The third phase of this season's CBA regular season will be held in Shenyang and Shunde from March 1 to March 22, 2022, and Zhejiang Xiongshi, who ranked no. 3 at the end of Phase 2, has just received big news -
NBA No. 3 rookie Jalil Okafor in 2015 officially joined and registered
The Hangzhou Bay team that won the immediate ranking with a single foreign aid battle, at this time, attracted heavyweight foreign aid, and its goal is self-evident.
Editor-in-chief | Porcelain Responsible editor| Wangwang Visual | Caixin
The dust has settled.
The "2021-2022 CBA League Foreign Player Registration Information" updated by the CBA website on February 23 shows that -
Jalil Okafor
The successful registration means that the long-rumored foreign center has finally officially joined the CBA when the 3rd stage is about to start, and he will work with his new teammate Jarod Jones as a double foreign aid for the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions Club to fight for the championship.
So, can the big-name foreign player with the NBA's No. 3 rookie aura help the lion realize his championship dream while the CBA proves himself?
Don't look at the current Okafor in the NBA can not be mixed, the last quarter was traded to the Brooklyn Nets and even failed to play even 1 minute before being cut, but he can be considered a Duncan successor before entering the NBA.
Born on December 15, 1995, Jalil Okafor is only 26 years old and 210cm tall, and is more than just the same surname as 2004's No. 2 rookie, Emeka Okafork – they are indeed distant cousins; unfortunately, the cousins are both gifted and young types.
As a distant brother, Okafor, for the sake of convenience, is temporarily called Emeka, in the 2003-2004 NCAA Finals, he cut 24 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks, leading the University of Connecticut Huskies to defeat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket 82:73 and win the highest glory, and he was also successfully elected MOP (most outstanding player).
After entering the NBA in the summer of 2004, he made a smooth start, wearing the Charlotte Bobcats (now Charlotte Hornets) jersey, he won the title of Rookie of the Year in the summer of 2005, and it seems that the future superstar has been cultivated;
However, the 2005-2006 season was a turning point in his career, not only did weight gain become a problem, but also because of an ankle injury, he announced that he was absent from all the remaining games of the season on March 15, 2006, and then although the rookie contract period achieved 10+10 statistics for four consecutive years, and also received a six-year , $72 million salary extension, but the increasingly mediocre data and the impact of cervical disc herniation and weight led to his eventual turnover in the Hornets, Washington Wizards, Philadelphia 76ers, The New Orleans Pelicans and other teams officially withdrew from the NBA on October 14, 2018. During this period, trial training, preseason games and the G-League as the NBA development league were actually his main battlefields;
In December 2019, Emeka Okafor joined the South Korean KBL League Ulsan Hyundai Suns, and in the 2019-2020 season that ended prematurely due to the epidemic, he only started 4 starts in 18 games, averaging 12.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.6 blocks per game, and remained the same Emeka, comprehensive and mediocre;
After the basketball court, never to be seen again.
Now this Okafor who comes to China - Jalil Okafor even surpassed his distant cousin in his youth, was once the first high school student in the United States, and participated in the NBA draft in 2015 only 1 pick lower than Eka, the No. 3 rookie, there is no doubt that such a smooth is positioned as the cornerstone of the team, but today it has become a tramp in the NBA, and finally has no ball to play.
The reason is that the distant cousins are also roughly the same, except for injuries, mainly because their technical characteristics do not match the development trend of modern basketball, they are all traditional interior lines, can only work in the paint area - in comparison, Joel Embiid, who also plays for Philadelphia, is also an interior line, but he can keep up with the speed of the guard and has great mobility, the three-point shot is very good, and now not only is he the emperor of stability, the top scorer, and he is likely to win the MVP this season.
After telling their story outside the Chinese national gate, the words return to the truth only say that the country is inside, and the protagonist's name is also returned to Jalil Okafor, and according to Chinese customs, he directly calls Okafor.
Not being able to play the NBA doesn't mean that Okafor can't play the CBA.
Although the CBA has accelerated a lot in attack and defense in recent years, compared with the NBA, both the physical quality of the players themselves and the overall speed of the team are far from each other, such as the traditional center Han Dejun, who still has a relatively strong dominance in the CBA.
Because of this, many fans are full of expectations for his future in Zhejiang Lions, you know, Okafor's entire NBA career averaged 10.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in only 19.5 minutes per game, shooting 54.2%, no matter how efficient.
More importantly, since the first time in the history of the 2017-2018 season to reach the finals, their results have stagnated, and now, Zhejiang Lions have the league's top local player configuration, Hu Jinqiu + Zhao Yanhao + Sun Minghui, is already an all-star level trident plus the rapid growth of Zhu Junlong, Permission, and also known as the Renyi brothers: Zhao Jiaren + Zhao Jiayi, the foundation for the championship again is possessed.
With this configuration, the discerning people know in half a second that their relative weakness is the inside line.
Over the years, the inside line that the male lion has found has not been particularly satisfactory -
Eli Holman is an excellent rebounder, but his personal offensive skills are rough;
Giannis Bolosis has solid skills, good strength, and helped the team reach the finals, but his age and personality are not good, which is not the final answer that the Zhejiang Lions want.
This season, Jarrod Jones's performance is gratifying, averaging 17.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game, good physical fitness, and a certain outside attack, becoming Hu Jinqiu's right-hand partner;
However, Jones is not an inside killer after all, it is difficult to inflict real damage on the opponent, and his personal defensive ability is average.
Then Jones also needs to rest, once he leaves Hu Jinqiu and will face the situation of being isolated on the inside, and finding a powerful foreign aid to share the pressure for Hu Jinqiu has become an inevitable choice for the club.
Judging by the technical characteristics of the two, Okafor is a pure center, and Hu Jinqiu is more inclined to the No. 4 position - if he can give full play to his personal offensive and defensive characteristics, Okafu can be compatible with Hu Jinqiu in pure theory.
In this way, this season, Zhejiang Xiongshi has the strength to compete with Liaoning and other giants for the championship.
But it is also necessary to remind Chinese basketball fans, don't look at Okafor was once the No. 3 rookie in the NBA, but in fact, China is no longer new to such high-ranking foreign aid, and there are not a few cases of failure.
During the NBA shutdown in 2011, the 2000 NBA's number one rookie, KenJan Martin, parachuted into Xinjiang, refreshing the history of the CBA, but Martin was 34 years old at the time, coupled with the technical characteristics and Munch Battle was not compatible, so the season was not over and returned to the United States;
Four years later, the CBA ushered in the second NBA's number one rookie, he is Greg Auden, joining Jiangsu, however, the injury has already dragged Auden's body down, the emperor did not play a brilliant performance in Jiangsu and finally left early.
Among them, Yao Ming's former Rocket teammate and talented Stromal Swift is the No. 2 rookie, who has come to Shandong to play and can average 18.5 points and 11.7 rebounds per game, but was considered by then-head coach Gong Xiaobin to be not hard enough and failed to continue his CBA career, which is a pity;
This is also the familiar Michael Beasley, who has played a famous game in the CBA, Shanghai and Shandong have shown super scoring ability, and also won the championship in Guangdong, but also because of the use of illegal drugs and the CBA in the end;
There is also Yao Ming's big brother Steve Francis, who joined Beijing Duck in 2010, and as a result, he kept falling on the court, playing only 4 games, playing less than 14 minutes in total, only 2 points and 3 rebounds and 4 amazing mistakes, and soon returned home with a low profile.
Comparatively speaking, no. 3 rookie O.J. Mayo is good, in the summer of 2020, when the CBA resumed, he joined the Liaoning Flying Leopards, helped the team reach the finals for the second time, and now he is still playing in the Russian league, which is a typical case of the prodigal son who does not change his gold.
The most successful is also the 4th pick of Stephen Marbury, who not only helped the Beijing men's basketball team to establish a hegemony of 4 years and 3 crowns, but also became a Chinese green card, and Ma Political Commissar set an example for foreign aid.
Now, Marbury, who is coaching the Forbidden Warriors in Beijing, is destined to continue to fight in China.
As for the first round of other NBA shows, there are very few cases of success in the CBA, and CBA teams have long ceased to look only at the fame of foreign aid, but mainly in practicality, so in recent years, many foreign aides who are not too famous in the NBA but have succeeded in the European League have become the CBA's fragrant food.
Compared with the high-ranking foreign players who did not play well in the CBA before, Okafor's situation is more special, first of all, he has no bad track record in the NBA, more because of injuries and playing style that is not in line with the trend;
Secondly, Okafor is only 26 years old, in the golden age of basketball players, he did not come to the CBA to retire, but has the motivation to prove himself, and it is unlikely to be passive and sluggish.
In summary, it is entirely possible for Okafor to play his own world in the CBA, but no matter how he analyzes the game, he must prove that he can do it in a short time - it is so late, there is not much time left for him.
Copyright Notice: The text is mainly from "Tencent CBA" and slightly modified, the original title is "NBA Tanhua Show will join hands with Hu Jinqiu to shake Liaoyue? The original author is Iron King; the picture is from the screenshot of the original page. If you have any doubts about copyright, please deal with it immediately, and if other media or self-media need to reprint, please communicate in advance.
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