I'm surprised you're so high on him. He's kind of considered a joke from a lot of the articles and forums I've read about him. I wouldn't trade any of our young guys for him, not even Papa or Malachi. His rebounding and defense are a joke and he turns the ball over a lot. He scores a little bit better than Skal at the moment but not by much. Skal was also a better rebounder than him last year. Skal might not eclipse Okafor's point totals this year but I see him being a better player overall and hopefully continuing that trajectory upward.
Okafor is kind of similar to Kanter. The only thing keeping Kanter average is his rebounding, especially his offensive rebounding. Without that, he would be a big negative to his team. Okafor is basically like Kanter without the rebounding.
I see his ceiling as maybe touching average for a year or two while being below average the rest of his career. His scoring numbers look nice on paper but he doesn't actually do a whole lot to help your team win games.
I don't think I'm unreasonable high on Okafor. I think he's got lots of limitations and a lot of maturing left. But, youth plays a big part of it, he's only 21 turning 22 at the end of this year. He's younger than 3/5 of our rookies this year....
I think he's physically limited. He just doesn't have a lot of footspeed or vertical hops. Even with those limitations, he's been able to score at an efficient rate for a post-scorer. He also reminds me of a much much less talented younger Cousins. I'll compare Okafor's rookie year with Cousins' sophomore year because they have the same amount of minutes played(30 minutes).
Cousins: 18.1pts___11.0rebs___ 1.2blks___1.6asts___2.7tos___2.6PFs
FG% 44.8___FT% 70.2____FTA 5.8
Okafor: 17.5pts___7.0rebs____1.2blks___1.2asts___2.3tos___4.0PFs
FG% 50.8___FG% 68.6____FTA 3.7
Cousins was a much better rebounder than Okafor. Okafor is just not a good rebounder. Okafor was a more efficient scorer than Cousins. Okafor was a more talented scorer than Cousins at that time. Like Okafor, Cousins struggled laterally in his first few years in the league for being too heavy. Neither were rim protectors nor good passers. Cousins had a big attitude issue, Okafor has a bit of an attitude issue too, but their issues are different. Okafor is more of a nonchalant player who shows he still needs to mature. I think Cousins was much much much much much much more talented than Okafor, but there is a parallel between the players, and Okafor still has lots of time to improve.
I wouldn't mind trading Hill for Okafor because Hill doesn't have any long-term plans here. 2 years from now, he'll be 33, meanwhile, Okafor will only be 24. It's a small gamble, especially if Fox shows that he's ready to take over the starting job. If things don't work out with Okafor, we don't lose anything. Okafor is better than Papa by a lot. Malachi has struggled to find a fit on this team with 4-6 other wings on this team.
I'm really not a big fan of Okafor, but when you're the Kings, why not gamble on talent? We have a roster full of unproven and inconsistent young players.