Pelicans are in talks with him for a training camp deal. I would love to see as a backup center to keep AD rested. We need depth at every position.
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Pelicans are in talks with him for a training camp deal. I would love to see as a backup center to keep AD rested. We need depth at every position.
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As long as hes not a locker room cancer, i'm ok with it. It means if anyone has been sniffing around over Diallo he becomes a trade piece, some value, to package with Ajinca's expiring. But honestly, I have really high hopes on Diallo, would hate to see him fade out of the league.
It's whatever. Whoever they bring in at this point we are just rolling the dice anyway. If they think he has a chance of doing something then sure go for it.
Apparently he played the saxophone and the tuba? Is there a better place than New Orleans for such a person?
He can score coming off the bench. Give him 10min and see if he contributes. Can’t believe he was the 3rd pick of draft. The offense has to be consistent and we need depth. If we play super fast and have decent depth we can exhaust our opponents.
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Doesn't the 'lil Oak fit the dying big man role? If our 2nd unit is mean't to gas the other team with pace, he slows that down tremendously right?
I'd like to see it pan out. He has yet to thrive in a backup role tho. Doesn't seem like a good fit unless he's been doing wind sprints all summer...
But I don't know Ish Smith anyways.
Cousins wasn’t much for pace plus I think the other 4 guys can get out in transition. I think Jahil would be best served in a half court offense and really bang for rebounds on defense.
In fairness, while it's true he hasn't really thrived in a backup role, he's also not really been given a real chance to do so. In his first season he got the minutes, and put up 17/7 in 30 minutes. His advanced stats were terrible, but so were basically everyone's on that team because nobody had more than 3 years of NBA experience and they won a pitiful number of games. He's seen a reduction in minutes every season since, and last season he didn't even play 30 games, despite being healthy. He's just been given no shots.
His defense still sucks though.
Is there space on the roster for 7 bigs?
AD
Randle
Mirotic
E. Oak
Diallo
J. Oak
Ajinca
?
My answer is maybe
He's signing with us, so we'll see what happens. Just got the bleacher update on my phone.
Free agent center Jahlil Okafor has agreed to a deal with New Orleans, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 8, 2018
I agree. We have to take into consideration the two teams and times he played for them. Philly admittedly was tanking and Brett Brown literally isolated him down the bench. Brooklyn hyped him up and didn't even give him any meaningful minutes. I believe going into a system and club that is in playoff contention will rub off on him. Plus, being around a much more mature support system. I understand that we want to speed up the pace as our offensive mentality, however you have to have guys that can play in the half-court too. It evens add to our talent pool in the frontcourt. We now have 3 Top 10 picks in the past 6 years on our roster. You can't dismiss talent. Of course, everyone doesn't pan out, but if you have a guy with his ability to score on the open market you go get him no matter what. Great job Dell!
Trash.
I think its a good signing. Anyone at this point is a long shot so you might as well take a flier on a talented long shot.
Its not like we're signing him to become the savior of the franchise. Its a low risk-high reward signing if he doesn't pan out he'll just sit the bench.
he's a black hole on offense and terrible defensively
Hes apparently lost alot of weight and gained alot of speed.. Could be a steal of a signing
https://twitter.com/liamaris24/statu...926515713?s=19
It's supposably only partially guaranteed so there is no risk.
I don't see any possible way a Center who can't run, stretch the floor or protect the rim has any impact at all on this team but why not kick the tires.
Best case scenario is he takes center minutes in October through March to keep AD healthy.
Would be interesting to see of this is a setup move though. Mirotic will likely be traded at some point, my speculation, and if they like Okafor for some reason this could be a precursor.
— Liam Aris (@liamaris24) August 8, 2018
We don't really know if he can run, or stretch the floor right now. He hasn't in the past, but we've barely seen him play for two years, and the training videos he's released look fairly promising. Obviously that's the whole point, they're filmed and edited selectively, but we really have to wait for camp results to make any real judgment.
I'm still not sure where this idea that he cant protect the rim has come from. Sure he's not AD or Gobert, but he averages a block a game for his career. This season (obviously in limited minutes) opponents shot 4.9% worse than their averages against him within 6 feet of the rim. 4.5% worse in the 16-17 season, and 4.9% worse again in 15-16. Although his minutes and opportunities have been spotty and he cant defend the perimeter, he does seem to consistently make people shoot worse at the rim, which is something.
Do you guys remember when Hassan Whiteside had to be out of the league to become the Hassan Whiteside that he is today? I’m not saying that will happen with Okafor, but I think we are about to see what happens when one man has his back against a wall...and I’m excited.
Hopefully Okafor fall from Grace has given him a different outlook on his career. He was way too entitled coming into the league. If he can get into better shape and commit to defense he could be a change of pace back up center.
Not gonna get my hopes up for his results. I will say that it is encouraging that he's gotten himself in tremendous shape. That video of him training was pretty cool.
If they Okafor it allows a lot of positional flexibility with Davis and Randle both being able to play the 4 and 5.
It is no secret that 1. Mirotic is our only good, movable trade asset outside of Davis and 2. They have at least explored options of moving him.
I'm not saying that Okafor is Mirotic's replacement because I am not stupid. I am saying that Demps has a history of setup moves that lead to bigger moves and this is something to keep an eye on.
How do you know that? Mirotic's skills are not anywhere near the same as Okafor. So, I cannot see a move for Okafor having an effect on a potential move for Mirotic. Randle/Davis flexibility is not strengthened significantly by an Okafor signing and neither are the perimeter threat Mirotic is.
I am not sure jah will break the 15 man roster to be honest and yall talking about 3ko's spot? hahahahaha
Once again, I never said Niko was gone or Okafor was his replacement.
I only noted that this may be something to keep an eye on. That is it. Not even that it is the catalyst for a change. Just a possibility that a move could be made in the future.
Great signing, when you make up a team, every player is not going to be a superstar or star, you have to fine role players, and I think Okafor will realize that his time is running out to making an impression in the league. Practicing and playing with AD, Jrue, Randle and players of this caliber should only help him to mature and raise his level of play.
I'll just say I also remember when Oden was hyped as being ready for a resurgence and Diallo was brandished in highlights hitting a bunch of corner threes.
I'll wait to see if Jahlil can move laterally and not get abused on defense and that highlight quickness carries into training camp.
It would be great if you could maybe replace 36 year old Okafor with a 22 year old version. So I'm rooting for it to be more than highlight magic.
I do like what we are doing from a financial perspective though. It might be the most savvy offseason I have ever seen from Demps.
You basically are loaded with cheap, high upside players that come the trade deadline could be flipped for something up to incredibly significant.
Randle, Mirotic, Moore, Payton, Okafor, Diallo, Ajinca, and first rounders are all potential positive assets this season, guys that should fetch equal or greater value, and if the cards fall right land you another superstar or at a minimum a really good small forward.
....Of course if they ball out and they all walk in the offseason because Demps pulls another Ryno/Ennis situation, it will be for nothing, so heres to hoping Demps does have a strategy if/when some of these guys ball out but clearly aren't players you can keep long term.
We've seen this so many times and it doesn't pan out. However this is where it starts. If he can get keep his body right and be able to stretch the court he'll have a place in this league with his post game. But he has to display much better defensive want and understanding.
A source close to Jahlil Okafor signing in New Orleans tells me: "We almost got it done at the trade deadline a couple of years ago, but couldn't get it completed. Everyone is excited we could make this happen now."
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) August 8, 2018
What a signing by the Pels. Ultimate low risk high reward situation. From what I've heard it's a 2 year vet minimum deal with the 2nd year being a TEAM option. That means if he doesn't pan out we can get rid of him and only lose a vet min contract, or use him in a trade to make salaries work. But if he goes beast mode we have him next year for 1.7mil. Love that we're giving him a chance. We all know he can flat out score, question is can he get it together to be halfway decent defensive and play within the team? Keep in mind this guy is only 22 years old!
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/j...ally-work-out/
Eventually, AD's minutes will decrease if and when we can add talent to our roster. In the meantime, his minutes can decrease if we slow it down a bit when he isn't on the court. IMO
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the addition of Okafor doesn't make any sense at all strictly from an identity standpoint, but it does make sense in terms of balance. He plays a slow style of basketball that requires setting the floor and letting him work the post, a rarity in today's NBA and something the Pelicans don't have at all outside of Davis, who again has the capacity to stretch the floor if he's able. Who knows, maybe one of these signings can even cut into Davis' 36.4 minutes per game last season.
Quote:
All of that, and Okafor himself has a better chance to make the Pelicans' roster than arguably any team in the NBA.
Ehh if he makes the team, not a bad 5th or 6th big I guess
His lackadaisical defense is unacceptable. If we see him play defense like a little boy he needs to be benched and chewed out. Our team is aggressive and plays hard defense. His conditioning is critical and his mindset has to be defense. If the guy can play decent defense he will really be a good pick up.
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Agreed. I've said it, others have said it, we all know his offense is there within 6 feet, and he has potential to stretch that out. The defense is the real question mark: we know that despite a lack of defensive awareness, opponents do worse against him close to the basket than their averages. Why? Because he's a big, tall guy who can interrupt rhythm just by virtue of existing. The problem has always been that he cannot defend anything outside of that first ten feet or so. A middy 15 footer flies over him like he doesn't exist. A three might as well be a warmup shot. The question is whether Erman and the defensive identity of our team, combined with his desperation to stay in the league, really puts the foot up his backside and gets his defense working well enough to do some elementary trapping.
Understand your concern, doubt it was, but even if it was, Dell's decision making of late has been outstanding. Instead of a 20+20 mil injured Booger, we have lil Oak and Randle at half that w/o any risks. Not to mention Payton at 1/3rd the cost of Randoff. And a whole lot younger and faster to boot.
So what?