There’s no timetable for Jahlil Okafor to make his Nets debut. Head coach Kenny Atkinson is hoping to ease the big man’s transition to his new club. Alex Labidou of the Nets’ official site writes that the center appreciates the team’s patient approach to his situation.
“[The Nets] know my weaknesses and strengths and I’m working with them every day to get better,” Okafor said. “They already told me what they want me to work on and like I said, I’m all in.”
Okafor was acquired by the Nets on December 7, having played the first two seasons of his NBA career in Philadelphia.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division this evening:
- Despite the fact that he’s barely over “40-50%”, Enes Kanter isn’t about to sit out any games for the Knicks if he doesn’t have to. The big man, who’s posted 13.4 points and 10.3 rebounds per game in a widely acclaimed first few months in New York, told Fred Kerber of the New York Post that he knows all too well that every single game matters over the course of an NBA season.
- The Raptors vowed to tweak their offense over the offseason and are already reaping the benefits. As James Herbert of CBS writes, the team has broken the bad habits that led to consistent playoff letdowns.
- The Celtics have been without Marcus Morris for four of their past five contests, prompting president of basketball operations Danny Ainge to come up with a plan to help ease the offseason addition back into a consistent routine, A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston writes.
Hayward is gone for the season. Hordford and Irving have both needed games off to nurse nagging injuries and now Morris has missed as many games as he’s played this year. The Celts are already very thin and losing more lately so is Ainge only waiting for a major catastrophe to use the injury exemption??
Possibly, I’ve read they might be waiting it to use it on a post-trade deadline buyout or wait closer to the trade deadline to see if another team slips out of the playoff race and starts selling.
Also I’d expect them with their league-leading record to go deeper into their bench rather than trade for someone because Morris is out for a week. They can afford to lose a couple games and get their young players some playing time to develop, but the crazy thing is they probably still won’t lose. There’s no need to make a desperate move
Hayward may be back at the end of the season.
The Raptors article on this post is a very good read. I didn’t know how much they had shifted their style of play but there’s a lot of good insight in that article. It should be mentioned in the title, i almost skipped right past it.
Specially how they’ve broken their playoffs hoodoo. So good to see those bad habits are a thing of the past.