Unpopular Opinion: Why Okafor should be the Odd Man Out in Sixers Front Court

      The Sixers have been the laughing stock of the NBA for being the worst team the last three years, but that will all have to end this year.  The NBA has stepped in and forced the Sixers to hire Basketball-lifer Jerry Coangelo(Uncle Jerry) to lead the team in a more NBA-friendly direction, from the reigns of General Manager Sam Hinkie(who has signle-handedly exposed the NBA for its flawed system, but that's for another article).  The Sixers started "THE TANK" in 2013 when they traded Jrue Holliday to the New Orleans Pelicans for the fifth overall pick in the NBA Draft to select Kentucky Center Nerlens Noel, who would face injuries leading up to and ended up missing the entire 2013-14 season.  Then, in the 2014 NBA draft the Sixers selected oft-injured Kansas big man, Joel Embiid with the third overall pick, who by some has been compared to Hakeem Olajuwon, but has not played a single minute in a Sixers uniform.Then comes the most recent draft where the Sixers were again slated with the third overall pick and this time selected National Championship winning Duke big man Jahlil Okafor.  That's the back story leading up to where the team is and where they go from here at a couple key spots on their roster.


      Before this article is immediately taken out of context and warped into "this guy doesn't know anything about sports" let me make a statement: Jahlil Okafor is a very good basketball player, who is very valuable to most teams in the NBA.  The Philadelphia 76ers, on the other hand, do not need a Jahlil Okafor on the team.  The positives on Jahlil Okafor are that he can score and has great footwork for a player of his size...THAT'S IT!  That skill set is very solid for a team who needs a dominant scoring big man, but what he can do on offense, he lacks on defense.  The negatives on Big Jah(as some would like to call him) are that he does not have much of a motor/can't play up-tempo, he is a liability on defense, and he is not a great rebounder; especially on defense.  I'm not going to get into too much with Noel, but I make the argument that Noel should be the true center on this team because Noel is a much better all-around player than Okafor who can ONLY be more of an effective shooter and lacks everything else.

      Okafor at one point last year was the consensus number one overall pick by many in the 2015 NBA draft, just like Noel and Embiid in their draft years, but the rising stock of both Karl Anthony Towns and D'Angleo Russell lead to Jahlil falling to the Sixers at three last year.  With that being said, there is plenty of value for Jahlil on many teams in the league, the Sixers just had to draft Okafor because the value after him was much less.  Once the team finds out if Embiid can play they will have to make a decision regarding their 3 big men.  I believe if Embiid can prove he can play and stay healthy the plan to choose Noel over Okafor works out perfectly, but if Embiid can't play I still believe the Sixers can make it work with Noel over Okafor, because I think they can find a trade partner within the next calendar year who give the Sixers an actual player at a different position on the court who will be able to contribute to the bright future of this right now bleak franchise.