Report: Ainge's 'mystery' player is 76ers' Okafor

CSNNE

Danny Ainge said on 98.5 The Sports Hub earlier on Friday that the Celtics were close to what he considered a big deal before the trade deadline, but it fell through. The other team backed out.

He later said that the deal was one that hadn't been reported on, and did involve the Nets' pick.

So naturally, everybody has been trying to figure out which player it was. Paul George? James Harden? Jimmy Butler? Anthony Davis?!

According to one report, it's none of those players. The Boston Herald reports that the mystery player is 76ers rookie Jahlil Okafor.

The 20-year old Okafor was drafted third overall in this year's NBA Draft, a draft in which the Celtics were hoping - and trying - to move up in, but ultimately failed in doing so.

Okafor is averaging 17.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks for the 76ers this season.

While the trade didn't happen before the deadline, it's clear that there's at least some level of interest. You have to wonder if both sides will go back to the table in the offseason, this time with that Nets draft pick position already determined.

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OK..I have to admit that I have NO IDEA what Philly is trying to do at all.

They TANK so they can get high draft picks,

draft BPA

then trade them after a year or so

for other draft picks

to take BPA

to trade them after a year or so

for............you get the idea.

WHAT?

Philly likewise has no idea what it is doing.

This rumor makes sense.

There was talk that the Sixers were at least taking phone calls on Okafur.

Philly is now realizing that Okafur and Noel cannot coexist well together.  They are both paint players and that clogs the middle up in an era where teams are trying to open the middle up.  They don't want to make a major change, however, until they are confident that Embiid can play.  Okafur is a throwback to the age of the dinosaurs. Embiid, if healthy, is a transcendental player for the new NBA.

There's talk that Embiid's rehab is finally doing well.  If that's true then this rumor might become truth, as Okafor gets traded to Boston for the pick and other assets and Philly will have Embiid, Noel and the #4 pick to get a high quality wing or back court player.  Right now the best player in their back court is Ish Smith, who is nice but not great.


bob


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bobheckler wrote:Philly is now realizing that Okafur and Noel cannot coexist well together. They are both paint players and that clogs the middle up in an era where teams are trying to open the middle up.

Maybe they should've thought about that before drafting paint-bound centers three years in a row. If Embiid ever plays, they may as well wear shoulder pads because all they'd be doing is bumping into each other.

Colangelo should be able to bring adult decisions to the Philly table, so if Embiid is truly going to play, they have to move somebody (or two).

But Sam Hinckie is an idiot. Not necessarily for the tanking part, because that actually worked and, combined with trading for picks, got them five lottery picks in three years. He's an idiot for what he did with those draft picks.

Outside wrote:

bobheckler wrote:Philly is now realizing that Okafur and Noel cannot coexist well together.  They are both paint players and that clogs the middle up in an era where teams are trying to open the middle up.

Maybe they should've thought about that before drafting paint-bound centers three years in a row. If Embiid ever plays, they may as well wear shoulder pads because all they'd be doing is bumping into each other.

Colangelo should be able to bring adult decisions to the Philly table, so if Embiid is truly going to play, they have to move somebody (or two).

But Sam Hinckie is an idiot. Not necessarily for the tanking part, because that actually worked and, combined with trading for picks, got them five lottery picks in three years. He's an idiot for what he did with those draft picks.

outside,

I think I can safely say I'm on record as opposing tanking.  I'm also solidly in the camp that "Hinkie is an idiot".  However, there are many ways of building a team.  Hinkie's way is, in some ways, similar to Danny's (gag, cough, vomit).  Danny has accumulated players that are good players but are not necessarily the player he wants but have value in the league.  Okafur has value in the league.  Noel has value in the league.  Embiid, IF HE IS HEALTHY AND LIVES UP TO HIS HYPE, has great value in the league.  If you take the long view of rebuilding, and Hinkie absolutely, postively has that, then these pieces are rollable into other pieces he does want.  Danny's trying to do it with good players and great picks.  Hinkie's trying to do it with great players and great picks.  All things being equal that would mean Hinkie's in better shape than Danny but this calculus does not take into account the need of also building a winning culture.  Winners win, pure and simple, and Philly is not winning and we are.  Hinkie thinks it's all about talent and metrics.  Champions don't just have good metrics, they also have a Champion's heart.  Sacto has talent, lots, but they haven't even been to the playoffs since Cousins has been in the league, at least.

Put another way, Danny was able to land Brad Stevens because of his promise to build a winner and because of the Celtics tradition of winning, and it's working.  Jerry Colangelo was brought in to salvage Hinkie's strategy of "napalming the village to save the village" and to try and turn the franchise around, in essence saving the village from repeatedly napalming itself so it wouldn't be considered desirable enough to invade.


bob


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The Philadelphia Inquirer has said that the 76ers will not consider a deal for either Okafor or Noel unless they first know Embiid can play.  The team has already said that Embiid will not be ready to play in summer league but they're hopeful he may be ready by fall.  At last report Embiid is currently in Doha, Qatar as part of his rehab.  Long way to go for rehab, isn't it?

Bob,

You are of course correct that Philly can turn one or two of their centers into talented players that fit into a balanced roster, and I have confidence that Colangelo can do that. However, based on his track record regarding converting assets, I don't have any confidence that Hinkie would be successful at it. Here are some examples of what Hinkie did when given the opportunity to convert assets.

2013 - with the 11th pick, drafted Michael Carter-Williams. He was rookie of the year, is a pretty good defender and assist guy, but is a sub-par shooter. Trades him at the deadline in 2015 for a Lakers' pick that was top-5 protected in 2015 and top-3 protected in 2016 and 2017. Depending on where the ping pong balls fall, they could get that pick this year, but maybe not. Grade for that trade is incomplete, but the fact remains that they don't have anything to show for it yet.

2014 - with the 10th pick, drafted Elfrid Payton, who is immediately traded to Orlando for rights to Dario Saric, Orlando's 2015 second-round pick, and Philly's own conditional first-round pick that Orlando had acquired (top-11 protected). Saric may be good and is supposedly joining Philly next season, but he's a young 6' 10" European stretch four. If he's Porzingis, great, but who knows. Hinkie used Orlando's 2015 second-round pick for Willy Hernangomez, whom he traded to the Knicks for their 2020 and 2021 second-round picks. Another incomplete grade for this trade, but again, nothing yet to show for it.

2014 - traded Thaddeus Young. Net result is that they received Ronny Turiaf (waived four days later), rights to Sergei Lishouk (since traded for a player they waived and rights to a different European player), and a 2015 second-round pick from Houston (J. P. Tokoto, since waived). Absolutely nothing to show for this deal.

There are other deals (Hinkie loves to make deals), but I find no evidence that Hinkie can convert an asset into a valuable piece of a quality roster. The Thaddeus Young deal is the worst. Young is a baller, a bonafide quality player, and Hinkie just dumped him.

In the meantime, Hinkie's team had too many paint-bound bigs, no outside shooting (27th in three-point percentage), and no point guard. When Colangelo joined the Sixers, they were 1-21, two and a half years into Hinkie's "tank to get better" process, with an awful roster that threatened to break the record for losses in a season. Colangelo went out and got a competent point guard in Ish Smith (Philly was 1-30 at that point), and they've gone 7-16 since. They're hardly great, but at least they are no longer epically bad.

I trust that Colangelo will turn their assets into something, but I have no faith that Hinkie would have. No only has he shown himself incapable of doing that, he has an almost pathological propensity to trade for future rights and future picks, always kicking the can down the road, while in the meantime, that losing culture that we both hate gets further ingrained into the franchise.

Outside wrote:Bob,

You are of course correct that Philly can turn one or two of their centers into talented players that fit into a balanced roster, and I have confidence that Colangelo can do that. However, based on his track record regarding converting assets, I don't have any confidence that Hinkie would be successful at it. Here are some examples of what Hinkie did when given the opportunity to convert assets.

2013 - with the 11th pick, drafted Michael Carter-Williams. He was rookie of the year, is a pretty good defender and assist guy, but is a sub-par shooter. Trades him at the deadline in 2015 for a Lakers' pick that was top-5 protected in 2015 and top-3 protected in 2016 and 2017. Depending on where the ping pong balls fall, they could get that pick this year, but maybe not. Grade for that trade is incomplete, but the fact remains that they don't have anything to show for it yet.

2014 - with the 10th pick, drafted Elfrid Payton, who is immediately traded to Orlando for rights to Dario Saric, Orlando's 2015 second-round pick, and Philly's own conditional first-round pick that Orlando had acquired (top-11 protected). Saric may be good and is supposedly joining Philly next season, but he's a young 6' 10" European stretch four. If he's Porzingis, great, but who knows. Hinkie used Orlando's 2015 second-round pick for Willy Hernangomez, whom he traded to the Knicks for their 2020 and 2021 second-round picks. Another incomplete grade for this trade, but again, nothing yet to show for it.

2014 - traded Thaddeus Young. Net result is that they received Ronny Turiaf (waived four days later), rights to Sergei Lishouk (since traded for a player they waived and rights to a different European player), and a 2015 second-round pick from Houston (J. P. Tokoto, since waived). Absolutely nothing to show for this deal.

There are other deals (Hinkie loves to make deals), but I find no evidence that Hinkie can convert an asset into a valuable piece of a quality roster. The Thaddeus Young deal is the worst. Young is a baller, a bonafide quality player, and Hinkie just dumped him.  

In the meantime, Hinkie's team had too many paint-bound bigs, no outside shooting (27th in three-point percentage), and no point guard. When Colangelo joined the Sixers, they were 1-21, two and a half years into Hinkie's "tank to get better" process, with an awful roster that threatened to break the record for losses in a season. Colangelo went out and got a competent point guard in Ish Smith (Philly was 1-30 at that point), and they've gone 7-16 since. They're hardly great, but at least they are no longer epically bad.

I trust that Colangelo will turn their assets into something, but I have no faith that Hinkie would have. No only has he shown himself incapable of doing that, he has an almost pathological propensity to trade for future rights and future picks, always kicking the can down the road, while in the meantime, that losing culture that we both hate gets further ingrained into the franchise.

Outside,

You forgot about Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen for Danny Granger, whom he immediately waived, and a very mediocre P/F, Henry Sims, who lasted only until the end of the year to get Noel by trading his only All-Star, Jrue Holliday.. Lavoy Allen is a decent rotation player. We know about Evan Turner. Hinkie has nothing to show for that trade either.


bob


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