Player Name: Jahlil Okafor (Philadelphia 76ers)
Position: Forward
Height/Weight: 6-foot-11, 271 pounds
Why you need to watch him on NBA League Pass: OK, sure, so Jahlil Okafor is a rookie who has not played an official NBA minute (we’re not counting preseason here, folks). So what the heck is Okafor doing taking up a spot on this All-NBA League Pass team?
Well, to be honest, that uncertainty is a big part of it. What kind of NBA player is Okafor going to be? I can’t answer that question with any certainty, but I can tell you that he’s got the skills to pay the bills. At almost seven feet tall, with hands so big they appear to be over-inflated, and with enough offensive skills to have averaged 17.3 point per game for a national champion Duke team last season, Okafor is the total package.
Wait, he’s not a defensive expert? OK, maybe he’s better offensively than defensively, but that’s just another reason to tune in to the Sixers this season on League Pass, as Okafor will have ace shot blocker Nerlens Noel watching his back all season. Besides, the Sixers didn’t draft Okafor to grab boards. They want him to do work and get buckets.
The last few seasons, the Sixers have churned through young players as they’ve tried to find the perfect franchise building blocks after a reboot. Noel seems to have cemented his place in the middle, and our best guess is that Okafor will be lining up alongside him and scoring points for a while in the City of Brotherly Love.
— Lang Whitaker, NBA.com
