Can Jahlil Okafor's Old School Game Thrive With The New School Philadelphia 76ers?

Whatever you need accomplished around the basket, Jahlil Okafor can power in there with his big butt and get it done.

Okafor is a 6-foot-10, 271-pound package of drop steps, power moves, pirouettes, pivots, feints, slams, and crafty little hook shots, all delivered with hands the size of, say, Kansas. He owns a National Collegiate Athletic Association championship ring that he won with Duke University as a freshman, just a few months ago. He's still only 19 years old, has yet to play his first National Basketball Association regular season game and is just weeks into his professional career with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Already, he's fighting hard not to become an anachronism.

Can a classic, low-post big man thrive in a new basketball era that emphasizes outside shooting, floor spacing, ball screens and fleet-footed defenders who can guard multiple positions? Okafor's career may be a test case.

His first trial came during the NBA draft, where after long being touted as a probable top overall pick or a sure bet to go to the Los Angeles Lakers at No. 2, Okafor slid to the 76ers at No. 3.

Both on the floor and in the draft order, the distance separating the two struggling franchises might not seem like much. Both were terrible last season; both were counting on high draft picks to help reverse their sagging fortunes.

However, the difference in basketball philosophy between the Lakers and 76ers is profound—and figures to affect both Okafor's individual skill development and his NBA trajectory.

"I absolutely love Okafor, love his game," says former NBA player Vin Baker. "You could see his disappointment [after the draft] when he held up that Sixers jersey for the photograph and then just dropped it."

Baker was in Las Vegas last week to watch the NBA Summer League, an annual event that draws coaches and scouts from all over the world, everyone looking for free agents and eager to absorb the sport's latest trends through coaching clinics and presentations. He lamented the seeming marginalization of Okafor and other traditional post players in a changing sport that increasingly features smaller, faster lineups.

Had Okafor managed to catch the Lakers' fancy, his career path might be clearer. Yes, Okafor is more earthbound than, say, Anthony Davis. And yes, his defense is—ahem—very much a work is progress.

Still, Los Angeles prefers to use its centers in traditional fashion, attacking the paint with back-to-the-basket scorers and controlling tempo by playing through its big men.

By contrast, Philadelphia under general manager Sam Hinkie has gone all-in on analytics—relying heavily on statistical insights to shape decision-making. Off the floor, that has meant treating individual players like buy-low, sell-high financial assets, and treating entire seasons as throwaway campaigns designed to maximize the odds of getting high draft picks.

On the floor, that means adopting the "Pace and Space" strategy, in which teams push tempo, spread the floor and often attack not through the post, but rather through the first open look from beyond the three-point line.

Emphasizing the back-to-the-basket skills of Shaquille O'Neal, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum—and, to a lesser extent, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant—the Chicago Bulls and Lakers under coach Phil Jackson have won a combined 11 titles since 1992. More recently, however, teams have been borrowing from the "Seven Seconds or Less" offense coach Mike D'Antoni introduced with the mid-2000s Phoenix Suns—including the Golden State Warriors, who won this year's championship while often playing versatile, undersized power forward Draymond Green at center.

Perhaps the best example of the NBA's evolution can be found in San Antonio, where the Spurs won the first of their five titles in 1999 by playing through big men Tim Duncan and David Robinson in the post, and the most recent of their championships in 2014 while running a floor-spacing, ball-swinging, multiple-action European-style offense that produces driving lanes and corner three-pointers.

This is the league that Okafor finds himself in, and to Philadelphia's credit, the 76ers made an effort to feature his post play during summer league. But they also asked him to begin his adjustment to Pace and Space, in which big men initiate whatever offense they get from the perimeter, setting screens and then diving to the basket for dunks or rolling outside for face-up jump shots.

"I was working on certain things the coaches were asking of me, which is spacing the floor … and rolling hard," Okafor says.

For Okafor, the results of trying to play both ways were understandably mixed. Through one five-game summer league stretch, he averaged 15.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 4.6 turnovers per contest. Three times, he scored more than 18 points in a game; in one game against New York, by contrast, he had his shot blocked five times—and also committed four turnovers.

Okafor struggled while attempting to play the role of a new age big man, looking uncomfortable when popping outside for jump shots. He also shot poorly from the free throw line. As a rookie, he'll have to learn to read defenses much better when setting screens, and also faces a huge adjustment on the defensive end, where he'll be asked to provide passable rim protection.

Another potential hurdle? Getting the ball in favorable spots. Although Philadelphia signed two young point guards this summer—Scottie Wilbekin and Pierre Jackson—to go with incumbents Tony Wroten and Isaiah Canaan, the 76ers lack an experienced, top-notch distributor. Moreover, Philadelphia isn't a great three-point shooting team, which may hamstring their efforts to play Pace and Space, or to surround Okafor with space-creating shooters.

Still, Okafor's talent is there. And with 76ers center and 2014 lottery pick Joel Embiid sidelined for a second straight season with a foot injury, Okafor should get plenty of playing time to develop it.

Tim Cone, an international coach who has won multiple championships in the Philippines running the triangle offense associated with Jackson, was in Las Vegas and watched Okafor closely. He came away impressed, stating that once Okafor learns not to rush his post moves, he will be an effective back-to-the-basket scorer at the NBA level.

"He reminds me somewhat of Zach Randolph," Cone said, comparing Okafor to the Memphis Grizzlies' power forward.

Reminiscent of Randolph, Okafor drew numerous double teams in summer league. Baker believes that will continue during the regular season, and that opponents will have to "scheme" for Okafor's low-post game—that is, change up their defenses, keep bigger players on the floor and slow their tempo to match up with Okafor, instead of the other way around.

Philadelphia assistant coach Billy Lange has told reporters that Okafor is going to have to learn to play both ways, old school and new. If he ultimately can manage the transition, he'll be less an anachronism than an evolutionary success story, a back-to-the-basket big with back-to-the-future versatility.

"It's really about how to incorporate both styles," Baker says. "They're gonna have to scheme for him. There's just no other option … [Okafor's] a top talent in this business."