If you’re the number three pick in the NBA Draft, that means you’re bound to face certain expectations. The elevated type, to be exact. Jahlil Okafor, who the Sixers took at the third slot this past June, has so far validated his pedigree, turning in high-volume production on a consistent basis. At the onset of the first All-Star Game break of his professional career, Okafor was posting 17.1 points per game. That average wasn’t only a Sixers’ high, but one that tied him for the league lead among rookies as well. Okafor also paces his peers with 30.4 minutes played per game.
As a reward for establishing himself as one of the elite performers from his draft class, Okafor was selected to represent the Sixers in Toronto this weekend. He’ll be the 15th player in team history to take part in the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge, which will be held Friday at Air Canada Centre, the same venue that is set to host the NBA’s 65th All-Star Game on Sunday evening. Nerlens Noel, Okafor’s frontcourt partner with the Sixers, was supposed to play in the event for a second straight year, but will sit out due to tendinitis in his right knee.
The decision was a precautionary one. “I’m excited about it, my family’s excited, the team’s excited, so I’m looking forward to it,” Okafor said about the Rising Stars Challenge on Wednesday, just before the Sixers wrapped up the unofficial first half of their season. Okafor is one of 20 first and second-year players that will be featured in the annual showcase for the league’s top emerging talent.
Last year, the exhibition, which will air on TNT at 9:00 PM EST, adopted a new format. It now pits 10 participants from the United States against a collection of 10 international counterparts. Okafor, who was raised in Chicago, will suit up for the U.S. squad.On Wednesday, Brett Brown discussed the impact he hopes the opportunity will have on Okafor. “I definitely do want to win,” said Okafor. “I’ve been a part of the U.S.A. Basketball organization since my sophomore year of high school, so I definitely want us to beat the World, and I’m a competitor, so I’m looking forward to that.”Through his experiences with the United States’ development program, Okafor has grown close with many of the elite young players that he’ll join forces with on Friday.
In his first foray into international competition, Okafor and Bucks swingman Jabari Parker, another Chicagoland product, helped lead the U.S. Under-16 club to a first-place finish at the FIBA Americas Championship in 2011. The next year, Okafor and Parker were both part of the Under-17 group that made a gold medal run in the FIBA World Championships in Lithuania.
Most recently, in 2013, Okafor, along with Celtics guard Marcus Smart and Magic guard Elfrid Payton, again directed their native nation to a gold medal at the FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Prague. Parker, Smart, and Payton are on the American Rising Stars Challenge team.”Pretty much those are all I grew up with throughout high school,” said Okafor, who’s also close with Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns and Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell.
Towns and Russell were the two draft picks that were chosen board before Okafor in June. “We all just kind of went through all the camps and stuff together. So it’s kind of cool to be in the same event as them.”Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Larry Drew will coach this year’s United States entry in the Rising Stars Challenge. They’ll face a World roster stacked with plenty of promising prospects.
Minnesota swingman Andrew Wiggins, the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year, is one of three Canadians who will have the chance to compete on home soil. New York big man Kristaps Porzingis, born in Latvia, and Denver guard Emmanuel Mudiay, from the Republic of Congo, are members of the World team as well.
The two have enjoyed effective rookie seasons, with Porzingis turning aside 105 blocks, and Mudiay handing out 5.9 assists per game. Both of those numbers rank as rookie-best statistics. Following Friday’s game, Okafor will head back to Duke. He plans to attend Saturday’s late-afternoon ACC match-up between the Blue Devils and Virginia at Cameron Indoor Stadium.”Just to see my teammates, my brothers, see the coaches.
Just a good environment for me to be in,” said Okafor, a unanimous First-Team All-American and the National Freshman of the Year during Duke’s national championship season a year ago. “I’m looking forward to getting down to Duke, being a college kid.
They were my college classmates and teammates. I’m looking forward to it.” After his trip to Tobacco Road, Okafor will have three full days to recharge before the Sixers regroup on Wednesday, February 17th for their first post-All-Star break practice. Given all that Okafor’s done, and what he’s achieved in such a short period of time, a little bit of rest should be a welcomed luxury as he gets ready for the Sixers’ final 29 games of the season.
