Brooklyn Nets: Assessing Jahlil Okafor’s Barclays Center debut

Jahlil Okafor finally made his Brooklyn Nets home debut at Barclays Center Wednesday night, contributing to a clutch victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The night had finally arrived for recently acquired Jahlil Okafor to make his home debut for the Brooklyn Nets, giving fans a chance to see the possible future franchise center. The stat line was far from impressive, as he posted two points and two rebounds in 11 minutes of action. The Nets defeated the favored Minnesota Timberwolves in thrilling fashion.

The process after the Nets completed the shocking trade that sent forward Trevor Booker to the Philadelphia 76ers for Okafor and Nik Stauskus has been very patient. The Nets coaching staff chose to not play the former third overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft duet his unfamiliarity with the team’s playbook and conditioning concerns. His brief stints on the road after the trade were early indications that more work was needed in practice before throwing him in the lineup full-time.

The Nets were victorious in Okafor’s home debut and fans were very welcoming as soon as he appeared on the court. The lone basket was a clear indication of the type of presence he has on the low post against most centers. He spoke with the media after the game describing the exposure to the Barclays Center crowd as his new home.

"“It was exciting just to be playing in front of the home crowd. It was a lot of fun. It was my first time in a while because when I played with Philly for a long time I was in Toronto, Utah. And then when I played with Brooklyn, I played in Toronto, so to finally play in front of a supportive crowd, it was a good feeling. I’m happy with the way I performed. I’ve tried to work on making the team better and I think some of the stuff I talked about with Coach, I was able to achieve such as screen sighting and communicating and being active, having energy, and I was able to do that.”"

The Nets shuffle several centers throughout games and it’s obvious that Okafor is the more polished offensive player of the group. The key moving forward will be his consistency and defensive intensity — all qualities displayed by incumbent starting center Timofey Mozgov and rookie Jarrett Allen, who is quickly establishing himself as a good rim protector.

Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson praised Okafor’s quick contributions off the bench in limited time during his post game press conference.

"“[He was] good, He was solid, understood what we do, what we’re doing. It’s just going to take him time. He really understood our system, and was in the right place. Now ours guys have got to learn how to play with him. It’s the chemistry with the group he’s going to be out there with, when to throw him the ball, when not to, when does he go pick-and-roll; so there’s some hesitancy. But he executed our pick-and-roll coverages perfectly, offensively was in the right spots. I’d say very positive.”"

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Brooklyn will lean on Okafor a lot more moving forward as his minutes increase and more plays are run through him. It’s still a ways away, but the potential impact of D’Angelo Russell and Okafor is more than enough to have Nets fans excited for a bright future in the Eastern Conference.