In his first preseason NBA game on Tuesday night in Washington, rookie Jahlil Okafor wasted very little time showing off some of his offensive skills.
Parked on the low block, Okafor buried his first five shots and connected on 5 of 7 from the paint. However, as the game against Washington continued, veteran big men Nene Hilario and Marcin Gortat did a good job at pushing Okafor away from his sweet spots.
As a result, the Sixers’ big man hit on just 1 for 4 of his shots outside of the paint and was 1 for 5 shooting after the first quarter.
Obviously, Okafor needs to gain position where he can best score, which head coach Brett Brown says will be his biggest challenge this season.
According to Brown, there is no trick or special skill for a big man like Okafor to find his spot on the floor.
He has to take it.
“It’s going to be one of my biggest challenges and this is what I learned: it is way more of a mentality than it is a skill,” Brown said. “The life of an NBA big, running rim to rim for 82 games and colliding with other 270-pound men is a mindset more than a skill.”
NBA
Facing Gortat and Nene was no small challenge for Okafor, though his offensive skills were evident early. However, the veterans quickly racked up four fouls on Okafor in just 17 minutes of action.
For Okafor, still just 19, learning his way around the paint against more experienced players is going to take time, Brown said.
“We all learned that it's not wise to think anything is going to happen quickly. I don’t care how good players are,” Brown said. “It takes time. He’s no different. Then you add his birth certificate into the mix and really look at his age, it’s going to take time. That’s that patience that everybody talks about with us.”
Brown says Nerlens Noel learned that big man mindset and has really come along in his ability to establish himself close to the basket. Though Noel has shifted from center to power forward and has been working on adding a mid-range shot to his game, the second-year player is a little more advanced in his ability to catch the ball deep in the paint than Okafor.
“I think Nerlens is good at it right now. He’s catching the ball deeper than Jahlil,” Brown said.
“We want him on deep catches. He’s heard it every day, all day. It was the same thing with (Tim) Duncan. It’s a hard life rim to rim and so we’ll continue to coach it.”
Injury update
Point guard Pierre Jackson participated in shooting drills Wednesday along with fellow injured guard, Tony Wroten. Jackson has been nursing an injured groin for most of training camp and will not play Thursday against Cleveland.
However, point guard T.J. McConnell will play Thursday along with Isaiah Canaan and Scottie Wilbekin, three players vying for a spot on the roster.
Too much losing?
Though the Sixers practiced for 90 minutes in the morning before Tuesday night’s game in Washington, a 34-point loss is still difficult to swallow. At practice Wednesday, Brown shot down the idea that such a lopsided defeat so early in the exhibition season can infect the culture of the program.
That is not happening with the Sixers, Brown said.
“It won’t get to that,” Brown said.
“That is the common criticism and you hear the tom-toms. What are they doing to the culture? Now they’re getting used to losing and the tolerance level is getting less and less. That is so far from the truth.
“We’re here to win. Obviously we have to develop and build, but to downplay it and undersell it, why you play sports is you win or you lose.”
Brown says he has difficulty accepting losing in most facets of his life, including ping-pong games against his son.
“You win or you lose and it’s done with time and a score and if you lose you have a penalty,” Brown said. “That’s the way I see damn-near everything.”