Brett Brown: 'Naive to think' losing hasn't affected Jahlil Okafor
It's tempting to connect the dots between Jahlil Okafor's recent transgressions and the Philadelphia 76ers' planned ineptitude.
And while it isn't clear why Okafor decided to fight a host of hecklers in Boston, Sixers head coach Brett Brown did admit on "The Dan Patrick Show" that the losing has taken a toll on Okafor.
"I think we'd all be naive to think that it doesn't have some level of affect, Brown said. "He has been used to winning. He is one of the major faces of the program. He is a prideful young man. You add it all up - not to make excuses - just out of fairness and reality, I believe a portion of it has impacted that mindset."
Look at it from Okafor's perspective. Up until Tuesday's win over the lowly Los Angeles Lakers, Okafor's last win came when he was cutting down the nets after winning the NCAA championship at Duke.
Okafor dominated at every level, and while he understood that he was joining the league's most aggressive rebuild in Philadelphia, nothing could have prepared him for the anguish of getting off to the worst start in NBA history.
Granted, that's hardly an excuse for his actions - far from it. But his struggles off the court have sparked a referendum on the place of veterans in the locker room, which is something the Sixers lack outside of Carl Landry (who has yet to play this season).
"We do have Carl Landry, I have experienced people like (Jason Richardson), and a lot of it falls on me and the coaching staff where we end up sort of the veteran, senior voices," Brown said. "That's just how the team has been built. It's my job to coach what we have and move it forward."
Brown's last point, about how the team is built, is a nod to general manager Sam Hinkie's polarizing approach to team building. Since taking over in 2013, Hinkie has consistently built for the future, leaving no stone unturned as he's traded almost every veteran on his roster for draft picks, young players, anything of value, leaving behind an assortment of young prospects to find their own way.
If there's a silver lining to Okafor's ordeal, it's that the Sixers have come to learn that they can't expect to operate like a run-of-the-mill organization.
"This incident has forced everybody to look at it a little bit closer," Brown said. "I think the realization that we have to really create an environment that's a lot different - this is not a typical NBA job we have here. "