Recently, Philadelphia 76’ers rookie center Jahlil Okafor has
been making sports headlines for the wrong reasons. Okafor was suspended for two games for a
fight in Boston, MA with a heckler. The 19-year-old NBA rookie was also accused
of using a fake I.D. at a Philadelphia bar in October. Okafor was a star at the
University of Duke under coach Mike Krzyzewski. During his freshman year, Duke
won the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. After winning the championship,
Okafor entered the 2015 NBA draft and was drafted third by the Philadelphia
76’ers. Okafor is currently the star of a losing 76’ers team with a 1-20 record.
If I had the opportunity to talk to Okafor via email or in person, I would say
the following to him:
Dear Jahlil Okafor:
I want to help you. I believe the circumstances you are
going through are hiccups on your road of life. Hiccups, that if not addressed,
can turn into another “what-could-have-been?” episode of ESPN’s 30 for 30. I
spent 16 years working in radio. At times, I worked at the #1 radio station in
the market and at other times I worked at the worst radio station in the
market. When you have not worked in a competitive environment, you do not
understand how it may mess with your mind. Going from winning to losing is
hard. You start to question yourself. For me, I questioned if I should have
left my previous radio station for the new station. Maybe I wasn’t as good as I
thought. Maybe I had committed career suicide. Once you say “maybe” too many
times, you have mind trapped yourself into a dangerous place - the place of
self-doubt. Now you are questioning everything about yourself. To make matters
worse, I was alone in a new city with no family. Everyone just assumes you are
happy because you are making more money than you once were. No one factors in
all the other aspects of life that kick in with your new environment. In my
opinion, Philly is the realest city on the planet. I know people say that New
York is tough; “if you can make it here you can make it anywhere.” As a person
who has lived and worked in both cities, I’m here to tell you, “Philly is
tough!” When the people of Philly love you and embrace you, they do it with
their WHOLE heart and soul. But when their team isn’t winning, oh you will
surely feel the wrath!! Right now you are feeling the wrath of losing, and it
doesn’t feel good. I know that feeling as well.
I want you to consider another dynamic; how great would it
be for your career and for the Sixers franchise if you were the reason the team
turns around? Now is not the time to hang around with a bunch of people who
constantly tell you how great you are, hanging on to you for access to the VIP
section. Now is the time to get serious. You need to seek out NBA veterans,
seek out your old coach Mike Krzyzewski, or seek out a person from your faith.
You need an outside voice to tell it to you straight, but also willing to walk
that road with you. Assigning security to you (as the Sixers organization has
stated they will do) is a Band-Aid; it does not address what is happening in
your head. I don’t want you to be a statistic. I don’t want you to become the
poster child for why college athletes should stay in school longer. I want you
to be the poster child for the future of the NBA. You are an awesome player on
a bad team. Let’s work together to focus on your greatness. Too many people
want to talk about you, judge you and make you a headline on their sports show.
I want to help you.
