Zhejiang Guangsha officially announced the signing of the NBA's 2015 Tanhua xiu Jalil Okafu, the CBA third stage of the group of deer has not yet begun, a heavy cavalry is far away, smoke and dust are rolling, Huashan on the sword is only afraid of adding another table and chair.
The time is dialed back to the 2012 U17 Men's Basketball World Youth Championship, Zhou Qi won the rebounding king and the block king, the "big devil" sound shocked the river, and it was also on top of that competition, another talented big man attracted the attention of many Chinese fans, that is, Okafor. He averaged 13.6 points and 8.2 rebounds in 19.7 minutes, helping the United States secure gold and earning the MVP.
10 years later, Okafor and Zhou Qi have not been able to gain a foothold in the NBA, which is regrettable.
Okafor was famous as a teenager, he was a distant cousin of the 2004 NBA leader Emeka Okafor, although Emeka did not become a superstar, he won the NCAA championship before entering the NBA, and beat Dwight Howard and others in his rookie year to win the best rookie trophy.
At the time of the U17 World Youth Championship, Okafor was only a sophomore at Whitney High School, but he was already a leader in the same age, and two years later he was ranked first in the ranking of high school students on the three major websites in the United States. Entering the prestigious Duke University, he worked with his teammates Tyes Jones and Justin Winslow again in the United States.
The 14-15 NCAA was a clash of two super interiors, with the Kentucky Wildcats led by Carl Anthony Downs and Devon Booker holding the record for the tournament title, while Okafor and The Blue Devils Duke were steadily advancing. The Wildcats, who won 38 consecutive games, were strongly blocked by Frank Kaminsky's University of Wisconsin in the semifinals, and the final meeting between the two interiors was blocked, and Duke lifted the championship as he wished.
After his freshman year, Okafor decided to enter the draft early. In the 2015 draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves selected downs with higher potential as the winner, the Los Angeles Lakers wanted a guard, took D'Angelo Russell, and Okafor was selected by Philadelphia with the third pick.
In Philadelphia in the dark, Okafor was the third talented interior line to arrive in three years.
Norlens Noel, Joel Embiid, Okafor, Philadelphia collected big men but could not quickly build a winning system, Philadelphia was shrouded in a cloud, and Okafor, who came to the NBA as a winner, collapsed. After losing to the Celtics, Philadelphia suffered a 16-game losing streak, clashing on the streets of Boston, and the mocked Okafor was enraged and punched and kicked.
After that clash, Cameron Anthony publicly mentioned the huge negative impact of the team's dismal record on young people and said he would call Okafor to comfort him. But even so, no one can save Okafor, except for himself, the rookie averages 17.5 points, 7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game, but just when everything is on the right track, the meniscus of the right knee was slightly torn in March, and the season after surgery was reimbursed.
In the 16-17 season, Embiid returned, and Okafor's time was compressed, from 30 minutes to 22.7 minutes, and half of the game was on the bench. Even so, he still averaged 11.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, which was dwarfed by the crazy performance of the emperor, and worse, at the end of the season, he ended the season early because of the sore right knee.
When he came back, Philadelphia began a big sale, he was traded to the Nets, a season in Brooklyn, and then to the New Orleans Pelicans. There, he had an opportunity, Anthony Davis got into a fight with the team, and the understaffed team reused Okafor.
On January 22, 2019, Okafor began the pelican career.
Against Mark Gasol, Okafor had 20 points and 10 rebounds on 9-of-11 shooting, followed by 17 points and 10 rebounds plus a career-high six hot pots to build a wall in front of dunk king Blake Griffin. Since then, he has 18 points, 8 rebounds, 24 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks, 27 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks.
It was the hottest time of his career, six games, 32.5 minutes each, averaging 20 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game, shooting 69% from the field. On top of that, he was paid only $1.57 million a year on a contract, almost the same as the NBA veteran's base salary.
The abandoned genius of the past played the star moment of his dream come true, when many people thought he had finally survived, averaging 13.9 points and 7.4 rebounds in the 24 starts that replaced the thick eyebrows. After a victory over an ankle injury that plagued him at the start of the season, the finale took his first career 30+, and the Pelicans also executed his team option for the 19-20 season.
But the Pelicans were still not his home, and at the end of the 19-20 season, he had to leave for the Detroit Pistons. He was then sent to the Nets as a chip in the Andre Jordan trade, and then cut by the Nets. He joined the Atlanta Hawks before the season began, but was cut again half a month later.
Proud genius is constantly being abandoned, and after 6 years of stumbling, there is finally nowhere to go.
Joining Guangsha may be a major turning point in Okafor's career, after all, he is only 26 years old, far from the twilight of his career, and still has the opportunity to save his career. Can Okafor come to the CBA to kill the quartet? I'm afraid it has to be seen from his draft report, which accurately predicted the direction of his later career.
The advantages are excellent low-post offensive skills, 210cm tall but not bulky, high ball quotient can cope with a variety of bag strategy, good at using body card slots, can patiently control the rhythm of the game. Because of this, Okafor can average 17.5 points per game in his rookie year, and can also play a 20+10 consecutive amazing stats after the Pelicans lack an interior offense, which is his characteristic, and he is also known as "Duncan Jr."
But Okafor is more often cited as a joke by netizens the title is actually "American Wang Zhelin", before this season, Wang Zhelin was always regarded as a representative of the attack and defense, and Okafor also lacked the ability to change the game on the defensive end, and he was already very problematic in the movement of the defensive demolition, lack of excellent athletic ability, and poor restrictions when defending the interior line.
The report also mentions another fatal injury to him, where 52 percent of college-time offense comes from low-back play, compared to Downs, who competed with him for the title, who recently won the NBA three-point contest. "Duncan Jr." play is really retro, the entire NBA career has only scored 6 three-pointers, but he does not have a decent defense to dominate the interior line, can only say that the more he plays, the more helpless.
He's more of an ill-timed interior, and his brilliant low-level skills aren't enough to fill the gap between him and the times.
Time destroyed the heart of the genius teenager, and in the NBA's ultimate space today, he finally left there. The CBA is completely different from the NBA in that there are FIBA rules that are perfect for Okafor, who previously followed Nigeria to the Tokyo Olympics. Although Nigeria lost all three games, Okafor averaged 9 points and 4.7 rebounds in 15 minutes per game, shooting 85.7%.
As for defense, Wang Zhelin has suffered a similar situation before, and the reputation of joining Shanghai this season has completely reversed. Shanghai, directed by Li Chunjiang, has a strong ability to tear up the outside line, the king has received enough defensive support, at the same time, Shanghai has also signed a big foreign aid Noah Vonle, no matter what kind of lineup combination, or a variety of defensive formations, the king can become the mainstay of the team, and the defensive data is at the forefront of the league.
Perhaps more important is the attitude, the king is not a defensive elite, but the defensive attitude he has shown in Shanghai this year is praised. From a loosely defended team to a team with strict defensive discipline, he has also proved that he can be a defender above average level, and even a good team defender.
In a team like Guangsha, in fact, foreign aid does not need to be a big package, and doing a good job is the king. Previously, the big foreign aid Jarrod Jones has proved it, averaging 17.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game, the three-point shooting rate reached 40%, the typical space No. 4 position, Guangsha also hit the league third with a single foreign aid.
Okafor's offense doesn't have to worry, and he hasn't suffered a major career injury before.
It is undeniable that his interior offensive skills are still NBA-level, with the ability to score in double figures in the NBA when he has the ball and time, and in the last 3 seasons of wandering, he shot about 60% in the Pelicans and Pistons. It's just that as he gets older and loses his potential, he loses the possibility of staying in a team for a long time.
Coming to the CBA, Guangsha's local player configuration is also the top of the league, and Hu Jinqiu, Okafor, Xu Zhonghao, and Jones will make Guangsha have super internal strength. Okafor's shots near the penalty area are very stable, the throws and the close range behind his back are good, he is a low kaleidoscope player, he can also follow the fast attack when the Pelicans, and the movement speed is not slow.
Guangsha has trained sanshao as stars in the past few seasons, but has always lacked a way to open up difficult situations, Hu Jinqiu's basket success rate is very high, but he is not weighted enough after all, it is difficult to rely on personal ability to complete the internal suppression in the anxious situation. This may be Guangsha's expectation of Okafor, they need to have a sharper point to help Sanshao pierce this layer of paper on the surface of the water.
As for defense, it may be difficult to have higher expectations for Okafor, but after all, he has an arm span of 210CM and 220+, such excellent conditions If there is a beautiful team defensive support, the king can become the central axis of defense in Shanghai, why can't Okafor be based on the CBA? By the way, in the third stage, Guangsha will play two games with Shanghai, and then see who is the right player.
Guangsha has suffered a lot of crimes in the past few years, Jones is worth the fare, can Okafor give the management a turnaround?