Scouting Report – Jahlil Okafor

Name:   Jahlil Okafor       DOB:  12/15/1995 (19)   School: Duke

Height: 6’11         Weight: 270   Projected Position:  C

Wingspan: 7’5      Standing Reach: 9’2.5

2014-15 Stats:

17.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.8 spg, 1.4 bpg, 2.5 tpg (30.1 minutes per game)

66.4 FG%, 51.0 FT%, 64.1 TS%, 66.5 eFG%

27.6 USG%, 14.8 ORB%, 18.2 DREB%, 16.6 TRB%, 4.5 BLK%

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SKILLS & ATHLETIC BREAKDOWN

Offense

Post Offense

It’s not an exaggeration to say that college basketball hasn’t seen as skilled a freshman post player as Okafor was this past season. Okafor has already shown post moves that young big men in the NBA hope to develop, with the ability to finish in a variety of ways. Okafor does a good job using his body to seal off the defender in the low post, though with his lower body, you almost expected him to get deeper position than he did, and he often was catching post entry passes 10 feet away from the basket. He has the ability to set up on either block, and can make a good move over either shoulder. An important thing to note is how Okafor limits his time putting the ball on the floor, not dribbling as he contemplates what to do; Okafor already has a good idea of where he’s going by the time the ball gets to him, and often the speed in which he makes a move catches defenders off guard. If Okafor makes a move towards the lane, he’ll likely go to a short hook shot or jumper over the defender, though they are probably the weakest of his scoring abilities right now. He does like to use long strides toward the basket to try and create some separation, showing a lot of confidence in his moves and footwork. While he shows good touch around the basket often, he hasn’t found it yet consistently with the hook. As players look to take away the basket from him, he has a very smooth up-and-under move he can use on both sides of the basket, and his ability to finish with either hand makes him that much more effective.

Unlike many young post players, Okafor is very good about making his move towards the rim, and not settling for being forced 6 to 8 feet away, though he has shown that he can hit his shot from there as well. Okafor has also shown a very effective drop-step move on both sides, showing excellent footwork as he edges towards the baseline, and if you try to take away the near side of the basket from him, he’ll just continue to the far side and finish there.  Okafor has the strength to muscle shots up through contact, showing the concentration to finish.  Okafor will occasionally look to face-up out of the low post, where he shows good control and ballhandling ability as he makes his move. One thing he is missing is the ability to show a consistent post-game jumper, whether it’s a turnaround shot out of the low post, or a mid-range shot when he faces up. Also, Okafor can be more aggressive in all aspects of his post-game, whether it’s getting position or going up for shots. He’s not strictly a below-the-basket player; if he gets some room, he will finish strong, but with his size, it was surprising to see him settle for some of the shots he did.

Okafor didn’t get much action as a “roll” man in pick-and-roll sets, but he is a good perimeter screener, and while he needs to be quicker opening up to the ball, he has the scoring ability and footwork to be effective. Okafor faced a lot of double-teams this past season, and he has become a good passer out of the post, and even on the perimeter, when he faces them. He shows good patience, scans the floor to see his options, and generally throws good passes. He will need to process and do all those things quicker at the next level, often facing a guy his own size, but he has the right idea  Okafor is quick to hit open spots on basket cuts off of penetration, and this is usually where you see him finish strong at the rim when his defender leaves to help.

Perimeter Offense

Okafor hasn’t shown much ability as a perimeter shooter, even as a spot shooter in the mid-range area. He took just a handful of jumpers all year, though a couple of them looked like he had good shooting mechanics, so it’s not easy to dismiss that he will eventually add this to his game. Okafor has shown some ability to take the ball off the dribble to the basket, usually from around 10 to 15 feet out, in the high post area when in isolation. He is a good ballhandler for his size, able to go left or right easily, and showing strong footwork as he makes his move to the basket, as well as the ability to finish with either hand.  Okafor is a strong cutter, showing good agility and finishing ability on both basket and flash cuts.

Free Throw Shooting

There’s not much good you can say about Okafor’s free throw shooting right now; it’s an area he really needs to figure out, starting with working on his shooting motion, which includes hitches in his upper and lower bodies, as well as an awkward release. The good news is, if he can fix at least some of these issues, his ability to draw contact around the basket will come with more benefits. Okafor had a free throw rate of about 46 per 100 field goal attempts, which is good, though watching him play, you’d think it would be even higher. If not, Okafor may become the next player teams start to intentionally foul to send to the free throw line constantly.

Transition Offense

Okafor may not be the fastest big man around, but he moves down the floor well for his size, and he is a good option as he trails the break running down the middle of the floor. He does a very good job of catching the ball around the foul line and making a quick move to the basket as the defense is scrambling. Okafor may not be involved in many transition offense scoring opportunities, but he will make the most of them.

Defense

Post Defense/Help Defense

By no means is Okafor a good low post defender, but many of his struggles have been exaggerated, and with some teaching and better conditioning, there’s no reason to believe he won’t improve a lot. He does a good job positioning himself between his man and the basket, getting low with a wide base; though he doesn’t do much to force his man away from the basket area, or make it difficult for an entry pass to get there.  His footwork can be slow when defending against both back-to-the-basket and face-up post moves, and at times, it almost seems like he’s hopping a bit instead of sliding his feet. Given his footwork on the offensive end, learning to improve his defensive footwork shouldn’t be difficult.  Another thing that Okafor needs to work on not doing is when the ball is entered to the post, he immediately backs off the player, taking a step or two back towards the basket, and not doing much to prevent the man from getting into his move. Okafor should watch a tendency to play with his hands down at his side, allowing players to get good shots off before he can react and get his hands up. His reaction time is a bit off, and even when he has a player defended well, he can be two steps into his move before Okafor reacts. He has average defensive awareness, he can be seen watching the ball a little too much and not seeing what’s happening around him, he does try to be a good help defender around the basket. He isn’t a very good weak side defender, being a bit slow to get to some spots, though he did improve as the season went on. Okafor will likely never be a big shot blocker, though if a player comes right at him, he’ll give it a shot. Not being much of a leaper, he will often try to get the ball on the way up, or just put his hands over a guy and hope to get the block. One thing he needs to watch for is a tendency to block down at the ball, instead of extending up to get at the shot, which leads to needless fouls. Okafor wasn’t very effective as a pick-and-roll defender, preferring to play a few steps back instead of hedging out on the ballhandler; while that could be effective at stopping the ballhandler’s penetration at times, it often left him horribly out of position when he had to recover to his own man. Also, he put no real pressure on the ball, which gave the ballhandler ample time to find the open man, even when the defense rotated. By the end of the season, he did show improvement there, and in many areas, and while physical ability certainly played a part in his struggles, I think a lot of important defensive concepts were new to him.

Perimeter Defense (On/Off Ball)

Okafor didn’t have to defend much one-on-one on the perimeter, though you did see him have to deal with it against more versatile big men, such as Duke’s two games against Wisconsin. While he positions himself well, he does tend to give space so as to not get beat off the dribble. He does show decent lateral movement over short distances, but he is slow and his reaction time isn’t very good. The few times he had to defend drives from the perimeter, he did a good job trying to defend the player’s first move, but he would lose them with a change in direction.

Rebounding

Okafor is a good rebounder, though you expect more with his size. He is much better on the offensive end than defensive, showing the same smarts and agility to get to missed shots as he does when catching a ball on the blocks. Okafor puts in a lot of effort on the offensive glass, angling for position and using his body well to clear space. He extends well and uses his strong hands to secure the missed shot. While Okafor is very good about going right back up with the ball after he gets the rebound, he does need to watch a bad habit of bringing the ball down low. He was often able to get away with it in college, but he probably won’t be so lucky in the NBA. His ability to stay focused as everyone is angling to get the rebound is superb, and he stays active going after the ball if he can’t get it the first time. On the defensive end, Okafor doesn’t show the same energy, and you won’t see him often move far to go after a defensive rebound. If it’s in his area, he will get the ball, though he really should do a better job putting a body on someone and clearing some space, especially with his size. Okafor is not a quick leaper, so unless he forces people out of the rebounding area, they can beat him to the ball, unless he becomes more aggressive.

Intangibles/Summary

Even with the areas he struggled, you had to be impressed when you watched Okafor play, especially on the offensive end. His skill in the low post, including moves, footwork, ability to finish, are all well-advanced for his age. Even when facing almost constant double-teams, Okafor still found ways to score around the basket, while also becoming a better passer as the season went on. Though more finesse than power, when Okafor showed an aggressive streak, nobody could stop him; the problem was he didn’t always show that. There are other concerns on offense, namely his very poor free throw shooting, or any ability to stretch his game a bit from the basket with a mid-range jumper, but at 19 years old, it’s not out of the question for him to develop his shooting sooner rather than later. Okafor can be tough to stop on the offensive boards, showing a great knack of getting to the missed shot and getting a good second shot off. However, the same energy is missing on the defensive glass. There’s no way of getting around that Okafor struggled on defense this past season, but he did improve as the year went on, and a lot of the problems are certainly fixable with teaching and repetition. There are a lot of expectations for young bigs who come into the league to be quality rim protectors, but that will likely never be Okafor. Still, if he improves in the other areas, he’ll be just fine at the NBA level. Since the college season ended, he already looks to be lighter and in better shape than before, and with a commitment to staying in good shape, his game should also move to another level.  He already has a good understanding of the game, and he didn’t make very many mistakes for the amount of time the ball was in his hands.           

Draft Value:  Early Lottery – #1-5

Anyone who thinks the Timberwolves’ decision at number one is easy is out of their mind. Even if the direction of the NBA seems to be going away from traditional post players, it’s likely to come back again as teams adjust defensively to the current trends. His offensive game is already NBA-ready, and while I understand the defensive struggles, many of the reports have overstated just how bad he was. At just 19 years old, Okafor will improve on both ends of the floor, and it’s not out of the question to think he will be an NBA All-Star one day.

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