Okafor and his knee still a work in progress
Jahlil Okafor required knee surgery at the end of last season, then spent his second year in the NBA fighting off knee pain, missing games and falling further and further down the Sixers’ depth chart.
CAMDEN, N.J. >> Jahlil Okafor required knee surgery at the end of last season, then spent his second year in the NBA fighting off knee pain, missing games and falling on the Sixers depth chart. A lot of good that did? “It wasn’t a failure,” Okafor said of the surgery Thursday, nearly a year later. “It is part of being a professional athlete. You have surgery. And after most surgeries, you will have soreness. It’s a part of playing 82 games and practicing and loading. And we did the best we could to handle it.”
Okafor missed the final 23 games of his rookie season and played only 50 games this season, none since March 22. Despite that, he has not had any talks about additional surgery, which would suggest that, yes, that’s the best anyone could do to ease the continuing discomfort.
“I’ve just been having treatment with everybody on the Sixers staff,” he said. “I feel fine. Every day is getting better and better. Just doing our best to get my knee in a great situation.”
Despite officially being scratched for the season in March, Okafor insists there has been no setback in his recovery.
“There is nothing new,” he said. “It’s just right-knee soreness. Some days I have good days, and some days I don’t. And some days we have to put a hold on things and allow me to rest. We’re just trying to figure it out. Every day I am working with them to get better.”
After finishing on the AllRookie team, Okafor’s second season was a disappointment. He was caught in the early traffic jam at center, lost his No. 1 job to Joel Embiid, was ineffective as a forward and saw his scoring average drop from 17.5 ppg. to 11.8.
“It was an interesting year,” he said. “I am proud to say I handled it the right way. I can lay down my head at night and know I handled it professionally. Lots of guys in the NBA have gone through something like what I’ve dealt with. It’s part of being a professional.”
Okafor was known to have been available in trade last summer. And at the NBA deadline this year, he seemed so certain to be traded that the Sixers made him a healthy scratch, rather than disturb any potential deal. However, no deal happened and, in what could have been an awkward situation, Okafor returned.
“I wasn’t frustrated with Coach (Brett Brown) or Bryan (Colangelo),” Okafor said. “I was frustrated with the situation I was dealing with, having myself and Nerlens (Noel) and Joel (Embiid) and Richaun (Holmes). We had a lot of bigs here and we did the best we could to keep everybody composed. And I think we handled it very well.”
Okafor almost certainly will remain available for trade. But that would require a passed physical, which will require better health.
“Everything I do now is for strength and resting my knee,” he said. “It’s nothing basketball related.”
*** Gerald Henderson accepted the $25,000 fine he received from the NBA for his flagrant elbowing of the Pacers’ Paul George Monday. George, too, was fined 25K for criticizing the refs afterward. Both were ejected from the game.
“It’s is what it is,” Henderson said. “It’s a situation that happened. It’s not my place to say if it’s fair or not. You just take it and move forward.”
Despite chronic hip soreness, which he believes resulted from arthritis following earlier hip surgery, Henderson played in 72 games and averaged 9.2 points.
“I hope not to have another procedure,” he said. “It could improve. It’s one of those things. Obviously there can be some soreness. I can take this summer to work on my strength, my conditioning, my range of motion and improve, which will all help it be less sore. So that’s what I’ll be doing this summer.
“I hope,” he added with a smile, “it doesn’t affect my golf game.”
*** Robert Covington, the longesttenured Sixer, will be a free agent after next season. He says there has been no discussion about a contract extension.
“I always say what will happen will happen,” he said. “My main focus has been on what we are doing on the court.”
*** Though cleared to resume using the surgically repaired left wrist that cost him all but three games this season, Jerryd Bayless still needs substantial conditioning.
“I have a month of basketball stuff and I can lift now, but I just can’t play yet, pretty much,” the veteran guard said. “I can have no contact for the next month. Then after that, I’ll be cleared.”
On Brown’s earliest depth chart, Bayless is sharing a 20172018 backcourt with Ben Simmons. Simmons would play the point on offense while Bayless provides an outside-shooting threat, while Bayless guards the opposing point guard at the other end.
“I envision it as going well,” Bayless said. “It’s going to take some time, considering that Ben and I both haven’t played this year. But once it starts to click, it’s going to be a good thing. And with Joel (Embiid) and Dario (Saric) and everybody who is coming back, I think it is going to be something special next year.”
*** Tiago Splitter had one goal this season: To recover from severe hip and calf injuries in time to play some games. The Sixers provided him that opportunity, but are unlikely to re-sign the veteran center, who made $8.5 million this season.
“The Sixers gave me the opportunity,” said Splitter, who played seven games for the Sixers, after arriving in the trade for Ersan Ilyasova. “I played 22 minutes in the last game, so that was great for me.”
*** NOTES >> Sergio Rodriguez will play this summer for the Spanish national team in international competition. Dario Saric will represent Croatia … Saric was disappointed, but understood why the Sixers scratched him Wednesday in New York due to plantar fasciitis. It was the only game he missed all season.