Okafor taking shots at 76ers coaching staff shows team better off without center

Despite his recent trade to the Brooklyn Nets, Jahlil Okafor had some interesting words to say about the coaching staff of the Philadelphia 76ers.

In what seemed like a no brainer, the Philadelphia 76ers made the wise decision earlier in the year to not pick up the option on Jahlil Okafor for the 2018-19 season when looking at how much of a disappointment the former Duke star has been for the most part since coming to the league in 2015. At the time, Okafor was considered one of the top prospects from the 2015 NBA Draft after looking at the kind of impact he was able to make during his only season with the Blue Devils, but the Sixers were in a difficult situation when they used the No. 3 pick on the center.

The fact that Philadelphia used the same No. 3 pick the previous season on another star center in Joel Embiid drew the obvious question of why the team would even select Okafor in the first place since they clearly already had a player at the position Not to mention, the roster at the time also consisted of another former first-round pick in Nerlens Noel, meaning the roster seemed to consist of too many big men that wouldn’t receive the high amount of playing time they would desire each game.

As bad as it sounds, even Okafor realized the only reason he ended up on Philadelphia in the first place back in 2015 was due to the fact that he was considered the best player available at No. 3, and the organization would have received all sorts of criticism for passing on the center. Between the Sixers missing out on the one player they truly wanted the most in D’Angelo Russell along with the risk factor surrounding Kristaps Porzingis (which obviously worked out amazing for the New York Knicks), they really had no choice other than use their first pick that year on Okafor.

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With that being said, it was a major relief to see Philadelphia finally find a trade partner to take Okafor in the Brooklyn Nets earlier in December since the deal seemed to work out well for both parties. But to see Okafor take a cheap shot at his former coaching staff as recently discussed in The New York Post, well that’s just completely uncalled for.

From The New York Post:

"“You don’t really know where you stand. Playing against one of the best teams in the East was a good [test],” said Okafor, 22. “A lot of the guys are in midseason form, where I feel like I’m at the start of the season because I haven’t really played. … I have to catch up to a lot of guys.“That’s why I’m happy I’m here with the actual NBA coaching staff that’s taking care of me every day. When I was in Philly I was figuring it out on my own. I had my own trainer [Rick Lewis] that I’ve been working with since eighth grade working me out. But it’s a different level when you’re actually working with an NBA staff.”"

Despite the trade taking place a few weeks ago, Okafor has only appeared in one game so far for the Nets during a Dec. 15 loss to the Toronto Raptors, in which he scored 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting in 23 minutes of action. Brooklyn claims the main reason why Okafor isn’t receiving more playing time at the moment is because he needs to get into game shape since he did only appear in two games with Philadelphia before the trade. But to see Okafor throw his former coaching staff under the bus for being in this position, now that’s just ridiculous.

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If Okafor was really worth keeping around from a talent perspective, and deserved to earn playing time in the current rotation over other players, the Sixers would have made more of an effort to make it work. At the end of the day, Okafor can only blame himself for failing to live up to the hype in Philadelphia, and to see the center take shots at the Philadelphia coaching staff that did everything they could to help him out since coming on board in 2015, that’s just pathetic.