’s my job to figure it out. But all coaches seek a level of consistency with rotation. You don’t want to get into a juggling act. You want to try to get into some kind of symmetry with who you are playing, how you are playing them, and have some type of semblance of order of what they can expect from a rotation standpoint. That’s the NBA.”
*** Dario Saric, the 2017 runner-up for Rookie of the Year, has sputtered early in the season. First, he admitted to being “tired” as he showed up for training camp after a busy summer of international basketball. Then he was bumped from the starting lineup. Then he was made to play minutes at center, which is not his natural position, as Holmes healed.
By Wednesday, he was playing 16:56, taking one shot and going scoreless for the first time in his career.
Saric was unavailable for questioning Friday, the Sixers said.
“He doesn’t wear that on his face or his work ethic,” Brown said. “He comes out and he’s a machine. He is just so European. He just bangs out good days. He loves basketball. So I don’t see any decline in his spirit or his energy.”
Brown likes using Saric as a stretch five, drawing opposing centers away from the basket, theoretically opening space for, among others, Ben Simmons.
“It’s a different position,” Brown said. “And I think that weighs on his mind too much at times, where he is not playing as free.”
*** NOTES » J.J. Redick reported lower back tightness and did not practice Friday. He is listed as “probable” for an 8:30 game Saturday night in Dallas. … Markelle Fultz, who continues to work through shoulder and shooting issues, will not make the trip to Dallas and Houston. … Cleared for light activity, Holmes will have his healing left wrist re-evaluated Thursday.