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Duke Bball Alumni

Glad to see him get the defensive credit he deserves. I think because he came from Duke and doesn't look like a freak athlete, everyone just assumed his defense was weak.

I think it goes back to the Josh Jackson comparison. It's like pundits felt like they had to be "fair" and give Jackson some kind of noted advantage over Tatum, since it obviously could be nothing to do with shooting or the offensive end of the floor. So the narrative was pushed that Tatum's D was lacking, even though at Duke I never felt he was worse than average.
 
A lot of it is legitimate fears that Tatum won't be able to cover SGs or quicker SFs. I would hope Stevens uses him as a stretch PF exclusively, so he's matched naturally with opposing PFs. He'll have trouble against Anthony Davis in the post as long as the Pelicans are playing Cousins and Davis together, and LeBron will kill him just like any other defender when LeBron is at PF, but that's about it in the NBA of a few years from now. With normal bulking up as he ages into his 20s, Tatum should be able to hold his own against Draymond Green, Ryan Anderson and old man Melo types.
 
^That has been my preference coming into the season. I think that plays to his strengths on both sides of the ball.
 
I think he could handle most SFs and some SGs. I don't see a problem with him guarding a DeRozan type. Or no more problem than others have. I think he could handle a Hayward too (though obviously he won't have to guard him).

Where I was most impressed with him on defense at Duke was his understanding of help D. He seemed to have a great awareness of where the ball was. Personally I think his offense is a bigger question than his defense, no matter what position he plays.
 


Legit argument by staff made to Duke recruits should be that you will have the best PR and pro-media relations service and access not only during your career at Duke but during your entire pro career. Maybe it's confirmation bias but I swear relative to their star level, Duke players in the pros get more positive profile and fluff pieces than any other school's pros. Even Grayson since last April has had 1 or 2 "redemption" articles published, as well as an obvious professionally run PR campaign for his twitter feed that has worked in his favor.
 
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Great piece. I do think it doesn't emphasize the fact that he is a dinosaur enough. It's mentioned briefly, but I think it's almost entirely to blame for his present circumstances. He's capable of scoring 20 ppg on post-ups if that was still valued. Instead, the article focuses more on his defense. Obviously that's a problem, but teams would overlook it if his offense was still believed to be useful.
 
I'll take the contrarian position: he's not an offensive dinosaur, because he's so far from being limited to being a back-to-the-basket big. Most of the memorable highlights I've seen of him in the pros are taking slower bigs off the dribble, or faking and pulling up over them from 10-15 feet. He's a fantastic face-up big, scoring-wise He needs to work on his passing, offensive rebounding, and extending his range to the arc, but there's nothing archaic about how he can score.

Here's one game from his "fat and slow" second year.

 
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There are so many players of all sizes better at face up scoring, taking slower players off the dribble, pulling up from midrange, etc. than Okafor, though. His skills don’t warrant him being played over those other mostly smaller players, except his post-up game. As long as he’s bad at rebounding, passing and defense, the choice is between someone who is better or equal at everything but post-up scoring vs. someone who is better at post-up scoring only.
 
I looked at Okafor’s stats. I don’t think I’ll do that again for a long time. His defensive stats actually aren’t devastating. He absolutely kills the Sixers on offense. I’m glad we got a title with him.
 
It was all part of The Master's plan to have Okafor get in foul trouble and sit for most of the second half in the title game and unleash secret weapon and future evil villain Grayson Allen who he had masterfully kept hidden on the bench for the entire season on the unsuspecting Badgers. Can't top that when it comes to coaching genius.

Anyway, yeah, Okafor is pretty much useless on the Sixers and in the NBA as a whole.
 
I just saw that. Fucking hell, he can't catch a break. I think he should just head to Europe, but I imagine he'd consider that as giving up.
 
He's better than at least 10% of active NBA players. This isn't homerism. He's better than several Duke guys currently in the NBA.
 
Jabari Parker is nothing but admirable as a human. It also appears that he's gotten a better grasp of what words mean in the last few years.
 
Jabari's nephew

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